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was willing to make. He offered all the Spanish dominions in Italy to the archduke Charles; to the States, a barrier in the Netherlands; and to the duke of Savoy a compensation for the waste made by the war in his territories. In return for such liberal concessions, he demanded, that the electorate of Bavaria should be restored to its native prince, and that Philip V. should be allowed to possess Spain and her American dominions73; or, in the lofty language of the proud Castilians, Spain and the Indies74.

The confederates, by concluding a peace on these terms, and others which they might have dictated, but especially the perpetual disunion of the crowns of France and Spain, would have obtained the chief objects of the grand alliance; yet was the offer, though surely a sufficient foundation for entering upon a negociation, wantonly rejected, and Europe destined to remain, for many years longer, a scene of carnage, confusion, and distress, in order to gratify the passions of a few ambitious and selfish men. The duke of Marlborough, was fond of the emoluments as well as the glory of war: prince Eugene, beside being under the influence of similar motives, was actuated by an implacable resentment against France; and the pensionary Heinsius, who led the councils of the States, yielded to his own interest, while he acted in subserviency to those two generals. These were the three great springs that now directed the grand alliance and the motion communicated by their joint impulse, was accelerated by the torrent of victory. The views of the allies extended with their successes, Having humbled France they aspired at the conquest of Spain. It was ac

73. Burnet, book vii.

74. This mode of speaking seems to have been introduced, when the Spaniards were in possession of the Portuguese settlements in India, where all other Europeans were long considered as intruders; and when Spain asserted an exclusive right to the whole American continent, as well as to the contiguous islands, to which she gave the name of the West-Indies. Hence too, by a still more ridiculous vanity, the Spanish monarchs still assume the title of "king of the East and West-Indies."

cordingly

cordingly resolved, that no peace should be made with the house of Bourbon, while a prince of that house continued to sit upon the Spanish throne75.

Thus, my dear Philip, were the objects of this confederacy in a great measure changed; and, in order to form a true judgment of the whole, you must consider very attentively the new plan, and compare it with the original plan of the grand alliance, relatively to the general interests of Europe, and the particular interest of your own country. You will then, I think, be of opinion, that the war was wise and just before this change, because necessary to maintain that equality among the powers of Europe on which

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75. "I do not remember," says my lord Bolingbroke, any parliamen"tary declaration for continuing the war till Philip V. should be dethroned, "before the year 1706: and then such a declaration was judged necessary "to second the resolution of our ministers and our allies, in departing "from the principles of the grand alliance, and in proposing not only the "reduction of the French, but the conquest of the Spanish monarchy, as the "object of the war." (Sketch of the Hist. and State of Europe.) And, little faith as is placed in the historical testimony of Bolingbroke, he seems here to have truth on his side, notwithstanding what has been advanced to the contrary by Lord Walpole; who endeavours to prove, that although the king of England, and the states-general of the United Provinces, had acknowledged Philip V. to be lawful king of Spain, in virtue of the will of his predecessor Charles II. the primary object of the grand alliance was to deprive him of the throne of that kingdom, and place upon it a prince of the house of Austria. (Answer to the latter part of lord Bolingbroke's letters on the study of history.) That such was the aim of the Imperial family is very certain; but England and Holland, as I have already had occasion to shew, (Let. XX.) refused to engage for so much. In afterward going that length they consequently altered or enlarged their plan. What is farther necessary to be observed on this intricate subject, may be found in the reflections introductory to the negociations at Utrecht (Letter XXIII.) Though a well wisher to the cause of the confederates, I scorn to conceal their errors or inconsistencies. No stipulation was originally made, in any article of the grand alliance, that a prince of the house of Bourbon should not be allowed to sit on the throne of Spain, or not possess, together with that kingdom, the Spanish dominions in America. But on the accession of Savoy and Portugal to the grand alliance, the confederates began to extend their views; and, in consequence of the successes of the war, from 1703 to 1706, was formed the resolution which made these observations necessary.

their peace and common prosperity depend; but that it was unwise and unjust, after this change, because unnecessary to such end, and directed to other and contrary ends. After this change, it became a war of passion, of ambition, of avarice, and of private interest, to which the general interests of Europe were sacrificed so entirely, that, if the terms insisted on by the confederates had been granted, such a new system of power would have been created, as must have exposed the balance of that power to deviations, not inferior to those which the war was originally intended to prevent70.

Whilst we reprobate this ambitious scheme, considered in a general view, we find particular occasion to lament the fate of Great-Britain in the midst of triumphs that have been sounded so high. Victories that bring honour to the arms, may bring shame to the councils of a nation. To win a battle, to take a town, is the glory of a commander and of an army. Of this glory we had a very large share. But the wisdom of a nation is to proportion the ends she proposes to her interest and her strength. Great-Britain neither expected nor desired any thing beyond what she might have obtained, by adhering to the first principles of the grand alliance. But she was hurried into those of the new plan by the causes which I have already mentioned; by the prejudices and the rashness of party, by the influence which the successes of the arms of the confederates gave to our ministers, Godolphin and Marlborough ; and by the popularity, if I may so speak, which they gave to the war itself. The people were unwilling to put an end to a contest that afforded so many occasions of public rejoicing, and so wide a range for national pride.

76. The emperor Joseph, who died a few years after, was then without male issue. And the union of the kingdoms of Spain and Hungary, with the German and Italian dominions of the house of Austria, in the person of the archduke Charles, supported by the wealth of the American mines, would have been no less dangerous to the liberties of Europe, independent of the weight of the Imperial crown, than the union of the French and Spanish monarchies under Philip V. or his descendants.

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The English ministry, however, though thus lavish of the blood and treasure of the nation, in support of unnecessary foreign wars, were by no means negligent of its internal tranquillity and happiness. That UNION of England and Scotland, under one legislature, which had, as we have seen, been often attempted in vain, was at last accomplished, after long and warm debates between the commissioners of the two kingdoms; and, in consequence of it, all disputes concerning the Scottish crown were fortunately prevented.

The principal articles in that famous treaty are to the "following purport: "That the Two kingdoms of ENGLAND "and SCOTLAND shall be united into ONE, by the name of "GREAT-BRITAIN;

"That the SUCCESSION to the united kingdom shall re"main to the princess SOPHIA, duchess dowager of HAN"OVER, and the heirs of her body, being protestants :—and "that all papists and persons marrying papists, shall be ex"cluded from, and forever incapable to inherit the CROWN of "GREAT-BRITAIN, or any part of the dominions thereunto "belonging;

"That the whole people of GREAT-BRITAIN shall be re"presented by ONE parliament, in which sixteen peers, and "forty-five commoners, chosen for SCOTLAND, shall sit and

"vote;

"That the subjects of the united kingdom shall enjoy an "entire freedom and intercourse of trade and navigation, and reciprocal communication of all other rights, privileges, and "advantages, belonging to the subjects of either king“dom;

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"That the laws in regard to public right, policy, and civil government, shall be the same throughout the whole united kingdom; but that no alteration shall be made in the laws res"pecting private right, unless for the evident utility of the "subjects residing in Scotland;

"That the rights and privileges of the ROYAL BOROUGHS "in SCOTLAND shall not be affected by the UNION;

"That

"That the COURT of SESSION, or COLLEGE of JUS"TICE, with all the other courts of judicature in Scot"LAND, shall remain, as constituted by the laws of that "kingdom, and with the same authority and privileges as "before the UNION; subject nevertheless to such regula"tions as may be made by the parliament of GREAT-BRI"TAIN."

Beside these general and permanent articles, it was particularly stipulated, that the sum of three hundred and ninety-eight thousand pounds, granted by the English parliament, should be paid in Scotland as an equivalent for that augmentation of the customs and excise, which was become necessary" for preserving an equality of trade through" out the united kingdom," and which would be applicable toward the payment of the public debt of England, contracted before the UNION; this sum to be applied, partly toward the extinction of the national debt of SCOTLAND, partly toward the indemnification of the adventurers in the AFRICAN and INDIAN, or DARIEN COMPANY; and the residue, after the reimbursement of such individuals as might suffer by the reduction (or rather elevation) of the coin of SCOTLAND to the standard of ENGLAND, in encouraging fisheries and manufactures in that kingdom77.

Though this treaty, all circumstances considered,' was neither dishonourable nor disadvantageous to Scotland, yet was it zealously opposed, not only by the adherents of the excluded family, whose particular interest it was to obstruct such a measure, but also by many independent members of the Scottish parliament, on principles of mere patriotism. Of those, the most firm and resolute was Andrew Fletcher, of Salton; a man of a cultivated genius, of a warm temper,

77. See Defoe's Hist. of the Union, where the articles are printed at large, with all the arguments for and against them.

a lofty

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