HEREFORDSHIRE REGIMENT OF FOOT.
1700.
Charles II., King of Spain, being affected with a dangerous indisposition, the European powers, in order to prevent the contention which was expected to arise on the decease of that monarch, determined to divide the Spanish territories among the several competitors. The first “Partition Treaty” was concluded between France, England, and Holland, on the 29th of August 1698; but a second Treaty was rendered necessary, in consequence of the death of the Electoral Prince of Bavaria, who had been declared heir to the Spanish Crown; accordingly, on the 15th of March 1700, a second Treaty was entered into between the same contracting powers, by which it was arranged that Charles Archduke of Austria, the second son of Leopold Emperor of Germany, should succeed to the throne of Spain, a certain portion of the territories of that Kingdom being, as before, allotted to the Dauphin of France; and the Duke of Lorrain was to receive Milan in exchange for his own country, which was to be given to the French nation.
The long expected demise of the King of Spain occurred on the 1st of November 1700; and that Sovereign, incensed at the dismemberment of his dominions, bequeathed the Spanish monarchy to Philip Duke of Anjou, second son of the Dauphin of France; and Louis XIV., disregarding the treaties to which he had been a party, determined to support his grandson’s accession to the throne of Spain.
The French at this period overran the Spanish Netherlands and seized several strong towns, partly garrisoned by the Dutch, which compelled the States of Holland to acknowledge the Duke of Anjou’s title, with a view of obtaining their soldiers, who were not permitted to return, without difficulty.
1701.
It is a singular circumstance of the time, that King William, seeing the unwillingness of the nation to engage in a fresh war, actually acknowledged the Duke of Anjou as King of Spain, and sent him a letter of congratulation. In May 1701, however, the House of Commons unanimously resolved to assist the Dutch, and provide succours for the States General, in order to maintain the liberties of Europe. Several regiments were in the following month embarked for Holland; and additions were also made to the army and navy.
On the 28th of June 1701 a Royal Warrant was issued authorizing William Viscount Charlemont to raise a regiment in Ireland, which was afterwards numbered the Thirty-sixth.
England might have abstained from open hostilities with France had it not been for the following circumstance:—In the midst of these preparations the decease of James II. occurred at St. Germains on the 16th of September 1701, and his son, the titular Prince of Wales, was immediately proclaimed, by order of Louis XIV., as King of England, Scotland, and Ireland, by the title of King James III. This indignity to the British Sovereign and Nation, added to the contemplated union of the crowns of France and Spain, made war inevitable; and King William, with the Emperor of Austria and the States General, concluded “the Grand Alliance,” the principal objects of which were to procure the Spanish Netherlands as a barrier for the Dutch, and to prevent France and Spain becoming eventually under the sway of the same Prince.