The Elector had sent Bartholdi to Vienna in the place of Dankelman, and M. Blaspiel to Dusseldorff to the Elector Palatine, whom he thought proper to treat with extraordinary Regard, as well upon his own Account, as with relation to the Empress his Sister who had a very great Ascendant over the Emperor.
Bartholdi when he arriv'd at Vienna found the Court in the very same Disposition as it was in the time of Dankelman. There was a great shew of Good-will, but no Advance made; for the Emperor's Ministers were never at a loss for a Reason to defer coming to the Point. The Republic of Poland furnish'd very cogent ones too, by the Protestations it made against every Step taken towards erecting Prussia into a Kingdom, on pretence that it formerly belong'd to the Republic, and that the Poles only suffer'd it to fall to the House of Brandenburg, on condition of its reverting to them on the Failure of Issue Male in that Family. The Emperor said he could not help having Regard to those Protestations, the Alliance which he had been in for a long time
with the Republic being become much firmer since the raising the Siege of Vienna, when John Sobiesky at the Head of the Poles so effectually reliev'd it. Bartholdi being dishearten'd with all these Delays, began to despair of the Success of the Negociation. He flatter'd himself for a while that the languishing State of Charles II. King of Spain, which presag'd his approaching Death, and the cruel War between the Houses of Austria and Bourbon, on account of the Spanish Succession, would promote the Success of his Master's Designs; and that the State Policy which at that Juncture oblig'd the Emperor to strengthen himself with Allies, would make him chuse to retain in his Party a Prince so powerful and so necessary to his Interests as the Elector. But Bartholdi was deceiv'd; and whether the Court of Vienna flatter'd itself that the Elector wou'd never venture to take the part of France, or whether they thought it more nearly concern'd them to humor the Powers that oppos'd the Elector's Views, they had always some fresh Pretence or other to trump up.
Bartholdi cou'd not avoid giving an Account to the Elector his Master of what he thought of these continual Delays, and he told him there was no manner of Reason to hope that the Emperor would recognize him for King before he was sure of the Consent of the Pope, and of all the Princes of the Empire; that it was easy to see this was only a civil Excuse that the Emperor made use of for his Refusal, rather than to make him his Enemy; and that the Case was really so desperate, that he knew of but one Stratagem to make use of before he retir'd; and that was that he shou'd write with his own Hand to the Prince of ——, who, said Bartholdi, was the
only Person in the World to induce the Emperor to be more favorable. His Dispatch was written in a Cypher, and the Secretary who decypher'd it, thought he met with the Name of the Emperor's Confessor, instead of that of the Prince of ----. The Elector approv'd of his Minister's Hint, and wrote immediately to the Confessor, who happen'd to be a Jesuit. This Reverend Father was overjoy'd to find himself courted by one of the greatest Protestant Princes, and promising himself that he should reap considerable Advantages for his Society, from the Success of a Negociation which the Elector had so much at heart, and in which two of his most able Ministers had already miscarried, he made no scruple to undertake it.
As soon as he began to meddle with it, it assum'd a new Face; the Court of Rome made but a faint Opposition to it: That of Vienna being alarmed at the News they received from the Count de Harrach their Ambassador at Madrid, of the bad State of the King of Spain's Health, and of the Spaniards Byass for the Duke of Anjou, became more tractable; and the very Reasons that Bartholdi urg'd in vain, began to be relish'd when they were represented by the Confessor. This Jesuit convinc'd the Emperor, that as he was resolv'd to dispute the Succession to the Crown of Spain with France, such an Ally as the Elector would give great Weight to either of the two Parties that he fell in with. The Confessor's Arguments were applauded by some, and faintly rejected by others; so that the Father, by craftily taking advantage of the Good-Will of the latter, and of the Lethargy of the former, brought the Affair of Prussia in less than two
Month's Time to the Point of a happy Conclusion.
While such effectual Endeavors were us'd for the Elector at the Court of Vienna, his Interest was as successfully manag'd with the King of England. The Electoress, together with her Mother the Electoress of Hanover, went to pay him a Visit at Aix la Chapelle; and in that Interview, these two Princesses prevail'd on King William of England to recognize the Elector of Brandenburg for King of Prussia, and to call the House of Hanover to the Succession of the Crown of England.
One particular Circumstance in this Journey that prov'd of such Service to the Elector's Designs, and which many People look'd upon as a politic Action, is, that it would not have been undertaken, had it not been for the extreme Fondness of Madame de Wartemberg to be admitted in the Electoress's Circle. This Princess upon the Intelligence she receiv'd that her Mother the Electoress of Hanover was going to Aix la Chapelle, was very desirous to go with her, but she cou'd not hope to obtain the Elector's Consent to it, nor to have Money enough with her to bear her Expences, if the Count de Wartemberg oppos'd it; and therefore she charg'd Madamoiselle de Pollnitz my Cousin to speak to him about it. The Count de Wartemberg promis'd not only to obtain the Elector's Consent, but also to give the Electoress an Order at large to take up any Sums of Money that she should want, provided that Princess would on her part only acknowledge the Favor, by granting his Wife the Honor of Admittance to her Circle. The Electoress had this Journey so much at heart, because she knew it wou'd give her the Pleasure
of seeing a Mother whom she tenderly lov'd, as well as a Freedom, for some time at least, from the Constraint she was oblig'd to live in at Berlin, that she consented to the Count's Demand. Madame de Wartemberg was admitted to the Circle, and all the Mortification the Electoress gave her, was always to talk to her in French, which being a Language she did not understand, plainly shew'd the Obscurity of the Countess's Birth; for at that Time all Persons of any Rank or Figure convers'd in that Language commonly at our Court. The Electoress's Condescension upon this Occasion is the only thing for which she was to blame; for 'twas a Precedent which gave others Authority to desire the same Favor; and to this may be said to be owing the unequal Matches which several of the Nobility made afterwards.