uto-da-fe_, one of
the most horrid triumphs of spiritual tyranny. The peace of Italy was
secured by a defensive treaty concluded at Madrid between the emperor,
his catholic majesty, the king of the two Sicilies, and the duke of
Parma; to which treaty the king of Sardinia afterwards acceded.

DISPUTE BETWEEN HANOVER AND PRUSSIA.

With respect to the great scheme of electing the archduke Joseph king of
the Romans, fresh objections seemed to rise from different quarters. The
good understanding between the courts of Berlin and Hanover re-received
an additional shock, from a dispute concerning the property of East
Friezeland, which his Prussian majesty had secured, as heir to the
last possessor. His Britannic majesty, as elector of Hanover, having
pretensions to the same inheritance, his minister delivered a memorial
to the diet of the empire assembled at Ratisbon, demanding that the
king of Prussia, as elector of Brandenburgh, should be referred to the
decision of the Aulic council, in regard to his claim to the estates of
East Friezeland; but the king being already in possession, refused to
submit his right to the determination of that or any other tribunal; and
when the diet presumed to deliberate on this affair, his envoy entered a
strong protest against their proceedings. At the same time, he presented
the other ministers with a memorial, tending to refute the elector of
Hanover's pretensions to the principality in question.

{GEORGE II. 1727-1760}

MISUNDERSTANDING BETWEEN THE COURTS OF LONDON AND BERLIN.

At this juncture his Prussian majesty made no scruple of expressing his
resentment against the court of London, which he seemed to consider as
an officious cabal, that had no right to intermeddle in the affairs of
Germany. His resident at London complained to the British ministry, that
divers ships, sailing under the Prussian flag, had been stopped at sea,
and even seized by English cruisers, and that his subjects had been ill
treated and oppressed; he therefore demanded reparation in a peremptory
tone; and in the meantime discontinued the payment of the Silesia
loan, which he had charged himself with by an article in the treaty
of Breslau. This was a sum of money amounting to two hundred and fifty
thousand pounds, which the emperor Charles VI., father of the reigning
empress, had borrowed of the subjects of Great Britain, on condition of
paying an interest of six per cent., and mortgaging the silver