THE FRENCH INTEREST PREVAILS AT THE COURT OF SPAIN.
The people of Spain were exasperated at the insolence of the three foreign powers who pretended to parcel out their dominions. Their pride took the alarm at the prospect of their monarchy’s being dismembered; and their grandees repined at the thoughts of losing so many lucrative governments which they now enjoyed. The king’s life became every day more and more precarious, from frequent returns of his disorder. The ministry was weak and divided, the nobility factious, and the people discontented. The hearts of the nation had been alienated from the house of Austria, by the insolent carriage and rapacious disposition of the queen Mariana. The French had gained over to their interests the cardinal Portocarrero, the marquis de Monterey, with many other noblemen and persons of distinction. These perceiving the sentiments of the people, employed their emissaries to raise a general cry that France alone could maintain the succession entire; that the house of Austria was feeble and exhausted, and any prince of that line must owe his chief support to detestable heretics. Portocarrero tampered with the weakness of his sovereign. He repeated and exaggerated all these digestions; he advised him to consult Pope Innocent XII. on this momentous point of regulating the succession. That pontiff, who was a creature of France, having taken the advice of a college of cardinals, determined that the renunciation of Maria Theresa was invalid and null, as being founded upon compulsion, and contrary to the fundamental laws of the Spanish monarchy. He therefore exhorted king Charles to contribute to the propagation of the faith, and the repose of Christendom, by making a new will in favour of a grandson of the French monarch. This admonition was seconded by the remonstrance of Portocarrero; and the weak prince complied with the proposal. In the meantime the king of France seemed to act heartily as a principal in the treaty of partition. His ministers at foreign courts co-operated with those of the maritime powers in soliciting the accession of the different potentates in Europe. When count Zinzendorf, the imperial ambassador at Paris, presented a memorial, desiring to know what part France would act should the king of Spain voluntarily place a grandson of Louis upon the throne, the marquis de Torcy answered in writing, that his most christian majesty would by no means listen to such a proposal; nay, when the emperor’s minister gave them to understand that his master was ready to begin a separate negotiation with the court of Versailles, touching the Spanish succession, Louis declared he could not treat on that subject without the concurrence of his allies.
The nature of the partition-treaty was no sooner known in England, than condemned by the most intelligent part of the nation. They first of all complained, that such an important affair should be concluded without the advice of parliament. They observed that the scheme was unjust, and the execution of it hazardous; that in concerting the terms, the maritime powers seemed to have acted as partizans of France; for the possession of Naples and the Tuscan ports would subject Italy to her dominion, and interfere with the English trade to the Levant and Mediterranean; while Guipuscoa, on any future rupture, would afford another inlet into the heart of the Spanish dominions; they, for these reasons, pronounced the treaty destructive of the balance of power, and prejudicial to the interest of England. All these arguments were trumpeted by the malcontents, so that the whole kingdom echoed with the clamour of disaffection. Sir Christopher Musgrave, and others of the tory faction, began to think in earnest of establishing the succession of the English crown upon the person of the prince of Wales. They are said to have sent over Mr. Graham to St. Germain’s with overtures to this purpose, and an assurance that a motion would be made in the house of commons, to pass a vote that the crown should not be supported in the execution of the partition treaty. King William was not ignorant of the censure he had undergone, and not a little alarmed to find himself so unpopular among his own subjects. That he might be the more able to bestow his attention effectually upon the affairs of England, he resolved to take some measures for the satisfaction of the Scottish nation. He permitted the parliament of that kingdom to meet on the twenty-eighth day of October, and wrote a letter to them from his house at Loo, containing an assurance that he would concur in every thing that could be reasonably proposed for maintaining and advancing the peace and welfare of their kingdom. He promised to give his royal assent to such acts as they should frame for the better establishment of the presbyterian discipline; for preventing the growth of popery, suppressing vice and immorality, encouraging piety and virtue, preserving and securing personal liberty, regulating and advancing trade, retrieving the losses, and promoting the interest of their African and Indian companies. He expressed his concern that he could not assert the company’s right of establishing a colony at Darien, without disturbing the peace of Christendom, and entailing a ruinous war on that his ancient kingdom. He recommended unanimity and despatch in raising competent taxes for their own defence; and told them he had thought fit to continue the duke of Queensberry in the office of high commissioner. Notwithstanding this soothing address, the national resentment continued to rage, and the parliament seemed altogether intractable. By this time the company had received certain tidings of the entire surrender of their settlement; and on the first day of the session, they represented to parliament, that, for want of due protection abroad, some persons had been encouraged to break in upon their privileges even at home. This remonstrance was succeeded by another national address to the king, who told them he could not take any further notice of that affair, since the parliament was now assembled; and he had already made a declaration, with which he hoped all his faithful subjects would be satisfied. Nevertheless he found it absolutely necessary to practise other expedients for allaying the ferment of that nation. His ministers and their agents bestirred themselves so successfully, that the heats in parliament were entirely cooled, and the outcry of the people subsided into unavailing murmurs. The parliament resolved, that in consideration of their great deliverance by his majesty, and as next, under God, their safety and happiness wholly depended on his preservation and that of his government, they would support both to the utmost of their power, and maintain such forces as should be requisite for those ends. They passed an act for keeping on foot three thousand men for two years, to be maintained by a land-tax. Then the commissioner produced the king’s letter, desiring to have eleven hundred men on his own account to the first day of June following; they forthwith complied with this request, and were prorogued to the sixth of May. The supernumerary troops were sent over to the states-general; and the earl of Argyle was honoured with the title of duke, as a recompence for having concurred with the commissioners in managing this session of parliament.
WILLIAM, 1688—1701.
DEATH OF THE KING OF SPAIN.
King William had returned to England on the eighteenth day of October, not a little chagrined at the perplexities in which he found himself involved; and in the beginning of the next month, he received advice that the king of Spain was actually dead. He could not be surprised at this event, which had been so long-expected; but it was attended with a circumstance which he had not foreseen. Charles, by his last will, had declared the duke of Anjou, second son of the dauphin, the sole heir of the Spanish monarchy. In case this prince should die without issue, or inherit the crown of France, he willed that Spain should devolve to the duke of Berry: in default of him, and children, to the archduke Charles and his heirs; failing of whom, to the duke of Savoy and his posterity. He likewise recommended a match between the duke of Anjou and one of the archduchesses. When this testament was first notified to the French court, Louis seemed to hesitate between his inclination and engagements to William and the states-general. Madame de Maintenon is said to have joined her influence to that of the dauphin, in persuading the king to accept of the will; and Pontchartrain was engaged to support the same measure. A cabinet-council was called in her apartment. The rest of the ministry declared for the treaty of partition; the king affected a kind of neutrality. The dauphin spoke for his son with an air of resolution he had never assumed before; Pontchartain seconded his argument; madame de Main-tenon asked, what the duke of Anjou had done to provoke the king, that he should be barred of his right to that succession? Then the rest of the members espoused the dauphin’s opinion; and the king owned himself convinced by their reasons. In all probability the decision of this council was previously settled in private. After the will was accepted, Louis closeted the duke of Anjou, to whom he said in presence of the marquis des Rois, “Sir, the king of Spain has made you a king. The grandees demand you; the people wish for you, and I give my consent, remember only, you are a prince of France. I recommend to you to love your people, to gain their affection by the lenity of your government, and to render yourself worthy of the throne you are going to ascend.” The new monarch was congratulated on his elevation by all the princes of the blood; nevertheless, the duke of Orleans and his son protested against the will, because the archduke was placed next in succession to the duke of Berry, in bar of their right as descendants of Anne of Austria, whose renunciation could be of no more force than that of Maria-Theresa. On the fourth day of December the new king set out for Spain, to the frontiers of which he was accompanied by his two brothers.
When the will was accepted, the French minister de Torcy endeavoured to justify his master’s conduct to the earl of Manchester, who resided at Paris in the character of ambassador from the court of London. He observed, that the treaty of partition was not likely to answer the end for which it had been concerted; that the emperor had refused to accede; that it was relished by none of the princes to whom it had been communicated; that the people of England and Holland had expressed their discontent at the prospect of France being in possession of Naples and Sicily; that if Louis had rejected the will, the archduke would have had a double title derived from the former will, and that of the late king; that the Spaniards were so averse to the division of their monarchy, there would be a necessity for conquering the whole kingdom before the treaty could be executed; that the ships to be furnished by Great Britain and Holland would not be sufficient for the purposes of such a war, and it was doubtful whether England and the states-general would engage themselves in a greater expense. He concluded with saying, That the treaty would have been more advantageous to France than the will, which the king accepted purely from a desire of preserving the peace of Europe. His master hoped therefore that a good understanding would subsist between him and the king of Great Britain. The same reasons were communicated by Briod, the French ambassador at the Hague, to the states-general. Notwithstanding this address, they ordered their envoy at Paris to deliver a memorial to the French king, expressing their surprise at his having accepted the will; and their hope, that as the time specified for the emperor’s acceding to the treaty was not expired, his most christian majesty would take the affair again into his consideration, and adhere to his engagements in every article. Louis in his answer to this memorial, which he despatched to all the courts of Europe, declared that what he chiefly considered was the principal design of the contracting parties, namely, the maintenance of peace in Europe; and that, true to his principle, he only departed from the words that he might the better adhere to the spirit of the treaty.