Will.III. thern princes, and that the king of England was uneafy at 1700. Sicily being in the hands of the French, he had, after two days foon as he arrives, the duke of of Anjou will be proclaimed. I did perceive, that this would be their refolution; but monfieur de Torcy did not explain himfelf to me, till this morning. The king will not declare it till on Monday next, when he will be at Versailles; and, I believe, the duke of Anjou will, foon after that, go for Spain. Monfieur de Tallard defired me to let you know, That he should have fent the account of the king of Spain's death, as he promifed; but that I did. He tells me, he has orders to be ready; and fays, he fhall foon be in England. I think, he ought to go. As to what is to be judged at this court, by their looks, I did perceive, that, the moment this refolution was taken, the king was very civil; but looked always much concerned, whenever I came near him. It is, without difpute, by the queen's figning, that he has been all along in the French interest, whatever the feemed to the emperor's minifter. And, if the prefent pofture of affairs is confidered, as the was hated by all, this was the only way to fave herfelf; and it was fo managed, that, in June laft, the king of Spain figned a will in favour of the archduke; which was fent to Vienna. That made the emperor proceed as he did. Befides, they have never obliged her in any thing the defired. The king of Spain cancelled that, and made this on the 2d of October. Monfieur Zinzendorf told me this in difcourfe; and he would not believe what he fees, now, to be poffible; though he does not yet know, that the French king has accepted the will. I cannot tell what refolution the king will take; and I am far from giving any opinion, though, if your lordship will permit me, I cannot fee but we muft acquiefce. You are fenfible of the pofture of our affairs, and of the difcontent there was in England against the treaty, infomuch that my lord Portland, and all, that were concerned in it, were the next feffions to be facrificed, if poffible. I am fatisfied, that this was the defign; whether the parliament will approve of it, is what I cannot fay. I muft defire of your lordship, that you fend my inftructions in French, especially if I am to have an audience of the king, that fo I may make use of the fame expreffions, which I will punctually obferve. This is fo nice a matter, and of fo great a confequence, that you will forgive me, when I defire it. It is obfervable, that, not long after the king of France's accepting the will, he caufed letters patents to be registered in the parliament of Paris, to preferve to the king of Spain, his grandíon, his right to the crown of France, in cafe the duke of Burgundy, his elder brother, died without heirs. These letters were given in December; but were not fealed till January, nor registered till the 1st of February. They were, fays Lam bert, days mature deliberation, refolved to yield to the defires of Will.III. the Spaniards, and give them the duke of Anjou for king. 1700. My mafter (added he) is very fenfible he fhall be a great lofer by it; but he had rather renounce the advantages which would accrue to his crown by the treaty of partition, than give occafion for a war to the disturbance of all Europe; and therefore hopes his refolution will be approved, as being con-. ducive to the public tranquillity. The penfionary was ftruck with this, and made strong but fruitless remonftrances against it to count Briord. The reafon of the count's fpeaking of king William's uneafinefs about Sicily, was, because the king, before his departure for England, had proposed the giving it to the elector of Bavaria, for fear (faid Briord) the parliament might be difgufted, if it remained to France, on account of the Levant trade, which might be obftructed by it. morial upon The day after this notification, the States-general met earlier then ufual to confider of it, but came to no refolution, because they wanted to know king William's intentions. However, after many confultations, they fent orders to Their meHeemskerke, their ambaffador at Paris, to reprefent it in a it, Nov. 25. memorial, that they did not expect the refolution which his Ibid. moft Chriftian majefty had taken of accepting the king of Spain's will, contrary to the late treaty; and hoped, that as the time for the emperor's acceding was not yet expired, and as they had, upon news of the king of Spain's death, renewed their inftances to him, his majefty would take the matter into confideration again, and adhere to the treaty in every article. To this memorial a very long answer was fent to the States, which was also dispatched with the king of France's refolution to all the courts of Europe, the fubftance whereof was, That the king of France confidered chiefly what was the principal defign of the treaty, namely, to maintain the peace of Europe; and therefore, to purfue this, he departed from the words of the treaty, but adhered to the Spirit, and chief intent of it. This infamous excufe, for fo notorious a breach of faith, feemed to be an equivocation of so grofs a nature, that it looked like the invention of a Jefuit confeffor, adding impudence to perjury. With this answer the king of France fent a letter to the States, wherein bert, (I. 388.) not only contrary to the renunciation of MariaTeresa, but may moreover, one day, occafion difputes, to fet afide the famous, but trifling 1 Will.III. he told them, that the peace of Europe was fo firmly efta1700. blifhed by the king of Spain's will in favour of his grandfon, that he did not doubt their approbation of his acceffion to the Spanish crown. To this letter the States did not return an answer till the 8th of December, wherein they hoped, that his majesty would confider, that they could not immediately declare upon an affair of fo great moment, without confulting their refpective provinces. Befides, it was a matter which concerned in common both themselves and his Britannic majefty, and confequently they could not act without his concurrence. This letter being delivered to the king of France by monfieur Heemskerke, he replied, That the States did well to wait for the refolution of their provinces, according to the conftitution of their government, and hoped their refolution would be agreeable to his wishes. In the mean time, he should be ready to concur in whatever the States fhould defire, for the fecurity of the Spanish Netherlands. The Spa niards throw Thefe fair words were by no means fatisfactory to the States, especially when they confidered the haughty expreffions in the long anfwer, not fit to be used to a fovereign ftate. Soon after don Bernardo, the Spanish ambassador, received a letter from the new king for the States, dated December 18, at Poitiers. When this letter was offered to the States, the prefident of the week made fome fcruple to receive it, and defired the ambassador to stay a few days be fore he delivered it. But, being told that it was ordered to be immediately prefented, the prefident received it, adding, that it must not be thought ftrange, if the States did not anfwer it fo foon as expected (b). During thefe tranfactions at the Hague, the Spaniards feethemselves ing themfelves threatened with a war from the emperor, who declared against both the treaty and will, and apprehending into the hands of the (b) While the States were thus delaying to declare themfelves, an accident happened, by which they gained fome time. Briord, after a public audience, having invited to dinner, according to cuftom, fome of the members of the States-general, and the entertainment lafting a good while, he wanted to make But thinking it uncivil to rife from table on that ac count, he brought upon himself a ftoppage of urine, which was like to have killed him. Surgeons were fent for from Amfterdam, but, the indifpofition continuing, an exprefs was difpatched to Verfailles, and count d'Avaux was fent to carry on the negotiations. However, by this means above a month was gained, for d'Avaux did not come till Feb. 6. N. S. that that the empire, together with England and the UnitedProvinces, might be engaged to join in the war, and being unable to defend themfelves, delivered all into the hands of France. And upon that, both the Spanish Netherlands, and the duchy of Milan, received French garrifons; the French fleet came to Cadiz ; a squadron was also fent to the WestIndies; fo that the whole Spanish empire fell now, without a ftroke of the fword, into the French power. All this was the more formidable, because the duke of Burgundy had then no children; and, by this means, the king of Spain was in time likely to fucceed to the crown of France. And thus the world faw the appearance of a new univerfal monarchy, like to arife out of this conjunction. prehenfions The king of Spain wrote to all the courts of Europe, Great apgiving notice of his acceffion to that crown; only he forgot of the danEngland. And it was publickly given out, that he had pro- ger Europe mised the pretended prince of Wales, that, in due time, he was now in. would take care of his interefts. The king and the States- Ibid, general were much alarmed, when they beheld the French poffeffed of the Spanish Netherlands. A great part of the Dutch army lay fcattered up and down in thofe garrifons, more particularly in Luxemburg, Namur, and Mons; and these were now made prisoners of war. Neither offices nor foldiers could own the king of Spain, for their mafters had not yet done it. At this time, the French preffed the States very hard to declare themfelves. A great party in the States were for owning him, at least in form, till they could get their troops again into their own hands, according to capitulation. Nor were they then in a condition to refift the impreffion, that might have been made upon them from the garrifons in the Spanish Guelder, who could have attacked them. before they were able to make head. The States therefore Cole. came to a refolution of owning the king of Spain, and ac- P. 318. cordingly wrote a letter that fame day to the French king for that purpose. This being done, their battalions were fent back, but they were ill used, contrary to capitulation, and P. 257. the foldiers were tempted to defert their fervice; yet very few could be prevailed on to do it. There was at this time a black appearance of a new and difmal fcene. France was now in poffeffion of a great empire, for a small part of which they had been in wars (broke off indeed in intervals) for above two hundred years; while England, who ought to have protected and defended the reft, was, by wretched factions and violent animofities, running into a feeble and disjointed ftate. The king indeed, upon the news Burnet, Will. III. news of the French king's refolution to accept the will, and 1700. recede from the treaty, was full of indignation to find himself so much abused, but he appeared quite the contrary. much, that his cold and reserved manner, upon fo high a Infoprovocation, made fome conclude, that he was in fecret engagements with France; and that he was refolved to own the new king of Spain, and not to engage in a new war (c). This (c) The reader may fee the progrefs of affairs in this remarkable period, in the following extract from Mr. Cole's Memoirs. The earl of Manchefter to Mr. Count Zinzendorf had an au- peror may thank himfelf; for it I do affure you, there is great I am just now told, That an offer is made to the elector of Bavaria, to continue in the go vernment of the Netherlands, during his life; and that this new king of Spain will confirm it to him. The earl of Manchester to Mr. fecretary Vernon. Paris, Novem. 20, 1700. ther courier arrived to the SpaSince my last, there is anonifh ambaffador, with the entire will; for, before, they had only an abftract. There is also a codicil, which was added to the and relates only to the queen's will on the 21st of October; dowry, which was but three now, it is four. She has the hundred thousand ducats, and, choice of Naples, Milan, Sicily, or Flanders; where fhe is to govern with a council; which the new king has power to appoint. There are fome letters which fay, That count de Harrach, the emperor's minister, has made a protestation against the will, both as to the matter and manner; where he alledges, that the king's hand was guided. The earl of Manchester to Mr. fecretary Vernon. Paris, Novem. 27, 1700. My being at Fontainebleau was the reafon of my being fo foon informed of the intentions of |