154 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [chap. rule her husband, and, among the ninety-nine marriage- able princesses of Europe, Bourbon chose Maria Lec- st7iskt,.e daughter of Stanislaus Le:zinski, who had been elected King of Poland, and afterwards deposed in the wars between Sweden and Russia. Fleury, Bishop of Frejus, who had been the king's tutor, and was an upright old man, now became prime-minister. In his time France engaged in the war of the Polish succession, which began in 1733, and which, oddly enough, was chiefly fought in Italy. When the crown of Poland became vacant in 1733, France procured the re-election of the king's father-irf-Jaw Stanislaus, but he was driven out by the forces of the Em- peror Charles and of Anne, Empress of Russia. France now formed a treaty with Spain and with Sardinia (as we must now say instead of Savoy), against the Emperor, who was not able to withstand so many enemies. The Sicilies were conquered by Spain, and by the Treaty of Vienna which ended the war, a Spanish prince, Charles the Third, was established as king of the Two Sicilies. It was further agreed that the Duke of Lorraine should give up his duchy to King Stanislaus, on whose death Lorraine should be added to France, while the Duke of Lorraine received the succession, and very soon the actual posses- sion, of the grand duchy of Tuscany. Thus Lorraine, which France had been so long aiming at, was at last brought within her grasp ; but the duchy was not actually annexed to France till the death of Stanislaus in 1766. By the same treaty France also guaranteed the Pragmatic Sanction of the Emperor Charles tliL. OIa t I i, of which we
- nust now speak. Ov
27. The A^ar of the Austrian Succession. — The two sons of the Emperor Leopold, Joseph and Charles, who followed him as'emperors, had agreed by ?i family compact on a rule of succession for the hereditary states of the House of Austria. If Joseph had no son, Charles wa-s to succeed, and again, if Charles had no son, Joseph's daughters were to succeed before those of Charles. As Joseph had no son, Charles succeeded in Hungary, Bo- hemia, Austria, and the other hereditary states. His greert object then was to set aside his nieces, and procure , the succession of his own daughters. To that effect he put forth a decree called a Pragmatic Sanction, which he gotV -Q confirmed by the States of the Empire, and guaranteed by most of the European powers. He also caused his nieces to resign their claims when they married. When
