Cassell's History of England, Vol. 4 (of 8): From the Fall of Marlborough to the Peninsular WarAnonymous
History
Cassell's History of England, Vol. 4 (of 8): From the Fall of Marlborough to the Peninsular War
Anonymous
Great Britain -- History
This insult roused the fiery blood of Spain. The king and queen were
excited to paroxysms of rage. They told Mr. William Stanhope that,
in future, they would put confidence in no prince except his master,
nor admit any one else to mediate for them in their negotiations. But
George refused to break with France on their account, and ventured to
remind Philip that he himself stood greatly in need of the alliance
with France. Blinded, however, by their wounded pride, the King and
Queen of Spain now turned their anger against England. They recalled
their plenipotentiaries from the Congress of Cambray, which was sitting
to settle the affairs of Europe, and professed their readiness to
abandon all their hostility to the Emperor of Germany, and to concede
all that they had so long demanded from him, on condition that he
entered into a close alliance with them against France and England.
They sent back to France the widow of the late Don Louis, and also
Mademoiselle Beaujolais, another daughter of the late Regent Orleans,
who had been contracted to Don Carlos.
The Emperor of Germany was delighted at the Spanish offer. He had
always felt himself aggrieved by the conditions of the Quadruple
Alliance. He was afraid of France, and hated George of England for his
German policy. He had, moreover, embroiled himself with both England
and Holland, by establishing at Ostend an East India Company, which
was declared to be in violation of the Treaty of Westphalia, and was,
at all events, regarded with particular jealousy by both England and
Holland. This being the case, Ripperda, the envoy of Spain, a Dutch
adventurer, who had been the tool of Alberoni, completed with ease a
treaty with the Emperor at Vienna, which was signed on the 30th of
April, 1725.
By this treaty almost everything was given up which had kept Spain
and Austria in war and conflict for many years, and by themselves
and their allies had steeped Europe in blood. The King of Spain
agreed to sanction the Ostend Company, to yield the long-contested
point regarding the exclusive mastership of the Golden Fleece. He
surrendered the right to garrison with Spanish troops the fortresses
of Tuscany. He acknowledged the Emperor's right to Naples, Sicily, the
Milanese, and Netherlands, and guaranteed what was termed the Pragmatic
Sanction; that is, the succession of the hereditary states of Austria
in the female line. This was a concession of immense importance to
the Emperor, who had only daughters, and whose claim to the Flemish
and Italian dominions might thus have been contested by Philip on the
Emperor's death. Thus, before the emotions of a family quarrel, fell
at once all the mighty questions which had rent and desolated Europe
for a quarter of a century! Both the sovereigns engaged to afford
mutual support should either be attacked. Charles agreed to bring into
the field twenty thousand foot and ten thousand horse, Philip twenty
thousand troops and fifteen ships of war.
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