Negotiations were secretly opened with the English cabinet, and were often more confidential on the part of Harley and Bolingbroke than seemed compatible with the fidelity due to their sovereign, or with the engagements of England with her allies.
The end was as reasonable as just; but the means employed to arrive at it were not indisputable. The Emperor Joseph had just died, leaving only daughters; the elevation of the Archduke Charles thenceforth threatened Europe with the preponderance of the house of Austria. England had the honor of first comprehending the danger, and of playing that part of moderator, which Holland had so recently exercised, and which had given her so much grandeur. The natural taste of Harley for secret intrigues prolonged the mystery for some time; inferior agents went back and forth between London and Versailles. The poet Prior, and a deputy from Rouen, named Mesnager, had the honor of seeing the queen in person. The fatal effects of the war had oftened saddened her. "It is a good work," said she, to the modest French plenipotentiary; "I pray God to give you his assistance; I hold the shedding of blood in horror."
The war, nevertheless, continued, and Marlborough remained at the head of the allied forces, notwithstanding the disgrace of his friends, and the withdrawal of his wife, who had definitively left the court, not however without efforts, as audacious as violent, to regain the influence which she so recently exercised over the queen. The campaign of 1711 had been unimportant; conferences were opened at Utrecht, and preliminaries were signed with England: they assured to English commerce immense advantages, besides the cession of Newfoundland and the remainder of the French territory in Acadia. When the communication was made to Holland, the negotiators prudently withheld some articles. Public feeling at the Hague was nevertheless aroused; the States-General sent a delegate to officially protest. "England has borne the brunt of the war," bluntly replied St. John; "it is but just that she should be at the head of the parleys for peace." The Count of Gallas, ambassador of the emperor at London, was so incensed by the tone of the articles that he had them published immediately, in one of the daily journals. Queen Anne forbade his appearance at court. The preliminaries were unpopular, and the guarantees offered by France did not appear sufficient.
"On Friday the peace will be attacked in Parliament," wrote St. John, on the eve of the opening of the session. "I am very easy. I detest the remote dangers which threaten me; we will receive their fire and put them to rout once for all." The speech from the throne announced the opening of the conferences, "in spite of the efforts of those who take pleasure in war."
The queen created twelve new peers, in order to assure, in the upper house, a pacific majority.
In less than one year, from the 14th of April, 1711, to the 8th of March, 1712, the royal house of France was overwhelmed by sad afflictions of Providence. Louis XIV. lost by violent and rapid sicknesses his son, the Grand Dauphin; and the Duke of Burgundy, his grandson. Six days later the Duchess of Burgundy, the charming Marie Adelaide of Savoy; and finally his great grandson, the Duke of Brittany, four years of age. The little Duke of Anjou, only an infant in the cradle, and feeble and sickly, now represented the eldest branch of the House of Bourbon, and was to become the King, Louis XV. The allies became troubled, and added to their diplomatic exactions the renunciation by Philip V. of the crown of France. The good offices of England were not lacking to the old king, now overwhelmed by the weight of so many misfortunes, and who attracted the admiration of even his enemies, by the courageous firmness of his attitude. Louis XIV. wrote to his grandson: "You will be informed of the proposals of England, that you renounce the rights of your birth to preserve the crown of Spain and the Indies, or renounce the monarchy of Spain to preserve your rights to the succession of France, and receive in exchange for the kingdom of Spain, the kingdoms of Sicily and Naples, the states of the Duke of Savoy, Mont Ferrat and Mantua, permitting the Duke of Savoy to succeed you in Spain. I avow that notwithstanding the disproportion of the states, I have been sensibly touched by thinking that you would continue to reign, and that I might always regard you as my successor; assured if the Dauphin lives, of a regent accustomed to command, capable of maintaining order in my kingdom, and of stifling cabals. If this child should die, as his feeble appearance gives me but too much reason to believe, you will receive the succession according to the order of your birth, and I would have this consolation of leaving to my people a virtuous king, capable of commanding them, and who, on succeeding me, would unite to the crown of France, states as considerable as Naples, Savoy, Piedmont and Mont Ferrat. If gratitude and tenderness for your subjects are powerful motives inducing you to remain with them, I can say that you owe me the same sentiments. You owe them to your house, and to your country, before you owe them to Spain. All that I am able to do is to leave you the choice; the necessity of concluding the peace becomes each day more urgent."
The English negotiators were without doubt assured in advance of the choice of the King of Spain, when they allowed Louis XIV. to expect such enormous concessions. Philip V. did not hesitate an instant. He renounced all his rights to the succession of the throne of France, and the Cortes solemnly ratified his decision. "I will live and die a Spaniard," said the young king.
The English required that the Duke of Berry and the Duke of Orleans abandon their rights to the crown of Spain. The peace was the object of violent attacks in the English Parliament, above all in the House of Lords. Marlborough vigorously defended himself from having been hostile to it. "I can declare with a safe conscience," said he, "in the presence of her Majesty, of this illustrious assembly, and of the Supreme Being, who is infinitely above all the powers upon earth, and before whom, according to the ordinary course of nature, I must soon appear, to give an account of my actions, that I was ever desirous of a safe, honorable and lasting peace; and I was always very far from any design of prolonging the war for my own private advantage, as my enemies have most falsely insinuated. But at the same time, I must take the liberty to declare, that I can by no means give in to the measures that have lately been taken to enter into a negotiation of peace with France, upon the foot of the seven preliminary articles. I am of the same opinion with the rest of the allies, that the safety and liberties of Europe would be in imminent danger, if Spain and the West Indies were left to the House of Bourbon."