, who still hoped to obtain from Charles II. a will in favor
of his second son, the Archduke Charles, but with England and Holland,
deeply interested as they were in maintaining the equilibrium between the
two kingly houses which divided Europe. William III. considered himself
certain to obtain the acceptance by the emperor of the conditions
subscribed by his allies. On the 13th and 15th of May, 1700, after long
hesitation and a stubborn resistance on the part of the city of
Amsterdam, the treaty of partition was signed in London and at the Hague.
"King William is honorable in all this business," said a letter to the
king from his ambassador, Count de Tallard; "his conduct is sincere; he
is proud--none can be more so than he; but he has a modest manner, though
none can be more jealous in all that concerns his rank."

The treaty of partition secured to the dauphin all the possessions of
Spain in Italy, save Milaness, which was to indemnify the Duke of
Lorraine, whose duchy passed to France; Spain, the Indies, and the Low
Countries were to belong to Archduke Charles. Great was the wrath at
Vienna when it was known that the treaty was signed. "Happily," said the
minister, Von Kaunitz, to the Marquis of Villars, ambassador of France,
"there is One on high who will work for us in these partitions." "That
One," replied M. de Villars, "will approve of their justice." "It is
something new, however, for the King of England and for Holland to
partition the monarchy of Spain," continued the count. "Allow me,"
replied M. de Villars, "to excuse them in your eyes; those two powers
have quite recently come out of a war which cost them a great deal, and
the emperor nothing; for, in fact, you have been at no expense but
against the Turks. You had some troops in Italy, and in the empire two
regiments only of hussars which were not on its pay-list; England and
Holland alone bore all the burden." William III. was still negotiating
with the emperor and the German princes to make them accept the treaty of
partition, when it all at once became known in Europe that Charles II.
had breathed his last at Madrid on the 1st of November, 1700, and that,
by a will dated October 2, he disposed of the Spanish monarchy in favor
of the Duke of Anjou, grandson of Louis XIV.

This will was the work of the council of Spain, at the head of which sat
Cardinal Porto-Carrero. "The national party," says M. Mignet in his
"Introduction aux Documents rela