Barcelona rescued, Peterborough at once urged the king to march upon Madrid and have himself proclaimed king in his capital.

There was no force which could oppose his advance, and Lord Galway and the Portuguese could move unresisted from the west and meet him there.

But it was a long time before Charles and his counselors would listen to his advice; and although at last they agreed to follow it, their resolution was short.

In the first place, they determined to leave so large a force to garrison Catalonia that the army available for the advance on Madrid would be very seriously weakened--fifteen hundred English and eleven hundred Spaniards were to be left at Barcelona, sixteen hundred English and Dutch and fifteen hundred Spanish at Gerona, eight hundred and fifty Spanish and Dutch at Lerida, and five hundred Spanish at Tortosa.
This left but sixty-five hundred men available for service in the field, and even this number was subsequently diminished by the vacillating Charles to forty-five hundred.
As Peterborough wrote to Lord Halifax: "We have saved kingdoms in spite of the king, who would abandon them, and we have waged more dangerous war with ministers than with enemies.

Lord Galway and the Portuguese generals pass all understanding." No wonder the earl was astounded by the incompetence of Lord Galway and the Portuguese generals.