n Charles;
yet he took no measures to support the disposition, either by sending
the archduke with a sufficient force to Spain, or by detaching troops
into Italy.

THE FRENCH INTEREST PREVAILS AT THE COURT OF SPAIN.

The people of Spain were exasperated at the insolence of the three
foreign powers who pretended to parcel out their dominions. Their pride
took the alarm at the prospect of their monarchy's being dismembered;
and their grandees repined at the thoughts of losing so many lucrative
governments which they now enjoyed. The king's life became every day
more and more precarious, from frequent returns of his disorder. The
ministry was weak and divided, the nobility factious, and the people
discontented. The hearts of the nation had been alienated from the house
of Austria, by the insolent carriage and rapacious disposition of
the queen Mariana. The French had gained over to their interests the
cardinal Portocarrero, the marquis de Monterey, with many other noblemen
and persons of distinction. These perceiving the sentiments of the
people, employed their emissaries to raise a general cry that France
alone could maintain the succession entire; that the house of Austria
was feeble and exhausted, and any prince of that line must owe his chief
support to detestable heretics. Portocarrero tampered with the weakness
of his sovereign. He repeated and exaggerated all these digestions; he
advised him to consult Pope Innocent XII. on this momentous point of
regulating the succession. That pontiff, who was a creature of France,
having taken the advice of a college of cardinals, determined that the
renunciation of Maria Theresa was invalid and null, as being founded
upon compulsion, and contrary to the fundamental laws of the Spanish
monarchy. He therefore exhorted king Charles to contribute to the
propagation of the faith, and the repose of Christendom, by making a new
will in favour of a grandson of the French monarch. This admonition
was seconded by the remonstrance of Portocarrero; and the weak prince
complied with the proposal. In the meantime the king of France seemed to
act heartily as a principal in the treaty of partition. His ministers
at foreign courts co-operated with those of the maritime powers in
soliciting the accession of the different potentates in Europe.
When count Zinzendorf, the imperial ambassador at Paris, presented a
memorial, desiring to know what part France would act should the king of
Spain