M. de Vendome learnt the news of this defeat while on his way to Spain.  Like a prudent man as he was, for his own interests, he stopped at once so as to see what turn affairs were taking, and to know how to act.  He waited at Bayonne, gaining time there by sending a courier to the King for instructions how to act, and remaining until the reply came.  After its arrival he set out to continue his journey, and joined the King of Spain at Valladolid.

Staremberg, after his victory, was joined by the Archduke, and a debate soon took place as to the steps next to be taken.  Staremberg was for giving battle to the army of eighteen thousand men under Bay, which I have just alluded to, beating it, and then advancing little by little into Spain, to make head against the vanquished army of the King.  Had this advice been acted on, it could scarcely have failed to ruin the King of Spain, and the whole country must have fallen into the hands of the enemy.  But it was not acted on.  Stanhope, who commanded the English and Dutch troops, said that his Queen had ordered him to march upon Madrid when possible, in preference to every other place.  He therefore proposed that they should go straight to Madrid with the Archduke, proclaim him King there, and thus terrify all Spain by seizing the capital.  Staremberg, who admitted that the project was dazzling, sustained, however, that it was of little use, and of great danger.  He tried all in his power to shake the inflexibility of Stanhope, but in vain, and at last was obliged to yield as being the feebler of the two.  The time lost in this dispute saved the wreck of the army which had just been defeated.  What was afterwards done saved the King of Spain.

When the plan of the allies became known, however, the consternation at Madrid, which was already great, was extreme.  The King resolved to withdraw from a place which could not defend itself, and to carry away with him the Queen, the Prince, and the Councils.  The grandees declared that they would follow the King and his fortune everywhere, and very few failed to do so; the departure succeeded the declaration in twenty-four hours.  The Queen, holding the Prince in her arms, at a balcony of the palace, spoke to the people assembled beneath, with so much grace, force, and courage, that the success she had is incredible.  The impression that the people received was communicated everywhere, and soon gained all the provinces.  The Court thus left Madrid for the second time in the midst of the most lamentable cries, uttered from the bottom of their hearts, by people who came from town and country, and who so wished to follow the King and Queen that considerable effort was required in order to induce them to return, each one to his home.