From the earliest ages to the middle of the  fifteenth century, Spain was divided into different sovereignties, and more or less subjected to a foreign dominion. The natives were successively conquered by the Carthaginians, the Romans, the Goths, and the Saracens or Moors; and successively incorporated with their different conquerors expelled the gothic sovereigns from the finest provinces of the peninsula, and gradually established the kingdoms of Cordova, Seville, Toledo, and Grenada. They were distinguished in arts and sciences, in arms, industry, and personal accomplishments; and finally, in every advantage or acquirement which can grace individuals, or give power and splendour to a nation. But separated into different sovereignties, independent and jealous of each other, they soon became a prey to all the evils of divided rule. Intestine wars, treasons, and assassinations, filled their country with feuds and carnage. The Christians, who had chiefly retired to the mountains, of Galicia, Asturias, and Biscay, profited by the divisions of their enemies. They emerged from their fastnesses, overspread Castile and Aragon, conquered Toledo, Cordova, Seville, Valencia, and Murcia; and finally confined the Moors to the single territory of Grenada.

The rising greatness of the Christian power was however checked by the rival interests of the different monarchs, and the successive dismemberments of their states; till the first foundation of future grandeur was laid in the union of Aragon and Catalonia, by the marriage of Petronella, daughter and heiress of Ramiro the second, with Raymond Berenger, count of Barcelona; and of Leon and Castile, in the person of Ferdinand the third.

In the fifteenth century, Spain was divided into four kingdoms, three Christian, and one moorish.

1. Castile, comprising the provinces of Old and New Castile, Leon, Galicia, the Asturias, Murcia, and Andalusia, with the lordship of Biscay, and its dependencies.

 2. Aragon, comprising Aragon proper, Catalonia with Roussillon and Cerdagne; Valencia, Murcia, and the Balearic Isles: to these possessions was added the island of Sicily.

3. Navarre, containing Upper and Lower Navarre.

4. The Moorish kingdom of Grenada.

Towards the close of the fifteenth century, Castile and Aragon were united by the marriage of Ferdinand and Isabella; and the union of these two crowns forms the most distinguished epoch in the annals of Spain. Under their able reign, the reduction of Grenada extinguished the last remnant of the moorish empire. The conquest of Upper Navarre from the family of Albret filled up the chasm between Aragon and Biscay, and extended their dominions to the foot of the Pyrenees. To his hereditary possession of Sicily, Ferdinand also joined the kingdom of  Naples and finally, the discovery of America opened a new and vast cared to Spanish ambition and enterprise.

At the same period, when the present political system began to attain consistency, the principal powers of Europe were, the sovereigns of Spain, under the two heads of Castile and Aragon, Austria, the House of Burgundy, and England. Portugal, also, from her extensive trade and maritime discoveries, the abilities of her sovereigns, and her local situation, was rising to a higher degree of importance, than her insulated position and scanty territories seemed to promise. From the advantages likewise of local situation, military spirit, or commercial resources, the Swiss, the dukes of Savoy and Milan, the republics of Genoa, Florence, and Venice, obtained a considerable share of public consideration and political influence; while the union of the spiritual and temporal power occasionally rendered die popes the arbiters of christendom.

The systematic policy and vigorous administration of Louis the eleventh, joined to the compactness, position, and internal resources of France, gave him important advantages over each of the contemporary sovereigns, whose territories bordered on his own. Hence, though he was occasionally favoured by all, y.et generally suspicion or apprehension produced a tacit or express combination of two or more states against him. These political connections led to intermarriages between different princely families, which tended to a greater union of power under one head. Among these, the most remarkable were, that of Maximilian archduke of Austria, with Mary the heiress of Burgundy, and afterwards that of his son the archduke sect. i. Philip with Joanna the heiress at Castile and Aragon, which transferred the Spanish dominions to the House of Austria. The sovereigns of France found means to balance these unions by similar accessions of territory and influence, particularly by the appropriation of Burgundy and Picardy, on the death of Charles the bold; the acquisition of Britanny by the successive marriages of Charles the eighth, and Louis the twelfth, with the heiress Anne; and the incorporation of different royal fiefs, or petty sovereignties, with the domains of the crown.

Such marriages and reunions brought the principal rival powers of France, Austria, and Spain, into a closer contact; while their hostilities were rendered more vigorous by their jarring pretensions to the territories of Navarre, Roussillon, and other countries on the side of the Pyrenees, their disputes for the possession of the two Sicilies and the Milanese, and their claims on different portions of the Burgundian inheritance.

The death of Isabella in 1504, and the struggle for the regency of Castile between her husband Ferdinand, and their son-in-law Philip, occasioned a temporary connection between Aragon and France. But this accidental schism ceased on the death of Philip. Ferdinand, on his appointment to the regency for his grandson Charles, recurred to that system of policy which had originally led to the matrimonial connection between Austria and Spain.

Such was the situation of the contending parties, when the death of Ferdinand, in 1516, left the succession of Spain open to the archduke Charles, who had already inherited the territories of the House of Burgundy; and as apparent heir to those of Austria, aspired to the throne of the empire, which soon afterwards became vacant by Jhe death of his grand-father Maximilian. To obviate the contests attendant on divided rule, as well as to relieve himself from the embarrassments of a distant government, Charles, after his elevation to the imperial throne, relinquished his share of the austrian succession to his brother Ferdinand. The austrian family was thus divided into the two branches of Spain and Germany, and the power of the latter was soon increased by the acquisition of the crowns of Hungary and Bohemia. To prevent the future alienation of these extensive possessions, the two brothers concluded various compacts for the mutual succession of their respective territories, should the male issue of either become extinct; and their example was repeatedly imitated by their descendants.

The Burgundian inheritance, thus united with Spain, was consolidated or enlarged by purchase sor conquest, till it formed that rich and extensive territory, distinguished under the name of the Seventeen United Provinces of the Netherlands, with Artois and Franche Comte. The permanent acquisition of the Milanese, which was at length effected by Charles the fifth, in favour of his son Philip, contributed to establish a connection between the different portions of this extensive monarchy. In America also, the conquest of Peru and Mexico became a vast addition to the Spanish colonies discovered under Ferdinand and. Isabella; and opened new and abundant sources of wealth to the mother country.

Philip the second, in 1556, succeeding his father Charles, the crown of the empire was transferred to the german branch; but the acquisition of Portugal united the whole Peninsula under his sceptre, and to the treasures of the western, added those of the eastern world. At the same time the discovery and settlement of the Philippine Isles completed the chain of communication which embraced the whole circumference of the globe, and realised the proud boast that the sun never set in the dominions of Spain.

The successive aggrandisements of the austrian house were watched with jealousy, and strenuously opposed by other powers, particularly by the rival sovereigns of France. For a long period, Europe beheld these mighty monarchies, developing all the force of arms, and all the arts of intrigue; enlisting in their respective causes political and religious feuds, public and private enmities ; and in the struggle for superiority, not only involving the bordering provinces of France, Spain, Germany, and Italy; but convulsing the distant regions pf the north, Poland, Hungary, and Bohemia, and even the remote frontiers of the turkish empire.

During the reigns of Charles V and Philip II, the different treaties and engagements, which mark the temporary intervals of the conflict, evince that their strength and resources were nearly balanced. For although the increase of the Spanish conquests in America, and the incorporation of Portugal, appeared to open inexhaustible sources of riches and power; yet the vast and disjointed extension of the monarchy was a principle of weakness; the sudden influx of wealth produced a detrimental effect on the habits and morals of the people; while the aversion of the natives to a Spanish yoke, rendered the acquisition of Portugal rather an embarrassment than an advantage.

But that auspicious fortune which had fostered the Spanish monarchy in its rapid and gigantic growth, ceased to favour it when arrived at maturity. Extensive, multiplied, and frequently. unfortunate enterprises, wasted its strength without; while within, its foundations were sapped by the abuse of authority, and the diffusion of new principles both in religion and policy. The events which first inclined the balance in favour of France, were the internal troubles excited in the Spanish dominions, by the despotism and bigotry of Philip the second; die rebellion which terminated in the independence of the seven united provinces; the destruction of the invincible Armada, and the unsuccessful hostilities with England.

In the midst of this long career of rivalry, the incessant efforts of the austrian princes to cement the union of their families, and secure the reciprocal succession to their respective dominions, had been no less sedulously opposed by France, than their projects of conquest and aggrandisement. In the pursuit of this object, the address and good fortune of the french repeatedly triumphed over the inveterate hostility of the rival house; and by dextrously availing themselves of times and circumstances, they succeeded in forming frequent marriages between the two families of France and Spain. Philip the second espoused Isabella, a princess of France; a double match was also concluded between the infanta, Anne, daughter of Philip the third, and LouiB the thirteenth, and between Isabella, sister of the french monarch, and the prince of Asturias, afterwards Philip the fourth. To obviate, however, the mischiefs likely to ensue from these occasional aberrations of policy, the austrian sovereigns endeavoured to guard and fortify their respective pretensions to the family inheritance, by renunciations, compacts, and treaties.

These marriages and arrangements formed only temporary suspensions of hostility. In 1619, the long and eventful contest of the thirty year’s war commenced. The Spanish monarchy, already weakened by past disasters, was shaken to its foundations. Exactions rendered necessary by the diminished resources of the government, joined with the abuses inseparable from delegated power, excited civil troubles: the progress of its decline was marked by a rebellion in Catalonia; by the temporary insurrection which rendered a simple fisherman master of Naples; and by the revolution which placed the family of Braganza on the throne of Portugal. The event of this direful conflict was the degradation of the austrian house in both its branches; and the partial accomplishment of those extensive designs which France had long meditated against the remnant of the burgundian inheritance, and even against Spain itself. The peace of Westphalia in 1649, opened passages into Germany and Italy, reduced the empire to an aristocracy; and destroyed the union of the germanic body, by the establishment of a religious and political schism.

But even after the emperor Ferdinand the third had been forced to withdraw from the contest, and to submit to the reduction of his power and influence, Philip the fourth was induced to continue the war, from the consciousness of past greatness, the hope of drawing advantage from the civil discords which arose in France during the minority of Louis the fourteenth, and above all, from an unwillingness to give his eldest daughter in marriage to the french monarch, which was exacted as the price of peace. During this interval, he not only resolved to affiance his daughter to the archduke Leopold; but having become a widower, he cemented his connection with the german branch, by espousing Mary Anne, daughter of Ferdinand the third. At length, his increasing embarrassments; the loss of Jamaica and Dunkirk, wrested from him by the successful hostility of Cromwell, the birth of a son, Philip Prospero; and another pregnancy of his queen, induced him to accept the proposals of France. Accordingly, preliminaries were signed at Paris, Nov. 7, 1659, and a treaty of peace arranged by the two prime ministers of France and Spain, Cardinal Mazarin and Don Louis de Haro, in the isle of Pheasants, A small islet in the river Bidassoa, which divides the two kingdoms. This celebrated act, which has been termed the treaty of the Pyrenees, sowed the germ of future wars, and produced to France no less important advantages on the side of the Peninsula and Flanders, than the peace e£ Westphalia had produced to Austria on that of the empire. To France, Spain ceded Roussillon with part of Conflans and Cerdagne, of Flanders and Hainault, and all Artois, except the towns and districts of St. Omer and Aire. The pretensions of France to Navarre were reserved; Dunkirk and Jamaica were yielded to England; and the duke of Loraine, the last remaining ally of Spain, was reduced to dependance, by dismantling the fortifications of Nancy, and by the compulsory cession of Moyenvic and Bur. Finally, the king of Spain consented to give in marriage his eldest daughter, Maria Theresa, to Louis the fourteenth; but under the express condition that she should, for herself and issue, renounce all right to her paternal inheritance. In return, the king of France restored all his conquests in the Netherlands, Italy and Catalonia, and agreed not to assist the Portuguese.

Accordingly, the signature of the treaty was followed by the celebration of die marriage, June 2, 1660, before which the infanta renounced for herself and her posterity all right and title to every part of the Spanish dominions, in the strongest terms which ingenuity could devise. Her renunciation was afterwards ratified with equal solemnity, by Louis the fourteenth, for himself and his heirs, and confirmed by the cortes then assembled at Madrid. The french court, however, made a mockery of such engagements; and the well-known observation of Mazarin to the plenipotentiaries employed in negotiating the treaty, shews at once the most shameless perfidy, and the ultimate object of this connection : “Let the match be concluded, and no renunciation can prevent the king from pretending to the succession of Spain”.

As little did the french monarch respect his engagements not to interfere in the affairs of Portugal, the hope of which had been one of the principal inducements with Philip to conclude this disadvantageous treaty. On the contrary, the most glaring prevarication was employed to justify the active support afforded to the Portuguese : their resistance was successfully employed to exhaust the remaining strength of the Spanish monarchy, and to prepare the way for that system of aggression and usurpation, which was shortly to be exhibited, to the terror and indignation of Europe.

The remainder of Philip’s reign was ineffectually spent in attempting the recovery of Portugal. At the same time he evinced his unceasing solicitude to secure the eventual succession of his dominions in his family. As the deaths of his different children in their youth, particularly of Philip Prospero, and the tender age and sickly constitution of his only surviving son Charles, afforded but faint hopes of a male succession, he affianced Margaret, his eldest daughter by his second wife, to the emperor Leopold, with the hope of counteracting the effects which he apprehended from his compulsory connection with France.

In the midst of these designs, Philip the fourth closed his troubled reign, on the 17th of September 1665, in the 60th year of his age, leaving the regency in the hands of his widow, and, according to the forms of the Spanish constitution, appointing a council of the principal officers of state, to assist her with their deliberative voice.

1665—1697

THE death of Philip the fourth was highly detrimental to his country. He left an only son, Charles the second, a sickly infant, in the fourth year of his age, under the regency of the queen mother, a princess inordinately fond of power, but without the abilities to obviate the evils or avert the dangers of a declining monarchy.

The queen placed her whole confidence in father Nitard, her confessor, a german jesuit of obscure birth, whose most distinguished quality was a supple and intriguing spirit. He was raised to the important post of grand inquisitor, which gave him a place in the council of regency, constituted a counsellor of state, and intrusted with the sole direction of affairs. Dazzled with his elevation, he offended the castilian nobles, by assuming the austerity and haughtiness of a Ximenes; while he proved himself unequal to the task of governing a great and turbulent nation, exhausted by past reverses, and engaged in an unfortunate contest with Portugal, recently one of its own conquered provinces. The general discontent excited no less by his personal vanity, than by the imbecility of his administration, was fomented by the intrigues of Don John, natural son of the deceased monarch, who, in his father’s reign, had distinguished himself as a statesman and a soldier, was respected by the nobles, adored by the people, and hailed by the general voice, as the only person capable of sustaining a sinking monarchy, and vindicating the rights of a minor king.

Foreign aggression aggravated the evils of a weak and unpopular government, assailed by internal cabals. Almost at the moment when the marriage between Leopold and the infanta was solemnized, as the means of cementing the union of the austrian house, and forming an additional barrier against the ambition of France, Louis the fourteenth profited by the embarrassments of the Spanish court, to grasp a part of the succession which he had so solemnly renounced. Under the flimsy pretext of a local custom in one of the provinces called the right of devolution, he claimed a large portion of the Netherlands, in the name of his wife. While he supported his pretensions by arms, he added insult to injustice, by notifying to the queen regent his intention of taking possession of what had been usurped from his consort, but disclaiming any design to break the recent peace. He rapidly overran a country unprepared for defence; in less than three months reduced the line of fortresses between the channel and the Scheldt; and before the close of the winter added Franche Comté to his conquests. At the same time, he increased the domestic troubles and dangers of the Spanish government, by changing his secret connections with Portugal into an open and offensive alliance. .

The invasion of the Netherlands awakened the maritime powers to a sense of the danger with which they were threatened by the recent aggrandisement of France. As a barrier against her encroachments, the triple alliance was concluded between England, Holland, and Sweden in 1667. Too weak, however, and too divided in interests, to repel the unjust pretensions of Louis by a vigorous resistance, they sacrificed a part of these important territories, to save the remainder. Assuming the character of mediators, they offered terms of peace, to which they avowed their resolution of extorting the consent both of France and Spain, by joining that power which should refuse to acquiesce. However mortified by their interposition, Louis bent to circumstances, with the hope of dividing and baffling the combination; and Spain was reduced to the necessity of submitting to new dismemberments.

By the peace of Aix la Chapelle, Spain indeed recovered Franche Comte, but lost the fortresses of Charleroy, Binche, Ath, Douay, Tournay, Oudenard, Lille, Armentieres, Courtrai, Bergue, and Furnes; cessions which gave to the french monarch the command of the Lys and the Scheldt, opened a dangerous breach into the center of the Spanish Netherlands, and led to their subjugation in the subsequent wars. The invasion of the Low Countries, joined with the pressure of internal distress, compelled the Spanish government to acknowledge the independence of Portugal, and thus to reconcile an enemy, who had called all their forces from their other frontiers and distant possessions,

These disadvantageous treaties, though the necessary consequence of internal weakness, and the want of foreign support, roused such general indignation, that Don John found little difficulty in driving the unpopular minister from power. During the aggression of France, he had been nominated to the government of the Netherlands, and was on the point of embarking at Coruna, when he received information that Don Joseph Malladas, one of his confidential adherents, had been arrested and put to death. He profited by the sensation which this violent and cruel act excited. Instead of continuing his journey, he returned towards Madrid; but received an order from the queen to retire to his Seat at Consuegra, and not to approach within twenty leagues of the capital. He increased his own popularity by obeying the order, and by a bold remonstrance against the upstart favourite.

The rashness of the minister increased with the rising resentment of the nation. He not only arrested Don Bernard Patiflo, brother to the first secretary of Don John, but sent a detachment of troops to seize the prince himself. This imprudent violence accelerated the crisis. Don John, informed of the arrest of Patiño, quitted Consuegra, and repaired to Aragon, where he was hailed as the deliverer of the nation. Conscious that his own popularity would secure him support in Castile, he advanced towards the capital, ait the head of seven hundred men, and, arriving at Torrejon, demanded the immediate dismission of the confessor. The event justified his expectations. His cause found partizans even in the councils; and the queen endeavouring to place the capital in a state of defence, the inhabitants tumultuously assembled before the palace, exclaiming, “Deliver us from the jesuit; dismiss the jesuit, or the city will be abandoned to pillage!”

In an agony of indignation and despair, the queen threw herself on the ground, and bewailed her situation. “Alas; alas!” she cried, “what does it avail me to be a queen and regent, if I am deprived of this good man, who is my only consolation? The meanest individual is permitted to choose a confessor; yet I am the only persecuted person in the kingdom. I alone am deprived of my spiritual guide!” Despair and lamentation were alike unavailing. After a short negotiation, conducted by the agency of the papal nuncio, she was compelled to dismiss her favourite; and he was fortunate in being permitted to escape from Madrid, without falling a sacrifice to party vengeance, or popular fury. In February 1669, he retired to Rome, where the favour of his royal mistress offered him the title of ambassador, and the dignity of cardinal. In justice, however, to the memory of the disgraced minister, we ought to observe, that he gave an unusual example of disinterestedness. He declined the pecuniary assistance offered by different individuals, and preferred, to use his own expression, quitting Spain a poor priest, as he entered it. He reluctantly accepted two thousand pistoles given by his royal mistress for his journey to Rome, and an augmentation to a pension of two thousand crowns; but he refused the proffered embassy.

The reluctance of the queen to admit Don John to a share in the government, giving rise to new troubles; the commotions which took place in different quarters, appeared the harbingers of civil war. At length, a compromise was again effected by the interference of the nuncio. Don John was reinstated in the government of the Netherlands, but without the obligation to quit Spain; and to remove him from the court, he was appointed viceroy of Aragon and Catalonia.

The exile of Nitard, however, only led to the choice of a new favourite, Don Fernando de Valenzuela, a gentleman of Grenada, who bad accompanied the duke of Infantado, Spanish embassador to Rome, as a page, and on his return was recompensed with the order of St. Jago. His noble patron dying without granting him. a permanent provision, he was reduced to great distress, and gained a scanty subsistence by writing verses, and composing several comedies, which were not without merit. Being presented to Nitard, he acquired his good graces by great versatility of genius, suppleness of manners, and the zeal with which he executed several commissions of great importance. He was intrusted with various state secrets, and employed as a spy on the conduct of Don John and his partisans.

His intercourse with the court enabled him to gain the affections of Donna Eugenia, a lady of the queen’s household, who enjoyed the favour of her royal mistress. By espousing her, he made himself known to the queen, obtained the post of equerry, and increased his interest by his address in tracing the intrigues against Nitard. On the dismission of the confessor, he became the sole depositary of the royal confidence, and when the first alarm had subsided, was summoned into the presence of the queen. In two interviews, at which his wife assisted, to avoid scandal his lively conversation, agreeable manners, and graceful person, improved those favourable sentiments, which his zeal and fidelity had first inspired. By his means, the queen was apprised, of all the secret machinations which agitated the city and the court; and as her state of retirement appeared to preclude her from the knowledge of such intelligence, it became the common remark, that she was favoured by the communications of a familiar spirit.

This familiar spirit was soon found to be Valenzuela. He was immediately courted as the distributor of royal favours, directed the puppets of administration, rose by rapid steps to the highest employments, and became no less absolute, and no less hated than father Nitard. He was appointed master of the horse, raised to the rank of a grandee of the first class, with the title of marquis, and finally declared prime minister.

Valenzuela, though a man of lively parts and extensive knowledge, yet possessed not the character and acquirements necessary for his delicate situation. In vain he courted popularity by splendid works, public diversions, and acts of liberality. His humble birth, youth, and rapid rise, exposed him to the attacks of envy and jealousy. By puerile vanity, he at once increased his own unpopularity, and drew on the character of his royal mistress the most scandalous imputations. He made an ostentatious display of his high favour, affected the airs of a successful lover as well as of a public minister; and it did not escape notice, that his usual device in tournaments, was an eagle gazing at the sun, with the motto “Tengo solo licencia”

At this juncture, Charles the second attained the age of fifteen, which had been fixed us his majority, and testified his intention to confide the government to Don John. The tears and entreaties of the queen appeared to prevail over the weak and indecisive mind of a youth; but in the midst of the confidence inspired by this partial triumph, the enemies of the minister repeated their attack with a decisive effect. In the night of January the 11th, 1677, the young monarch escaped from his apartment in the old palace, where he was held in a species of honourable captivity, and took refuge in the Buen Retiro. Don John being instantly recalled, was appointed to the office of prime minister, and the queen imprisoned in a convent at Toledo.

Valenzuela at first baffled the vigilance of his persecutors. After taking a short and affectionate leave of his royal mistress, he retired to the monastery of the Escurial, where he was concealed behind a pannel of the wainscot, in the cell of a monk, in whose fidelity he confided. The whole monastery was repeatedly, though ineffectually searched, by the emissaries of government. But the health of Valenzuela being affected by the closeness of his confinement, he was blooded by the surgeon of the convent, under the most solemn obligations to secrecy. The surgeon, however, betrayed him; the pannel was taken down, and the unfortunate minister was discovered in a sound sleep, with his fire arms and sword by his side. After an imprisonment of some months, without being permitted to have the slightest communication with his wife and children, who were confined in the prison of Talavera, be was banished to the Philippine Islands.

Don John assumed the reins of government, amidst the exultation of a people by whom he was regarded as their deliverer; who looked with confidence to bis talents and virtues, matured by experience, and meliorated by misfortune. But he was not tardy in discovering, that it is far easier to awaken than to gratify public expectation; that the transition from popular favour to popular odium is short and rapid. With diminished resources, from the very first moment of his elevation to the government, he had to contend with the same powerful enemy, who had repeatedly shaken the castilian throne.

Ever anxious to appropriate the valuable remnant of the Burgundian inheritance, Louis the fourteenth had scarcely signed the peace of Aix la Chapelle, before he turned his attacks against the United Provinces, who had taken so active a share in opposing his late aggression, and whose territory formed a point of union for the powers confederated against him. He gained England, renewed his connection with Sweden, secured the support of the german princes on the Rhine, and commenced hostilities by expelling the duke of Loraine, who was collecting an auxiliary force for the assistance of the States. At this juncture, the Spanish government gave a solitary proof of their pristine vigour and magnanimity, by rejecting the insidious overtures of France, and concluding, in January 1672, a defensive alliance with the republic. This arrangement was followed by the transport of reinforcements into the Netherlands. But the promptitude, vigour, and advantageous situation of the french monarch baffled the tardy combinations of two powers, so distant from each other, and so ill adapted to coalesce. In April, France and England denounced hostilities against Holland at the same sect. n. moment. Before the dose of the campaign, the french army penetrated to the very neighbourhood of Amsterdam; and to preserve their independence, the dutch were reduced to the last and desperate expedient of breaking down the dikes, and inundating the country.

So unprovoked and successful an irruption awakened general alarm and indignation. A revolution took place in the United Provinces ; the ruling party, which had attached itself to France, was driven from power, and William prince of Orange, at the early age of eighteen, was called by the voice of his country, to secure that independence which his ancestors had won. The Austrian court appealed to arms, and in September 1672 a new alliance cemented the union between the emperor, Spain, and the United Provinces. The effect of this combination was rapid and decisive. Louis was reduced to abandon most of his conquests, with the same celerity as they were made. In 1674, he was deserted by England, as well as by many of his german allies, and threatened by the forces of the empire. With his usual promptitude and decision, he again turned even failure to advantage. During the campaigns of 1674 and 1675, he overran Franche Comte, induced the swiss to shut the passages from Italy into Germany against the Spaniards, and baffled the attempts of the austrians to regain their footing beyond the Rhine. While an attack from his allies, the swedes, diverted the forces of the elector of Brandenburg, he directed his most vigorous efforts against the Netherlands ; and having defeated the dutch and Spaniards, extended his conquests by the capture of the principal fortresses which covered those provinces. He distracted the attention of the. Spaniards by incursions into Catalonia, and by fomenting insurrections among a turbulent people, ever ripe for revolt.

Profiting by that disunion which is the effect of ill success, and of a protracted contest, Louis succeeded in luring Holland into a separate peace, which was concluded at Nimeguen, in August 1678, under the mediation of England. He restored his conquests from the United Provinces, on the condition of being permitted to retain Franche Comté; and in return for the surrender of some of the minor fortresses acquired by the peace of Aix la Chapelle, he obtained new cessions which consolidated the extension of his frontier from the channel to the Sambre. Thus, deserted, Spain had no other resource than to take advantage of an; article which stipulated for her accession within six weeks. The emperor was soon afterwards in the exchange of Philipsburg for Fribourg in the Brisgau, which contributed still further to establish the power of France on the Rhine.

The influence which France now began to acquire in the court of Spain, was marked by the marriage of the young king with Maria Louisa, daughter of the duke of Orleans, brother of Louis the fourteenth. A match had. been already arranged, and the contract even signed, with an austrian princess; but. Don John, dreading lest such a connection should give new weight to the queen dowager, profited by the accommodation to form this alliance with the royal family of. France. It was hastily negotiated by the Spanish plenipotentiary in his return from the congress at Nimeguen, celebrated in October 1679, at Quintanapalla, and in the commencement of the ensuing year the new queen made her solemn entry into Madrid.

Don John, however, did not live to witness the solemnization of the nuptials. Like his predecessor, he drew on himself the resentment of a high spirited people, by the humiliating terms to which he was constrained to submit. Embarrassed by the disorders in the government and hated for his rigorous treatment of the queen dowager, he rendered himself obnoxious to all parties, by the banishment of many nobles who had shewn their attachment to her cause. Dreading also the machinations of A host of enemies, he alienated his young sovereign, by keeping him in a state of undue restraint. Lastly, the treaty of marriage with a french princess, completed the series of his political delinquencies, in the eyes of a people, who from character and principles, were hostile to the very name of France.

He saw, with alarm, the powerful combination which was forming against him; he found the favour of the king gradually withdrawn, and the queen dowager courted by his enemies. Although he had braved dangers, and supported disgrace, he wanted magnanimity to renounce power, and relinquish a post which he could no longer maintain. Oppressed with chagrin and disappointment, he brooded over his dangers and difficulties. His health was gradually affected; he was seized with a lingering, but incurable disorder, and on the 17th of September, 1679, sunk into the grave, in the fiftieth year of his age, and the second of his troubled administration.

With Don John expired the genius of the austrian dynasty. A species of dissolution took place in the government, which hastened the decline of the monarchy. The queen dowager was recalled, but becoming timid, from past disgrace, did not at first venture to resume an active part in the administration of affairs. The king, too weak and inexperienced to govern alone, was abandoned to the guidance of a cabal, formed by his confessor; the duchess of Torranueva, camerara mayor to the young queen, an old lady of imperious character, and a zealous antigallican; and d’Eguya, who performed the functions, without the title, of secretary of state. The latter, by a supple and insinuating behaviour, had risen from the situation of a petty clerk, to the height of favour. Profiting by his access to the royal presence, he persuaded the king not to nominate a prime minister, and obtained the sole direction of affairs; but being devoid of talents, and accustomed only to the routine of office, his influence aggravated the public disorders, and occasioned an almost total suspension in the machine of government. Every department became a scene of confusion; the dispatches and papers submitted to the council remained unanswered; those referred to the king were seldom returned, and a total  lethargy in every branch of administration set the seal to the national calamities.

At length, a dread of public indignation vanquished the ill-judged ambition of this minion, and induced him to relieve himself from the responsibility of office. To secure his own power, he directed the choice of the king to the duke of Medina Celi, whose principal merits were his high birth and conciliating character, but whose constitutional indolence and want of experience rendered him likely to submit to the guidance of another hand. Medina Celi, however, feeling his own want of experience, and jealous of d’Eguya, brought forward other coadjutors, and endeavoured to lessen his difficulties, by committing the deliberations of state to juntas, formed for the occasion, of persons distinguished in the administration, or possessing influence with the monarch. Among these we find a species of financial committee, consisting of the presidents of Castile and finance, the royal confessor, a dominican monk, and a jesuit, who possessed the confidence of the king in spiritual concerns. From such a motley ministry, emanated numerous plans, equally specious and impracticable : the public distress was aggravated, and the labours of such mock statesmen exposed the government to contempt and ridicule. Nothing could exceed the disorders of the country at this sect. ii. melancholy period. Sudden changes in the value of the currency suspended circulation, and ruined public confidence; scarcity and dearth followed the fluctuations of the coin. The people, to use the proverbial expression of the nation, were reduced to subsist on the beams of the sun; and earthquakes, hurricanes, and inundations, swelled the deplorable catalogue of human miseries. While want and calamity oppressed the provinces, cabals and factions divided the court. The king, incapable of business, and a prey to a hypochondriac malady, which bordered on insanity, was distracted by the contending animosities of the queen mother and queen consort, and divided between his love for his wife and that rooted resentment which he felt for the multiplied insults of the french monarch. In this struggle of contending interests, d’Eguya bore a distinguished part, and contributed to aggravate the embarrassments of the government. Dissatisfied with the attempt of Medina Celi to free himself from control, he caballed against him with the confessor, and the duchess of Torranueva; he next excited the jealousy of one party against the other, and of the king against all. Finally, with the hope of preventing the formation of a more efficient ministry, he joined Medina Celi in procuring the disgrace of the confessor, and the dismission of the duchess, whose imperious temper had disgusted the queen consort.

After a contest too long for the public welfare, the voice of the nation, supported by the representations of the nobles, and the influence of the queen dowager, drove Medina Celi from the helm. A new administration was formed, under the count of Oropesa, a young nobleman, whose talents and conciliating qualities bore the fairest promise. He reformed abuses in the administration, and issued new financial regulations, more just and practicable than those of his predecessor. But amidst the rapid succession of foreign troubles and domestic wants, the royal revenue was absorbed as fast as it flowed in: according to the expression of a native writer, the american treasures, once the great resource of the monarchy, were like a drop of water, which aggravated instead of quenching a raging thirst.

The death of the queen consort in 1690, and the subsequent marriage of the widowed monarch with an austrian princess, concluded at the instigation of the queen dowager, became a new source of discord. Oropesa, although respected by the king, was disgraced, and his place supplied by the young count of Melgar, afterwards admiral of Castile, who was handsome and gallant, and better fitted to manage a court intrigue, than to govern a kingdom. Like preceding ministers, he soon found it necessary to provide against the threatened hostilities of France; and carried to a still further extent than Oropesa the suspension of pensions, the reform of offices, the imposition of vexatious taxes, and the demand of free gifts

In 1696 the death of the queen dowager, who had survived her credit, produced no other effect, than to strengthen the influence of the queen consort. Public distress, and the difficulty of finding resources for the necessities of government, produced a coalition between Oropesa and Melgar. Oropesa was made president of Castile; and the two rival statesmen suspended their animosities, to remedy the internal disorders, and avert the foreign dangers which threatened the downfall of the monarchy.

The helpless situation of Spain, and the apathy or timidity of other powers, encouraged the french monarch to proceed in his career of spoliation and incroachment. Profiting by the contradictory stipulations, which had been introduced into the preceding treaties, he adopted a new system, and continued his dismemberments under the guise of peace, with still more success than in time of war. He established tribunals or chambers of reunion, at Brisac for Alsace; at Metz for the three bishoprics, and at Besançon for Franche Comté. The object of these tribunals was to reunite to the territories before acquired by France, not merely single places, or inconsiderable districts, but even whole principalities and provinces, which, according to tradition or record, had ever been attached to the ceded countries. Among other territories, he wrested from the empire the city and district of Strasburg; the town and part of the bishopric of Spire ; Sponheim and Montbeillard; Deux Ponts, Saarburgh, Weldentz, and numerous districts of inferior importance. From Spain, he extorted Courtray, Dixmude, Alost, and Luxemburg. He claimed the county of Chinay, under pretexts too frivolous to be recapitulated, and even attempted to appropriate Navarre by force.

His power, resources, and past successes, awed the other states of Europe. After a fruitless attempt to form a combination against this new species of aggression, the parties aggrieved found it necessary to submit to a compromise. By the truce of twenty years, concluded at Ratisbon with the emperor and Spain, in 1684, the french monarch was enabled to consolidate a part of his recent usurpations. He retained Luxemburg, Beaumont, Bouvines, and Chinay, with their dependencies; and by extending his frontier from the Sambre to the Moselle, united his dismemberments of the Spanish inheritance with those wrested from Austria and the empire. From the empire, he obtained the cession of Strasburg and Kohl, and of all the reunions decreed by the chambers of Metz, Brisac, and Besançon, before the 1st of August, 1681, with the full rights of sovereignty.

These progressive incroachments, which, under the insidious name of peace, threatened little less than universal subjection, excited alarm and indignation in every quarter of Europe. The petty states within the grasp of french ambition looked to the greater powers for support; while the greater powers themselves felt that open, vigorous, and common resistance, could alone secure their safety. For some time, the disgraceful dependence to which England was reduced under the reigns of the two last Stuarts, prevented that general combination which was competent to resist so overwhelming a force. In 1686, the league of Augsburg prepared the way for the glorious Revolution, which secured the liberties and religion of England, and became the foundation of the grand alliance. The object of this extensive combination was to put a period to the aggressions and tyranny of the french monarch, and to prevent him from realising the design of appropriating the Spanish succession.

These combinations were the signal of hostilities; and for the first time since France became predominant, she was reduced to depend on her own strength and resources. But in this, as in other instances, it was too soon proved, that a powerful and compact monarchy, in a Commanding position, with a government of sufficient energy .to call forth all the resources of the people, with the most numerous and best constituted army in Europe, led on by the ablest generals of the age, is enabled to combat with advantage against an extensive combination of nations, differing in interests, harassed with internal troubles, and forming a vast and heterogeneous body, incapable of acting on one common plan. Favoured by these advantages, the french monarch succeeded in baffling the first and most dangerous attack. Keeping the powers united on the side of the Netherlands and Germany at bay, he directed his principal efforts against Italy and Spain; while he overran the territories of Savoy, he poured his forces into Navarre and Catalonia, reduced Barcelona, and rapidly extended his conquests towards the Ebro.

At length the different states began to sink under the evils of protracted war; and the first impulse of resentment having subsided, each consulted its hopes, its interests,, or its fears. The duke of Savoy, robbed of his territories, and lured with the prospect of an alliance with the royal family of France, in 1696, set the example of defection, which became a signal for the dissolution of the grand alliance. Suspicion and alarm spreading through the confederacy, Louis proposed terms which appeared moderate, contrasted with his former pretensions, and obtained a ready attention from the maritime powers and Spain. Accordingly a formal separation took place among the allies, and a peace was concluded at Ryswick. Louis conciliated William the third, by acknowledging the protestant succession, and engaging not to assist his enemies; and the dutch, by agreeing to restore his conquests, to renew their commercial privileges, and to accede to the formation of a barrier for their security on the side of the Netherlands. To the surprise and satisfaction of the Spanish nation, he not only relinquished his recent conquests, but even a part of the dismemberments which he had been permitted to retain by the treaty of Ratisbon. In the midst of the joy inspired by this relief from the burthens of war, the great principle of the alliance, to secure the succession of Spain in the House of Austria, was overlooked; and the emperor Leopold, after a short and fruitless opposition, was compelled to accede to the peace, without the slightest allusion to the claims of his family.

During these contests abroad, various revolutions had agitated the court of Madrid. The temporary advantage, which France derived from the elevation of a bourbon princess to the throne, had been lost by her death; and the austrian party had regained the ascendancy by the marriage between Charles and Eleonora, princess of Neuburgh, sister of the empress. Other changes had ensued in the administration. Oropesa, though restored after a temporary disgrace, had been compelled to bend to the superior influence of the count of Melgar; and Melgar himself had seen new candidates arise for power, in the dukes of Sessa and Infantado, and in the count of Monterrey. But his most dangerous competitor was cardinal Portocarrero, who after filling the office of embassador at Rome, had been elevated to the archiepiscopal see of Toledo, and to the advantages of high birth, and extensive influence in his order, united great energy of character,. with the arts of intrigue, which had been called into action and matured in so celebrated a school as the court of Rome. Lastly, at this momentous period, a fatal change took place in the health of the king. His constitution, naturally weak, and his mind, naturally feeble, sunk under the attacks of a tertian fever: his life for a considerable time was in danger; and the four last years of his reign were embittered with sufferings which rendered his existence a continued.

 

1692-1700.

 

FROM infancy to manhood the whole life of Charles the Second had been chequered with mortifications and calamities. Engaged in repeated and unsuccessful struggles against a superior power, with allies who had rendered the interests of Spain subservient to their own advantage, he had seen his provinces ravaged or dismembered, his army and navy mouldering away, his country reduced to a deplorable state of penury and weakness. But these trials, however severe, were only the prelude to still heavier afflictions.

Pining under a lingering and hopeless malady, without hope of issue, domineered by an imperious consort whom he did not love, and treated like an infant by the austrian embassador; Charles became the sport of the contending parties who agitated his court, and was reduced to witness the unfeeling attempts of foreign states to parcel out and appropriate his dominions. Lastly, the frail remnant of a life divided between care and sorrow was embittered by the prospect of the future evils which threatened his devoted country, and the apprehension that his succession would be wrested from his own family, to which he was affectionately attached, to give splendour to the rival house of Bourbon.

As the succession to the crown of Spain had long attracted the attention, and excited the alarms of Europe, the treaty of Ryswick was followed by those negotiations and intrigues, which the near prospect of so important an object could not fail to produce.

The principal claimants were the dauphin, the electoral prince of Bavaria, and the emperor Leopold.

The pretensions of the dauphin were founded on the rights of his mother, the infanta Maria Theresa, as eldest daughter of Philip the fourth, although she had renounced all claims to the succession, and although that renunciation had been ratified by the Cortes and confirmed by the testament of her father, which were all the formalities required by the law of Spain to give it validity.

The emperor Leopold founded his claims, first, on his descent from Philip and Johanna of Castile; and, secondly, on the rights of his mother, Mary Ann, daughter of Philip the third. A To obviate the jealousy which the European powers might conceive at the union of the whole austrian possessions and dignities on one head, he and his eldest son Joseph relinquished their pretensions in favour of his second son the archduke Charles.

The rights of the bavarian prince were derived from those of his mother, the only daughter of the infanta Margaret by the emperor Leopold; and notwithstanding a renunciation had been extorted on her marriage, yet as it had neither been confirmed by the king of Spain, or ratified by the Cortes, he might be justly considered as the legitimate heir.

Two other claimants presented themselves: Philip duke of Orleans, in right of his mother the infanta Anne, wife of Louis the thirteenth; and Victor Amadeus, duke of Savoy, as descended from Catherine, second daughter of Philip the second. But these inferior claims were soon lost in the superior power or right of the principal pretenders.

At every period since the solemnization of the marriage between Louis the fourteenth and the infanta, the french court evidently regarded her renunciation as a mere formality, to satisfy the wishes of the Spaniards, and to dissipate the alarm of the european powers at the disclosure of a design to unite the two monarchies. At the very moment of passing this solemn act, Mazarin declared, that in spite of a renunciation, the king might pretend to the succession of the Spanish dominions in right of his wife. In subsequent periods the diplomatic correspondence, and even the public papers which emanated from the french cabinet, invariably asserted the same principle; that no renunciation by a french or Spanish princess could invalidate the rights of her children, or change the law of succession established in both countries.

Under this quibbling distinction, these claims were kept in reserve ; until, as Barillon remarks, “they had accustomed the public to hear of the rights of the dauphin to the crown of Spain; and to regard them as better founded than those which depended on a renunciation filled with nullities.” The jealousies, fears, and petty interests of other powers favoured their designs. The french monarch succeeded in dissolving the grand alliance, without the establishment of the principle which had given it birth; and the succession to the crown of Spain, though likely to become the immediate cause of a new war, was left in the same uncertain state as before the commencement of hostilities.

While the whole attention and means of the french monarch were employed in silently maturing his designs, the marriage of Margaret, sole daughter of Leopold, by the infanta Maria Theresa, with the elector of Bavaria, and the birth of her son, Joseph Ferdinand, in 1692, divided the interests of the austrian family. The claims of the young prince being considered as prior to those of Leopold, were consequently supported by the queen mother, and by some members of the cabinet, at the head of whom was the count of Oropesa, then president of Castile. The whole strength of this party was employed in counteracting the efforts of the queen consort, in favour of an austrian prince.

In this divided state the court of Madrid continued, till the death of the queen mother, and the retreat of Oropesa, gave the ascendancy to the queen consort. To take advantage of this change, the emperor Leopold dispatched Ferdinand Bonaventure count of Harrach, a veteran statesman, to Madrid, as his embassador; with the hope, that if the nomination of an archduke could be secured during the war, he should at least obtain the guaranty of the maritime powers, in favour of his pretensions, on the re-establishment of peace.

The austrian minister found the court divided into two parties. The cause of the archduke was supported by the queen, by cardinal Portocarrero, by the count of Melgar, admiral of Castile, and by a majority of the cabinet, as well as the principal nobles ; that of the bavarian prince, by Oropesa, who, though in retirement, was consulted by the king; by the marquis of Mancera, and a few other ministers. The only person of any consideration who was inclined to the bourbon cause, was the count of Monterrey, head of the council of Flanders, more from aversion to the germans than from devotion to France.

The king himself, if the inclinations of so weak and indecisive a prince can be taken into consideration, was favourable to the bavarian claims; but he continually fluctuated in his wishes, and avoided any conversation on a subject which aggravated his hypochondriac malady, by bringing to his mind the idea of approaching dissolution.

The queen, however, was ill calculated to call action all the advantages of her situation. She was vain, imperious, unsteady, and without talents for business. She was wholly governed by her german adherents, particularly the countess of Berlips, her camerara mayor, a woman of low extraction, and her confessor, father Chiusa, a german jesuit; both of whom considering their residence in Spain as merely temporary, were guilty of the most shameful rapacity. The german partialities of the queen, joined with the venality of her favourites, disgusted a people remarkable for their dislike of foreigners; while the austrian party was weakened by contests between Portocarrero and the admiral for the pre-eminence.

At. length the austrian embassador succeeded in infusing unanimity into this heterogeneous body; and even obtained from the king a promise to nominate the archduke, provided the emperor would send him into Spain with a force of 10,000 men, to assist in repelling the aggression which was apprehended from France. But the exhausted state of Leopold’s finances on one hand, and on the other the fear of exposing his darling son to a dangerous voyage, deterred him from accepting the proposal. He alienated his partisans by demanding the government of the Milanese, which was considered as a proof of bis intention rather to dismember the monarchy, than to secure the object of all true Spaniards, the indivisibility of their empire. These dissensions having prevented any arrangement before the conclusion of the war, Leopold lost the co-operation of the maritime powers, and full scope was opened to the intrigues of France. 

Louis the fourteenth had long watched with anxious attention the state of the Spanish court and nation, and gradually prepared the means of bringing forward a french, or at least of excluding an austrian prince. Hence, in the negotiation for the peace of Ryswick, he displayed great affectation of forbearance, and restored without an equivalent all the conquests which his victorious arms had wrested from Spain. After the conclusion of the peace, he systematically pursued the design of conciliating the king of Spain and his people. At the same time he did not disband his army; but even increased his forces on the frontiers, formed magazines, and filled bis own and the Spanish harbours with ships of War.

To counteract the austrian influence, and secure a party in the country, he sent as his embassador the marquis, afterwards duke of Harcourt, a nobleman whose address and munificence were calculated to win over a high-spirited nation, and to eradicate the prejudices fostered against France. The first and principal  object of his instructions was to procure the nomination of a french prince; but should that . prove impracticable, he was at all events to weaken the austrian interest, by favouring the pretensions of the bavarian house, or even of a Spanish grandee.

Arriving at Madrid, where his entry was distinguished by unusual splendour, Harcourt found the austrian cause predominant. The king himself was anxious to transmit to the archduke his nephew, the crown of his ancestors, had he not been deterred by his dread of France, and the want of decision or power on the part of Leopold. By the influence of the queen, however, no indirect means had been neglected to attain this object. The germans were all-powerful at court; the two principal governments of Catalonia and Milan, which were calculated to favour the introduction of an austrian prince, were confided to the prince of Darmstadt, and the prince of Vaudemont, both germans and in the service of Austria; while the viceroyalty of Naples was filled by the duke of Popoli, who was attached to the same cause. Notwithstanding these advantages, the ill-judged economy, and punctilious stiffness of the austrian embassador, were ill calculated to resist the address, affability, and munificence of Harcourt, who was ably seconded by his wife, a lady of the sect. m. most accomplished and fascinating manners.

Harcourt successfully profited by the divisions of the austrian party. He gained the countess of Berlips, who was offended with Harrach for attempting to check her rapacity and procure her dismission, and he lured Chiusa with the prospect of a cardinal’s hat. By their means he even opened a secret communication with the queen herself; he inflamed her displeasure against Harrach, and rendered her less zealous in the cause of her family, by holding forth the prospect of an union with the dauphin, when she became a widow. He employed the hours of convivial and familiar intercourse, to expose to the grandees the petty intrigues and misconduct of the german cabal, to excite their dissatisfaction against the domineering spirit of Harrach, and to attack the character of the emperor himself. He lavished his attentions on the clergy, and gradually disposed the court and capital towards a more favourable opinion of the House of Bourbon. But the masterpiece of his art was the acquisition of cardinal Portocarrero, who by his birth, station, profession, and personal influence with the king, was competent to give the preponderance to the party which he espoused; and who from jealousy of the admiral, laboured for the ruin of that cause, which he had at first supported, and was not permitted to rule.

The first effect of these intrigues was the departure of Harrach, who finding himself unequal to combat the machinations of bis artful rival, demanded his recal, and quitted the court with a degree of ill humour, which injured the declining interest of his imperial master. His son Louis, who replaced him, was equally haughty and unconciliating, without his talents, experience, and sagacity; and this change of ministers, at so critical a period, greatly contributed to the ascendancy of the Bourbon influence.

At the same time that these secret springs were operating at Madrid, the public conduct of Louis was skilfully adapted to forward his design. While by his warlike preparations he deterred the emperor from adopting any decisive measure, he kept in reserve the claims of his family; and took advantage of the internal embarrassments of the maritime powers, and their solicitude to prevent the renewal of war. He conciliated William the third, by appearing to abandon the interests of the pretender^ He adroitly avoided any engagement with the members of the grand alliance collectively; but by an affected disinterestedness with regard to the pretensions of the dauphin, and an appearance of zeal for the preservation of peace, he drew the british monarch into an engagement which was at once calculated to irritate the emperor, and to alarm the Spaniards with the apprehension of a dismemberment. This was the first treaty of partition, which originated during the conferences for the conclusion of peace, by the proposal of Torci to the earl of Portland, and was arranged between France and the two maritime powers. Spain and the Indies, with the Netherlands, were assigned to the electoral prince of Bavaria ; Milan to the archduke Charles ; to the dauphin, Naples and Sicily, with the marquisate of Finale, and the province of Guipuscoa. Should the electoral prince die after his accession, without issue, the Spanish crown was to be transferred to his father; if the bavarian and austrian families should refuse to accede, the allies were to unite in attacking theta, and afterwards regulate to whom their respective portions should belong. The treaty was to be kept secret, and William engaged to demand the consent of the emperor.

By this arrangement, Louis succeeded in. separating the maritime powers from Austria, and in virtually forcing them to supersede his own renunciation, as well as that of the electress of Bavaria; while he prepared the way for opposing the claims of the bavarian, to those of the austrian family. The elector of Bavaria, who had hitherto been attached to Austria, was won over by an engagement, which opened so flattering a prospect to his ambition ; and there is little doubt that the elevation of his son to the throne of Spain was to be repaid by the cession of the Netherlands to France.

The emperor was highly indignant at the attempt to set aside the claims of his family, in return for the cession of the Milanese, which escheated to the empire on the death of Charles; and by the unjust entail of the Spanish crown on the elector of Bavaria. He accordingly refused to accede to a treaty so dishonourable to himself, and so derogatory to his rights.

The contents of this treaty excited the strongest sensation in the Spanish court and nation, who resented the attempt of foreign states to dispose of their monarchy. Louis profited by this sentiment to turn the indignation of the Spaniards against the maritime powers, whom he secretly depicted as its principal movers. The effect of this policy did not disappoint his expectations. His warlike preparations deterred the king from naming an austrian successor, and left no alternative but the choice of the bavarian dr bourbon prince. As it would have defeated his whole scheme to have extorted a premature decision in favour of his own family, he contented himself with excluding the most dangerous rival, and made no direct attempt to influence the mind of Charles, who was thus provoked to nominate a successor. A reference being made to the most sect. hi. learned jurists and casuists, both in Spain and Italy, they justly approved the claims of the bavarian prince. A will was accordingly drawn up in his favour, with the connivance of the french adherents; but to retain a plausible pretext for eventually thwarting the disposition, Louis made a formal protest against such arrangements as might prejudice the rights of his family. With the approbation of Portocarrero, Harcourt presented this protest, in the form of a memorial, to the king, and it was disseminated throughout Spain with the utmost activity.

This measure was scarcely effected, before the untimely death of the bavarian prince on the 8th of February 1699, frustrated the disposition of the Spanish monarch, and gave a new and more embarrassing aspect to the question of the succession; for the scale was now to preponderate 1 either in favour of Austria or France. But at this important crisis, Louis developed consummate address, and his views were ably seconded by his creature Portocarrero.

Accordingly, the contest between the bourbon and austrian parties revived with double violence. The queen displayed new zeal in the cause of the archduke; Oropesa followed her example, the admiral resumed his activity, the inquisitor general, Don Balthazar Mendoza, joined this new combination; and above all, the confessor father Froylan Diaz, though raised to his post by Portocarrero, refused to imitate the defection of his patron. To awe the partisans of France, a body of foreign troops, under the command of the prince of Darmstadt, was drawn to the vicinity of Madrid.

Difficult as it appeared to break so powerful a party, the disappointed ambition of Portocarrero stimulated him to new efforts; and his station, address, and influence, furnished the means of obtaining success. The hypochondriac king was persuaded, that his malady was the effect of sorcery; and malicious reports were actively circulated, inculpating the queen, the admiral, and Oropesa. The authority of Portocarrero, united with that of the grand inquisitor, induced the confessor to have recourse to the ceremony of exorcism. The dreadful expressions used on this awful occasion increased the weakness of a diseased mind, and the king sunk into a state of alarming despondency. Still, however, brooding over the apprehension of sorcery, he was persuaded to consult a woman of Cangas in the Asturias, who was supposed to be under the influence of a demon, and the credulous confessor suffered himself to be charged with the dangerous commission.

The planners of the design were too adroit to be disappointed in the result of the appeal. The sorceress replied; that the king was affected by witchcraft; and named various persons as guilty of the crime; while the queen; irritated by this new imprudence of the confessor; even joined her opponents in procuring his dismission. He was succeeded by father Nicholas Torres; whose principles were so doubtful; that he is described as an adherent to both parties.

During this transaction, Portocarrero had retired to his see; but at the secret instances of Harcourt; was recalled by the king. At this moment a new plot was carried into execution by the bourbon adherents. The regular supply of provisions to the capital; which were furnished by monopoly; suddenly failed. The licentious and starving populace were roused into tumult; and their indignation was pointed against the admiral and Oropesa; as the authors of their misery. Crowds repaired to the royal palace; with clamorous demands of relief; and threats of vengeance. The king being unwilling to expose himself to a furious multitude; the queen herself appeared in the balcony; and endeavoured to still the commotion; by declaring; “that the king was sleeping.” A deep and ominous voice burst from the crowd: “He has slept too long; it is time he should be awakened to the miseries of his people.” The tumult increased, and, it was vain to reason or remonstrate. The wretched monarch was brought forward, trembling, pale, and agitated. In his name, and in his presence, satisfaction was promised to the people, and the disgrace of the admiral and Oropesa was announced. The mob withdrew from the palace, and turned their fury against the mansions of the obnoxious ministers, who, with difficulty, escaped in disguise. Plunder and devastation only served to inflame their rage; and alarming execrations burst forth against the queen and her confessor. In vain the corregidor, Don Francisco Ronquillo, rode into the crowd with a crucifix in his hand, endeavouring to soothe the commotion; in vain the holy sacrament was exposed by the monks of Santo Domingo. All efforts were fruitless, till the approach of a military force extorted that respect from the insurgents which was denied to the symbols of religion; and as the night approached, they gradually dispersed themselves through the streets and allies of the city.

The danger being averted, the council of Castile made an effort in favour of their president and the admiral; but their appeal was counteracted by the representations of Portocarrero, and the dread of a new tumult. The admiral and Oropesa were banished from the capital; the office of president of Castile confided to Don Manuel Arias, a creature of the cardinal; the german troops were discharged, and the prince of Darmstadt retired to his government of Catalonia. The austrian partisans were thus driven from court, and the whole power was left in the hands of Portocarrero and his adherents.

The infirm monarch quitted the capital for the Escurial, in April 1700, to escape from the persecution of those who importuned him to nominate his successor; and to soothe his agitated mind, after the troubled scene to which he had been dragged, a reluctant spectator. In this retreat, he appeared to regain strength and spirits, and hopes were even entertained of his recovery. But the restless curiosity natural to disease, induced him to recur to a superstitious custom common in Spain, which had been resorted to by his father. He descended into the vault of the Pantheon, to visit the corpses of his deceased relatives, trusting that the intercession of their departed spirits would arrest the progress of his malady. The coffin of his mother being opened, the spectacle made little impression; but the body of his first wife appeared with few marks of dissolution, and with a countenance scarcely less blooming than when alive. The sight of features once tenderly beloved, and now triumphant over death, struck him with horror. He recoiled from the view, exclaiming, “I shall soon be with her in Heaven!” and hurried from the vault. The effect of this terrible emotion on a weak frame was deep and irremediable. His morbid imagination continually brooded over the idea of dissolution, and he was haunted with the apprehension that the blooming appearance of his departed queen portended his own speedy decease.

After this fatal experiment, his sensitive mind could no longer find repose at the Escurial. He hurried to Aranjuez; and having in vain endeavoured to dissipate the melancholy impression by exercise and diversion, returned in June to the capital, in a still more deplorable state than before his departure. The presence of the king at Madrid, and the power committed to the cardinal, furnished new means to diminish the austrian influence, and to mature, in conjunction with France, the scheme for transferring the Spanish throne to a bourbon prince. At this period also, the queen was attacked in the persons of her adherents; and the countess of Berlips and the Confessor were driven from Spain.

Meanwhile the intrigues and anxiety of foreign powers to interfere in the arrangement of the Spanish succession, contributed to aggravate the disorder of the infirm monarch, and to promote the designs of the bourbon partisans. On the death of the bavarian prince, negotiations were instantly renewed for a new arrangement; the arts of Louis again prevailed; and he had the sect. m. address to obtain the consent of William and the dutch to a second treaty of partition.

Spain, the Netherlands and the Indies, were assigned to the archduke Charles, as universal heir, with the exception of the cessions reserved for other powers. The dauphin, in return for the sacrifice of his pretensions, was to have Naples and Sicily, the states of the Presidii, and the province of Guipuscoa. To these were to be added, if the consent of the duke could be obtained, the duchies of Loraine and Bar, in exchange for the Milanese. The emperor and his eldest son were to renounce their pretensions to the Spanish succession in favour of the archduke Charles; and means were to be adopted to prevent the future union of the Spanish and imperial crowns on one head. Should the duke of Loraine refuse to acquiesce in this arrangement, Milan was assigned to the elector of Bavaria, the duchy of Luxemburg, with the county of Chinay, to France; or Milan was to be transferred to the duke of Savoy, and France to receive Nice, the Barcelonette, and the duchy of Savoy, with the kingdom of Upper Navarre. The term of three months was left for the emperor to announce his acquiescence; and if necessary, the archduke was to be prevented by force from entering Spain or the Italian dominions, till after the death of Charles. The three contracting parties were to employ their offices in obtaining the accession of other powers.

The terms of this treaty sufficiently shew the helpless state to which William and the United Provinces were reduced. It was a virtual exclusion of an austrian prince, to prevent the archduke from repairing to Spain till the succession became actually vacant; while the treaty itself afforded the king of France a pretext for increasing his military and naval force on the frontier of Spain and the Low Countries, under the plausible pretence of charging himself with the whole burthen of its execution.

But it was in Spain in particular that it produced the most decisive effect. The first hint of the negotiation, which was immediately divulged, roused the resentment of Charles, and induced him to make the warmest remonstrances in every court of Europe, against this indecorous interference. He did not spare his expostulations with the court of France; but in England and Holland, his ministers assumed a language unusual in diplomatic intercourse, and he vehemently appealed to the british nation and parliament against a measure, which was stigmatised as an infamous breach of good faith on the part of their sovereign.

However just this representation, and however cogent the motive, no sovereign could tolerate sect. iii. such language against his person and government: William, though with regret, ordered the Spanish minister to quit his dominions in eighteen days. At the same time the states refused to accept the memorial of the Spanish minister, or to acknowledge him in a public character. The consequence of these measures was the dismission of Mr. Stanhope, the british minister in Spain; and all amicable communication was cut off with the maritime powers. Louis and his partisans were therefore enabled to pursue their machinations at Madrid with redoubled effect.

The different courts of Europe appeared inclined to temporise, and wait the event. But the emperor being encouraged by the secret assurances of Charles, and the expectation that his son would be nominated sole heir, deferred his consent to the treaty under various pretences, and asserted the rights of his family to the entire succession.

Meanwhile, Madrid became the scene of a violent struggle between the contending parties. Portocarrero and his adherents, acting in concert with the french embassador, turned to their advantage the sentiment of indignation excited by the recent treaty of partition. While the austrian party was discouraged and diminished  by the timidity of the queen and the banishment of Oropesa and the admiral, that of France was rapidly increased by the accession of the principal grandees, among whom we particularly distinguish the marquis of Villafranca, the count of St. Estevan, and the duke of Medina Sidonia. They inflamed the resentment of the king and nation against the maritime powers, as the principal authors of this insulting partition; they represented the king of France as drawn into the engagement from a consciousness that the claims of the dauphin were likely to be passed over ; they dwelt on the weakness of Austria when deserted by England and Holland, Exaggerated the power of France, and gradually brought into public view the validity e of the dauphin’s pretensions.

When they had made the intended impression, and the claims of a bourbon prince became the general theme of discourse, they proceeded to more decisive measures, with a view to overrule the remaining reluctance of the king. A select number of the bourbon partisans, Portocarrero, Villena, St. Estevan, Medina Sidonia, and Villagarcias, met at the house of Portocarrero, to arrange their plan of operations. On this occasion, Villena suggested the argument, afterwards employed to elude the renunciation of the Spanish infanta, by urging that the intention was solely to prevent the union of the two crowns on one head, and consequently if this objection were obviated, her descendants ought to enjoy the priority of right. He charged himself with submitting the proposal to the council of state, while Portocarrero was to exert his influence in obtaining the approbation of the king.

At this interesting crisis, Harcourt, either to divert the public attention, or to be ready on the frontier to direct the movements of the army, in concert with his partisans at Madrid, left the nominal agency of France to Blecourt, but the real negotiation in the hands of Portocarrero. He then repaired to the south of France, and assumed the command of the army.

The machinations of the french partisans again roused the queen, and she was instigated and directed by the counsels of Oropesa and the admiral. At the same moment the court of Vienna resumed its activity. Leopold offered 60,000 men to defend the Italian dominions, and his embassador turned against the french partisans their own argument, that the king of France had bound himself by the most solemn engagements to dismember the succession; that he had expressed his resolution to accept no will in favour of his family, and consequently that the indivisibility and independence of the mo* narchy rested solely on the House of Austria.

Such representations made a deep impression on the mind of Charles, who was habitually attached to his family. A tacit permission was given to receive the imperial troops in the Italian dominions, and assurances were conveyed to Vienna that the archduke would he nominated universal heir.

At this time, Portocarrero employed all the powers of his sacred office. He attacked the conscience of the king; ventured gradually to develope the claims of the House of Bourbon; and alarmed the weak and terrified monarch with the threat of eternal punishment, should he neglect to appoint a successor, or violate the Tights of the lawful heir. To decide on so high and delicate a matter, he prevailed on him to consult the most profound jurists, as well as the principal grandees and counsellors of state. Accordingly the jarring claims of the two rival houses were submitted to the most learned lawyers of Spain and Italy, who unanimously decided in favour of the House of Bourbon, provided means were adopted to prevent the union of the two crowns. Charles, still struggling between his superstitious fears and affection for his family, war advised by Portocarrero to recur to the pope, as the common father of christendom, and the safest counsellor in a matter of such difficulty. The effect of this appeal was well foreseen, from the inveterate jealousy fostered by Innocent the twelfth against the House of Austria.

The resolution being taken, Charles selected for this delicate mission the duke of Uzeda, one of his household, a nobleman possessing his entire confidence. He said, one morning, “Duke of Uzeda, it is my intention to send you to Rome, in quality of embassador”. The duke endeavouring to decline an appointment which would remove him from the royal presence and service, the king continued, “You know I have no children, and may shortly die. Have you not held me thrice as dead in your arms ? Lastly, do you not perceive that, for the tranquillity of my subjects, and the whole monarchy, I should think of choosing a successor? It is for this great work, for which I am answerable to God and to the world, that I would consult the pope ; and as it is necessary to keep the design secret, I have chosen you to serve me in so important a mission.” He concluded with a remark which showed the impression made by the representations of the french partizans. “Though partial,” he added; “to my own family, my future salvation is dearer to me than the ties of blood!” The duke was accordingly charged with the opinions of the jurists, and a letter to the pope.

“Having no children, and being obliged to appoint an heir to the Spanish crowns from a foreign family, we find such great obscurity in the law of succession, and in the circumstances of the ease, that we are unable to come to a settled determination. Strict justice is our only aim, and to enable us to decide with that justice, we have constantly besought the Supreme Being to. direct us in the present exigency. Anxious to act rightly, we have recourse to your holiness, as to an infallible guide. We intreat you to consult on this important affair with the cardinals and divines, whom you judge most sincere and able; and after having attentively examined the testaments of our predecessors, from Ferdinand the catholic to Philip the fourth; the decrees of the Cortes, the renunciations of the infantas Mary Anne and Maria Theresa, the marriage compacts, cessions, and all the acts of the austrian princes, from Philip the handsome to the present time, to decide by the rules of equity and justice, As to ourself, we are not guided either by love or hatred, and we only wait for the opinion of your holiness to regulate our conduct”

On receiving this application, the pope affected some reluctance to assume the decision of so delicate a matter; but at length referred  the documents to the cardinals Albano, Spinola and Spada, all of whom were attached to France. After deliberating forty days, the decision was such as might have been anticipated. That the king of Spain was bound in conscience to entail his succession on the duke of Anjou or the duke of Berri, the younger sons of the dauphin, provided proper precautions were taken against the union of the two crowns. Innocent dispatched this report, with a letter calculated to influence the devout mind of Charles.

“Being,” he observed,“ myself in a situation similar to that of your majesty, on the point of appearing at the tribunal of Christ, and of rendering an account to my sovereign pastor of the flock which has been entrusted to my care, it is no less my duty to give such advice as will not be a matter of reproach to my conscience at the day of judgment. Your majesty should reflect that you ought not to put the interests of the House of Austria in competition with those l, of eternity, and with that dreadful account of your actions which you must soon give before the King of kings, who admits no excuse, and is no respecter of persons. You cannot be ignorant that the children of the dauphin are the rightful heirs of the crown; and that in opposition to them, neither the archduke, nor any member of the House of Austria, has the smallest legitimate pretension. In proportion to the importance of the succession, the more crying will be the injustice of excluding the, rightful heirs, and the more will you draw on your devoted head the vengeance of Heaven. It is therefore incumbent on you to omit no precaution which your wisdom can suggest, to render justice where justice is due, and to secure, as fir as lies in your power, the undivided inheritance of the Spanish monarchy to a son of the dauphin.”

Even the sacred authority of the pontiff could not wholly silence the yearning of Charles towards his family. After privately consulting several of the grandees, he submitted the question to the council of Castile. Arias, the president, and the creature of Portocarrero, presented a report coinciding with the decision from Rome, and the same sentiments were re-echoed from all the public authorities. But the influence of the queen was now exerted with redoubled effect. She secretly promoted a reconciliation with the maritime powers, to whom she naturally looked as the firmest support of an austrian prince. The usual intercourse between the different courts was renewed; and at her instigation military preparations were made in Spain, to give weight to the expected bequest of her husband.

The french party were not idle. In September, Louis issued a memorial, arguing, that the adoption of the partition treaty was the only expedient to maintain the public tranquillity, and threatening to prevent by force the passage of the imperial troops into any part of the Spanish dominions. By this well timed menace, Charles was thrown into all his former perplexity. His affection for his family was lost in his superior regard for the welfare of his people; add he became apprehensive lest the french king, instead of accepting a will in favour of a bourbon prince, should pursue the design of dismembering the monarchy, according to the recent treaty of partition. He proposed this doubt to Louis, by means of his embassador at Paris, and a similar question was put to Blecourt, at Madrid, by the duke of Medina Sidonia, in the name of the grandees in the french interest. Nothing, it was added, but a positive assurance on this point could induce them to recommend the nomination of a bourbon prince.

In the situation in which Louis then stood, and interested as he was to cajole the maritime powers, it was impossible to give a public and positive answer. There can, however, be little doubt that he privately signified his intention to accept the bequest, although Torcy disingenuously glosses over this important point without acquainting us with the reply.

At length the question was finally referred to the council of state., the highest deliberative body of the monarchy. The members present were, Portocarrero, Mancera, del Fresno, Villa Franca, Medina Sidonia, Fuensalida, Montijo, and Frigiliana. The three first produced each a memorial, containing an argument nearly the same in substance. “The kingdom, almost destroyed by the rigours of fortune, requires to be restored. It will be dangerous to defer the choice of a successor; because, if in the present circumstances, the king should die, every prince will grasp a portion of the monarchy, whose strength will thus be exhausted in civil wars, by the natural hatred which the Arragonese, the Catalans, and the Valencians, bear to the Castilians; and the majesty and splendour of a throne so august, will be overwhelmed by tyranny and ambition. Nor is it sufficient to nominate an heir, if he who is chosen be not in a state to support the weighty machine of so great an empire. It is necessary that he should possess rights, lest usurpation should draw on misfortunes; and lest power, without right, should be confounded with tyranny. In so great a number of evils, divine Providence leaves us only the choice of a single remedy. This remedy is in the House of Bourbon, so powerful and so fortunate, and possessing such incontestable pretensions to the succession; by employing any other, the monarchy will be destroyed, and become a province of France. We should, therefore, speedily name, as heir to the crown, the duke of Anjou, second son to the dauphin, with the condition that at no future time the two sceptres be united in the same hand. Under this new king, our faded glory will shine forth with new lustre, not only because we shall cease to have a formidable enemy, but shall gain a powerful protector”.

Two voices alone were opposed to the prevailing sentiment. The counts of Fuensalida and Frigiliana urged the necessity of appealing to the national Cortes, as the only legitimate body, competent to decide this important question; but their opinion was overruled, and the report was presented to the king by Portocarrero. Still, however, the court and capital were divided into parties, and their clamorous disputes were heard even in the anti-chamber of the sick monarch.

Pressed on one side by the french, and importuned on the other by the queen and austrian partisans, the debilitated frame of Charles sunk under the struggle of contending passions, and a crisis in his disorder announced his approaching dissolution. With a view still further to stimulate his tender conscience, Portocarrero exposed to him his awful situation on the verge of eternity; and persuaded him to receive the spiritual counsels of the most pious divines, to assist his devotions and prepare him to die with resignation. In the midst of those lugubrious ceremonies with which the catholic church appals the minds of the dying, these divines represented the danger of his soul should he not dispose of his crown by will, and should entail on his country the horrors of civil war. They held forth the vengeance of an offended deity, if he suffered himself to be swayed by mortal love or hatred; if he consulted the affections of that body, which must shortly moulder into dust. The austrians, they urged, were not the relations, nor the bourbons the enemies of his soul; and it was his duty to conform himself to the opinion of the majority of his council, the disinterested advocates of justice, and the organs of the national voice.

This trying scene decided the long pending struggle. Charles dismissed his attendants, and in the presence of Portocarrero and Arias, dictated his final disposition to Ubilla, secretary of the despacho, whom he constituted notary public for the purpose. The testament was speedily drawn up, and on the second of October presented for his signature. It was read, and duly executed; and being attested by Ubilla, was inclosed in a Coyer, which was signed and sealed according to custom, by the great officers of state. At this moment the thought of having disinherited his family, wrung from Charles an affecting testimony of sorrow and regret. He burst into tears, exclaiming as he signed; “ God is the disposer of kingdoms !” and when the ceremony was concluded, he added: “I am already nothing!” Two days afterwards, he added a codicil, confirming the will, and comprising some ulterior dispositions. In consequence of his total incapacity for business, he consigned the reins of government entirely to Portocarrero.

The contents of this testament were carefully concealed from the queen and austrian party, but proper information was the same evening communicated to Blecourt, and by him transmitted to his court through the channel of Harcourt. “M. de Blecourt,” writes Harcourt to Torci, “has sent a courier to inform his majesty that the catholic king has made and signed a codicil, which confirms a will made the third of this month, in favour of a french prince. He was informed of it by the duke of Medina Sidonia, the count of St. Estevan and the duke of Sessa.”

After this information, he entered into a series of reflections relative to the acceptance of the will, and deciding in favour of the acceptance, proceeded to suggest such arrangements as his experience and knowledge of the country enabled him to furnish for securing success.

 “If,” he said, “the will be accepted and the Spaniards are unanimous, the duke of Anjou will be established in as little time as will be requisite for his journey; but the rest of the winter we shall be prepared to see what the allied princes will do. I can, however, scarcely believe, that if they once see the prince established at Madrid, they will venture to expose their commerce and their tranquillity, with the evident certainty of not being able to expel him from Spain. The first movement may be violent; but reflection will appease that anger which will only arise among individuals, and not in states, particularly among different people.”

Harcourt immediately proceeded to Bayonne, to be ready to move at a moment’s notice, with orders to open the dispatches from Madrid, and act according to circumstances. 

During the contest of parties at Madrid, the confident reports prevailing in every quarter that the succession was to be entailed on a french prince, alarmed the maritime powers, and they made strong representations to discover the real intentions of Louis. But he quieted their apprehensions, or at least evaded their importunities. He; however, continued his naval and military preparations, and William and the dutch government, unable to take the requisite precautions against the impending danger waited in awful suspense the approaching crisis.

The contest at Madrid was, however, not yet entirely terminated. A return of momentary ease revived the affection of the king towards his family; the queen and her partisans resuming their efforts, extorted from him a promise to execute a will in favour of the archduke Charles. Messengers were dispatched with the welcome intelligence to Vienna. But it was too late to' carry this design into execution. The change which had revived the hopes of the monarch, was but the temporary and feverish gleam which precedes dissolution. He rapidly declined, and after a short struggle closed his life on the 3d of November, in the thirty-ninth year of his age, and the thirty-seventh of his unfortunate and inglorious reign.

 

 

  HISTORY OF SWEDEN FROM THE VIKING AGE TO 1697