what surprising, that the same confederacy which was concerted to put a stop to the conquests of Lewis XIV. did not also require a positive renunciation of his unjust pretensions to the Spanish succession; for if his former renunciations were no bar to the supposed rights accruing to Maria Theresa his queen, on the death of her father Philip IV. they could be none to the rights that would accrue to her and her children on the death of her brother Charles, whose languishing state of health left no room to hope that he could ever live to have offspring. But our surprise on this account ceases, when we are told, that the king of England was actuated by no views of general policy; that to acquire a temporary popularity with his subjects, to ruin de Wit, by detaching him from France; and, in consequence of his fall, to raise the family of Orange, were Charles's only motives for standing forth at the head of the triple alliance49. It gave, however, at the time, great satisfaction to the contracting powers, and filled the negociators with the highest joy. "At Breda, as friends!"-cried Temple ;-" here as "brothers!" and de Wit added, that now the business was finished, it looked like a miracle 5o.

France and Spain were equally displeased at the terms of this treaty. Lewis was enraged to find limits set to his ambition; for although his own offer was made the basis of the league, that offer had only been thrown out, in order to allay the jealousy of the neighbouring powers, and to keep them in a state of inaction, till he had reduced the whole ten provinces of the Low Countries. Spain was no less dissatisfied at the thought of being obliged to give up so many important places, on account of such unjust claims and unprovoked hostilities. At length, however, both agreed to treat, and the plenipotentiaries of all the parties met at Aix-la-Chapelle; where Spain, from a consciousness of her

49. Mem. de Gourville, tom. ii. See also Macpherson's Hist. of Britain, vol. i. and Dalrymple's Append. 50. Temple's Mem. part. i.

Own

own weakness, accepted of the alternative offered by France but in a way that occasioned general surprise, and gave much uneasiness to the Dutch. Lewis under pretence of enforcing the peace, had entered Franche-Comte in the month of February, and reduced the whole province in a few weeks. Spain chose to recover this province, and to abandon all the towns conquered in Flanders during the last campaigns; so that the French monarch still extended his garrisons into the heart of the Low Countries, and but a slender barrier remained to the United Provinces. But as the triple league guaranteed the remaining provinces of Spain, and the emperor and the German princes, whose interests appeared to require its support, were invited to enter into the same confederacy, Lewis, it was thought, could entertain no views of prosecuting his conquests in the quarter which lay most exposed to his ambition.

Other circumstances seemed to combine to ensure the balance of Europe. After a ruinous war of almost thirty years, carried on by Spain, in order to recover the sovereignty of Portugal, and attended with various success, an equitable treaty had at last been concluded between the two crowns, in consequence of which the independency of Portugal was acknowledged 52 Being now free from so formidable a foe, Spain

51. Id. Ibid.

52. This treaty, which was concluded through the mediation of the king of England, and to which a body of English troops had greatly contributed by their valour, was partly connected with a very singular revolution. Alphonso VI. (son of the famous duke of Braganza, who had encouraged the Portuguese to shake off the Spanish yoke, and who was rewarded with the crown) a weak and profligate prince, had offended his subjects by suffering himself to be governed by the mean companions of his pleasures. His queen, daughter of the duke of Nemours, attracted by the more agreeable qualities of his brother Don Pedro, forsook his bed, and fled to a monastery. She accused him of debility both of body and mind, sued for a divorce, and put herself, in the mean time, under the protection of the church. A faction seized the wretched Alphonso, who was confined in the island of Tercera; while his brother, who immediately married the queen, was declared regent of the kingdom in the assembly of the states. (Vertot

Spain might be expected to exert more vigour in defence of her possessions in the Low Countries; and the satisfaction expressed in England on account of the late treaty, promised the most hearty concurrence of the parliament in every measure that should be proposed for confining the dangerous greatness of France.

But the bold ambition of Lewis XIV. aided by the pernicious policy of the faithless Charles, soon broke through all restraints; and, as we shall afterwards have occasion to see, set at defiance more formidable confederacies than the triple alliance.

LETTER XIII.

THE GENERAL VIEW OF THE AFFAIRS OF EUROPE CONTINUED, FROM THE TREATY OF AIX-LA-CHAPELLE, IN 1668, TO THE PEACE OF NIMEGUEN, IN 1678.

As

S the most trivial causes frequently produce the greatest events; in like manner, my dear Philip, the slightest circumstances are often laid hold of by ambition, as a pretext for its devastations-for deluging the earth with blood, and trampling upon the rights of mankind. Though Lewis XIV. was highly incensed at the republic of Holland, for pretending to prescribe limits to his conquests, and had resolved upon revenge; yet his resentment seems to have been more particularly roused by the arrogance of Van Beuninghen, the Dutch ambassador. This republican, who although but a burgomaster of Amsterdam, possessed the vivacity of a courtier and the abilities of a statesman, took a

(Vertot Hist. de la Revol. de Port.) Don Pedro a prince of abilities, was preparing to assert with vigour the independency of his country, when it was established by treaty in the beginning of the year 1668.

peculiar

peculiar pleasure in mortifying the pride of the French monarch, when employed in negociating the treaty of Aix-laChapelle. "Will you not trust to the king's word?"—said M. de Lionne to him in a conference. "I know not what "the king will do," replied he: "but I know what he can "do." A medal is also mentioned, though seemingly without foundation, on which Van Beuninghen (his Christian name being Joshua) was represented, in allusion to the scripture, as arresting the sun in his course:—and the sun was the device chosen for Lewis XIV. by his flatterers?! It is certain, however, that the States ordered a medal to be struck, on which, in a pompous inscription, the republic is said to have conciliated kings, and restored tranquility to Europe.

These were unpardonable affronts in the eyes of a young and haughty monarch, surrounded by minions and mistresses, and stimulated by an insatiable thirst of glory. But whilst Lewis was making preparations for chastising the insolence of the Dutch, or rather for the conquest of Holland, his love of fame was attracted by a new object, and part of his forces employed against an enemy more deserving the indignation of the most Christian king.

The Turks, after a long interval of inaction, were again become formidable to Europe. The grand vizier, Kupruli, who at once directed the councils and conducted the armies of the Porte, had entered Hungary at the head of an hundred thousand men, in 1664; and although he was defeated, in a great battle, near St. Godard upon the Raab, by the Imperial troops, under the famous Montecuculi, the Turks obtained a favourable peace from Leopold, who was threatened with a revolt of the Hungarians. The Hungarian nobles, whose privileges had been invaded by the emperor, flew to arms, and even craved the assistance of the Turks, their old and irreconcilable enemies. The rebels were quickly

1. Voltaire, Siecle, chap. viii.

2. Ibid. chap. ix.

subdued

subdued by the vigour of Leopold. But the body of that brave people who had so often repelled the infidels, and tilled, with the sword in their hand, a country watered with the blood of their ancestors, were still dissatisfied; and Germany itself, deprived of so strong a barrier as Hungary, was soon threatened by the Turks.

In the meantime Kupruli turned the arms of the Porte gainst the Venetians; and an army of sixty thousand Janizaries, under that able and experienced general, had now besieged Candia for upward of two years. But the time of the Crusades was long past, and the ardour which inspired them, extinguished. Though this island was reputed one of the chief bulwarks of Christendom against the infidels, no general confederacy had been formed for its defence. The pope and the knights of Malta were the only allies of the Venetians, against the whole naval and military force of the Ottoman empire. At length, however, Lewis XIV. whose love of glory had made him assist the emperor against the Turks even in Hungary, sent a fleet from TouA. D. 1669. lon to the relief of Candia, with seven thousand men on board, under the duke of Beaufort. But as no other Christian prince imitated his example, these succours served only to retard the conquest of that important island. The duke of Beaufort was slain in a sally; and the capital being reduced to a heap of ruins, surrendered to KuSEPT. 16. prulis. The Turks, during this siege, discovered great knowledge of the military art; and Morosini, the Venetian admiral, and Montbrun, who commanded the troops of the republic, made all the exertions, and took advantage of all the circumstances, that seemed possible for valour and conduct, in opposition to such superior armaments.

These distant operations did not a moment divert the attention of Lewis from his favourite project, the conquest of the Low Countries, which he meant to resume, with the in

3. Voltaire, ubi sup. Henault. 1669.