1700.

letter from his Most Christian majesty. The BOOK IV. count was received with a cold and distant civility-the king of England expressing in general terms his desire" that all the world should be satisfied of his disposition to preserve the public tranquillity." The ambassador answered, "that his master had the same inclination to peace, and thought he had given a proof of it by accepting the king of Spain's will." The king replied drily, "that he did not understand how that could be made out." In a dispatch to M. Briord, the king of France, whose practice it was to correspond with his ministers personally, instructs the envoy to inform himself of the designs of Holland, and observes," that the alacrity which appears at present in the negotiations carrying on with the princes of the empire differs widely from the dilatoriness of the same pensionary when negotiating with the same princes to bring them into the partition treaty." And in a following dispatch, dated December 24 (1700), he says, "It is certain the king of Great Britain will find great opposition from his parliament in case he is disposed to carry things to a rupture." And he expresses great anxiety for the evacuation of the Spanish barrier towns by the Dutch garrisons. On the supposition that the present differences might be accommodated conformably to the proposal of M. Lillieroot, he declares,

1700.

BOOK IV." that one of the articles of the new alliance ought to contain a provision for the withdrawment of the said troops, on which condition he would engage not to replace them with any of his, so long as the alliance subsisted*.*

Accession

of Pope Clement

XI.

The elector of Bavaria, governor of the Low Countries, on the death of the Spanish monarch had without hesitation acknowledged the validity of the will, and been forward in his professions of zeal aud attachment to his successor.

At this period died pope Innocent XII.; and cardinal Albani was, at fifty-three years of age, unexpectedly raised to the pontificate in his stead, by the name of Clement XI.; and though not accounted one of the French faction, and even opposed in his election by the French cardinals, the court of Versailles had the address entirely to gain him over in a short time to their in

terests.

The emperor in the mean while, astonished at the fatal turn things had taken, fell into all the perplexities and uncertainties which great disappointments, great pride, and great weakness always occasion. Determined at length by passion, not by policy, and wholly destitute of present support, upon measures of hostility, he is

*Cole's State Papers. Letter of secretary Vernon to the

earl of Manchester.

Count

from the

Vienna.

sued his imperial mandate to the inhabitants of BOOK IV. the Milanese, reclaiming that duchy as a fief of 1700. the empire, and commanding all persons to yield obedience to the same as feodatories, on pain of being treated as rebels. "The French," according to the representations of the earl of Manchester, "held his impotent efforts in contempt→→ yet they resolved to take right measures in case of the worst." At the end of December 1700, and of count Wrattislau arrived in London as ambas- Wrattislau sador extraordinary from the emperor. He did Court of not, as it appears, at the first meet with a very flattering reception. But the whole tenor of the negotiation carried on at Paris and Madrid demonstrating that no material concession was to be expected from France; and, what appears to have affected very strongly the feelings of the king of England, the Dutch garrisons being by a vigorous and unexpected stroke suddenly superseded throughout the whole line of barrier, French Troops infortresses, and French troops introduced; the troduced court of London began in earnest to listen to the Barrier propositions transmitted from Vienna. The king of France, in his dispatch of December the 24th, 1700, to monsieur Briord, says, "Means must be used to dislodge the Hollanders, and to leave the Spaniards in the sole possession of their own towns." On the 6th of February 1701, a number of French troops were introduced into all the

into the

Fortresses.

1701.

BOOK IV. barrier towns, from Luxemburg to Ostend and 1701. Nieuport, with so much secrecy that the Dutch

Meeting of the new

officers in those places had not the least previous suspicion of the design; and the next day an apologetic memorial, most ably drawn, was presented to the States General, stating the reasons for this measure, and declaring it was no longer possible to leave the troops of their high mightinesses in the fortresses of a king whom they did not own.'

Such was the state of affairs when the new Parliament. parliament met at Westminster on the 10th of February 1701. On the preliminary contest on the choice of a speaker, it was carried in favor of Mr. Harley by 249 voices to 125, who declared for sir Richard Onslow-a clear demonstration of the great predominance of the tory interest. In his speech to both houses, the king took notice of the "necessity of a farther provision for the succession to the crown in the protestant line. The death of the late king of Spain," said the monarch, "with the declaration of his successor to that monarchy, has made so great an alteration in the affairs abroad, that I must desire you very maturely to consider their present state. And I make no doubt but your resolutions thereupon will be such as shall be most conducive to the interest and safety of England, the preservation of the protestant religion in general,

and the PEACE of all EUROPE." The rest of the BOOK IV. speech consisted of the common-place topics of 1701. supplies, regulation of trade, unanimity and vigor, &c. except a recommendation to the house to "consider what augmentation may be requisite for the navy, which is the great bulwark of the English nation-and ought, at this conjuncture most especially, to be put into a good condition."

Succession,

The session seemed to open with happy omens. Debates re specting A resolution passed the commons, "that the the Spanish house would stand by and support his majesty and his government, and take such effectual measures as might best conduce to the interest and safety of England, the preservation of the protestant religion, and the PEACE of EUROPE." The last words were objected to by Seymour, Howe, Musgrave, and others of the party, who affirmed, that they had an ambiguous signification, and, in their opinion, portended war. Terms were sometimes, it was remarked, inverted, and this was such a sort of an oracle as Janus himself might have delivered. This being made a test of party, a division ensued, and the clause in question was confirmed by a majority of eighteen voices only, the numbers being 181 against 163. The court of France seemed also to be much staggered at this species of double response. The earl of Manchester says to secretary Vernon, They have