his English subjects. The States, in their reply, took care to express how much they depended on the courage and power of the English, and to compliment them on the great fame for valour which they had acquired in the late struggle.
William then set out to survey the defences of the frontiers, and the state of the garrisons; and having visited Bergemop-Zoom, Sluys, and other places, and taken such measures as appeared necessary, he returned to the Hague, where the news met him that Louis had recalled his ambassador, D'Avaux, who left a memorial in a very insolent tone, asserting that his royal master was convinced that no good could come of the negotiations, but still declaring that it depended on themselves whether there should be peace or war. This event by no means surprised William, for both he and Marlborough had felt from the first that there was no sincerity in the professions of D'Avaux, and that they were meant only to gain time. The treaty betwixt England, Holland, and the emperor was, therefore, urged forward briskly, and was signed on the 7th of September, being styled "The Second Grand Alliance." By this treaty it was contracted that the three allies should mutually exert themselves to procure satisfaction for the emperor for the Spanish succession, and security for the peace and trade of the allies. Two months were yet to be allowed for obtaining the objects by negotiation. If this failed, war was to be made to recover the Spanish Flanders, the kingdoms of Sicily, Naples, and the other Spanish territories in Italy; that the States and England might seize and keep for themselves whatever they could of the colonial possessions of Spain. No peace was to be made by any one of the allies until they had obtained security for the absolute separation of France and Spain, and that France should not hold the Spanish Indies. All kings, princes, and states were invited to enter the alliance, and tempting offers of advantages were made to induce them to do so. William had already secured the interest of Denmark, and the promises of Sweden; but the young king of Sweden, Charles XII., was too busily pursuing the war with Russia and Poland to lend any real service to this cause. At the very moment that the allies were canvassing for confederates, this "madman of the north," as he was called, gave the czar Peter a most terrible overthrow at Narva, killing thirty thousand of his men, namely, on the 30th of November. Holstein and the palatinate came into the treaty, and the news from Italy soon induced the German petty princes to profess their adhesion, especially the electors of Bavaria and Cologne, who had received subsidies from Franco, and raised troops, with which they would have declared for Louis, had not the victories of prince Eugene swayed their mercenary minds the other way.
For several weeks before the signing of the treaty at the Hague, Eugene, at the head of the emperor's troops in Italy, had opened the war. He had entered Italy at Vicenza, and passed the Adige near Carpi, where, being opposed by Catinat and the duke of Savoy, he defeated them with considerable slaughter, and forced them to retire into the Mantuan territory. Catinat and the French had excited the hatred of the peasantry by their insolence and oppressions, and they flew to arms and assisted Eugene, who was very popular with them, by harassing the outposts of the French, cutting off their foragers, and obstructing their supplies. Marshal Villeroi being sent to their aid, Catinat retired in disgust. Villeroi marched towards Chiari, and attacked Eugene in his camp, but was repulsed with the loss of five thousand men. By the end of the campaign the prince had reduced all the Mantuan territory except Mantua itself and Goito, which he blockaded. He reduced all the places on the Oglio, and continued in the field all the winter, displaying a genius for war which greatly alarmed the king of France. He dispatched fresh reinforcements to Piedmont, under the marshal Vendòme, but he found the duke of Savoy now cold and backward in assisting him. The duke had now got all that he could look for from France; his second daughter was married to the new king of Spain, and, satisfied with that, he was by no means ambitious of French domination in his own territories.
On the other hand, France endeavoured to distract Austria by sowing insurrection in Hungary, and Louis's emissaries were busy all over Europe. He managed to make an alliance with Portugal, though the king himself was attached to the house of Austria, but was a weak prince, and was betrayed by his ministers, who were corrupted by Franco. Meantime the English and Dutch fleets sailed in strong force along the coasts of Spain, to overawe the French, and another fleet was dispatched to the West Indies, to be ready in case of hostilities. In Spain itself both people and nobles began to repent bitterly of their subjection to France. They felt greatly insulted by the insolence of the king's French ministers and attendants, who treated the highest grandees with very little consideration. The French dress was introduced into the court, and French manners also, and a formal edict was issued, putting the French, nobles on the same level with the proud Hidalgoes of Spain. The finances of Spain were at the lowest ebb, the spirit of the nation was thoroughly demoralised, and the condition of France was very little better. These circumstances being universally known, encouraged the allies in their projects. Yet the emperor, for whose cause the alliance was ostensibly created, was almost equally poor. He had engaged to bring 90,000 troops into the field — 66,000 infantry and 24,000 horse; yet he was compelled to negotiate a loan with Holland for 500,000 crowns. William, on his part, was to furnish 33,000 infantry and 7,000 horse, and the States- General 32,000 infantry and 20,000 horse. Such were the circumstances under which commenced what was called the war of the Spanish succession, which was destined to continue eleven years, and to cost this country alone £62,500,000, of which £32,500,000 was added to the national debt, and this in one hundred and fifty-six years which have since elapsed has cost in interest upwards of £150,000,000, thus making a total of cost to England alone up to this time of upwards of £180,000,000 for that one war alone, and still destined to press on our posterity. Such are the curses which monarchs inflict on nations when they rush into war. We may well inquire what advantages the balance of power in Europe has ever brought to place in the scale against this monstrous burthen, which every day is pressing on the population of this kingdom in taxation, and, therefore, in the rate of rental and of everything consumed. But this, as we shall soon have occasion to note, is but a small item of the
