The late Emperor, in order to preserve the Succession of his hereditary Dominions entire, had obtain'd from the chief Powers in _Europe_, the _Guarantee_ of the _Pragmatic Sanction_ of which it is therefore necessary to give the Reader some Account. _Leopold_, his Father, apprehensive of the Troubles which the Failure of the Male Line in his Family might excite not only in _Germany_, but in _Europe_, form'd the Design of settling the Succession in the Female Line, as the only way to prevent all Disputes, and keep his Dominions entire. He communicated his Intentions to his Sons _Joseph_ and _Charles_ (who both succeeded him) by whom this Regulation was approved; and afterwards by his Ministers he had it ratify'd in the Imperial Dyet. _Joseph_, his Successor, made no Alteration in it, and died without Male Issue. _Charles_ VI. seven Years after his Accession, having no Male Heir, and seeing that if the Male Line should end in him, the right of Succession would remain in his Nieces, and not his Daughters, in order to secure the Succession to his own Posterity, by confining the Entail, had a new Instrument drawn up, which in 1720, after being approved by his Council, was sworn to by all the Estates of his hereditary Dominions. But foreign Courts, foreseeing the Difficulties that might attend it, were averse to intermeddle with it. In 1724 _Great Britain_ and _France_ refused to guarantee it, tho' then Mediators between the _Emperor_ and _Spain_. This occasion'd the first Treaty of _Vienna_ in 1725, in which this Prince threw himself into the Hands of _Spain_, and gave up _Naples_ and _Sicily_ on the sole Condition of that Crown's guaranteeing the _Pragmatic Sanction_. In 1726 he obtain'd the Guarantee of _Russia_, and some Months after the Imperial Dyet confirmed it as a Publick irrevocable Law. In 1731, by the second Treaty of _Vienna_, we consented to give it our Sanction; and in 1732, the King of _Denmark_, and the _States General_ follow'd our Example. The Elector of _Saxony_ in 1733 acquiesced in it, on account of the Emperor's contributing to raise him to the Throne of _Poland_, and by the last Treaty of _Vienna_ in 1738, _France_ also confirm'd it, in Consideration of the Cession of _Lorrain_. Yet both the Courts of _Paris_ and _Madrid_, who had obtain'd large Accessions of Territory for their Guarantees, were the first to violate their Engagements; whereas _Great Britain_, _Holland_ and _Russia_, who got nothing by theirs, continued firm to what they had promis'd. The only Princes who refus'd to acknowledge it at the Emperor's Death, were the Electors of _Bavaria_, _Cologne_, and _Palatine_. As to the two first, their Interests were too nearly concern'd not to oppose a measure that defeated the Claim of their House to so rich and powerful a Succession: As to the latter, it is not well known what his Motives were, unless a Disinclination to the _Austrian_ Interests, which he discover'd all his Life.