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CHAPTER XLIII.
THE INTRIGUES OF ELIZABETH FARNESE,
1715-1733
THE Peace of
Utrecht had reconciled all the contending Powers in the War of the Spanish
Succession, except the two Sovereigns principally concerned in the dispute. The
questions at issue between Philip V and Charles VI still remained to be settled
by future wars and negotiations. In the military and diplomatic transactions
which ensued, Spain, directed by the will of a youthful and ambitious Queen,
and the counsels of an enterprising Minister, seemed inspired with new vigour, and promised again to take a first rank in the
affairs of Europe.
After the death of
Philip V’s first wife, Louisa of Savoy (February, 1714), a woman of courage and
understanding, the Princess des Ursins, had
assumed for a while the government of the King and Kingdom. But the uxorious temper
of the melancholy, devout, and moral Philip, demanded another consort; and the
Princess resolved to procure for him a Queen of a docile disposition, who would
not contest with her the empire which she exercised over the King. With this
view she consulted Alberoni, who now enjoyed a
considerable share of the royal confidence and favour.
This extraordinary man, the son of a working gardener, and a native of
Piacenza, had been by turns a bell-ringer, an abbé,
the steward of a bishop, the favorite and confidant of the Duke of Vendome, and
lastly, the agent of the Duke of Parma at Madrid. Alberoni recommended Elizabeth Farnese, the niece of his Sovereign, the reigning Duke of
Parma, as the future Queen of Spain. She was, he said, a good Lombard girl,
brought up on the butter and cheese of the country, and accustomed to hear of
nothing in the little Court in which she had been educated but embroidery and
needlework. The consent of Louis XIV was obtained to the union, and, on
September 16th, 1714, not much more than half a year after the death of
Philip’s first wife, his nuptials with the Parmesan Princess were celebrated by
proxy at Parma.
The Princess
des Ursins learned, when it was too late,
the real character of Elizabeth Farnese. She discovered that, instead of a
simple, pliant girl, whom she might easily control, the new Queen possessed a
penetrating mind and a resolute spirit. Alarmed by this intelligence, she had
dispatched a messenger to Parma to prevent the marriage from taking place; but
he arrived on the very morning of the ceremony, and was not admitted to an
audience till it had been concluded. The very first interview with the new
Queen showed the Princess des Ursins how
fatally she had been deceived. Having preceded Philip to a small village beyond Guadalaxara, in order to meet her new mistress in her
capacity of camerara-mayor, she
approached Elizabeth with all the confidence of a favorite, when, to her utter
dismay, the Queen ordered her to be arrested, and, though the weather was cold,
to be conveyed, as she was, in her court dress, to Burgos! Alberoni had procured the order for her arrest from Philip V, at the instance of the
Duke of Parma, and with the consent of Louis XIV.
“A wife and a
hassock”, Alberoni was accustomed to remark, “are all
that the King of Spain needs”. From temperament, it was a necessity for Philip
to be governed; and the function was now principally shared by his Queen and
his Confessor, the Jesuit Daubenton. Alberoni himself soon gained the confidence of the Queen by
his bold and ambitious views. He aimed at restoring Spain to the rank to which
she seemed entitled by her extent, her resources, and the character of her
inhabitants. He pursued the labours commenced
by his predecessor, Orri, for the restoration of
the finances; in which task he was assisted as well by the wholesome
amputations of territory which Spain had experienced, and which curtailed much
needless expenditure, as by the suppression of the privileges of Aragon and
Catalonia. Several plans occupied the imagination of Alberoni and his Sovereign, when the finances should have been reestablished, and the
naval and military forces of the kingdom restored to their ancient vigour. As the throne of Spain was to descend to Philip V’s
son by his first wife, Elizabeth wished to secure for her own children the
Duchies of Parma and Tuscany, as well as the reversion to the throne of France,
in case of the death of Louis XV, a sickly boy of fifteen years. To effect this
latter object it would be necessary to deprive the Duke of Orleans of the
French Regency, and to change the order of succession in Great Britain in favour of the Pretender; in a word, to overthrow the
Treaty of Utrecht. But before entering upon so adventurous a policy, Alberoni demanded five years of peace; and, therefore,
after the death of Louis XIV, in opposition to the counsels of Cardinal
del Giudice, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, he made advances to Great
Britain and Holland. On December 15th, 1715, a Commercial Treaty was concluded
with England on terms very favourable to
this kingdom.
The exhausted
state of France and the enormous debt contracted by the late wars also rendered
peace necessary to that country, where the Regency had been seized by Louis
XIV’s nephew, Philip Duke of Orleans. Louis had by his will appointed a Council
of Regency, of which, indeed, the Duke of Orleans was to be the nominal chief,
but with a preponderating voice only in case opinions were divided; and as the
Duke of Maine, Louis’s natural but legitimatized son, had, by the same
instrument, been entrusted with the guardianship of the young King, a general expectation
had prevailed that he would dispute the Regency with the Duke of Orleans. But
Maine had not the qualities requisite for such an enterprise; while the Duke of
Orleans, though a voluptuary, could rouse himself when occasion called, and
especially in matters which concerned his own interest. He resolved to seize
the Regency by means of the Parliament of Paris. Accompanied by the Princes of
the Blood, the legitimatized Princes, and the Dukes and Peers, he proceeded, on
the morning after Louis XIV’s death, to the Palais, where the
Parliament was assembled, and was received by that body with respect. In his
address to them he insisted on his right to the Regency, both by his birth and
by the wishes of the late King, verbally expressed to him. He protested that it
was his intention to relieve the people of their burdens, to re-establish the
finances, to preserve the peace, to restore unity and tranquillity in
the Church; above all, he flattered the Parliament by demanding beforehand “the
wise admonitions of that august assembly”. When he had thus predisposed the
mind of the Parliament in his favour, the will
of Louis XIV was read amid a silence of disapprobation. Philip then protested
against an act which, he said, had been extorted from the late King; he silenced
the attempted remonstrances of the Duke of Maine, and the Parliament
proclaimed him Regent by acclamation. He was also invested with the
guardianship of the young King, and with the command of the forces; in short,
he was entrusted with an almost absolute power, and the testament of Louis, as,
indeed, that Sovereign had anticipated, was entirely set aside.
The state of
France, as we have said, rendered two objects of paramount necessity—to keep
the peace, that is, to observe the Treaty of Utrecht, and to restore the
finances. With regard to this last subject, it will suffice to remark that the
chief feature of the Regent’s financial administration was his adoption of the
schemes of the adventurer Law; the establishment of a national bank for the issue
of paper money, and the erection of the gigantic commercial monopoly of the
Mississippi Company, the shares in which were to be purchased with the notes of
the bank. The sudden prosperity of this scheme, the gambling frenzy which it
created in the nation, the bursting of the bubble, and the utter ruin of the
credulous shareholders, found a counterpart in the South Sea Scheme in England,
which was excited by the Mississippi speculation and ended with a similar
result.
The foreign policy
of the Regent reversed that pursued by Louis XIV during his later years. The
connection between France and Spain, established at the expense of
so much blood policy, and treasure by Louis XIV, was at once severed by his
death. The relationship between the ruling families, instead of a bond of
union, proved a source of discord, and served only to embitter the political
disputes between the two countries.
At first, however,
the policy of the Duke of Orleans seemed undecided. As Spain had approached
George I, so the Regent appeared inclined to adopt the cause of the Pretender.
He, at all events, permitted James, who had been residing in Lorraine since the
Peace, to traverse France in order to embark at Dunkirk for his descent on
Scotland in December, 1715. The result of that abortive enterprise is well
known. After its failure the Pretender retired to Avignon. Both Philip V and
the Regent, however, soon began to appreciate better their true interests and
position. Part of their policy, may, perhaps, be justly ascribed to personal
dislike. Philip V had conceived a perfect hatred for his cousin, and firmly
believed all the crimes which rumour imputed
to him. He had formed the design of claiming the Regency of France on the death
of Louis XIV; but when the moment arrived, he could not summon courage to cross
the Pyrenees.
As Philip V was
governed by Alberoni, so the Regent was guided by
the Abbé Dubois, who had been his preceptor. The rise of Dubois was
almost as extraordinary as that of the Spanish Minister. He was the son of an
apothecary at Brives-la-Graillarde,
a small town in the Limousin, and was born
September 6th, 1656. Sent to Paris by his parents at the early age of twelve,
and almost abandoned to his own resources, he was only too happy to obtain the
means of studying at the College St. Michael, or Pompadour, by becoming the
servant of the principal. After completing his studies and serving as tutor in
several families, he at length obtained a preceptorship in that of
the Marquis de Pluvant, master of the wardrobe
to Monsieur, the Duke of Orleans, brother of Louis XIV. Here he formed the
acquaintance of M. de St. Laurent, tutor to Monsieur’s son, the Duke of
Chartres, afterwards the Regent; and finding thus an introduction to the
Orleans family, with whom he contrived to ingratiate himself, he was, on the
death of St. Laurent, appointed to succeed to his office. Under Dubois’ care
the natural abilities of the young Duke of Chartres were developed with a
rapidity which delighted the Court. Whilst serving in this capacity Dubois
gained the favour of Louis XIV by bringing
about a match between the Duke of Chartres and the King’s natural but
legitimatized daughter, Mdlle. de Blois, in spite of the opposition of the
Duchess of Orleans. In reward for this service Louis gave him the Abbey of St.
Justin Picardy, and subsequently permitted him to join the embassy of
Marshal Tallard at London.
On the death
of Monsieur, in 1701, Dubois, with the modest title of secretary,
became in fact the intimate adviser of his former pupil, the new Duke of
Orleans. He had accompanied the Duke in his first campaign under Marshal
Luxembourg, and was present at the battle of Steinkerque (1692),
where he displayed all the courage and coolness of a professional soldier. But
when in 1707 the Duke proceeded to Spain to take command of the army, the
Princess des Ursins, who dreaded Dubois’
intriguing spirit, caused him to be excluded from the Prince’s suite. The
elevation of the Duke of Orleans to the Regency inspired Dubois with the hope
of realizing all his most ambitious dreams. One thing, however, stood in his
way. His character was so notorious for dissoluteness and utter want of principle,
that even the Regent himself, who knew his abilities hesitated to make him a
Minister. But an appeal to their long friendship touched the Regent’s heart,
and he named him Counsellor of State. Such was the man who was to
direct for some time the policy of France, and play a leading part in the
affairs of Europe.
Dubois took a
rapid and correct view of the state of Europe, in the interest of his master.
This interest was twofold : to assure the possession of the Regency, and to
secure the French throne in the line of Orleans, instead of that of Philip V,
in case of the death of Louis XV. To accomplish this an alliance was to be made
with England; the interest of that country in excluding the King of Spain from
the French Succession being identical with that of the Regent. George I had
need of such an alliance. France was the only Power which could lend any
material aid to the Pretender, the so-called James III; while, on the other
hand, without the aid of England, Philip V stood no chance of prevailing against
the Duke of Orleans. The policy of the French and English alliance was thus
founded principally on views of family interest; but this interest for the
moment coincided with that of all Europe, for which peace was a necessity.
THE TRIPLE
ALLIANCE, 1717.
The return of the
Whigs to power on the accession of George I had drawn closer the relations
between England and the Dutch Republic. Holland was become almost a satellite
of Great Britain, to which she looked for the maintenance of her barrier. The
ancient alliance between the two countries was renewed in (February 17th) 1716,
by which former treaties were confirmed. George I, with an eye to his
newly-acquired Duchies of Bremen and Verden, had also
concluded a defensive alliance with the Emperor, Charles VI, called the Treaty
of Westminster (May 25th). On the other hand, the Whigs, as well as George I
himself, had always loudly expressed their dissatisfaction at the Treaty of
Utrecht; they had denounced the Tories as the authors of it, and it was a
delicate task to require them to turn round and support it. The clamours, too, against France had been increased by the aid
recently afforded to the Pretender, and by the continuation of the works
at Mardyck. Thus many difficulties stood in the
way of Dubois’ project; but they were at length surmounted by his skill and
perseverance. Finding that Lord Stanhope was to pass through Holland in July,
1716, with George I, on his way to Hanover, Dubois repaired to the Hague
on pretence of collecting books and objects
of virtú; where, as if by chance, he
contrived to have an interview with his old acquaintance, the English minister.
He availed himself of the opportunity to recommend his plans; matters were
prepared for a treaty, and, in the following August, Dubois went to Hanover,
where the alliance was finally arranged. The States-General, fearful of
offending the Emperor, manifested at first great reluctance to accede to the
treaty; but these scruples being at length overcome, the Triple Alliance was
signed at the Hague, January 4th, 1717. By this treaty the provisions contained
in the Treaty of Utrecht were renewed; Louis XV promised never to aid the
Pretender, and to induce him to cross the Alps; fresh stipulations were made
respecting the destruction of the works at Dunkirk and Mardyck;
and it was agreed that English commissaries should be appointed to see that
this Article was faithfully executed. By this alliance the Regent prevented the
possibility of a war for the succession of France, and gave his country the
peace which it so sorely needed. But the price of this security was a heavy
one. For some years she was subservient to England, and instead of uniting with
Spain in opposing England’s expansion she lost her one chance of securing a
great colonial empire. As it was, French statesmen did not even utilize the
period of rest given to France by the Treaty of 1717, and during the ensuing
years her trade was sacrificed, her fleet declined, and her finances were not
restored. This alliance was most unwelcome to the Emperor, and on receipt of
the news he wrote to the States-General that the Barrier Treaty was at an end.
Nobody, however, was so vexed and surprised as the King of Spain. Relying on
his treaty with England, Philip deemed himself secure of that Power, and when the
Regent communicated to him the project of the Triple Alliance, he had replied
with indifference. Alberoni, however, was not yet
prepared to act, and wished to postpone a war till he should have accumulated
the necessary resources to conduct it with vigour.
For this purpose he had obtained the Pope’s permission to levy a tax on the
Spanish clergy, under the pretence of
assisting the Venetians in the war they were then waging with the Turks; and,
indeed, he actually dispatched a force of 8,000 men to assist in the defence of Corfu. But before his preparations were
complete, he was hurried into a war with the Emperor by a comparatively trivial
incident. In May, 1717, the Grand Inquisitor of Spain, in returning from Rome,
ventured to traverse the Milanese without an Imperial passport, and was
arrested as a rebellious subject of Charles III of Spain! Exasperated by this
insult, Philip V declared that he would immediately vindicate the honor of his
Crown. In vain did Alberoni remonstrate and represent
to Philip that he had but the semblance of a fleet and army; Philip was
inflexible, and all that the minister could obtain was that hostilities should
first be directed against the Island of Sardinia, instead of Naples and Sicily. Alberoni, finding himself thus prematurely driven
into a war by the hastiness of his Sovereign, resolved to surprise Europe by
the boldness of his measures. But, first of all, he extorted from the Pope a
cardinal’s hat, partly by threats, and partly by representing the services he
had rendered to the Venetians in their struggle with the Turks. Matters being
thus arranged, an armament was dispatched for the conquest of Sardinia. Nine
thousand Spaniards were landed there towards the end of August, 1717; and, with
the aid of the discontented inhabitants, got possession of the whole island in
less than three months.
One of the first
effects of this attack on the Emperor’s western possessions was to hamper him
in his war and negotiations with the Ottoman Porte.
TURKISH HISTORY
We have already
recorded the peace concluded between the Sultan and the Tsar, and how Charles
XII of Sweden was subsequently compelled to quit the Turkish dominions. One of
the chief motives with the Porte for assuring tranquillity on
this side was that it might turn its arms elsewhere. Great activity was
observed in the Turkish arsenals, but the object of it was long uncertain. The
Emperor assembled, in 1714, an army of observation of 50,000 men in Hungary and
Transylvania. It appeared at last that the mighty preparations of the Turks
were directed against Venice, with the view of recovering the Morea, a loss
which the Porte had not been able to brook. In December, 1714, the
Venetian Bailo at Constantinople was
informed by the Grand Vizier Damad Ali
Pasha that it was the intention of his master not to rest till he had recovered
the Morea: he was directed to leave Constantinople in three days, and, together
with all other Venetians, the Turkish territories in three weeks; but before
that time had expired he was imprisoned in the castle of the Dardanelles, and
his suite of forty-two persons in the Seven Towers, as hostages for the safety
of Turkish subjects in the Venetian dominions. The Signoria, relying on a
peace guaranteed by the Emperor, had made but small preparations for defence. Their rule in the Morea was highly unpopular. The
inhabitants preferred the Turkish Government as both cheaper and less
oppressive, and were not, therefore, disposed to fight in the cause of their
Venetian masters. Hence, when the Turks entered the Morea in the summer of
1715, the inhabitants in many places hastened to submit; and as the Venetians
were neither strong enough to cope with the Turks in the open field, nor the
fortresses of the peninsula in a state to resist a lengthened siege, the whole of
the Morea was wrested from them in the course of a few months.
The Emperor was
alarmed at the sudden success of the Turks; and as Louis XIV had died during
the campaign, he was the more disposed to listen to the prayers of the
Venetians for help. He was strongly exhorted to this step by Prince Eugene, who
represented to him the danger that would accrue to his Italian, and even to his
German, States, if the Turks should get possession of the Ionian Islands. A
treaty of alliance was accordingly signed with the Signoria, April 13th,
1716. It purported to be a renewal of the Holy League of 1684, and the casus
belli against the Porte was, therefore, the violation of the Peace
of Carlowitz; but, instead of being merely
directed against that Power, it was extended to a general defensive alliance
with the Venetian Republic. Under the energetic superintendence of Eugene, the
preparations for war were soon completed. In the course of April three Austrian
divisions entered Hungary, Eugene himself being at the head of the largest, of
70,000 men. On the other hand, the Grand Vizier, with 100,000 men, marched
towards Belgrade; while the agents of the Porte incited to insurrection the
malcontent Hungarians, and their leader Ragotski,
who aimed at obtaining the principality of Transylvania, and even the title of
King of Hungary. The Vizier having attacked Eugene in his fortified camp
before Peterwardein, on August 3rd, that
commander offered him battle on the 5th, in which the Vizier himself was slain,
and the Turks utterly defeated. This victory is principally ascribed to the use
of heavy cavalry, with which the Turks were as yet unacquainted. Temesvar surrendered, and even Wallachia declared for
the Emperor. In the same year an attempt of the Turks upon Corfu was repulsed,
chiefly through the military talents of Baron Schulenburg, whose services the
Venetians had procured.
The Porte,
discouraged by these reverses, made proposals to the Emperor for a peace early
in 1717; and Sir Wortley Montague and Count Colyer,
the English and Dutch residents at Constantinople, endeavored to forward this
object by their mediation. But their offers were not listened to. In the
spring, Eugene took the command of 140,000 men, and many princes and nobles
flocked to his standard as volunteers. He now directed his march on Belgrade,
near which place he was attacked, on August 16th, by a much superior Turkish
force, which, however, he entirely defeated. Belgrade capitulated on the 18th.
The Porte now renewed its offers of peace. Eugene declined to treat except on
the basis of uti possidetis; and the Cabinet of Vienna insisted that
Venice should be included in the treaty. As the Porte had obtained some
advantages over the Venetians in the course of the year, it was at first
unwilling to concede this point. In the spring of 1718, Eugene increased his
demands by requiring the cession of Bosnia, Servia, and Wallachia. But the
hostile attitude assumed by Spain induced the Emperor to lower his terms. He
abandoned his pretensions to Wallachia and the other provinces, but insisted on
the basis of uti possidetis, which the Turks at last agreed to accept,
as well as to abandon the cause of Ragotski. A
congress was now assembled at Passarowitz, which
was opened by a speech of Sir Robert Sutton, as English mediator, June 5th.
Although the Emperor had pretended to enter into the war on account of the
Venetians, they were made the scape-goats of the peace, as the uti possidetis of
course deprived them of the Morea, while Charles VI retained all his conquests.
Thus the Peace of Passarowitz (July 21st,
1718), gave a mortal blow to the power of Venice in the East.
Although victor
at Peterwardein and Belgrade, the Emperor,
unable at once to employ all his forces against Spain, appealed to the Triple
Alliance against the violation of Italian neutrality. Alberoni,
on the other hand, sought to propitiate England by some commercial advantages,
and strained every nerve to raise men and money. Under these circumstances,
France and England entered into a convention in July, 1718, to carry out
Stanhope’s project for bringing about peace between Spain and Austria. The
Emperor was to be compelled to renounce all pretensions to Spain and the
Indies, and Philip V to the ancient Spanish provinces of which the Emperor was
now in possession, as well as to the reversion of Sicily in case of failure of
heirs in the House of Savoy. Sicily was to be assigned to the Emperor, the Duke
of Savoy taking Sardinia instead, with the title of King. The Emperor was to
promise the eventual investiture of the Duchies of Parma, Piacenza and Tuscany
to Don Carlos, or another son of the Queen of Spain; but with a provision that
they should never be united with the Crown of Spain; and Leghorn, Porto Ferrajo, Parma, and Piacenza were to be provisionally
occupied by Swiss garrisons, in the pay of the mediating Powers. Three months
were to be allowed to Philip V and the Duke of Savoy to accede to the treaty
after its ratification by the Emperor; and in case of refusal their accession
was to be enforced. The Emperor immediately agreed to these terms, and on
August 20th was signed at London the treaty known as the Quadruple Alliance, so
called because the Dutch were also invited to accede to it. But the Republic,
offended at not having been previously consulted, and alarmed for their trade
with Spain, refused at first to do so; and their adhesion was not obtained till
six months later. The King of Spain, and also, at first, the Duke of Savoy,
refused to accede to the treaty; but the latter gave his consent to it in
November.
These latter
negotiations were the work of Stanhope, supported by Dubois, and were due to
the action of Spain. Alberoni had attempted to oppose
one coalition by another; and as already related, he tried to reconcile the
Tsar and the King of Sweden, and unite them in a descent on Scotland in favour of the Pretender. He had already landed 30,000
Spaniards at Palermo, on July 1st, 1718. A great part of the Piedmontese troops had already been withdrawn, and the
rest now retired into the citadel of Messina. In June a British fleet was
dispatched to the Mediterranean, and Stanhope hastened to Madrid to make a last
effort to obtain the submission of Philip. While he was at Madrid, news arrived
of the landing of the Spaniards at Palermo, and Stanhope offered to restore
Gibraltar if Philip would immediately accede to the Quadruple Alliance; but
without effect. Admiral Byng almost annihilated the Spanish fleet of twenty-two
sail in an engagement off Cape Passaro, August
11th. Yet the Allied Powers still hesitated to make a formal declaration of
war. England was unwilling to do so except in conjunction with France, and the
Regent was reluctant to take such a step against the grandson of Louis XIV. At
last Dubois, who was now minister for Foreign Affairs, found a pretext for it
in the conspiracy of Cellamare.
Alberoni, in conjunction with the Duchess of Maine, and through Cellamare,
the Spanish ambassador at Paris, had concocted a plot for carrying off the
Regent; upon which Philip V was to claim the Regency, and to procure
confirmation of his authority from an assembly of the States-General of France.
This scheme was betrayed to Dubois by a clerk employed to copy the dispatches,
and a Spanish abbé, the bearer of them, was
arrested at Poitiers on his way to Spain. This discovery was followed by the
arrest of the Duchess of Maine and her husband, as well as that of Cellamare, as a violator of international law; and Dubois
availed himself of the popular indignation excited by the plot to declare war
against Spain, January 10th, 1719. An English declaration had preceded it by a
fortnight.
Active operations
were commenced in the spring. In April a French division crossed the Bidasoa, pushed on to Passages and destroyed the dockyard,
where several men-of-war were building; then being joined by the main body
under Marshal Berwick, laid siege to Fuenterabia,
which capitulated June 18th. Philip was unable to stem this invasion; yet in
March he had dispatched six ships of war, with 6,000 men, and arms for 30,000
more, to make a descent in Scotland under the conduct
of the exiled Duke of Ormond. The Pretender was invited from Rome to take
advantage of any events which might occur. But the Spanish squadron was
dispersed by a storm; only two frigates succeeded in reaching Kintail, and
the partial rising of Highlanders which ensued was speedily quelled. In Spain,
St. Sebastian surrendered to the French August 19th. Berwick then reentered
France; skirted with his army the northern side of the Pyrenees, and
entered Cerdagne; where, however, he effected
little or nothing. In the autumn an English fleet appeared off the coast of
Galicia, captured Vigo, October 21st, and did much damage.
It was clearly
impossible for Spain to resist, single-handed, the formidable combination
organized against her. The Austrian troops, released by the Peace of Passarowitz, had now had time to proceed to the scene of
action, and the English fleet had landed large bodies of them in Sicily. The
French invasion of Spain would recommence next year, and the English were preparing
to attack Spanish America. But the French and English Cabinets had resolved
that the fall of Alberoni should be an indispensable
condition of a peace.
Philip V was
influenced to dismiss his enterprising minister by his confessor Daubenton, whom Dubois had gained; while the Spanish Queen
was threatened with the withdrawal of the guarantee of the Italian Duchies to
her children. In December, 1719, Alberoni received
orders to quit Madrid in eight days and Spain in three weeks. This was the end
of his political career, though he lived till 1752. He retired through France
to Genoa; whence, however, he was driven by Pope Clement XI, who threatened him
with prosecution as an enemy of the Catholic faith. Till the death of that
Pontiff he found a refuge in Switzerland; and after that event he regained his
place in the Consistory.
After the
dismissal of Alberoni, the Spanish ambassador at the
Hague acceded to the Quadruple Alliance (February, 1720). The Emperor was put
in possession of Sicily; the ex-King of Sicily (Victor Amadeus II of Savoy)
became King of Sardinia, a possession which has since remained in his House;
and the reversion of Parma and Tuscany was guaranteed to the children of the
Spanish Queen. The policy of Dubois was thus crowned with success, and on
Clement XI’s death he received a cardinals hat from Innocent XIII.
The adhesion of
Philip V to the Quadruple Alliance was followed by several treaties. As the
Emperor had shown a. dislike to the stipulations regarding the Italian Duchies,
Philip concluded a secret treaty with France in March, 1721, by which that
country engaged to support the interests of Spain in the Congress about to be
opened at Cambrai. The English Cabinet manifested their displeasure at
this treaty, which had been made without their concurrence; and Dubois, to
appease them, hastened to bring about another Treaty of Madrid in June, 1721,
between Great Britain and Spain, to which France also acceded, containing terms
very advantageous to English commerce. On the other hand, Great Britain engaged
to replace the Spanish ships destroyed by Byng.
The connection
between France and Spain was at this time drawn closer by marriage contracts
between the reigning families. Louis XV was to be affianced to the Infanta,
then only three years of age, who was to be educated in France; while the
Prince of Asturias, the heir apparent of the Spanish Monarchy, and Don Carlos,
the heir of Parma and Tuscany, were to be united to two daughters of the Regent
Orleans. The young princesses were exchanged on the Bidasoa,
January 9th, 1722. These marriages had been effected through the influence
of Daubenton, and were followed by attacks upon
religious freedom in France. Under Philip V, the slave of the Jesuits,
religious bigotry and intolerance flourished as vigorously as under the House
of Austria; 2,346 persons were burnt during his reign, and the consort of the
Prince of Asturias was regaled on her arrival in Spain with the spectacle of
an auto da fé. Daubenton procured that the Jesuit Limières should succeed the venerable Abbé Fleury
as confessor of Louis XV; the press and book trade in France were subjected to
a rigorous surveillance, and Fleury’s posthumous work, the Discours sur les Libertés Gallicanes, was
suppressed.
The end of the
Orleans regency was now approaching. Louis XV would attain his legal majority
February 16th, 1723, and the Regent had caused him to be crowned in October,
1722. When the King became of age, the Duke of Orleans resigned the title of
Regent, but as president of the Council of State continued to conduct the
Government under the guidance of Dubois, who was now Prime Minister. The
Cardinal, however, did not long enjoy his newly-acquired honors. He died on
August 10th, 1723, and the Duke of Orleans did not long survive him, dying on
December 2nd, 1723, at the premature age of forty-nine. The Duke of Bourbon now
became Prime Minister. His administration was but a continuation of the former
system, though with infinitely less talent.
Soon after these
events Europe was surprised by the abdication of Philip V, an event caused by
religious motives. The Crown of Spain was transferred to Don Luis, Prince of
Asturias, then sixteen years of age, Philip’s eldest son, by Louisa of Savoy
(January 10th, 1724). Don Luis, however, died in the August following his
accession, and Philip found himself in a difficult position. His renunciation
of the Crown had resembled a solemn religious act, and his resumption of it
might occasion unfavourable comments. His
religious scruples, however, were removed by the Papal Nuncio; after much
apparent reluctance, Philip again ascended the throne, and Elizabeth Farnese
reigned once more, to the detriment of the peace of Europe.
Meanwhile a
congress had been opened at Cambrai to decide the questions between
Austria and Spain. Formal proceedings, however, did not begin till January,
1724, were very protracted, and had no results. The Duke of Bourbon was
inclined to support Spain, and to form an intimate alliance with that country;
but at the same time he was anxious to arrange as soon as possible a marriage
for Louis XV, with the double object of maintaining himself in power and, in
the event of no heir being born, of preventing the succession of the Orleans
branch. In this policy he was supported not only by his mistress, Madame
de Prie, but also by French public opinion. In
April, 1725, the Spanish Infanta was sent back to Spain without even
a word of apology. The French Court at first endeavored to procure for the
young King Louis an English princess, but after considering the advisability of
marrying Louis to Elizabeth, daughter of the Tsarina Catharine I, and to
Princesses of Modena and Lorraine, Mary Lesczynski,
daughter of Stanislaus, ex-King of Poland, was selected to be Queen of France.
The family of Stanislaus was at that time residing at Weissembourg,
in Alsace, on a small pension allowed them by the French Government, and were
delighted at this unexpected turn in their fortunes. Mary, who was nearly seven
years older than Louis, was married to him September 4th, 1725.
The dismissal of
the Infanta naturally gave the deepest offence to the Spanish Court.
Philip immediately recalled his ambassador from Paris, and his ministers from
the Congress of Cambrai, which was consequently broken up. Yet he had
himself been secretly preparing to inflict the very same insult of which he so
grievously complained. Philip, when he found it impossible to come to any terms
with the French Court, and that nothing was likely to be done at the Congress
of Cambrai, had reconciled himself with the Emperor, Charles VI. The
Baron Ripperda, a Dutchman, who had turned
Catholic and had contrived to gain the confidence of Queen Elizabeth, had been
dispatched, in the autumn of 1724, to Vienna, with secret instructions to
negotiate a marriage between her son, Don Carlos—already affianced, as we have
seen, to Mdlle. Beaujolais—and the eldest Archduchess, Maria Theresa.
Almost the sole object of the Emperor’s policy at that juncture, he being
without male heirs, was to secure the succession of his daughters, according to
the Pragmatic Sanction which he had promulgated in 1713. By this instrument the
Austrian succession was regulated in the order of primogeniture, first in favour of his male descendants, and, in their default,
of females. In case these also should be wanting, Charles next appointed the
Archduchesses, daughters of the Emperor Joseph; then the Queen of Portugal and
other daughters of the Emperor Leopold, and their descendants in perpetuity. As
he advanced in years, the Emperor, despairing of male issue, caused the
Pragmatic Sanction to be confirmed by the Austrian States, and by those of
Silesia, Bohemia, and Hungary. The weak point of it was that Charles’s
daughters were named to the succession before those of his elder brother, the
Emperor Joseph I; and this in the face of a contrary Act of Succession made by
his father, the Emperor Leopold, in 1703, by which it was provided that, in
default of male heirs, the Austrian inheritance should first fall to the
daughters of Joseph. By cancelling this arrangement Charles VI indicated that a
like fate might overtake his own, and hence his anxiety to obtain a
confirmation of the Pragmatic Sanction from foreign Powers as well as from his
own subjects. To procure the guarantee of Spain, he was inclined to meet the
advances of that Power; while Philip, after the dismissal of his daughter from
France, urged Ripperda to conclude with the
Cabinet of Vienna almost at any price. A treaty was accordingly signed at
Vienna April 30th. By it the two Sovereigns mutually renounced their claims to
each other’s dominions; Philip guaranteed the Pragmatic Sanction and opened the
Spanish ports to German commerce; while Charles promised to use his good
offices to procure the restoration of Gibraltar and Minorca to the Spanish
Crown, and recognized Don Carlos as heir to Parma and Tuscany. The assent of
the Germanic body to this arrangement respecting the Italian duchies was
expressed in a subsequent treaty between the Emperor, the Empire, and Spain,
signed June 7th, 1725.
By this treaty
Philip renounced all the advantages which he had hoped to obtain through the
mediating Powers at the Congress of Cambrai, and acquiesced in the
provisions of the Treaty of Utrecht and of the Quadruple Alliance. It contained
nothing, therefore, calculated to offend either England or France; but such was
not the case with the Secret Treaty concluded in November. Nothing, of course,
was certainly known of this except through the imprudent and foolish boasting
of Ripperda; but it was believed that marriages
had been arranged between the two Archduchesses, Maria Theresa and Maria Anna,
and Don Carlos and Don Philip, the sons of Philip V by Elizabeth Farnese; that
the contracting parties had agreed to effect the restoration of the Stuarts;
and that the Emperor had engaged to assist Philip in the recovery of Gibraltar
and Minorca by force. The marriage of Don Carlos might one day revive the
Empire of Charles V through the union of Spain and Germany. The exultation
displayed by the Court of Madrid, and the honors lavished upon Ripperda, who was made a minister and grandee of Spain,
strengthened the alarm of the French and English Cabinets. Their suspicions
were soon confirmed by the confessions of Ripperda himself,
whose vanity and presumption brought upon him the hatred of the Spanish
grandees, and deprived him of the confidence of the Queen. In a few months he
was driven from his office, and took refuge in the hotel of Stanhope, the
English Ambassador, to whom he revealed the whole of the negotiations between
Spain and the Emperor. Philip dragged him by force from this asylum, and caused
him to be confined at Segovia. War seemed inevitable. George I, during his
Alliance sojourn at Hanover in 1725, had already engaged Frederick William I of
Prussia to conclude at Herrenhausen an
alliance with France and England (September 3rd). The Dutch, in the interests
of their commerce, threatened by the establishment of an East India Company by
the Emperor at Ostend, acceded to this alliance, known as the Alliance of
Hanover, by a treaty signed at the Hague, August 9th, 1726. Sweden and Denmark,
which Powers were to be subsidized by England and France, also acceded in March
and April, 1727. On the other hand, the Empress of Russia, incensed by the
conduct of George I in protecting Denmark and Sweden against her designs, and
alienated from France by reason of Louis XV’s marriage, joined the Alliance of
Vienna August 6th, 1726 ; and in the following year Frederick William of
Prussia, who had never heartily approved of the Hanoverian League, secretly did
the same.
Thus all Europe
became divided between the alliances of Vienna and Hanover; and though both
sides pretended that these treaties were only defensive, yet each made
extensive preparations for war. George I entered into a treaty with the
Landgrave of Hesse Cassel for the supply of 12,000 men; manifestoes were
published, ambassadors withdrawn, armies put on foot; the sea was covered with
English fleets; an English squadron under Admiral Hosier annoyed the trade of
Spain; and in February, 1727, the Spaniards laid siege to Gibraltar, and seized
at Vera Cruz a richly laden merchant vessel belonging to the English South Sea
Company. But these vast preparations led to no results of importance. Of all
the European Powers, Spain alone had any real desire for war. The mediation of
Pope Benedict XIII, the death of Catharine I Empress of Russia (May 17th,
1727), the Emperor’s principal ally, and above all the pacific character of
Cardinal Fleury, the French minister, prevented the outbreak of a war. In June,
1726, Louis XV had dismissed the Duke of Bourbon and called Fleury to his
counsels, who was then seventy-three years of age. Fleury adopted the pacific
policy of the two preceding Governments, and maintained the entente cordiale
with Great Britain. The preliminaries of a general pacification were signed at
Paris, May 31st, 1727, by the ministers of the Emperor, France, Great Britain,
and Holland, and a Congress was appointed to assemble at Aix-la-Chapelle to
arrange a definitive peace. But Spain still held aloof and endeavored to
temporize. The hopes of Philip being again awakened by the death of George I in
July, 1727, he renewed his intrigues with the Jacobites,
instigated the Pretender to proceed to a port in the Low Countries, and to
seize an opportunity to pass over into England. But Philip’s expectations were
soon dispelled by the quiet accession of George II and his acceptance of the
policy of his father. The Spanish Queen, however, still held out; till, alarmed
by the dangerous state of Philip’s health, whose death might frustrate her
favorite scheme of obtaining the Italian Duchies she induced her husband to
accept the preliminaries by the Act of the Pardo, March 6th, 1728.
A Congress was now
opened at Soissons, to which place it had been transferred for the convenience
of Fleury, who was its Bishop. But though little remained to be arranged except
the matter of the Italian Duchies, the negotiations were protracted. Spain, by
her large military preparations, seemed still to contemplate a war; and by the
conclusion of a double marriage between the Prince of Asturias and the Infanta of
Portugal, and the Prince of Brazil and Infanta of Spain (January,
1729), was evidently endeavoring to withdraw Portugal from the English
alliance. The Spanish Queen entertained an implacable resentment against France
and England, and spared no exertion to bring the Emperor into her views. But
the conduct of Charles at length undeceived her. In order to obtain the
guarantee of all the Powers to the Pragmatic Sanction, the object of all his
policy, he raised every obstacle to the negotiations. He thwarted the Spanish
interests with regard to the Italian Duchies, by objecting to the introduction
of Spanish garrisons, and by reviving obsolete pretensions of the Empire to
Parma and Tuscany. Thus the negotiations at Soissons became a mere farce, and
the various plenipotentiaries gradually withdrew from the Congress. Meanwhile
the birth of a Dauphin (September 4th, 1729) having dissipated the hopes of
Philip V and his Queen as to the French succession, Elizabeth devoted herself
all the more warmly to the prosecution of her Italian schemes; and finding her
efforts to separate France and England unavailing, she at length determined to
accept what they offered. She had previously tested the Emperor’s sincerity by
demanding that the Italian fortresses should be occupied by Spanish, instead of
neutral troops, and by requiring a categorical answer with regard to the
projected marriage between the Archduchess and Don Carlos. The Emperor having
returned an evasive answer, she persuaded Philip to accept the proposals of
Fleury and Walpole and to make treaties with France and England, which were
concluded at Seville November 9th, 1729. England and Spain arranged their
commercial and other differences; the succession of Don Carlos to the Italian
Duchies was guaranteed; and it was agreed that Leghorn, Porto Ferrajo, Parma, and Piacenza should be garrisoned by 6,000
Spaniards, who, however, were not to interfere with the civil government.
Nothing more was said about Gibraltar. Philip, indeed, seemed now to have
abandoned all hope of recovering that fortress; for he soon afterwards caused
to be constructed across the isthmus the strong lines of San Roque, and
thus completely isolated Gibraltar from his Spanish dominions. The Dutch
acceded to the Treaty of Seville shortly after its execution, on the
understanding that they should receive entire satisfaction respecting the India
Company established by the Emperor at Ostend.
Charles VI was
indignant at being thus treated by Spain, in violation of all the engagements
which the Spanish Sovereigns had so recently contracted with him; and above all
was he disappointed at seeing his hopes frustrated of obtaining a guarantee of
the Pragmatic Sanction. He recalled his ambassador from Madrid, and dispatched
a considerable force into the Milanese to oppose the entry of the Spanish
troops into Italy. On the death of Antonio Farnese, Duke of Parma, January
10th, 1731, he took military possession of that State, and his agents persuaded
the Duke’s widow to declare herself pregnant, in order to prolong this
occupation. The Queen of Spain, wearied with the slowness of Cardinal Fleury in
carrying out the provisions of the Treaty of Seville, suddenly declared, in a
fit of passion, that Spain was no longer bound by that treaty. War seemed
inevitable, but was averted by the dexterity of Walpole. Great Britain and the
Dutch States, in concert with the Spanish Court, without the concurrence of
France, now entered into negotiations with the Emperor, which were skillfully
conducted by Lord Waldegrave, to induce him to accede to the Treaty of
Seville; and, on March 16th, 1731, was concluded, what has been called the
Second Treaty of Vienna. Great Britain and the States guaranteed the Pragmatic
Sanction; and the Emperor, on his side, acceded to the provisions of Seville
respecting the Italian Duchies, and agreed to abolish the Ostend Company. He
also engaged not to bestow his daughter on a Bourbon Prince, or in any other
way which might endanger the balance of power. The States of the Empire gave
their sanction to the treaty in July, and Philip V acceded to it before the end
of that month. John Gaston de' Medicis, Grand
Duke of Tuscany, finding himself thus abandoned by the Emperor, concluded with
the Court of Spain what was called the Family Convention, and named
Don Carlos his heir. Charles VI. at first manifested some displeasure at this
action of the Duke; but he was at length induced to authorize a decree of
the Aulic Council by which the guardianship of Don Carlos was
assigned to the Grand Duke of Tuscany and the Duchess of Parma. In November an
English squadron disembarked at Leghorn 6,000 Spaniards, who took possession of
that place, as well as Porto Ferrajo, Parma, and
Piacenza, in the name of Don Carlos, as Duke of Parma and presumptive heir of
Tuscany.
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