22.

Manner in

which the bequest of Spain

Louis XIV. than either the integrity or foresight of the allied cabinets. At first sight, it seemed the most extraordinary thing imaginable that an Aus- to the Duke of Anjou had trian prince, the descendant of Charles V., should been obtained. have bequeathed his dominions to the grandson of Louis XIV., the hereditary enemy of his house, in preference to his own family, seated on the archducal throne of Austria. But the secret has been revealed by the publication, in later times, of the secrets of diplomacy, of which Smollett and our earlier writers were either ignorant, or which they were guilty of concealing.* It appears that the principal powers of Europe, aware of the approaching demise of the Spanish king without descendants, had come not only to speculate on the chances of the succession, but had actually entered into secret treaties among each other for the partition of his dominions. In this nefarious scheme of spoliation, Louis XIV. and William III. of England took a prominent part, and the accession of Holland was obtained by promising her government a large share of the spoils. The first conference on the subject took place between the embassadors of the three great powers at the time of the treaty of Ryswick, and the first formal treaty was signed at the Hague on the 11th of October, 1698. By it, the Spanish monarchy in the Peninsula was to be ceded to the Prince Electoral of Bavaria, with Flanders and the Low Countries. Naples, Sicily, Tuscany, and Guipuscoa fell to France, and the Duchy of Milan to the Archduke Charles, second son of the Emperor of Germany. England, to its credit be it said, was to gain nothing by this partition.†

What care soever the contracting parties took to keep this treaty secret, it transpired, and excited, as well it might, the most vehement indignation in the cabinets of Vienna and Madrid. William secretly informed the emperor of its sig

"See SMOLLETT, vol. i., c. vii., § 37, where not a word is said of the formal treaty of partition of Spain.

See the treaty in Memoires de Torcy, P. i., p. 57; SISMONDI, Hist. de France, xxvi., 276; and CAPEFIGUE, Histoire de Louis XIV., iv., 270, 271.

22. nature; and the result of the deliberations of the Fresh treaty

of partition Austrian family was, that the King of Spain made

between

Holland.

France, En- a testament, in which he bequeathed his whole dogland, and minions to the Electoral Prince of Bavaria, under the solemn injunction to resist any attempt at partition. Had this prince lived, all the calamities which followed might have been averted; but his death, which happened on the 8th of February, 1699, threw every thing open again, and exposed Spain afresh to the cupidity of the allied powers. Negotiations again began afresh at the Hague, and on this occasion England became a participator in the expected spoil. The result was a second treaty of partition, signed on the 13th of March, 1700, at the Hague, between England, France, and Holland, without the privity of the emperor. By it, the whole Spanish dominions were to be divided between the contracting parties in the following proportions. France was to receive Naples, Sicily, Guipuscoa, and Lorraine; and Archduke Charles, second son of the Archduke of Austria, was to obtain Spain, the Low Countries, and the Indies, on condition of renouncing any other succession. But by secret articles annexed to this treaty, the Spanish colonies beyond seas were to be divided between England and Holland.† Both of the latter powers were at the moment in alliance with Spain, and had fought by her side in the very last war, which lasted from 1689 to 1697. It may safely be affirmed that a more infamous proceeding is not recorded in history; and it reveals the melancholy truth that the human heart is ever the same, under whatever banners it may be enlisted; and that, under the mask of zeal for liberty and the reformed religion, may be

*SISMONDI, xxvi., 277.

† Pars des articles joints du traité, les colonies Espagnoles etaient cedées à la Grande Bretagne et à la Hollande, seule avantage materielle qu'elle et l'autre retiraient de ces stipulations. On donnait beaucoup à la France, parceque Louis XIV. reconnaissait Guillaume III. et les gouvernemens nouveaux, qui veulent le faire admettre par les vœux sont obligés à des sacrifices.-CAPEFIGUE, Hist. de Louis XIV., iv., 277; Lombardy, i., 97; SCHODL, ii., 13, 14.

concealed ambition as grasping, and perfidy as black, as ever lurked under the crown of kings or the cowl of priestly tyranny!

24. The knowl

edge of this

tition determines the King of Spain to the

treaty of par

bequest in faBourbons.

vor of the

Uniting duplicity toward his new allies with ambition toward his old enemies, Louis had no sooner concluded this treaty than he secretly caused it to be communicated to Charles II., king of Spain, through his secretary of state, Abilles. The intelligence threw the declining monarch, as well it might, into the utmost consternation. He addressed in vain the most pressing remonstrances to the cabinets of Versailles, London, and the Hague, pointing out, in just and emphatic terms, the glaring injustice of friendly and allied powers concluding a treaty for the partition of the dominions of a sovereign before he had yet sunk into the grave. It was all in vain. The ambition of France, England, and Holland was proof against every consideration of honor, or faith, or justice. The French embassador at Madrid got orders to quit that capital; the Spanish embassador at London received his passports; a large French army was collecting on the Guipuscoa frontier of the Pyrenees. War seemed inevitable; the fate which subsequently befell Poland seemed to threaten Spain the moment its present sovereign should be no more. In this extremity, Charles II. convened his council of state, and submitted the matter to their decision. By a large majority, they determined that a bequest in favor of the Duke of Anjou, grandson of Louis XIV., was the most advisable step, as he was the only monarch capable of preventing a partition; and the old king, sacrificing the partiality of family and race to aroused indignation and sentiments of nationality, consented to do so, and signed the bequest which involved Europe in conflagration.

But though the origin of the evil was to be found in their own unjustifiable ambition, it was not the less real, or deserving of immediate consideration. Threatened with so serious a danger, it is not surprising that the powers of Europe were

Extent of the

threatened

tal powers

power of

France.

25. in the utmost alarm, and ere long took steps to danger which endeavor to avert it. All had injuries to avenge, the continen- or inheritances to regain. Austria armed to refrom this ac- gain the Spanish succession, reft from its family by cession to the the ambition and diplomatic ability of the cabinet of Versailles. England had a double motive for hostility she had danger to avert, and the mortification of being duped to avenge. Holland saw the enemy at her gates: the white flag floated on the bastions of Antwerp. Such, however, was the terror inspired by the name of Louis XIV., and the magnitude of the addition made by this bequest to his power, that the new monarch, in the first instance, ascended the throne of Spain and the Indies without any opposition. The Spanish Netherlands, so important both from their intrinsic riches, their situation as the certain theater of war, and the numerous fortified towns with which they were studded, had been early secured for the young Bourbon prince by the Elector of Bavaria, who was at that time the governor of those valuable possessions. The distant colonies of the crown of Castile in America and the Indies sent in their adhesion. Sardinia, Naples, Sicily, the Milanese, and the other Spanish possessions in Italy, speedily followed the example. The young Prince of Anjou made his formal entry into Spain in the beginning of 1701, and was crowned at Madrid under the title of Philip V. The principal continental powers, with the exception of the Emperor of Germany, acknowledged his title to the throne. Bavaria united itself in a cordial alliance with France and Spain. The Dutch were in despair; they beheld the power of Louis XIV. brought to their frontier. Flanders, instead of being the barrier of Europe against France, had become the outwork of France against Europe. Bavaria was an important advanced post, which gave the armies of Louis an entrance into the heart of Germany. Italy, France, Spain, Flanders, and part of Germany were united in one close league, and, in fact, formed but one dominion. It was the empire of Charlemagne over again, directed with equal ability, founded

on greater power, and backed by the boundless treasures of the Indies. Spain had threatened the liberties of Europe in the end of the sixteenth century: France had all but overthrown them in the close of the seventeenth. What hope was there of being able to make head against them both, united under such a monarch as Louis XIV. ?

26.

Comparative

strength of

the forces on the opposite

Great as these dangers were, however, they had no effect in daunting the heroic spirit of William III. In concert with the emperor and the United Provinces, who were too nearly threatened to be backward in falling into his views, he labored for the sides. formation of a great confederacy, which might prevent the union of the crowns of France and Castile in one family, and prevent, before it was too late, the consolidation of a power which threatened to be so formidable to the liberties of Europe. The death of that intrepid monarch in March, 1702, which, had it taken place earlier, might have prevented the formation of the confederacy, proved no impediment, but rather the reverse. His measures had been so well taken, his resolute spirit had labored with such effect, that the alliance, offensive and defensive, between the Emperor, England, and Holland, had been already signed. The accession of the Princess Anne, without weakening its bonds, added another power of no mean importance to its ranks. Her husband, Prince George of Denmark, brought the forces of that kingdom to aid the common cause. Prussia soon after followed the example. On the other hand, Bavaria, closely connected wth the French and Spanish monarchies, both by the influence of its jealousy of Austria, and by the government of the Netherlands, which its elector held, adhered to France. Thus the forces of Europe were mutually arrayed and divided, much as they afterward were in the coalition against Napoleon in 1813. It might already be foreseen that Flanders, the Bavarian plains, Spain, and Lombardy, would, as in the great contest which followed a century after, be the theater of war. But the forces of France and Spain possessed this advantage,

E