The disasters of France had been continuous. Blenheim had secured Germany, and in this year of 1706, Ramillies had been followed by the conquest of the whole of the Netherlands, Turin by the conquest of the whole of Italy, the relief of Barcelona by the occupation of Madrid by the allied forces, although they had subsequently been compelled to fall back towards Valencia. So great were the French disasters that Louis began to think of treating, and suggested as terms on which peace might be made a new Partition Treaty, by which he would consent to acknowledge Queen Anne in England, to give the Dutch the barrier they demanded, to grant great commercial advantages to the maritime powers, and to surrender Spain and the Indies to the Archduke Charles, if only he could preserve for his grandson Philip a kingdom in Italy consisting of Milan, Naples, and Sicily. These terms were very attractive to the Dutch, who thought they had already secured all they required, but were by no means satisfactory to the Emperor, who saw that the barrier given to the Dutch must of necessity be taken from the Spanish dominions in the Netherlands, and therefore from his brother:[3] nor to Marlborough, who, though he confessed he did not believe that the King of France would ever make peace without securing some kingdom for his grandson, was desirous for his own sake to continue the war, and thought the French demand for the Milanese after the great victories which had been won unreasonable. With some difficulty he persuaded Heinsius to reject the terms, and the war proceeded on its course. It might have been better to have accepted Louis' terms. Never again were the affairs of the allies in so prosperous a condition, although the continuation of the war undoubtedly told in their favour by the gradual exhaustion it produced in France. [Sidenote: The tide of victory turns.] [Sidenote: Almanza. April 25, 1707.] [Sidenote: Stolhofen. May 22.] [Sidenote: Toulon. Aug. 20.]