ears. The emperor's exhortations to the imperial diet were equally futile: "His Majesty doubts not but that every true patriot will remember that not exclusively the country and the people, but, in reality, the grandeur and liberty of his fatherland, consequently, the eternal loss of his honour and rights and his unresisting submission to foreign insolence, are at stake." The imperial Estates remained unmoved and tardily contributed the miserable sum of 200,000 dollars towards the maintenance of the imperial army, whilst Villars continued to collect millions on the Rhine and in Swabia. Van der Harsch alone distinguished himself by the gallant defence of Freiburg in the Breisgau.

Eugene found himself compelled to enter into negotiation with Villars. The French, however, were so insolent in their demands that Eugene, acting on his own responsibility, quitted Rastadt, where the congress was being held, upon which the aged despot at Paris, fearing lest rage might at length rouse Germany from her torpor, yielded; Eugene returned and peace was concluded in the neighbouring town of Baden, a. D. 1714. The treaty of Utrecht was recognised; Philip remained in possession of Spain, England in that of Gibraltar,

etc.

The emperor, Charles VI., on the other hand, retained all the Spanish possessions in Italy, Naples, Milan, Sardinia, besides the Netherlands and the fortresses of Kehl, Freiburg, and Breisach, and the territory hitherto possessed by the French on the right bank of the Rhine, for which France was indemnified by the cession of Landau. The island of Sardinia was, in the ensuing year, given by Austria in exchange for Sicily to the duke of Savoy, who took the title of King of Sardinia. The emperor, as sovereign of the Netherlands, now concluded a treaty with Holland, according to which the fortresses on the French frontier were to be garrisoned and defended by both Austrians and Dutch. Prussia came into possession of Neufchâtel, as nearest of kin to Maria of Nemours, its former mistress, who was allied by blood to that royal house. This peace was partially concluded by Eugene for the emperor, independent of the empire. The lesser powers, nevertheless, acceded to it, France brutally declaring her intention to carry on the war against all recusants. The elector of the Pfalz, to whom the possession of the Upper Pfalz had been already assured, was frustrated in his expectations, the traitors

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of Bavaria and Cologne regaining their possessions and being released from the bann.* Marlborough, consequently, lost Mindelheim; he was, however, restored to favour in England. Prince Eugene merely regarded the peace as a necessary evil, to which he unwillingly yielded. He clearly foresaw that, instead of bringing security to Germany, it would lead to fresh attacks and losses. "We somewhat resemble," he wrote at that period, a fat cow, which is only made use of so long as she has a drop of superfluous milk. The word 'peace' has an agrecable sound, but only differs from 'war' as the present does from the future. He whose vocation it is, after war, to collect the chips, alone sees the heaps of wood that have been fruitlessly cut. The best peace with France is a mute war. France will seize the first opportunity to rend a fresh piece from the empire. When the Netherlands shall have been reduced to submission, the Rhine will be made the frontier and the foundation of a fresh peace. The abbess of Buchau wished me joy of the blessed peace. I am, on all sides, persecuted with congratulations of this sort. Amid all my misfortunes it is often difficult to refrain from laughter."

In the following year [A. D. 1715] Louis XIV., the vain, licentious despot, whose tyranny over Germany covered her with far deeper shame than her submission to the genius of Napoleon, expired. Anne, queen of England, also died, without issue, and was succeeded by the next heir, George, elector of Hanover, whose mother was the daughter of Frederick, king of Bohemia, and of Elisabeth, the daughter of James I. of England. George favoured the Whigs. Peace had, however, been unalterably concluded with France.

*The order of the golden fleece was even bestowed by the emperor upon Charles Albert, the son of Maximilian Emanuel of Bavaria. In the curious folio, "Fortitudo leonina Max. Emanuelis," published, at that period, by the Jesuits, the scene is allegorically represented. The imperial eagle hangs his head and looks down with lamentable condescension on the Bavarian lion, who regards him with insolent contempt. Among the engravings, with which this work abounds, there is one in which the genius of the Society of Jesus is represented with the I. H. S. on his breast, offering his humble thanks to the statue of Max. Emanuel and pointing to a large donation-plate containing twelve magnificent Jesuit houses, which the elector had built for them at the expense of the people. The elector himself, attired in the imperial robes of Rome, sits on horseback with an enormous allonge peruke on his head. His countenance is that of a satyr.

*

Tranquillity had scarcely been restored to the empire than she was again attacked by the Turks, and Prince Eugene once more took the field. Supported by Stahremberg and Charles Alexander of Wurtemberg, he defeated them [A. D. 1716] in a bloody engagement near Peterwardein, where the grand visir fell, and a second time at Belgrade, when they sued for peace, which was concluded at Passarowitz, A. D. 1718. The emperor was confirmed in the possession of Belgrade, a part of Servia and Wallachia. The establishment of the Granitzers or military colonies on the Turkish frontier was a fresh proof of Eugene's genius.

Venice still retained her enmity towards the emperor, by whom she had been unaided in her war with the Turks, during which she had lost the Morea. In retaliation, she entered into a fresh intrigue against him with Alberoni, the Spanish minister. The re-annexation of Italy to Spain was again attempted. A Spanish army occupied Sicily, A. D. 1718. The impatience with which Spain had, since the death of Louis XIV., borne the tutelage of France, had, however, inclined the prince regent, Philip of Orleans, in favour of a quadruple alliance with the emperor, England, and Holland, by which Spain was compelled to withdraw her troops from Sicily and Alberoni to resign. The Venetians were, at that conjuncture, commanded by Count von Schulenburg, the same who had so repeatedly been defeated by Charles XII. in Poland. The same ill-success attended him in his Venetian command, during which he merely distinguished himself by raising the excellent

* This prince turned Catholic when in the emperor's service. On one occasion, when at Venice, the haughty nobles boasting, in his hearing, of their superior state of civilization, and ridiculing the Germans as barbarians, he invited them to a banquet on the evening fixed by him for his departure, and gave them the following theatrical entertainment. It was night time; a single lamp glimmered in the street, where Cicero's ghost was seen wandering up and down. A German traveller entered, and, finding all the doors closed, drew out his watch to see the hour, then a printed book, with which he amused himself for some time, and at length, in his impatience, fired off a pistol in order to wake the sleeping Italians. Cicero's ghost now advanced, demanded an explanation of the watch, the printed book, and the gunpowder, expressed his astonishment on finding that these great inventions had been discovered by the barbarians of the North, and inquisitively demanded "what things of still greater importance the Italians had invented, if barbarians had distinguished themselves so highly?" Upon which a Savoyard appeared, crying, "Heckles! Heckles!" for sale. The curtain dropped; the prince was already gone.

fortifications of Corfu, and those on the Dalmatian coast, destined, on the loss of the Morea, to protect Venice against Turkish aggression.

Charles VI. was the last of the male line of the house of Habsburg. His only son died during infancy, and his whole care was to secure the inheritance of all his crowns to his daughter, Maria Theresa, whose hand he had bestowed upon Francis, the youthful duke of Lorraine, an object he hoped to attain by means of the Pragmatic Sanction, a guarantee purchased from all the great European powers. Blinded by

paternal affection, he imagined that the sovereigns of Europe would consider a treaty binding, an example of naiveté remarkable in the midst of the faithlessness of the age. His efforts proved vain. After carrying on a long and futile negotiation, he discovered that England, France, and Spain (afterwards Saxon-Poland also) had confederated [A. D. 1729] at Seville against the Pragmatic Sanction. Frederick William I., who succeeded Frederick I. on the throne of Prussia, actuated by a feeling of German nationality and by his private antipathy to George, king of England, alone remained true to the emperor and fulfilled the treaty concluded with him, in 1726, at Wusterhausen; the accession of the other powers to the Sanction was purchased at an enormous sacrifice. France was pro

mised Lorraine; Spain was bribed with Tuscany, Parma, and Placentia; England and Holland were gained by the abolition of the commercial society of Ostend, which dealt a fatal blow to Dutch trade, A. D. 1731. The grand pensionary of Holland, Slingelandt, Heinsius's powerful successor, displayed great activity in the conduct of this affair. Augustus of Saxon-Poland was gained over by the assurance of the succession of the crown of Poland to his son, Augustus III. On the death of Augustus II. [A. D. 1733] the Poles proceeded to a fresh election; Stanislaus Lescinsky again set himself up as a candidate for the crown, and, although the Polish nobility evinced little inclination to favour the youthful Augustus, the emperor, true to his plighted word, exerted his utmost influence in his behalf.

The empress Anne, the widow of the duke of Courland, the last but one of the house of Kettler, and niece to Peter the Great, had governed Russia since 1730. That empire had long harboured the most inimical projects against Poland, and, as

early as 1710, had proposed the partition of that kingdom to the emperor and to Prussia. Anne, on the present occasion, despatched her favourite, Marshal Münnich, at the head of forty thousand men, to Poland, for the purpose of securing the election of Augustus, that tool of Russian diplomacy. Her deep interest in this affair and her contempt of Saxony are clearly proved by the fact of her having expelled Maurice the Strong, marshal of Saxony, who had been elected duke of Courland,* and bestowing the ducal mantle on her paramour, Biron, or, more properly, Büren, the grandson of an ostler. Stanislaus fled to Dantzig, where he was protected by the faithful citizens, but the city being bombarded by Münnich, he escaped across the flooded country in a boat, in order to save the city from utter destruction, and Münnich's departure was purchased with two million florins by the citizens. Stanislaus found a hospitable reception at the court of Frederick William I., who was beyond the sphere of Russian influence.

France, Spain, and Sardinia (Savoy) now unexpectedly declared war against Charles VI. on account of his interference in favour of Augustus. War was not declared against Augustus himself and against Russia. It was simply an open pretext for again plundering the empire. England and Holland remained neutral. The Russians sent thirty thousand men to the aid of the emperor, who actually reached the Rhine, but too late, peace having been already concluded. The loss of the French marshal, Berwik, in the commencement of the campaign, before Philippsburg, greatly facilitated Eugene's endeavours (he was now worn out and past service) to maintain himself on the Rhine. In Italy, Villars, now a veteran of eighty, gained, but with immensely superior forces,

* Ferdinand, the last of the Kettler family, died, A. D. 1725. Anna, the widow of his predecessor, Frederick Williain, became enamoured of Maurice, for whose election she at first exerted her utmost influence. It so happened, however, that Maurice had, at that time, a liaison with Adrienne Le Couvreux, the beautiful Parisian actress, who had given him the whole of her jewels and fortune in order to furnish him with the means of forwarding his interest in Courland; he, moreover, seduced one of Anna's ladies-in-waiting, which so greatly enraged her, that her love changed to hate, and Maurice was compelled to flee from Courland. He went to Paris, where his faithful and beautiful Adrienne, the darling of the Parisians, was poisoned by a duchess, who had also become enamoured of her handsome lover. See Espagnac's Life of Maurice and Forster's Augustus II.