DEATH OF THE KING OF SPAIN.

King William had returned to England on the eighteenth day of October, not a little chagrined at the perplexities in which he found himself involved; and in the beginning of the next month, he received advice that the king of Spain was actually dead. He could not be surprised at this event, which had been so long-expected; but it was attended with a circumstance which he had not foreseen. Charles, by his last will, had declared the duke of Anjou, second son of the dauphin, the sole heir of the Spanish monarchy. In case this prince should die without issue, or inherit the crown of France, he willed that Spain should devolve to the duke of Berry: in default of him, and children, to the archduke Charles and his heirs; failing of whom, to the duke of Savoy and his posterity. He likewise recommended a match between the duke of Anjou and one of the archduchesses. When this testament was first notified to the French court, Louis seemed to hesitate between his inclination and engagements to William and the states-general. Madame de Maintenon is said to have joined her influence to that of the dauphin, in persuading the king to accept of the will; and Pontchartrain was engaged to support the same measure. A cabinet-council was called in her apartment. The rest of the ministry declared for the treaty of partition; the king affected a kind of neutrality. The dauphin spoke for his son with an air of resolution he had never assumed before; Pontchartain seconded his argument; madame de Main-tenon asked, what the duke of Anjou had done to provoke the king, that he should be barred of his right to that succession? Then the rest of the members espoused the dauphin’s opinion; and the king owned himself convinced by their reasons. In all probability the decision of this council was previously settled in private. After the will was accepted, Louis closeted the duke of Anjou, to whom he said in presence of the marquis des Rois, “Sir, the king of Spain has made you a king. The grandees demand you; the people wish for you, and I give my consent, remember only, you are a prince of France. I recommend to you to love your people, to gain their affection by the lenity of your government, and to render yourself worthy of the throne you are going to ascend.” The new monarch was congratulated on his elevation by all the princes of the blood; nevertheless, the duke of Orleans and his son protested against the will, because the archduke was placed next in succession to the duke of Berry, in bar of their right as descendants of Anne of Austria, whose renunciation could be of no more force than that of Maria-Theresa. On the fourth day of December the new king set out for Spain, to the frontiers of which he was accompanied by his two brothers.

When the will was accepted, the French minister de Torcy endeavoured to justify his master’s conduct to the earl of Manchester, who resided at Paris in the character of ambassador from the court of London. He observed, that the treaty of partition was not likely to answer the end for which it had been concerted; that the emperor had refused to accede; that it was relished by none of the princes to whom it had been communicated; that the people of England and Holland had expressed their discontent at the prospect of France being in possession of Naples and Sicily; that if Louis had rejected the will, the archduke would have had a double title derived from the former will, and that of the late king; that the Spaniards were so averse to the division of their monarchy, there would be a necessity for conquering the whole kingdom before the treaty could be executed; that the ships to be furnished by Great Britain and Holland would not be sufficient for the purposes of such a war, and it was doubtful whether England and the states-general would engage themselves in a greater expense. He concluded with saying, That the treaty would have been more advantageous to France than the will, which the king accepted purely from a desire of preserving the peace of Europe. His master hoped therefore that a good understanding would subsist between him and the king of Great Britain. The same reasons were communicated by Briod, the French ambassador at the Hague, to the states-general. Notwithstanding this address, they ordered their envoy at Paris to deliver a memorial to the French king, expressing their surprise at his having accepted the will; and their hope, that as the time specified for the emperor’s acceding to the treaty was not expired, his most christian majesty would take the affair again into his consideration, and adhere to his engagements in every article. Louis in his answer to this memorial, which he despatched to all the courts of Europe, declared that what he chiefly considered was the principal design of the contracting parties, namely, the maintenance of peace in Europe; and that, true to his principle, he only departed from the words that he might the better adhere to the spirit of the treaty.