te his hereditary
dominions. Nay, prince William and lord Carteret, as plenipotentiaries,
actually agreed to preliminaries, by which his Imperial majesty engaged
to renounce the alliance of France, and throw himself into the arms of
the maritime powers; to resign all pretensions to the succession of the
house of Austria; and to revive the vote of Bohemia in the electoral
college, on condition of his being re-established in the possession
of his dominions, recognised as emperor by the queen of Hungary, and
accommodated with a monthly subsidy for his maintenance, as his own
territories were exhausted and impoverished by the war. By a separate
article, the king of Great Britain promised to furnish him with three
hundred thousand crowns, and to interpose his good offices with the
queen of Hungary, that his electoral dominions should be favourably
treated. These preliminaries, though settled, were not signed. The court
of Vienna was unwilling to part with their conquests in Bavaria and
the Upper Palatinate. The queen trusted too much to the valour of
her troops, and the wealth of her allies, to listen to such terms of
accommodation; and whatever arguments were used with the king of Great
Britain, certain it is the negotiation wras dropped, on pretence that
the articles were disapproved by the ministry of England. The emperor,
environed with distress, renewed his application to the king of Great
Britain; and even declared that he would refer his cause to the
determination of the maritime powers; but all his advances were
discountenanced; and the treaty of Worms dispelled all hope of
accommodation. In this manner did the British ministry reject the
fairest opportunity that could possibly occur of terminating the war
in Germany with honour and advantage, and of freeing their country from
that insufferable burden of expense under which she groaned.

{GEORGE II. 1727-1760}

TREATY OF FRANCKFORT.

The inflexibility of the house of Austria, and its chief ally, proved
serviceable to the emperor. The forlorn situation of this unfortunate
prince excited the compassion of divers princes; they resented the
insolence with which the head of the empire had been treated by the
court of Vienna; and they were alarmed at the increasing power of a
family noted for pride, tyranny, and ambition. These considerations gave
rise to the treaty of Franckfort, concluded in May between the emperor,
the king of Prussia, the king of Sweden as lan