the peers of France were put on a level in each nation. There was no
vigour left in the councils of Spain; her finances were exhausted; and
her former spirit seemed to be quite extinguished; the nobility were
beggars, and the common people overwhelmed with indigence and distress.
The condition of France was not much more prosperous. She had been
harassed by a long war, and now saw herself on the eve of another, which
in all probability would render her completely miserable.

TREATY OF ALLIANCE BETWEEN THE EMPEROR AND THE MARITIME POWERS.

These circumstances were well known to the emperor and the maritime
powers, and served to animate their negotiations for another grand
alliance. Conferences were opened at the Hague; and on the seventh
day of September a treaty was concluded between his Imperial majesty,
England, and the states-general. The objects proposed were to procure
satisfaction to the emperor in the Spanish succession, and sufficient
security for the dominions and commerce of the allies. They engaged to
use their endeavours for recovering the Spanish Netherlands as a barrier
between Holland and France, and for putting the emperor in possession of
the duchy of Milan, Naples, and Sicily, with the lands and islands upon
the coast of Tuscany belonging to the Spanish dominions. They agreed
that the king of England and the states-general should keep and possess
whatever lands and cities they should conquer from the Spaniards in
the Indies; that the confederates should faithfully communicate their
designs to one another; that no party should treat of peace or truce but
jointly with the rest; that they should concur in preventing the union
of France and Spain under the same government, and hinder the French
from possessing the Spanish Indies; that in concluding a peace, the
confederates should provide for the maintenance of the commerce carried
on by the maritime powers to the dominions taken from the Spaniards, and
secure the states by a barrier; that they should at the same time settle
the exercise of religion in the new conquests; that they should assist
one another with all their forces in case of being invaded by the
French king, or any other potentate, on account of this alliance; that a
defensive alliance should remain between them even after the peace; that
all kings, princes, and states should be at liberty to engage in this
alliance. They determined to employ two months to obtain by amicable
means the