esiring his advice with
regard to the propositions, and full powers under the great seal, with
blanks to be filled up occasionally, that he might immediately begin
the treaty with count Tallard. At the same time he strictly enjoined
secrecy. The purport of Portland's letter was imparted to the duke
of Shrewsbury and Mr. Montague, who consulted with the chancellor and
Vernon upon the subject, and the chancellor wrote an answer to the king
as the issue of their joint deliberation; but before it reached his
majesty, the first treaty of partition was signed by the earl of
Portland and sir Joseph Williamson. The contracting powers agreed,
that in case the king of Spain should die without issue, the kingdom of
Naples and Sicily, with the places depending on the Spanish monarchy,
and situated on the coast of Tuscany or the adjacent islands; the
marquisate of Final, the province of Guipuscoa, all places on the
French side of the Pyrenees, or the other mountains of Navarre, Alva,
or Biscay, on the other side of the province of Guipuscoa, with all
the ships, vessels, and stores,--should devolve upon the dauphin in
consideration of his right to the crown of Spain, which, with all its
other dependencies, should descend to the electoral prince of Bavaria,
under the guardianship of his father; that the duchy of Milan should
he settled on the emperor's second son, the archduke Charles; that
this treaty should be communicated to the emperor and the elector of
Bavaria, by the king of England and the states-general; that if either
should refuse to agree to this partition, his proportion should remain
in sequestration until the dispute should be accommodated; that in case
the electoral prince of Bavaria should die before his father, then the
elector and his other heirs should succeed him in those dominions;
and should the archduke reject the duchy of Milan, they agreed that it
should be sequestered and governed by the prince of Vaudemont. It may
be necessary to observe that Philip IV., father to the present king of
Spain, had settled his crown by will on the emperor's children; that the
dauphin was son to Maria-Theresa, daughter of the same monarch, whose
right to the succession Louis had renounced in the most solemn manner;
as for the electoral prince of Bavaria, he was grandson to a daughter of
Spain. This treaty of partition was one of the most impudent schemes
of encroachment that tyranny and injustice ever planned. Louis, who had
made