France retired from the Biscayan Provinces, and the English from Gibraltar and Port Mahone.
When the regent of Franco had read those propositions, he refused to grant Scotti passports to visit the Hague till he had first consulted the emperor and the king of England. George was still at Hanover, and Stanhope with him. Dubois wrote to Stanhope there, inclosing the Spanish propositions, and Stanhope replied that it was no longer time for the entertainment of such ideas; that nothing now, it was clear, could secure the peace of Europe but the expulsion of Alberoni, not only from the Spanish cabinet, but from Spain altogether; that his unbounded ambition had been the sole cause of the war; that to gratify it he had broken through the most solemn treaties, and that there was no security, so long as he continued in Spain, against his breaking any new ones; that it was necessary to hold forth this example to Europe, as a means of intimidating wicked and turbulent ministers, who might wish to violate treaties and embroil kingdoms.
France and England being thus determined, the day of Alberoni's fall was at hand. His own conduct hastened the catastrophe. As things went wrong, his temper became more imperious, and the grandees of Spain, never very well pleased to see the son of a foreign gardener exalted above their heads, now exerted themselves in coalition with France and England for his overthrow. His old friends began to fall away, his enemies to acquire double activity. Several of the grandees entered into secret engagements with the French regent to procure his dismissal. The king of Spain's confessor, discovering that Alberoni was trying to introduce another into his office, immediately became a dangerous ally of the discontented; but the finishing stroke was given by the restless and clever lord Peterborough. Though neither employed nor trusted by his own government, he saw how the most effectual blow might be given to Alberoni's influence, and he at once put the idea into operation. He entered into a private correspondence with the duke of Parma, whose niece, Elizabeth Farnese, was queen of Spain. With his usual impressive eloquence he soon convinced the duke of the necessity for the dismissal of Alberoni, in order to contribute to the peace of Europe, and that the casting die was in his hand. He refused to proceed to the duke's court to complete this negotiation in order to avoid suspicion, but he agreed to meet a confidential agent of the duke's at Novi, in Piedmont. There it was arranged that the duke should privately write to the queen of Spain, urging the necessity of the cardinal's dismissal; and about the time of the arrival of the duke's letters at Madrid, the marquis Scotti, Alberoni's agent to the regent of France, returned, having been induced, by a bribe of fifty thousand crowns, to desert his employer, and exert his influence over the queen against him.
These united schemes succeeded. Alberoni was suddenly dismissed, and ordered to quit Madrid in eight days and Spain in twenty-one. It was in vain that he sought interviews, and wrote letters to the king and queen; audience was refused him, and his letters remained unanswered. He was compelled to set out according to the royal command, and at Lerida he was overtaken by an officer sent to search his baggage for papers missed from the government offices, which, unfortunately for the reputation of the cardinal, were discovered upon him. The grandees, once assured of being rid of him, paid him great honours at his departure, but the abstraction of the government papers seems to have greatly embittered the king and queen against him. They made heavy accusations to the pope against him. He was arrested at the instance of his holiness in the Genoese territories, and various charges preferred against him to the Genoese senate by the king of Spain, as an enemy to the church, amongst which his having made war on catholic princes was impudently enough put in the foreground. The Genoese declined going into these charges, and Alberoni published several spirited defences of himself, flinging the charges with only too much truth upon the king and queen of Spain. The court of Spain, therefore, pursued him with redoubled acrimony, and endeavoured to deprive him of his cardinal's hat, and to prevent him finding an asylum anywhere. They did not succeed in degrading him from his rank of cardinal, but they compelled him to seek refuge in Switzerland. Alberoni, however, was not the man to remain long in secluded inactivity, and we shall soon again find him busy in the cause of the pretender, thus endeavouring to avenge himself on England.
The king of Spain hoped, by the dismissal of Alberoni, to obtain more advantageous terms of peace from France and England; but they still stood firmly to the conditions of the quadruple alliance. On the 19th of January, 1720, the plenipotentiaries of England, France, and Holland signed an engagement at Paris not to admit of any conditions of peace from Spain contrary to those of the alliance. Stanhope dispatched his secretary, Schaub, to Madrid, to endeavour to bring over the queen to this agreement, and Dubois sent instructions to the marquis Scotti, father d'Aubenton, and others in the French interest to press the same point. She stood out finally for some time, but eventually gave way, and the mind of the king was soon influenced by her. Some difficulties which could not be overcome were referred to a congress to be held at Cambray. On the 26th of January Philip announced his accession to the quadruple alliance, declaring that he gave up his rights and possessions to secure the peace of Europe. He renewed his renunciation of the French crown, and promised to evacuate Sicily and Sardinia within six months, which he faithfully performed.
Dispatches were instantly sent by the English and Austrian ministers, informing admiral Byng and the count De Mercy of the accession of Spain to the quadruple alliance, and these informed De Lede of the fact; by a trumpet. De Lede, however, who still maintained his hostile attitude at Alcamo, had received no intelligence of the event from his own government, and therefore declared himself unable to treat for a cessation of hostilities until he did obtain such authority. Byng and De Mercy still pressed him to a convention for the cessation of hostilities; but De Lede would not consent to any other terms than those of still retaining possession of Palermo, by which he would be in full enjoyment of the provisions of the island, and the allies would be cooped up in one corner of it, subject to great privations. After much fruitless negotiation, the allied general and admiral prepared to force the surrender of Palermo, and De Lede to defend it, and the two armies were on the point of
