aintain the standing
army, robbed him of popularity and of the strength which comes from
popularity. The negotiations too which he was carrying on were a secret
he could not reveal; and his prayers failed to turn the Parliament from
its purpose. The army and navy were ruthlessly cut down. How much
William's hands were weakened by this reduction of forces and by the
peace-temper of England was shown by the Second Partition Treaty which
was concluded in 1700 between the two maritime powers and France. The
demand of Lewis that the Netherlands should be given to the Elector of
Bavaria, whose political position would always leave him a puppet in the
French king's hands, was indeed successfully resisted. Spain, the
Netherlands, and the Indies were assigned to the second son of the
Emperor, the Archduke Charles of Austria. But the whole of the Spanish
territories in Italy were now granted to France; and it was provided
that Milan should be exchanged for Lorraine, whose Duke was to be
summarily transferred to the new Duchy. If the Emperor persisted in his
refusal to come into the Treaty the share of his son was to pass to
another unnamed prince, who was probably the Duke of Savoy.

[Sidenote: Fall of the Junto.]

The Emperor, indifferent to the Archduke's personal interest, and
anxious only to gain a new dominion in Italy for the House of Austria,
stubbornly protested against this arrangement; but his protest was of
little moment so long as Lewis and the two maritime powers held firmly
together. The new Western Alliance indeed showed how wide its power was
from the first. The mediation of England and Holland, no longer
counteracted by France, secured peace between the Emperor and the Turks
in the Treaty of Carlowitz. The common action of the three powers
stifled a strife between Holstein and Denmark which would have set North
Germany on fire. William's European position indeed was more commanding
than ever. But his difficulties at home were increasing every day. In
spite of the defection of their supporters on the question of a standing
army the Whig Ministry for some time retained fairly its hold on the
Houses. But the elections for a new Parliament at the close of 1698
showed the growth of a new temper in the nation. A Tory majority,
pledged to peace as to a reduction of taxation and indifferent to
foreign affairs, was returned to the House of Commons. The fourteen
thousand men still retained in the army were at once cut dow