unced
all claims to the succession, but the French king had nevertheless
continued from time to time to bring them forward. Had these rights
not been renounced Philip would have had the best claim to the Spanish
throne, the next of kin after him being Charles of Austria.

During the later days of the King of Spain all Europe had looked on with
the most intense interest at the efforts which the respective parties
made for their candidates. Whichever might succeed to the throne the
balance of power would be destroyed; for either Austria and Spain
united, or France and Spain united, would be sufficient to overawe the
rest of the Continent. Louis XIV lulled the fears of the Austrian party
by suggesting a treaty of partition to the Dutch states and William the
Third of England.

By this treaty it was agreed that the Archduke Charles was to be
acknowledged successor to the crowns of Spain, the Indies, and the
Netherlands; while the dauphin, as the eldest son of Maria Theresa,
should receive the kingdom of Naples and Sicily, with the Spanish
province of Guipuscoa and the duchy of Milan, in compensation of his
abandonment of other claims. When the conditions of this treaty became
known they inspired natural indignation in the minds of the people of
the country which had thus been arbitrarily allotted, and the dying
Charles of Spain was infuriated by this conspiracy to break up and
divide his dominion. His jealousy of France would have led him to select
the Austrian claimant; but the emperor's undisguised greed for a portion
of the Spanish empire, and the overbearing and unpleasant manner of the
Austrian ambassador in the Spanish court, drove him to listen to the
overtures of Louis, who had a powerful ally in Cardinal Portocarrero,
Archbishop of Toledo, whose influence was all powerful with the king.
The cardinal argued that the grandson of Maria Theresa could not be
bound by her renunciation, and also that it had only been made with a
view to keep separate the French and Spanish monarchies, and that if a
descendant of hers, other than the heir to the throne of France, were
chosen, this condition would be carried out.

Finally, he persuaded Charles, a month before his death, to sign a will
declaring Philip, Duke of Anjou, grandson of his brother in law Louis
XIV, sole heir of the Spanish empire. The will was kept secret till the
death of the king, and was then publicly proclaimed. Louis accepted the
bequest in favor of his gr