294 Readings in European History kingdoms and lordships, without any exception or partition whatsoever. He ordered all his subjects and vassals to ac- knowledge him as their king and natural sovereign. But till this prince should come to Madrid, and even till he should come of age, 1 his Majesty ordained a council of regency, or junto, for the administration of the state, and nominated the members of which it was to be composed, placing the queen at the head. Immediately upon the king of Spain's decease, the junto wrote to the king [of France], giving him notice of this event ; and the Spanish ambassador had orders to deliver the will to his Majesty, together with the letter signed by the queen and the members of the junto. As they were in doubt at Madrid whether the king of France would accept the last proposals of his Catholic Majesty, the junto ordered Castel dos Rios, in case of such a refusal, to have the same courier who had been sent from Madrid proceed forthwith to Vienna; the intention of the late king having been to bequeath the entire succession to the archduke, in case his first settlement should not be accepted in France. The king was then at Fontainebleau. Upon the arrival of the courier, the Spanish ambassador communicated the orders he had just received to that one among the minis- ters to whom the king confided the department of foreign affairs, 2 and demanded a private audience of his Majesty. The king, before he would fix the hour, was desirous of hav- ing the opinion of his council upon an event so unexpected and yet so important to the royal family, to the welfare of the kingdom, and to the general tranquillity of Europe. . . . It was easier to foresee than to provide for the con- sequences of the decision in question. His Majesty had engaged to reject every disposition of his realms whatso- ever made by the king of Spain in favor of a prince of the line of France, — an engagement that excluded a bequest by will, a donation, or any other form of deed or settlement. 1 He was seventeen years old in 1700. 2 Namely, the writer himself.
