XXXIII. his rival commanded. So far Portland was successful, CHAP. though he could not persuade Louis to dismiss the Stuarts from St. Germains. The French king, however, showed his want of William, and his trust in him, by pressing for a prospective arrangement of the Spanish succession. Here again, in the negotiation which ensued, we feel inclined to dissent from Lord Macaulay's estimate of William as a diplomatist. For whilst Portland remained firm and fixed in the declaration, that in no case would England ever consent to see the crown of Spain worn by a French prince, William was weak enough to accept that contingency, provided it were accompanied by territorial gain to England of ports in the Mediterranean and islands in the West Indies. Portland said that the policy of England with regard to the States of Southern Europe was directed to the preservation of its own trade, and that the junction of the French naval force with Spanish pretensions would imperil the English commercial interest both in the Mediterranean and in America; whereas the emperor, or his son, succeeding to the throne of Spain, would bring to it no accession of naval power.† The French court, finding Portland too rigid in this view, transferred the negotiation to London, whither Count Tallard was sent as ambassador. He pressed William, who at first hesitated much, and insisted on almost the whole heritage going to the Elector of Bavaria. "What," exclaimed Tallard, "give Spain and the Indies, Italy and the Netherlands, to the Elector of Bavaria! Why should my master enter into such engagements?" William perceived his demands to be untenable, and offered to give Spain and the Indies to the dauphin's son, Italy to Austria, and merely the CHAP. XXXIII. Netherlands to Bavaria. Louis had the option between this offer and that of his grandson getting but Naples and Sicily, the Bavarian prince obtaining Spain and Flanders, and the Archduke Milan. Strange to say, the King of France chose the latter alternative, gave up Spain and Flanders to the elector's son, and contented himself with Southern Italy for his grandson. He indeed also demanded Luxemburg and Guipuscoa, but this was refused, and he concluded the agreement by which the Bavarian prince was to inherit all the Spanish possessions except those in Italy. We must confess that, after perusing every account, and weighing every consideration, we are at some loss to comprehend the reason for Louis's decision, or to understand the policy which made him sign this treaty of partition. Macaulay's idea of Louis preferring to sell the Spanish crown dear to buying it cheap does not sufficiently explain the motive. The French king's views must have been to make an arrangement that was merely to be temporary, which would secure him peace as long as his kingdom required it, and afford him all the facilities afterwards for wresting Flanders and Spain from a weak prince, who had no hold on the Spanish people, and who must greatly offend them, as well as the house of Austria, by his accession. In this position, the Bavarian monarch of Spain and Flanders must at any time have fallen an easy prey to France; whilst, to facilitate both conquests, Louis strove to get Luxemburg in the north, and succeeded in getting Guipuscoa, which opened to him the heart of Spain, in addition to Sicily and Naples. There was another reason for Louis not accepting Spain, even for his grandson, apart from Italy and Flanders. This was, that his consent to such a partition would completely alienate from him the people and the influential personages of Spain. The mere fact of either the electoral prince or the archduke accepting the isolated sovereignty of the Peninsula would, he knew, ruin both with the Spaniards. And this, no doubt, was the great secret of Louis's acceptance of the two successive treaties of partition. Such calculations did not indeed prove just on the news of the first treaty of partition reaching Madrid. However indignant the Spanish court, it could not fling censure on the infant prince of Bavaria. But to defeat the scheme of his limited succession, the king was induced to draw up a testament, bequeathing the whole of the monarchy undivided to the electoral prince. Louis protested, and no more.* The electoral prince, he knew, could not possess himself of the whole empire against the combination of France, Austria, and the maritime powers, a reflection which indeed the Spaniards themselves did not fail to make. But all such consideration was cut short by the small-pox which carried off the seven years old electoral prince in February 1699. In the very letter by which the French king conveyed the intelligence to Tallard, he directed that envoy to enter into negotiations with England for a second treaty of partition. The former pact had parcelled the empire between three; it had now to be divided between two. William did not take this view; his object was to find a prince who could fill the place and position of him just deceased. He thought on the King of Portugal, on the Duke of Savoy, but afterwards, taking advantage of a secret article of the late treaty, which declared the Elector of Bavaria successor to his son, should the latter die heirless on the Spanish throne, he proposed giving Spain to this prince. When Louis himself, however, offered to cede Spain and the Indies to the archduke, second son of the Emperor *Louis said, he would take the measures necessary to prevent war, and the injustice that it was intended to do him. Harcourt's protest. State CHAP. XXXIII. XXXIII. CHAP. Leopold, William could not but accept that arrangement. Louis at the same time proposed annexing Piedmont and Savoy to France, Victor Amadeus and his dynasty being transferred to Naples. Milan was to be given to the Duke of Lorraine, which province France was also to obtain. In negotiating the two treaties of partition, the possession of Italy, and the exclusion of the house of Austria from it, seemed the chief aim of the French king. Thus completely separating Madrid and Vienna, he could prevent one from lending in extremities its aid to the other. Louis offered at the same time the junction of the Spanish Low Countries with Holland in one republic, or, if there were objections, to cede them to the Elector of Bavaria. These proposals occupied the courts of London and Versailles all through the summer of 1699. The efforts of William were directed to obtain the adherence of the Emperor to the new treaty of partition. With Spain and the Indies for the archduke one might have reckoned on his assent. But as the dilatory and interminable scruples of the court of Vienna could not be removed, England and Holland signed with France the second treaty of partition in March 1700. The archduke by this agreement was to have Spain, the Indies and Flanders. France was to have Naples, the towns on the Tuscan coast, Guipuscoa, and Lorraine; the Duke of Lorraine to become Duke of Milan. If Austria rejected this plan of partition, the Duke of Savoy was to be substituted for the archduke. The latter was forbidden to proceed to Spain in case the emperor should reject the treaty.* Thus every one was disposing of the King of Spain's dominions, save those who had voice and right in the matter. Still it must be recorded to the credit of the Spaniards of influence that they gave it as their * Grimblot, vol. ii. p. 406. opinion from the first that the Cortes should be assembled and consulted on so weighty a matter; but the imbecile prince, blind in absolutism as in orthodoxy, could not be brought to sanction this only way of attaining the end he had in view. The power of bequest still remained to him, but it became daily more evident that the testament of the monarch in the present state of his empire would remain of no effect, unless the bequest was in favour of one able to enforce its validity. This conviction came soon to prevail even over national resentment. Great was the explosion of anger at Madrid when the second treaty of partition became known. The emperor hoped by rejecting the treaty to become the favourite of the Spanish court, and its chosen heir. But the most influential counsellors had abandoned the Austrian cause. The queen and her favourite had discredited it by their rapine, and the imperial ambassador by his arrogance. The Prince of Hesse-Darmstadt, who commanded the few German soldiers of the guard in Madrid, gave a most disagreeable foretaste of what might be expected from a German king. Yet when troops were required to defend Ceuta, the Austrians could send none, whilst the French were ready with their aid. The Cardinal Porto Carrero, the most influential personage of the court, came, or was brought, round to favour the succession of a French prince. During a famine the popular animosity had been adroitly directed against those of the counsellors of the State who were in the Austrian interest, and these, such as Oropeza, were exiled. Still attachment to his family continued to influence the mind of the sinking monarch, and forbade him to disinherit them. He was advised to consult the pope. Innocent the Twelfth on the verge of the grave referred the important subject to a council of cardinals, which recommended King Charles to make the best provision for the maintenance CHAP. XXXIII. |