only of a few persons, among whom Queen Mary Anne, Charles' second wife, was the most important. She was a Palatine princess and sisterin-law to the Emperor Leopold, whose ambassador, Count Harrach, was her regular adviser. For some months they struggled hard against the French influence, trying to obtain a recognition of the claims of the Archdukes in Spain. But the King's growing weakness seemed to indicate an approaching crisis. Under these circumstances, when, as one authority tells us, the French gained and the Germans visibly lost ground every day, Queen Mary Anne was prudent enough to make her peace with the French party. Moreover, she had been disappointed of late by the conduct of the Court of Vienna towards herself. The Austrian ambassador had come so seldom to ask for an audience, and the letters of the Emperor had been so dry, that she believed he would not lend her his assistance. Her constant fear was lest, after the King's death, she might be locked up in the convent of Toledo, the usual place of retirement for the royal widows in Spain. She did not believe in the assurances of Count Harrach, that, in case she would lend her aid in bringing one of the Archdukes into Spain, she would really govern and the new monarch would be dependent on her; moreover, she had lost all hope of ever seeing the succession settled on an Austrian prince. On the other hand, she had every reason to set her hopes on Louis XIV. The French

ambassador, and still more his lady, to whom the Queen was much attached, made her the most far-reaching promises. She should continue in her position even after Charles' death; indeed, the question was discussed whether she might not become the Queen of a Bourbon King of Spain, as she had been the consort of a scion of the House of Habsburg. She was additionally confirmed in her French feeling by Louis XIV seeming in return inclined to make concessions concerning certain territorial questions disputed between him and the Queen of Spain's brother, the Elector Palatine John William. In consequence, she was now as much in the French interest as she had before been in the German. Indeed, after these successes of the French policy, one might have expected that immediately after Charles II's death a descendant of Louis XIV would have appeared in Spain and, amidst the applause of the Grandees as well as the common people, ascended the vacant throne. At the same time, however, while his affairs in Spain wore so favourable an aspect, Louis XIV was labouring at a solution of the Spanish question in a wholly different sense. Since the first month of this year, 1698, negotiations were in progress between him and William III, with the purpose of partitioning the Spanish monarchy. From the language held by the Earl of Portland, the favourite Minister of the British monarch, Louis became convinced that a Bourbon Succession in Spain would meet with the opposition not only of Austria, but also of the Maritime Powers. A European war would be the inevitable consequence of any attempt to bring about this Succession. The French King.

382

France and the Bavarian claim

[1698

therefore, began to listen to proposals coming from the British statesmen, aiming at the succession of the young Electoral Prince of Bavaria.

"What!" exclaimed Marshal Tallard, who negotiated with William III by order of Louis XIV, "Spain, India, Italy, the Netherlands all this to fall to a son of the Elector of Bavaria!" But soon afterwards the opposition of France to such a scheme was laid aside. It is not easy to say what were the real motives that induced the King of France to prefer the Bavarian candidature to the succession of one of his grandsons or perhaps we should rather ask, was this really his preference? If the Electoral Prince became King of Spain, as it was proposed by the English, this would in itself be more advantageous to France than the succession of an Archduke, which to Louis was the most disagreeable of all possibilities. In such a solution France, moreover, would find her profit, since it was intended that some parts of the great inheritance should be detached from the main body to enlarge the Austrian as well as the French dominions. While, therefore, Louis' dynasty was interested in the Bourbon Succession, France would gain through the Bavarian andidature. If to this is added the natural wish of the French monarch, when only a few months had passed since the Peace of Ryswyk, to preserve France from a new war, there were reasons enough to incline Louis the plan of a Partition implied in the British proposal.

During six months, from spring to autumn, 1698, French policy seemed to be working at the same time for two different purposes. Harcourt, the ambassador in Spain, tried his utmost and spared no money to bring about the entry of a Bourbon King at the moment of the daily expected catastrophe. In France, England, and Holland, meanwhile, statesmen were endeavouring to find out another expedient by proclaiming the young Joseph Ferdinand heir of Charles II, though not without detaching some portions of the inheritance for the benefit of the other pretenders. One only of these schemes could be realised. Did Louis XIV deceive William III, intending merely to amuse him in order to be the better able to execute his plans in Spain? Or, as some think, were Harcourt's endeavours meant only to make an impression on the Maritime Powers, to give them a high opinion of the influence which France possessed in Spain, of her sympathies with the Spanish people, of the good prospects awaiting her candidate in Spain, in case France should proceed to extremities? No doubt, all this is very probable; and not less probable is it that the splendid military reviews held near the French capital in summer, 1698, in the presence of Portland and Wassenaer, the two intimate friends of William III, the confidants of his policy in England and Holland, were intended to inform the world how rich and powerful France still was after the conclusion of the War; what large resources she possessed — while a great part of the British army had of late been disbanded; how valuable an ally and how for midable an enemy she would be in any future war; and how advisable,

1698] Illness of Charles II.-Harcourt's instructions 383

therefore, it was to make acceptable proposals to the King of France in the treaty to be negotiated.

But if we must allow that of the two different schemes of policy with which Louis XIV was occupied in 1698, only one could in the end be realised, it by no means follows that the King did not take both schemes seriously. He seems to have desired that either way should be left open to him, so that he might choose the one or the other, according to the course of events. If the death of Charles II had occurred in 1698 and the French preparations had been finished, Louis would assuredly not have hesitated to send a Bourbon prince as the new King to Spain, and to defy the Powers and their Partition Treaty. This is exactly what he did afterwards-in 1700.

His

In 1698, indeed, the preparations of his ambassador in Spain had not reached the degree of perfection requisite for success, in case King Charles should die. Louis had therefore to observe the greatest caution. intentions are clearly explained in a letter to Harcourt, written on September 15, 1698, when the negotiation with William III was drawing near to its conclusion. With all goodwill on the side of the Spaniards, Louis finds things not yet ripe to build his entire policy on the future succession of one of his grandsons. For it is only the people that wish it-none of the Grandees, except Cardinal Porto-Carrero, whose timid nature, moreover, does not allow him to give any but general assurances. No force is ready in Spain to support the French claim. Nay, even if the troops of Louis XIV should succeed in entering Spain and in establishing his grandson on the throne, it would still be necessary to take by force the kingdoms of Naples and Sicily, the Indies, Milan, the Netherlands, and the other territories belonging to the monarchy of Spain; or the other Powers would certainly form a league against France still stronger than the last. So King Louis proposes to conclude on special terms a treaty with the King of England. This treaty, however, is not to be published during the lifetime of the present King of Spain. If Charles should die, and if Porto-Carrero and other wellintentioned persons should then ask whether Louis would not send one of his grandsons to Spain, Harcourt was to make answer as follows. All the King of France had hitherto been able to do was to move his troops near the Spanish frontier - which was indeed the principal measure that must precede the sending of the Bourbon prince in personbut now he, the ambassador, had to inform his master what facilities and what assistance his troops would find on their way through Spain; what places of safety would be delivered into their hands; what confidence might be placed in the several viceroys and governors; and that only in reply to such information could his master give him his orders, so that within a few days they might receive the answer desired by them.

This time, however, the sick King survived, and the expected catastrophe in Spain did not happen. This only added to the importance

384

First Treaty of Partition

[1698

of the negotiations between Louis and William; they were protracted through many months, a considerable number of offers and demands being exchanged. All these labours at last terminated in the First Treaty of Partition, signed at the Hague on October 11, 1698. By this Treaty neither France nor Austria, but the Electoral Prince, was declared though not the sole yet the principal heir of the Spanish monarchy. Spain proper, India and the Netherlands, which latter were already under the governorship of the Elector of Bavaria, were assigned to his son, Joseph Ferdinand. The Italian dependencies, however, were detached from Spain proper. The French Dauphin was to receive the kingdoms of Naples and Sicily, the places belonging to Spain along the coast, Tuscany and the marquisate of Finale; together with the Spanish province of Guipuzcoa, contiguous to France. The duchy of Milan was to fall to Archduke Charles, the second son of Leopold. This agreement was, after the exchange of the ratifications, to be communicated to the Emperor and to the Elector of Bavaria, in order to obtain their approbation.

The Treaty of the Hague did not long remain unknown to the Spaniards. Some time since, the Court of Madrid had been alarmed by the familiar intercourse of Tallard with King William, as well as with the foremost Dutch statesman, the Pensionary Heinsius. From Holland, where no political negotiation could be kept secret, news reached Madrid, through different channels, of an intended Partition of the Spanish monarchy. Vehement indignation arose among the Spanish people. They will rather," wrote Stanhope, "deliver themselves up to the French or the devil, so they may go all together, than be dismembered."

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Thus it was as an immediate consequence of the Partition Treatynot, as Ranke says, independently of it-that the idea arose in Spain. of securing a recognition of the rights of the Electoral Prince by the Government, not indeed in the sense of Louis and William, but as a means of transferring the dominions of the Crown of Spain undiminished from Charles II to his successor. Herein lay the fundamental distinction between the two schemes for settling the Spanish question. In a letter from Louis XIV to Harcourt, he clearly explains the difference. He considers that the Electoral Prince, when of age, will not object to the renunciations imposed on him by the Partition Treaty, if this treaty should be the sole source of his right; but that, were he appointed by a royal will, his title would be much stronger, and he might on some future day declare that, during his minority, the Powers had done him injustice, alienating from him part of his inheritance. Harcourt was therefore to do his utmost to prevent a will being made by Charles II

In this attempt, however, he failed. On November 14, 1698, the Spanish monarch assembled his councillors round him in his palace. He said that he had called them together on account of the most considerable matter that could concern the monarchy; that, since his

1698-9] Charles' will in favour of Joseph Ferdinand 385

last fits of illness, he had been advised to dispose of the Succession before his death; which, in consequence, he had done, and so would have them know his last will before God should call him. In the document, then read by his secretary, the King had appointed the Electoral Prince of Bavaria his successor to the Crown, confirming at the same time the testament of Philip IV. In case of a minority of the future King, Queen Mary Anne was to hold the regency together with a Junta of six persons. And, when the King should have become competent to take the government into his own hands, she was to have a fixed income of 800,000 dollars, and liberty to live in any town in Spain that she might prefer. The councillors, after hearing all this, retired without giving an opinion or even making a reply.

This will of Charles II was the counter-stroke of Spain against the policy of the Partition Treaty, an attempt to save the integrity of the monarchy, to deliver it from the danger of being dismembered which threatened it from the agreement between France and the Maritime Powers. Charles had ordered his councillors to keep the secret; but the solemn act performed in the royal palace could not fail to command general attention. A fortnight later, Harcourt was able to send exact details to France; within a few weeks the news had spread through Europe, and everywhere it caused the greatest excitement in the diplomatic world. Those who were ignorant of the contents of the Partition Treaty, as the Ministers of the Emperor still were at that time, were inclined to believe "that this great transaction could not have been accomplished without the previous knowledge and consent of France" the more so since the French Ministers seemed to be well satisfied with the news from Madrid. Others, familiar with the intentions of William and Louis, like Grand Pensionary Heinsius, declared that France would never consent to the will, and that her ambassador in Spain would doubtless hand in a note of protest. Marshal Tallard went so far as to assert that, if this intelligence as to the will should prove true, he was sorry to say that a new war was imminent. In England the public looked with indifference, or even with satisfaction, on the supposed settlement of the great Spanish question, being delivered from the fear that a French prince might succeed in Spain, and glad not to be disturbed in their trade with that country and its colonies.

Who can say whether by the succession of the Electoral Prince, had it taken place in one form or another, a general war would really have been avoided? In Austria at least, there was little inclination to submit either to the Partition Treaty or to the will of Charles II. But now an unexpected event happened. The young Joseph Ferdinand suddenly died (February 5, 1699). The cause of his death was officially said to have been small-pox; but reports were spread and the Elector himself seemed to believe in them effect that some sinister design had ended the life of his son.

C. M. H. V.

to the

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