The great efforts made for the recovery of Portugal and the constant supplies required in other quarters had completely exhausted the treasury, which occa sioned considerable embarrassment in the affairs of government. Most of the revenues were anticipated, the people impoverished, and, what added to her mis fortunes, the Spanish galleons were burnt by the En glish fleet under Admiral Blake. In such circum stances peace became absolutely necessary, and ac cordingly the treaty of the Pyrenees was concluded in the beginning of 1660, in which it was stipulated that the French king should receive the hand of Maria Theresa, the eldest daughter of Philip; but under the express condition that she should, for herself and is sue, renounce all right to her paternal inheritance.
The remainder of Philip's reign was employed in an ineffectual attempt to recover Portugal, and at his death he left the kingdom in a most critical situation. Ilis ministers were in absolute disgrace with the peo ple; his successor, Charles II., a sickly infant in the fourth year of his age, and the queen-mother, whom he had appointed regent, inordinately fond of power, but without talents requisite to govern a great and turbulent nation. This princess was the sister of the reigning emperor, and consequently entirely devoted to the interests of the court of Vienna. The first act of her authority was to place at the head of her coun cil her confessor, father Nitard, a jesuit of low birth, of very moderate talents, and totally unacquainted with public affairs. At a juncture when the greatest circumspection and fortitude was necessary to uphold a sinking kingdom, the incapacity of the minister, and the unsteadiness of his mistress, soon excited general discontent, and the nation looked to Don John of Austria as the only person capable of relieving them in their difficulties. This prince possessed great abilities both as a statesman and a soldier, and was besides respected by the nobles and beloved by the people. But the queen-regent, jealous of his superior talents, had prevailed upon her late husband to ex clude him from any share in the administration, and now formed the design of sending him from the king dom, by appointing him to the government of the Netherlands.
In this distracted state of affairs, the government was somewhat relieved by a peace with Portugal, the acquisition of which, from the aversion of the inhabi tants to a Spanish yoke, had all along been an embar rassment rather than an advantage to the nation, whereby the independence of that kingdom was ac knowledged. But Louis XIV. who had now begun his career of ambition and injustice, in defiance of the treaty of the Pyrenees, claimed the Netherlands in right of his queen, and without waiting to negotiate, made a sudden irruption into Franche Compte, and would soon have overrun the whole of that province, had not the triple alliance between Britain, Sweden, and the Dutch republic, one of the boldest political measures of that age, commanded the peace of Aix la-Chapelle. By this treaty, however, Spain was com pelled to cede some of her strongest fortresses be tween the Channel and the Scheldt, which so roused the popular indignation, that Don John found little difficulty in driving father Nitard from the national councils and from Spain. The queen-regent, howev
er, resisted every attempt to admit the prince to a share of the government; and in order to remove him from court appointed viceroy of Aragon. .
The loss of father Nitard was soon supplied by another favourite Don Fernando de Valenzuela, equally inexperienced and unqualified for the situation of a minister, and whose vanity and presumption led to the expulsion of his mistress from the helm of the state. The king having attained his fifteenth year, the term of his minority, threw himself into the arms of Don John, who was received by the people as the preserver of his country. The perplexed state of affairs, how ever, made it no easy matter for the new minister to maintain his popularity. The country had entered into another contest with France in support of the Dutch, which was attended with disappointment and disasters, and the peace of Nimeguen in 1678 added only to their losses in the Netherlands. This was followed by the marriage of the king with a French princess, a measure highly objectionable to the nation, whose principles and feelings were at all times hostile to the name of France, and this circumstance was employed by the enemies of the minister to ruin him both with the king and the people. Their intrigues were too successful. Don John oppressed with cha grin and disappointment, fell sick and died of a bro ken heart, and with him the sun of Austria set for ever in Spain. The death of this prince, whose abilities, disinterestedness, and noble nature, rendered him the only hope of the monarchy, threw the govern ment into great confusion. The king overcome by a hypochondriac malady, bordering on insanity, was totally incapable of business, and the new minister, the duke of Medina Cceli, though possessed of a good capacity and the best intentions, was unable to remedy so many evils. " The misery of the court was so great, that many of the king's menial servants left the palace for want of subsistence; and the king, with the advice of his council, was not able to find money for the annual journey to Aranjuez. The navy sunk to nothing, the funds destined for its support being diverted by those whose duty it was to supply them. The soldiers deserted on the frontiers for want of pay, and at last the governors quitted the fortresses, to come and represent at Madrid, in per son, what they had often represented by letter to lit tle or no purpose." In this distracted and powerless condition, the king of France, whom no treaty could bind, commenced again his plan of spoliation. Spain having in vain endeavoured to engage the other powers in her de fence, submitted to a truce for twenty years, with a farther loss of part of her territories. The queen mother, who had been imprisoned in a convent in Toledo, and had returned to court upon the death of Don John, again assumed the ascendency in the coun cils of her son; and upon the death of the queen hastened the marriage of the king with an Austrian princess.