Billeder på siden
PDF
ePub

come Emperor; and he was the more easily inclined so to do at that time, because that, though his share was but small, there was no reason or power which could do any thing in prejudice of his other rights, which he was willing to suspend for a time out of pure respect to his elder brother: that is to say, that he always reserved to himself and successors a power to take possession of that large inheritance, if the elder branch should happen to fail.

Under the favourable influences of this solid rule of life and death, Ferdinand has transmitted his posterity, by his son who was likewise called Charles, and by his grandson, and great grandson, viz. Ferdinand the Second and the Third, in a right line down to Leopold the present Emperor: and to the end he might maintain the union of the family, and follow the sense of the agreement at Worms, he appointed that the branch of Spain, excluding the females, should succeed to his sons. To Charles the Fifth, or First, according to the Spaniards, and, after Philips the First, the Second, the Third, and the Fourth, succeeded the lately deceased Charles of happy memory.

He had for his mother Mary-Anna of Austria, daughter to the said Ferdinand the Third, and sister to Leopold, so that he was doubly related to the Emperor, as well by the mother's side, and by the line of his predecessors of the house of Austria.

These reasons, and several others, which regard the common constitutions of kingdoms, and particularly that of Spain, did incline Philip IV. father of the lately deceased Charles, uot to suffer that Maria Teresa his eldest daughter, married to Lewis the XIV. King of France*, should be admitted directly or indirectly to succeed to the kingdoms and provinces of Spain, but that both she and her posterity, of what sex or quality soever, should be for ever excluded. Besides, he made a will †, in the year 1665, by which he expresly invites the collateral branch of Austria to the succession of Spain, upon the failing of the Spanish line.

The peace of Westphalia, which was signed in 1648, did not hinder, but that a cruel war did break out between Spain and France, attended with several calamities, which continued for some years, and seemed to have been in a way to continue much longer, to the great prejudice of both nations, as well by reason of the preparations, as of the alliances, which were made on both sides. Wherefore all pains was taken to put a stop to the violence of so implacable a hatred, by settling a good understanding between them; and, nothing seeming so much to contribute to this as a marriage, the chief endeavours were directed this way.

The French King at first had an eye upon Margaret of Savoy; and it was thought that he had so much love for her, as to incline him to marry her; but it was no hard matter to make this prince's first flames abate, by proposing to him a much more advantageous alliance in the person of the Infanta of Spain.

From whom Philip of Bourbon, the present King of Spain, is descended. Which it becomes every honest man to have by him, when disputes arise about Spain, and the house of Austria.

Some reasons of importance made the French very much desire this marriage; and Christina, the King's own aunt, a lady of great solidity and judgment, having gone from Turin with Margaret her daughter, she came to Lyons, where she met the King her nephew ; and generously exhorted him not to think of marrying her daughter, but rather to make choice of the Infanta of Spain, as well for the common good of Christendom, as for the advantage of so many states, which were brought to ruin, by so long a war.

What this prudent lady would have persuaded the King her nephew to, generally preferring the publick good to her own private interest, was a business full of very considerable difficulties. The Spaniards had, a long time before, testified an insuperable aversion to this alliance, especially when they reflected on the fatal confusions that persons of a temper very contrary to theirs would cause in a government, if the issue of this marriage should happen to aspire to the succession of the kingdoms of Spain, under the specious pretext of relation by the mother's side. This difficulty seemed, and that too upon good grounds, of such consequence, that it was firmly resolved not to give way to it, unless that the Infanta would prefer the friendship of so considerable a husband to considerations, which otherwise perhaps might be of weight. Maria Teresa then must renounce not only for herself, in case of widowhood with offspring, but also for her children of both sexes, that so the posterity of France might not have the least hopes of sharing in the succession of Spain*.

This did not in the least trouble the Infanta, who, according to the way of the world, did look to the present, without vexing her head with the uneasy thoughts of uncertain futurity. She easily renounced, both for herself and posterity for ever, all hopes of the Spanish inheritance, that she might have a present share in the flourishing crown of France; considering that, if she should have children, they might be abundantly happy, though they were as far from the crown of Spain, as from the humour of the Spaniards. King Philip her father, and Lewis her husband, were not averse from this free consent of the Infanta,

It is true, that King Philip was under a prudent fear, that, if the renunciation was not made in plain and clear terms, the ministers of France, who were always inclined to captious interpretations, would take occasion to do the same in this juncture, to attain to their designs, which then prevailed by force. And that his fear was not groundless, experience has but too much shewn: for, though the matter and sense of treaties be never so clear, yet, the letter being more obscure, they wrest it into a wrong sense by force of arms, as far as their interest and power will allow.

For which reason, Cardinal Mazarine and Don Lewis Mendez de Haro, both chief ministers of two Kings, and their plenipotentiaries, after they had endeavoured very much, at the Pyrenean

It was from this marriage, that the present French King of Spain laid his claim, and in defiance to this renunciation, which was a condition of the marriage, and ar ticled therein, supports the same by force of arms, under the protection of France.

treaty, to agree about the peace; and after they had, with extraordinary care, treated of the form of the renunciation, they agreed at length with joy upon a most ample one, containing most express clauses, which was to serve as a law, for the future *.

[ocr errors]

The most Christian King had cloathed his ambassador with a full power to agree to this renunciation: the same having likewise been done by the Emperor, with respect to his ambassador. And since, as Titus Livius says, That the law of nations prevails in things which are transacted by faith, by alliance, by treaties and oaths; and that there is a great difference between the publick faith and the private faith; that the publick faith owes its force to the dignity, and the private to the form of the agreement;' nobody doubted but that what was done, with respect to the renunciation, should have been more religiously observed, since both its dignity and form, in the treaty made about it, did equally contribute to give it power and force.

It was upon this foundation truly worthy of the majesty-royal, that so solemn an agreement, and the first and most noble part of the Pyrenean peace, was built.

It was impossible to find out words more strong, or more effectual, than those the Infanta and the King her husband made use of; the one to express her renunciation, the other to express bis consent. There, in the most ample manner, you find a renunciation of all and every one of the rights, titles, laws, customs, constitutions, dispositions, remedies and pretexts by which the Infanta (unless she happened to be a widow without any offspring) or her children of either sex, born of that marriage, could at any time pretend to the succession of the Spanish dominions. Thus, the offspring of France were altogether excluded from the crown of Spain: nay, the Pope too was intreated to give his apostolical benediction to an agreement made with so much deliberation, and so unanimously, for the quiet of both kingdoms, and for the peace of all Christendom, subscribed with the Pyrenean treaty, November 7, 1659; and signed in a numerous assembly of the ministers of both princes with mutual applauses, and established on both sides, with a most prudent foresight.

Let any one who is disinterested, and free from passion, but read the fourth, fifth, and sixth paragraphs of the Contract of Marriage, and without much enquiry he shall clearly see, that no disposition or order could be made, nor any pretext found, by which a male child of France could aspire to the crown of Spain, since he is excluded from all hopes thereto, by sentences so clear, words so express, and clauses so derogatory and declaratory. There is here no need of school-shifts and subterfuges to obscure the clearest terms. God, who is the searcher of hearts, and who was called upon as a witness in these conventions, does not allow of ambiguous explications: the cross of Christ; the holiness of the

Viz. The form of the Infanta's renunciation, which has never been regarded by her French successors, though the French King pretended to agree to it in due form, as well as by the treaty concerning the same.

gospel; the canon of the mass, and the royal honour; by all which, both parties were to swear in the form of the Pyrenean peace, cannot admit or suffer that the words should say one thing, and the sense another.

The meaning and intention of those that contracted, and the perpetual exclusion of the line of France, are clearly to be seen by the publick reasons, and by the treaty confirmed and ratified by the French King.

The same Catholick King, Philip IV. who must be allowed to have understood the sense of this agreement, repeats it plainly in his will, made the fourteenth of December, 1665.

That King appoints several and different things in his will concerning the succession of Spain; he also relates several things about the danger that threatened Spain and all Christendom, by reason of the marriages made with the royal family of France, unless there was a bar put to hinder the accession of any, that was or should be born of them, to the crown of Spain. He gives a full account of all the care and precautions which he was obliged to use with his sister Anna, with Maria Teresa his daughter, and with his own wife Elisabeth of Bourbon, to the end that no child of France, whether male or female, should by any manner of way, or on any occasion, come to enjoy the states and dominions of Spain. He mentions word by word the articles that had been lately made to avoid all occasions, which might give even the most remote grounds to fear, that the crown of Spain should be united to that of France. He particularises some lines of succession +; and though he knew very well that his daughter could not fail to have a numerous issue by King Lewis, his son-in-law, since she was fruitful, and had already brought forth the Dauphin and two daughters; yet, not forgetting the Pyrenean peace and agreements, he excludes the posterity of France from coming, in any manner of way, to the possession of the Spanish dominions; not only the males, in whose persons both kingdoms might be united, but also the females, who, by reason of the Salique Law, could not be allowed to reign in France, and consequently could not unite Spain to it, though they were admitted to that succession. But he rather turns himself to his own family of Austria, and invites the children of his sister Mary, who had died in 1646, after having had several children by the Emperor Ferdinand the Third; and among others, the most august Leopold §. Nay, he goes farther, and, that the French line might be absolutely excluded from the kingdoms and dominions of Spain, he appoints, that, in case the house of Austria came to be extinct, the succession should fall to the posterity of Catharine of Savoy, his aunt, who had died in 1597.

Is not this truly verified by the present intrigues between France and the French King of Spain? Has not France managed all the councils of Spain, since Philip's reign, to the service of France; and to assist her in the ruin of all neighbouring states, and the acquiring universal monarchy.

+ See the will.

Viz. The renunciation of the infanta Maria Teresa, and the treaty that confirmed the same.

Grandfather of the present Queen of Hungary, &c.

All which is a clear and certain proof of the exclusion of the French line, and of the undoubted right of the house of Austria. The lately deceased King Charles * was not a stranger to so authentick testimonies of the truth; the perpetual renunciation of his sister, and of her posterity, was notorious. The will of his father Philip did particularly nominate a successor of the house of Austria. Charles himself honoured the Emperor Leopold, and considered him as his relation by the father's side, as his uncle by the mother's side, as the eldest of the house of Austria as to both branches, and as apparent successor, by virtue of the will of his father; as bountiful and kind by reason of the part he had lately given him in the kingdom of Hungary; not to mention several other reasons that he had to honour and esteem him; yea, being yet alive, he gave him a very ample power over the forces of Spain.

Nevertheless, according to the revolutions and turns of the world, some of the Spanish ministers, won by the brightness of a certain neighbour's † gold, used all means to incline the weak and languishing King another way, to take him off from his own family, and wheedle him over to the French side, which he formerly looked upon with great aversion. They themselves acknowledged and supposed the validity of the Infanta Maria Teresa's renunciation, and of King Philip's will, with all things which had been done for excluding of the heirs of France; but the reason of all they make to be this, viz. the fear of the union of both crowns; which fear now ceasing, and the union being hindered, there should be way made for the accession of the children of France to the crown of Spain.

Then they forge a will, which, by the help of some lawyers, they put into form, in favour of the Duke of Anjou ||||; and press the dying King to sign it, when his heart was parched and consumed, and his brain dissolved into phlegm; a fine piece of work this; which will raise the wonder of future ages, both in schools and courts; especially if one would but consider the sequel and coherence of the whole affair, which is in other places sufficiently notorious, as well as those circumstances already related.

By the former will of Philip IV. the case is clear, certain, and without limitation for an heir of the house of Austria; in the late will of Charles the Second, they feign a limitation, which is incon sistent with it both in words and sense. The son claims in the last a power to make a will, which they, that forged the second, endeavour to take away from the father.

The renouncing of the sister and the aunt contains an universal, unlimited, and direct exclusion; but the pretended will of Charles will needs say, that it has an oblique restriction in it, directly contrary to those terms and intentions above alledged. The former solemn acts declare for the house of Austria, and, in order to their greater force and certainty, they are established as fundamental

The Socond of Spain.
+ French.

Charles the Second of Spain.
The present King of Spain.

|| The French Ministry.

« ForrigeFortsæt »