The campaign of this year was thus wholly indecisive. The English and Dutch had secured the possession of the Rhine and the Meuse; but the German army was threatened in front from Alsace, while its rear and southern flank were exposed to the victorious army of Villars and the Elector of Bavaria: in Italy the French still held the Milanese against the attacks of Prince Eugene. But before the next campaign opened the position of France had changed considerably for the worse. The diplomacy of Louis had hitherto secured the predominance of French influence in both Spain and Italy by the adhesion of Savoy and Portugal to his cause. Victor Amadeus of Savoy had been won by the marriage of his daughter with the King of Spain; but, situated in the midst of great powers, his conduct was almost of necessity shifting, and his policy directed rather to his own advantage and to the interests of Italy than to the more general interests of Europe; the offer on the part of Austria to give up to him the districts of Montferrat and Novara induced him to desert Louis and to declare in favour of the Grand Alliance. The French army in the Milanese was thus separated from France, and its energy paralyzed. By similar means the fidelity of Portugal was also undermined. A promise of a certain portion of the Spanish possessions both in Spain and in America, and a treaty known as the Methuen Treaty, securing to Portugal great advantage in her trade with England, induced her to join the Grand Alliance. The importance of this adhesion was great, as it afforded an opening for the allied armies to act directly against Spain, the possession of which country was the real object of the war. Nor were these defections the only causes of danger which beset France. Disturbances had broken out in Louis' own dominions. The Protestants of the Cevennes, driven to despair by the cruel conduct of the Intendant, Marshal de Baville, and of the Catholic clergy, had broken into open rebellion, and the irregular efforts of the Camissards, as they were called, had become formidable under the skilful guidance of Cavalier, a baker's lad, who showed extraordinary aptitude for partisan warfare. [Sidenote: Campaign of 1703.]