HISTORY OF GERMANY.

FOURTH PERIOD.-CONTINUED.

MODERN TIMES.

CCXXXI. Charles the Sixth.

CHARLES, Joseph the First's younger brother, had [a. D. 1704] been sent into Spain for the purpose of setting up his claim as the rightful heir of the house of Habsburg in opposition to that of the usurper Philip. It had been decided that Spain should, under Charles, remain separate from Austria under Joseph, the union of so many crowns on one head, as formerly on that of Charles V., being viewed with jealousy by the English, the Dutch, and the empire. Charles had, like his brother, been surrounded from his birth with the stiff ceremonial of the old Spanish court and with a gorgeous magnificence that flimsily veiled the absence of genuine grandeur. Charles, like Joseph during the Landau campaign, was accompanied in his journey to Spain by a suite of the most useless description, such as butlers, clerks of the kitchen, plate-cleaners, etc. He travelled through Holland to England, where he was conducted through rows of beautiful girls to Queen Anne's bed-chamber, where she presented to him the most beautiful of her ladies-in-waiting, each of whom he honoured with a salute. He was at that time unmarried, but shortly afterwards Elisabeth of Wolfenbüttel was sent to him as a bride. From

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A Lutheran princess. Elisabeth was well received at Vienna, but, in Brunswick, the superintendent, Nitsch, said from the pulpit, "One princess have we sacrificed to Popery, a second to Paganism, (a Russian prince,) and, were the devil to come to-morrow, we should give him a third."

England he went to Lisbon, Portugal supporting the house of Habsburg through dread of the united power of France and Spain. An army, composed of Dutch and English, was also assembled at Lisbon for the purpose of enforcing Charles's claims, and Prince George of Darmstadt, who had for some time resided in Spain, would have been its well-chosen commander, had not his nomination been opposed by English jealousy. He it was who, acquainted with the negligent manner in which Gibraltar, otherwise impregnable, was guarded, and seconded by the united fleets of England and Holland under Rook, took that fortress, but was compelled to endure the shame of beholding the British flag, instead of that of Charles, planted on the summit of the rock. A fresh troop of English auxiliaries, under Lord Peterborough, placed Charles [A. D. 1704] completely under the guardianship of England. Barcelona, where Prince George had some old connexions, and whence it was hoped to raise the whole of Catalonia against Philip, was besieged from the sea; the first assault, led by George, was, however, unsupported, from a motive of jealousy, by Lord Peterborough, and the life of the gallant prince was sacrificed. The town fell, eventually, into the hands of the English, and Charles figured there as a phantom monarch; but, anxious to conceal his utter dependence upon Lord Peterborough, he had the folly ever to oppose his wisest and most necessary measures. The French, taken by surprise, were repulsed on every side, and the king, Philip, a mere puppet of state, fled from Madrid.* Charles refused to enter Madrid on account of the want of a state-carriage, and, by his folly, delayed the performance of a ceremony, which would have made the deepest impression upon the Spaniards, and the junction of the troops concentrated at Lisbon and Barcelona. The French again took breath; Marshal Berwik was victorious at Almanza, A. D. 1707, and Charles was speedily shut up in Barcelona.

It was not until 1710, that the allies again assembled their forces, the Germans under the gallant Count von Stahremberg, the English under Stanhope, and reopened the campaign. They gained a signal victory at Saragossa; Philip was a second

The Spanish crown diamonds (an incredible number) were, on this occasion, sent to Paris, and were seized by Louis in payment for the aid granted by him.

time put to flight, and King Charles at length entered Madrid, where the people, jealous of his dependence upon the English heretics, received him with ominous silence. The pope and the Jesuits secretly worked against him. The moment when he would have been welcomed with open arms had been irretrievably neglected. France sent reinforcements and her best general, Vendome. At this critical moment, Stanhope separated from the Germans and allowed himself and the whole of his army to be made prisoners at Brihuega. Stahremberg, for whom Vendome had prepared a similar fate, kept the enemy, greatly his superior in number, in check at Villaviciosa; Charles was, nevertheless, once more limited to Barcelona, and the death of his brother recalling him to Germany, he returned thither, A. D. 1711, and received the imperial crown at Frankfurt. His consort, Elisabeth, and Stahremberg remained for two years longer at Barcelona, but were finally compelled to abandon that town, and unhappy Catalonia fell a prey to the cruel vengeance of Philip's adherents.

Charles was the only remaining prince of the house of Habsburg, his brother, Joseph, having died without issue. He united all the crowns of Habsburg on his head, and the hope of placing that of Spain, independent of the German hereditary provinces, on the head of a younger branch of that family, was, consequently, frustrated. This circumstance entirely changed the aspect of affairs. England, who was imitated by the allies of lesser importance, deemed Germany and Spain more dangerous when united under one head than France and Spain under two and unexpectedly declared in Philip's favour. Torrents of blood were again fruitlessly shed, and France, aided by all the other European powers, once more grasped her prey.

In England, the popular rights of the Anglo-Saxons had been forcibly suppressed by the Gallo-Norman feudal aristocracy. Since the Reformation, the popular element had, however, again risen, a reaction had taken place, and, in the middle of the seventeenth century, had produced a great revolution, which cost Charles I. his head, a deed of blood which raised enmity and engendered suspicion between his descendants, the Stuarts, and the people. The Stuarts were expelled, and William of Orange was called to the throne. Amongst those who, in the parliament and in the ministry, contended for the

control of the state, two parties had formed, the Tories or ancient Norman feudal aristocracy, who, although upholding their aristocratic privileges, were devoted to the monarchy, of which they made use for the suppression of popular liberty; and the Whigs, or Anglo-Saxon freemen, who, enriched by trade, proud of their marshal deeds, obstinately defended their ancient rights, were ever on the watch for the legal acquisition of fresh ones, and were no less devoted to the monarchy, by means of which, in their turn, they sought to overthrow the Tories. The Tories had naturally befriended the Stuarts; William, and, after him, Anne, were, consequently, supported by the Whigs. Dependence on a popular faction was, however, in this, as it has been in all ages, a royal bugbear, and the Tories merely awaited a fitting opportunity to eject their opponents from the queen's privy-council.

This opportunity offered on the death of the emperor Joseph. The Tories, under pretext of the over-preponderance of Germany and Spain when united under one head, ranged themselves on the side of France, who rewarded their neutrality with commercial advantages that flattered the material interests of the people and reduced the Whig opposition to silence. They were, moreover, seconded by a court-intrigue. The Duchess of Marlborough, rendered insolent by the fame and wealth of her husband, whose noble qualities were obscured by excessive covetousness,* wounded the queen's vanity by refusing to give her a handsome pair of gloves, to which she had taken a fancy, and by other acts of impoliteness; she was, in consequence, dismissed, and had the barefaced impudence suddenly to draw the whole of the enormous sums she had placed in the Bank of England, in order to produce a scarcity of gold, which, however, simply caused her husband, notwithstanding the laurels he had gained, to be prosecuted on a charge of embezzlement. His friends shared his fall; the Whigs lost office and were succeeded by a Tory government.

Prince Eugene hastened to London, but his friend Marlborough was already undergoing his trial, and, although Queen

* Marlborough possessed great financial as well as military talent. In unison with the Jew, Medina, for instance, he set up stock-jobbing or commercial transactions with government paper, which afterwards became general throughout Europe; he, moreover, defrauded the public treasury by lowering the pay of his troops, etc.