In the mean time, a most extraordinary circumstance occurred. William, King of England, who was always so jealous of the power of Louis,—who had used his utmost efforts to restrain or crush it,—and who seemed actuated even by a personal dislike to that monarch,—concluded a partition treaty with him, A. D. 1698, by which it was stipulated, that, on the death of the King of Spain, his dominions should be divided among the claimants, in the following manner : Spain, and all her American posses sions, were to be given to the Elector of Bavaria ; the kingdom of the Two Sicilics, the ports on the Tuscan shore, and the Marquisate of Final, were to be given to the Dauphin ; while the Emperor's second son, the Archduke Charles, was to receive only the dukedom of Milan. As soon as intelligence of this treaty reached the court of Madrid, the King of Spain made a will in favour of his grand nephew the young prince of Bavaria, who died almost immediately afterwards. Upon this, the disquiets and intrigues were renewed ; and a second treaty of parti tion was signed February 8th, A. D. 1699. This treaty differed materially from the former. Spain and the Nest Indies were to be given to the Archduke Charles; the Milanese to the Duke of Lorraine, who was to annex Lor raine to France ; and the Dauphin was, as before, to have the Two Sicilics, the ports on the Tuscan shore, and Final. To prevent the union of Spain and the imperial throne in one person, it was agreed that the Archduke should not succeed to the Spanish throne, in case he was raised to the dignity of king of the Romans, by the death of his eldest brother. On the other hand, in order to prevent the annexation of Spain to France, it was stipulated, that 110 dauphin or king of France should ever be king of Spain. But the Emperor, expecting the succession to the whole Spanish monarchy, rejected the treaty of partition. The King of Spain nominated the Archduke Charles his uni versal heir ; so that it was evident that the partition treaty would be of no effect, unless the parties who had signed it had recourse to arms ; and it was highly probable, that if war took place, Louis would grasp at more than his share, and thus defeat the very object for which he had signed the treaty : indeed, he was already taking mea sures to gain a strong party at :Madrid ; for whereas the arrogance of the Queen of Spain, and the grossness and rapacity of her German favourites, disgusted the Spanish nation, a powerful and favourable impression was made on them by the affability, insinuating address, and gene rosity of the French ambassador, the Marquis D'Har court.
The efforts of the Marquis were unintentionally second ed by the Emperor and his son. The former refused 10,000 men, which the King of Spain requested of him, in order to put himself in such a position as would have made the projectors of the treaty respect the independence of the Spanish monarchy ; and the Archduke spoke of the Spaniards in reproachful terms. The clergy supported the claims of the House of Bourbon. Even the Pope was consulted, and he answered, that the laws of Spain, and the good of Christendom, required that the House of Bourbon should be preferred. Influenced by this opinion, Charles secretly made a will, in which he nominated the Duke of Anjou, second son of the Dauphin, successor to all his do minions. This prince was preferred, as less likely to unite in his own person the crowns of Spain and France. The King of Spain died some months afterwards.
Louis at first was undetermined, whether he should ad here to the partition treaty, or accept the will of the King of Spain. At last, by the advice of his council, he accep ted the will, and the Duke of Anjou was crowned at 'Ma drid, under the name of Philip V. His grand-father, at
parting with him, exclaimed, " There are no more Pyre nees !" He was acknowledged by the Pope, the Duke of Savoy, Venice, the northern potentates, and even Portugal, England, and Holland. Such indeed was the general as tonishment at seeing a Bourbon prince on the throne of Spain, that for some time all the powers, except the Em peror, remained in perfect tranquillity. But the King of England was soon roused against France, by the insulting conduct of Louis towards him and the English nation ; for on the death of James II. the French monarch proclaimed his son as James III. William upon this, finding that his subjects were equally indignant as himself, concerted the Grand Alliance, as it is called, against Louis. This fa mous treaty was signed on the 17th of September 1701, by the plenipotentiaries of the Emperor, the King of Eng land, and the United Provinces : its object was to prevent the union of France and Spain, and the French taking pos session of the Spanish dominions in America ; to obtain satisfaction to the Emperor respecting the Spanish succes sion ; and to secure and protect the dominions and com merce of the English and Dutch. But the death of the King of England, the main spring of this treaty, threw the allies almost into despair, and occasioned the most inde cent joy at the court of France. The succession of Anne, however, and her immediate declaration that she adhered to the grand alliance, revived the hopes and the fears of the confederates and the French.
Even before the grand alliance was formed, war had be gun in Italy between France and the Emperor. Prince Eugene, who commanded the Imperial army of 50,000 men, penetrated through the district of Trent ; the French general Catinat not conceiving himself authorised to ob struct his passage, in consequence of orders from his court. The Milanese was thus exposed to danger ; and Catinat was replaced by the Marquis of Villeroi. This general imprudently attacked Eugene, and was defeated. The first campaign, after the formation of the grand alliance, was not distinguished by any great event. In Italy, Eu gene was not able to follow up his successes, as his army was greatly inferior to the combined forces of France and Spain Ondeed, he was obliged to raise the blockade of Mantua, and was defeated in attempting to surprise the French general Vendome near Luaggra. On the upper Rhine, the Prince of Baden was defeated by the Marquis de Villars, who, for this victory, was immediately after wards created a marshal of France. On the side of Flan ders, the cause of the Bourbons was not so prosperous. The Earl of Marlborough, by his masterly movements, succeeded in getting between the enemy and the principal towns of Spanish Guelderland, and reduced such of them as opened the navigation of the Maese, and a free commu nication with Maestricht. By sea, Louis was unfortunate, the English having destroyed at Vigo a fleet of galleons, which had an immense quantity of money on board. In the beginning of 1703, the Duke of Savoy, who had been long wavering, concluded a treaty with the Emperor. On the 20th of September in that year, the Imperialists were defeated with great slaughter at Hochstet, by Marshal Vil lars and the Elector of Bavaria. The consequences of this victory were the reduction of Augsburg, and the open ing of a passage to Vienna itself. About the same time, the Duke of Burgundy made himself master of old Brisac ; and, before the end of the campaign, Marshal Tallard re• took Landau, and defeated the Prince of Hesse, who was advancing to its r chef.