Page:A General Sketch of Political History from the Earlist Times.djvu/310

 298 THE BOURBON AGE terms than he could otherwise have done; especially as the English were by no means zealous in the war, in which they felt that they were being used in Dutch interests rather than their own. They were satisfied with securing the recognition of the Protestant succession by Louis. Holland was satisfied with the occupation of barrier fortresses in the Spanish Netherlands which secured her frontiers against invasion. In Germany Treaty of Louis had surrendered all his conquests since Ryswick, Nimeguen except Strasburg. The treaty of Rys- wick practically involved something more than the surrender by Louis on all questions which had risen since Nimeguen. But if Louis surrendered, it was not because he resigned his ambitions. The settlement of the Spanish succession was be- coming critical. There was no direct heir to the reigning King Charles II. His sisters, when they married the King of France and the emperor, had resigned their claims. If these were set 6 The aside the emperor himself had a claim through his Spanish mother, but the validity of both the renunciations Succession. was q Ues ti nable. Possible claimants therefore were a son or grandson of the French king, the son of the Elector of Bavaria through his mother the emperor's daughter, and the emperor himself, whose claim would be transferred to one of his sons born of his second wife. The union of Spain and all its dependencies, either to France or to Austria, would entirely upset the balance of power. Legally the strongest claim was that of the Bavarian prince, which was also the most satis- factory to Europe at large. So after the peace of Ryswick, the powers agreed to a compromise which divided the Italian dominions between the Bourbons and the Archduke Charles, and gave all the rest to the Bavarian prince. The only power not consulted was Spain itself. Three months after the first partition treaty the prince died. Thereupon the Elector of Bavaria claimed to take his son's place. That claim was rejected, and there was a fresh partition treaty which bestowed the main inheritance on the Archduke Charles, and presented Italy to France, which however was to hand over Milan to the Duke of Lorraine in exchange for his own duchy.