nse magazines of military stores, and in filling the
adjacent harbors with ships of war. The sagacious French monarch had
secured the cooeperation of the pope, and of some of the most influential
Jesuits who surrounded the sick and dying monarch. Charles II. had long
been harassed by the importunities of both parties that he should give
the influence of his voice in the decision. Tortured by the incessant
vacillations of his own mind, he was at last influenced, by the
suggestions of his spiritual advisers, to refer the question to the
pope. He accordingly sent an embassage to the pontiff with a letter
soliciting counsel.

"Having no children," he observed, "and being obliged to appoint an heir
to the Spanish crown from a foreign family, we find such great obscurity
in the law of succession, that we are unable to form a settled
determination. Strict justice is our aim; and, to be able to decide with
that justice, we have offered up constant prayers to God. We are anxious
to act rightly, and we have recourse to your holiness, as to an
infallible guide, intreating you to consult with the cardinals and
divines, and, after having attentively examined the testaments of our
ancestors, to decide according to the rules of right and equity."

Pope Innocent XII. was already prepared for this appeal, and was engaged
to act as the agent of the French court. The hoary-headed pontiff, with
one foot in the grave, affected the character of great honesty and
impartiality. He required forty days to examine the important case, and
to seek divine assistance. He then returned the following answer,
admirably adapted to influence a weak and superstitious prince:

"Being myself," he wrote, "in a situation similar to that of his
Catholic majesty, the King of Spain, on the point of appearing at the
judgment-seat of Christ, and rendering an account to the sovereign
pastor of the flock which has been intrusted to my care, I am bound to
give such advice as will not reproach my conscience on the day of
judgment. Your majesty ought not to put the interests of the house of
Austria in competition with those of eternity. Neither should you be
ignorant that the French claimants are the rightful heirs of the crown,
and no member of the Austrian family has the smallest legitimate
pretension. It is therefore your duty to omit no precaution, which your
wisdom can suggest, to render justice where justice is due, and to
secure, by every means in your power, t