Life and diary of Lieut. Col. J. Blackader

CHAP. VIII. WAR OF THE SUCCESSION. 169
miseries, and deluge Europe with the blood of mil-
lions. *
The elevation of Philip, and the treacheries of
France, excited a deeper and more general indigna-
tion than the treaty of partition had done. The em-
peror exclaimed against this preference as a piece of
injustice to himself, and threatened to carry his re-
sentment into execution by force of arms. Holland
began to tremble, when she saw those towns and ter-
ritories which had been the barrier of her security,
put into the hands of her enemies, and planted with
hostile garrisons. England, though equally indignant
at the conduct of the French king, had less cause of
apprehension, and therefore felt disinclined to involve
herself in foreign connections, which might encum-
ber her with additional losses and expenses, from
which the country had not yet recovered. And it
may be doubted whether she would have declared
herself a party to the Grand Alliance, but for the im-
formation which arrived at this time, of the death of
the late King James, and the acknowledgment of his
son by the courts of France and Spain, under the title
of James III. This was regarded as an insult by the
nation, and a manifest violation of justice to the crown,
since William had been solemnly acknowledged by
the treaty of Ryswick, king of England, Scotland, and
Ireland.
The whole country was set in a flame ; party ani-
mosities ? that had lately rent and convulsed the king^
dom, seemed to be forgotten in one common resent-
ment. The Jacobites held it as a national affront,
• Dalrymple, vol. ii. b. viii. Voltaire Siecle, chap. xvii.