Two occasions soon presented themselves, on which Louis had an opportunity of displaying his vanity, haughti ness, and ambition. A dispute respecting precedence, that happened between his ambassador and that of Spain, in London, furnished the first occasion; The latter at a public entry insulted the former, because lie would not yield the precedence ; upon which Louis threatened to commence hostilities, unless the superiority of his crown was acknow ledged. Philip yielded, and dispatched Count Fuentes to Paris, with the important concession, that the ministers of Spain should no longer dispute the precedency with those of France. His treatment of the Pope was still more ar rogant. The Duke of Acqui, ambassador of Louis XIV. behaved in such a haughty manner, as to be quite intolera ble ; and his domestics followed the example of their mas ter. Some'of them having attacked the Corsican guard of the Pope, one of the pages of the ambassadress was killed. On this the Duke left Rome. The French troops were put in motion towards Italy, and the Pope was obliged to send his nephew into France, to ask pardon, and to allow a pillar to be erected in Rome itself, as a monument of his own humiliation, and of the triumph of the French monarch. Even England experienced the lofty spirit of Louis : he absolutely refused to pay the honours of the flag ; and when Charles remonstrated, he made such vigorous pre parations to support his refusal, that the English monarch deemed it prudent to desist. " The King of England," said he to his ambassador D'Estrades, " may know the amount of my force ; but he cannot measure the elevation of my mind. Every thing to me is contemptible in com parison with glory." Soon after his accession, he purchased Dunkirk from the needy King of England. He immediately employed 30,000 men to fortify it by land and sea ; and dug a large bason between the town and the citadel, capable of contain ing several men of war. He soon afterwards obtained, by menaces, the strong hold of Marsal from the Duke of Lor raine ; secretly supported Portugal against Spain ; and openly gave his assistance to the Dutch against the King of England ; though the latter offered to abandon to him all the Spanish Netherlands, provided he would not prevent him from pursuing his advantages over the United Pi evin ces. In 1667, the peace of Breda took place ; but Louis was preparing for war. In six years he had accumulated a large sum of money, created a navy, augmented his ar mies, and provided large magazines, and an immense quan tity of military stores. While Colbert regulated the finan cial department of the kingdom, his other favourite minis ter, Louvois, directed his genius most successfully to the means of supporting large armies at a distance by maga zines. To lead these armies to victory, the Prince of Conde and Marshal Turenne were still in the vigour of life.
Louis, however, during this interval of peace, did not confine his attention and his labours solely to the means of carrying on future wars with advantage and success. He embellished the capital, and paved and lighted it in a mag nificent manner ; and, for the seem ity of the citizens, esta blished a police, which, from its vigilance and systematic proceedings, soon became the astonishment of Europe. In the provinces, highways and useful works were construct ed. In 1664, the canal of Languedoc was begun. In 1666, a council for the reformation of the laws was established.
In 1667, the civil ordinance was published ; and soon after wards the code of the waters, forests, the criminal ordi nance, Sc. followed. Duels, severely prohibited, became less frequent every day.
We have seen that, by the treaty of the Pyrenees, France solemnly renounced all title to the succession of any part of the Spanish dominions, which might arise in consequence of the marriage of Louis with the Infanta of Spain ; but on the death of his father-in-law, Philip IV. the French monarch pretending that no contract could do away a right derived from nature, retracted his renunciation, and laid claim to a part of the Spanish territories. As Philip had left a son, Louis could not advance a claim to Spain itself; but he discovered that there was in Brabant an obsolete law or custom, by which a female of a first marriage was preferred to a male heir of a second marriage ; and on this feeble and questionable ground, he claimed the Spanish Netherlands from the son of Philip by a second marriage. Voltaire mentions, that he formed a secret treaty with the emperor, who consented that he should sieze on the Spa nish Netherlands, on condition that Louis would agree that the Spanish monarchy should revert to him on the death of Charles II. Circumstances were favourable to Louis's claims on Brabant. Besides his own vast preparations, Ma ry Anne of Austria, regent of Spain, was a very weak and superstitious woman, entirely governed by her confessor, a German Jesuit, whom she appointed grand inquisitor, and placed at the head of her councils. Under such persons, it was not surprising that the internal management and the external defence of the kingdom were neglected. Louis seized on the opportunity thus presented to him, and with an army of 40,000 men, directed by Turenne, paid by Col bert, and amply supplied by Louvois, in 1668 he invaded the Netherlands. The towns, nearly destitute of magazines or garrisons, and their fortifications in a dilapidated con dition, surrendered as soon as summoned. Lisle alone re sisted for nine days ; and the king returned to Paris, after having left garrisons in all the towns, and directed the cele brated Vauban to fortify them.
The jealousy of the Prince of Conde was roused by the success of Turenne ; and, finding that Louvois regarded that general with the same feeling, he proposed, even in the midst of winter, the invasion of Franche Compte, a province dependant on Flanders, or rather a kind of repub lic under the Spanish dominions, and which was attached to its sovereigns, because they did not interfere with their particular privileges, and ruled them with mildness. But Conde did not trust entirely to the force of his arms; se cret measures were employed ; traitors were found. Be sancon and Salins, the two strongest towns, were reduced in a very short time. In four days Dole surrendered ; in three weeks of the month of February, the whole province was conquered.
The rapid success of Louis in the Spanish Netherlands and Franche Compte, alarmed the other powers of Europe, and a triple league was formed by Holland, England, and Sweden, for the purpose of repressing his ambition. Louis, apprehensive of a more powerful combination, offered to give up his queen's rights to Brabant and likewise Fran che Compte, provided he might keep the conquests he had made last campaign ; and the peace of Aix la Chapelle was formed.