Life and diary of Lieut. Col. J. Blackader

168 LIFE OF COL. BLACKADER. CHAP. VIII,
these apprehensions, was projected and signed by
England, Holland, and France, by which the domi-
nions of Charles were to he dismembered, and shared
proportionably among the several competitors. But
Louis, with his usual duplicity and finesse, while
subscribing to this treaty, was secretly negotiating,
through his ambassador at the Court of Madrid, for
the whole succession, and had the address to get his
grand-son, the Duke of Anjou, nominated in the
Royal Will as sole heir to the Spanish throne. The
Duke was second son of the Dauphin, but this pre-
ference to a younger branch, was only a political ma-
noeuvre ; for while it secured the claims of the House
of Bourbon, it tended to prevent any alarm which
might be taken, had the two formidable monarchies
of France and Spain been united in one person.
Europe had thus the singular spectacle of witnessing
a powerful nation choosing a king from the house of
a rival and an enemy. The Duke was accordingly
proclaimed under the title of Philip V. and his ac-*
cession notified to all the powers in Christendom.
This appointment placed Louis in a delicate situa-^
tion. It was no doubt most flattering to his vanity,
and a mighty acquisition to his empire, but contrary
to his stipulations in the partition treaty, by which he
renounced the entire succession of Spain. At first
he affected to hesitate whether he should break his
faith, or, by adhering to the treaty, deprive his grand-
son of a magnificent empire. But the feelings of na-
ture, and the prospects of aggrandizement, speedily
triumphed over all the obligations of leagues and al-
liances ; and to satisfy his all-grasping ambition he
was content to plunge his own subjects into new