A. D. 1713. whigs, their political enemies, already humbled, would become still less formidable. In this conjecture they were not deceived. The eyes of the Dutch, who had most to apprehend, were first opened to their own perilous situation, and to the necessity of renewing the conferences at Utrecht, which had been for some time interrupted. Instead of prescribing terms to the house of Bourbon, they now acceded to the plan of pacification settled between Great-Britain and France. Their example was followed by the duke of Savoy and the king of Portugal. And the emperor, though resolute to continue the war, finding himself unable to support any military operations in Spain, agreed to the evacuation of Catalonias; and, by that measure, indirectly acknowledged the title of Philip V. During these approaches towards a general pacification, queen Anne was eagerly solicited by the jacobites, to take some step in favour of the pretender. In order to quiet the fears of the English nation, excited by his connexion with France, he had left St. Germains the preceding summer, and now resided at Bar, in the territories of the duke of Lorrain. And although the queen's jealousy of her own authority, and perhaps her natural timidity, heightened by the insinuations of Oxford, made her decline all proposals for calling her brother into the kingdom, or repealing the act of settlement, she was very anxious to concert with Lewis XIV. some plan for his accession to the throne, after her death59. What measures were taken for that purpose, and how they were frustrated, I shall afterward have occasion to notice. It will, therefore, be sufficient at present to observe, that the earl of Oxford artfully broke the designs of the queen, and rendered abortive the schemes of the jacobites, by dividing their councils. 58. Id. Ibid. Duke of Berwick's Mem. vol. ii. 59. Stuart Papers, 1712, 1713. Duke of Berwick's Mem. vol. ii. Oxford, Oxford, however, continued to forward the negociations for peace, as necessary to the security of his own power, which he hoped to preserve during the life of his mistress; and as the declining health of the queen left room to believe that her death could be no distant event, it is impossible but the lord treasurer, in secretly supporting the parliamentary settlement of the crown, might flatter himself with the prospect of extending his administration even into the reign of her successor. From these, or similar motives, he defeated the intrigues of the jacobites, at the same time that he hastened the restoration of tranquility to Europe. And the trea ties between the different powers, so long negociated, were at last signed at Utrecht, on the 31st day of March, in the year 1713, by the plenipotentiaries of France, England, Portugal, Prussia, Savoy, and the United Provinces; the emperor resolving to continue the war, and the king of Spain refusing to sign the stipulations until a principality should be provided, in the Low Countries, for the princess Orsina, the favourite of his queen6o. The chief articles of this famous pacification, were to the following purport: that, whereas the security and liberties of Europe can by no means bear the union of the crowns of France and Spain, under one and the same prince, Philip V. now established on the Spanish throne, shall renounce all right to the crown of France; that the dukes of Berry and Orleans, the next heirs to the French monarchy after the infant dauphin, shall, in like manner, renounce all right to the crown of Spain, in the event of their accession to the crown of France: that, in default of Philip V. and his male issue, the succession of Spain and the Indies shall be secured to the duke of Savoy; that the island of Sicily shall be instantly ceded, by his catholic majesty, to the same prince, with the title of king; that France shall also cede to him the vallies of Pragelas, Oulx, Sezanne, Bardonache, and Chateau-Dauphin, with the forts of Exilles and Fenestrelles, 60. Id. Ibid. Mem. de Noailles, tom. iii. and and restore to him the duchy of Savoy and the county of Nice, with their dependencies: that the full property and sovereignty of both banks, and the navigation of the Maragnon, or river of Amazons, in South-America, shall belong to the king of Portugal: that Spanish Guelderland, with the sovereignty of Neufchatel and Valengin, shall be ceded to the king of Prussia, in exchange for the principality of Orange, and the lordships of Chalons and Chatelbelin, in the kingdom of France and county of Burgundy, and that his regal title shall be acknowledged: that the Rhine shall form the boundary of the German empire on the side of France; and that all fortifications,. beyond that river, claimed by France, or in the possession of his most christian majesty, shall either be relinquished to the emperor or destroyed: that in Italy, the kingdom of Naples, the duchy of Milan, and the Spanish territories on the Tuscan shore, shall be ceded to the house of Austria; that the sovereignty of the Spanish Netherlands shall likewise be secured to the house of Austria; but that the elector of Bavaria (to whom they had been granted by Philip V.) shall retain the sovereignty of such places as are still in his possession, until he shall be reinstated in all his German dominions, except the Upper-Palatinate, and also be put in possession of the island of Sardinia, with the title of king: that Luxembourg, Namur, and Charleroy, shall be given to the states-general of the United Provinces, as a barrier, together with Mons, Menin, Tournay, and other places already in their possession: that Lisle, Aire, Bethune, and St. Venant, shall be restored to France; that, on the part of Great-Britain, the French monarch shall acknowledge the title of queen Anne, and the eventual succession of the family of Hanover to the British throne; that the fortifications of Dunkirk (the cause of much jealousy to England, and raised at vast expence to France) shall be demolished, and the harbour filled up; that certain places in North America and the West Indies shall be ceded or restored by France to to Great-Britain; namely, the island of St. Christopher, (which had long been possessed jointly by the French and English, but from which the French had been expelled, in 1702); Hudson's Bay and Straits, (where the French had founded a settlement, but without dispossessing the English, and carried on a rival trade during the war); the town of Placentia, in the island of Newfoundland (where the French had been suffered to establish themselves, through the negligence of government); and the long disputed province of Nova-Scotia, (into which the French had early intruded themselves, out of which they had been frequently driven, and which had been finally conquered by an army from New-England, in 1710): that the island of Mi. norca and the fortress of Gibraltar (conquered from Spain) shall remain in possession of Great-Britain; and that the assiento, or contract for furnishing the Spanish colonies in South-America with negroes, shall belong to the subjects of Great-Britain for the term of thirty years. That these conditions, especially on the part of Great-Britain, were very inadequate to the success and expense of the war, will be denied by no intelligent man, whose understanding is not warped by political prejudices; and the commercial treaty, which was concluded at the same time between France and England, was evidently, as I shall afterward have occasion to shew, to the disadvantage of the latter kingdom. The other confederates had more cause to be satisfied, and the emperor Charles VI. as much as any of them; yet was he obstinate in refusing to sign the general pacification, though two months were allowed him to deliberate on the terms. But he had soon reason to repent his rashness in resolving to continue the war alone: for although he had prudently concluded a treaty with the Hungarian malecontents, in conse 61. Printed treaties, in the Monthly Mercury. Tindal's Contin. of Rapin, &c. The assiento, which led to a lucrative contraband trade to the Spanish Main, proved the most advantageous article in favour of Great-Britain. It was, however, no sacrifice on the part of Spain, the same privilege having been formerly enjoyed by France. quence quence of which twenty-two regiments of his rebel subjects entered into his service, the Imperial army on the Rhine, commanded by prince Eugene, was never in a condition to face the French under Villars, who took successively Worms, Spires, Keiserlauter, and the important fortress of Landau. He forced the passage of the Rhine; attacked and defeated general Vaubonne in his entrenchments, and reduced Fribourg, the capital of Brisgaw, before the close of the campaign1. A. D. 1714. Unwilling to prosecute a disastrous war, the emperor began seriously to think of peace; and conferences, which afterward terminated in a pacific treaty, were opened between prince Eugene and mareschal Villars, at Rastadt. The terms of this treaty, which was concluded on the 6th of March, 1714, were less favourable to the emperor than those offered at Utrecht. The king of France retained Landau, which he had formerly proposed to cede, together with several fortresses beyond the Rhine, which he had agreed to demolish. He got the electors of Bavaria and Cologne fully re-established in their dominions and dignities; the elector of Bavaria consenting to relinquish the island of Sardinia to the emperor, in return for the UpperPalatinate, and the king of France to acknowledge, in form, the electoral dignity of the duke of Hanover62. The principal articles, in regard to Italy and the Lower Countries, were the same with those settled at Utrecht. About the time that the treaty of Rastadt was concluded, the king of Spain acceded to the general pacification; being persuaded by his grandfather, Lewis XIV. to forego his absurd demand in favour of the princess Orsini. But Philip V. although now freed from all apprehensions on the part of the confederates, was by no means in quiet possession of his kingdom. The Catalans were still in arms, and the inhabitants of Barcelona had come to a resolution of defending themselves to the last extremity; not, however, as has 61. Voltaire, Siecle, chap. xxii. State of Europe, 1713. 62. Printed treaty in the Monthly Mercury, &c. VOL. IV. 3 H been |