TREATY BETWEEN THE EMPEROR AND THE DUKE OF SAVOY.

The emperor’s affairs at this juncture wore a very unpromising aspect. The Hungarians were fleeced and barbarously oppressed by those to whom he intrusted the government of their country. They derived courage from despair. They seized this opportunity, when the emperor’s forces were divided, and his councils distracted, to exert themselves in defence of their liberties. They ran to arms under the auspices of prince Ragotzki. They demanded that their grievances should be redressed, and their privileges restored. Their resentment was kept up by the emissaries of France and Bwaria, who likewise encouraged them to persevere in their revolt, by repeated promises of protection and assistance. The emperor’s prospect, however, was soon mended by two incidents of very great consequence to his interest. The duke of Savoy foreseeing how much he should be exposed to the mercy of the French king, should that monarch become master of the Milanese, engaged in a secret negotiation with the emperor, which, notwithstanding all his caution, was discovered by the court of Versailles. Louis immediately ordered the duke of Vendôme to disarm the troops of Savoy that were in his army, to the number of two-and-twenty thousand men; to insist upon the duke’s putting him in possession of four considerable fortresses; and demand that the number of his troops should be reduced to the establishment stipulated in the treaty of 1696. The duke, exasperated at these insults, ordered the French ambassador, and several officers of the same nation, to be arrested. Louis endeavoured to intimidate him by a menacing letter, in which he gave him to understand that since neither religion, honour, interest, nor alliances, had been able to influence his conduct, the duke de Vendôme should make known the intentions of the French monarch, and allow him four-and-twenty hours to deliberate on the measures he should pursue. This letter was answered by a manifesto: in the meantime the duke concluded a treaty with the court of Vienna; acknowledged the archduke Charles as king of Spain; and sent envoys to England and Holland. Queen Anne, knowing his importance as well as his selfish disposition, assured him of her friendship and assistance; and both she and the states sent ambassadors to Turin. He was immediately joined by a body of imperial horse under Visconti, and afterwards by count Staremberg, at the head of fifteen thousand men, with whom that general marched from the Modenese in the worst season of the year, through an enemy’s country, and roads that were deemed impassable. In vain the French forces harassed him in his march, and even surrounded him in many different places on the route: he surmounted all these difficulties with incredible courage and perseverance, and joined the duke of Savoy at Canelli, so as to secure the country of Piedmont. The other incident which proved so favourable to the imperial interest, was a treaty by which the king of Portugal acceded to the grand alliance. His ministry perceived that should Spain be once united to the crown of France, their master would sit very insecure upon his throne. They were intimidated by the united fleets of the maritime powers, which maintained the empire of the sea; and they were allured by the splendour of a match between their infanta and the archduke Charles, to whom the emperor and the king of the Romans promised to transfer all their pretensions to the Spanish crown. By this treaty, concluded at Lisbon between the emperor, the queen of Great Britain, the king of Portugal, and the states-general, it was stipulated that king Charles should be conveyed to Portugal by a powerful fleet, having on board twelve thousand soldiers, with a great supply of money, arms, and ammunition; and that he should be joined immediately upon his landing by an army of eight-and-twenty thousand Portuguese.