ench priest, who acted as chaplain to the Imperial ambassador, they
began a secret negotiation with Torcy. They stipulated that the Dutch
should be kept out of it, and should not be listened to, if they made
proposals of their own; also that their conditions should be
understood to come from the initiative of France. Torcy responded
heartily. His first letter is dated five days after the death of the
Emperor Joseph. By that event, the Archduke Charles succeeded to his
throne. Joseph died 17th April. Four months earlier, 23rd December,
Harley, by his intermediary, Gautier, informed Torcy that England
would give up Spain and the Indies to the Bourbon king, and would
desert the allies as soon as trade interests were provided for. The
surrender of that which the English had claimed from 1703 to 1710, the
return, in spite of success and glory, to the moderate policy laid
down by William in 1701, was not caused by the prospect of the union
of the crowns on the head of Charles. Harley was afraid that the
archduke would make those terms himself. For it was known that the
Austrians regarded Spain and its colonies as more burdensome than
profitable. When Harley was stabbed by Guiscard, and was laid up with
his wound, the secret of the negotiations passed into St. John's
hands. His treatment of the allies was perfidious; but they obtained
almost as much as they really wanted.

Eugene, deserted by the English forces under Ormonde, was beaten by
Villars at Denain, and afterwards, by no fault of the English, at
Friedlingen. Then the emperor made his own peace at Rastadt. At
Utrecht, the Dutch secured a favourable tariff, the right of garrison
in a line of fortified towns, from Ghent to Namur, and the daring
Torcy had so thoroughly penetrated the weakness of England, in
consequence of party divisions, that he concluded a disastrous war by
negotiation. France retained her own territory, practically
undiminished, recovering Lille, and acquiring, for the younger branch
of the royal house, Spain and the Spanish colonies. It gained
infinitely more than either Holland or England. Marshal La Feuillade
asked Bolingbroke why he had let them off so easily. The answer was:
Because we were no longer afraid of you. Philip V retained all that
was legitimately Spanish, in Europe and America, excepting the two
fortresses conquered by England, Gibraltar and Port Mahon. He refused
to give up Corunna. But he renounced his claim in th