d
climbed when he uttered that vain boast. Philip V. was acknowledged
King in 1702, and in 1704 _Blenheim_ had been fought and won by
Marlborough, and the decline of the _Grand Monarque_ had commenced.

The war against him by a combined Europe now became the war of the
"Spanish Succession." England and Holland united with Emperor Leopold
to curb his limitless ambition. The purpose of the war of the "Spanish
Succession" was, ostensibly, to place the Austrian Archduke upon the
throne of Spain; its real purpose was to check the alarming ascendancy
of Louis XIV. in Europe.

It lasted for years, the poor young King and Queen being driven
from one city to another, while the Austrian Archduke was at Madrid
striving to reign over a people who would not recognize him.

Spain was being made the sport of three nations in pursuance of their
own ambitious ends. Her land was being ravaged by foreign armies,
recruited from three of her own disaffected provinces; while a young
King with whom she was well satisfied was peremptorily ordered to
make way for one Austria, England, and Holland preferred. It was
a humiliating proof of the decline in national spirit, and the old
Castilian pride must have sorely degenerated for such things to be
possible.

Finally, after Louis XIV. had once more given solemn oath that the
crowns of France and Spain should never be united, the "Peace of
Utrecht" was signed (1713). But the provisions of the treaty were
momentous for Spain. She was at one stroke of the pen stripped of half
her possessions in Europe. Philip V. was acknowledged King of Spain
and the Indies. But Sicily, with its regal title, was ceded to the
Duke of Savoy; Milan, Naples, Sardinia, and the Netherlands went to
Karl, now Emperor Charles VI. of Germany; while Minorca and Gibraltar
passed to the keeping of England.

No one felt unmixed satisfaction, except perhaps England. The Archduke
had failed to get his throne, and to wear the double crown like
Charles V. Louis had carried his point. He had succeeded in keeping
the kingdom for his grandson. But that kingdom was dismembered, and
had shrunk to insignificant proportions in Europe, while England, most
fortunate of all, had carried off the key to the Mediterranean. That
little rocky promontory of Gibraltar was potentially of more value
than all the rest!

Such was the beginning of the dynasty of the Bourbon in Spain. Philip
was succeeded, upon his death in 1746, by his son Ferdinan