f
private intrigue rather than real diplomatic negotiation; and,
notwithstanding all the trouble he took, he obtained nothing by it, "the
gratitude of Madame des Ursins excepted, who made Philip V. give him the
Golden Fleece, the rank of grandee, the Walloon company of the
bodyguard--everything, in fact, he could desire."[65]

[65] MS. Letters of the Baron de Capres to Mad. des Ursins, xxxi.,
xxxii.

The successive check of her two diplomatists was not, however, a
sufficient warning to Madame des Ursins. Ever in pursuit of a position,
which had become nothing more than a chimera after having served as a
lure on the part of the English, she relied for success upon the
persistent and obstinate will of Philip V., who made it a question of
_amour propre_ for himself as much as a just recompense for Madame des
Ursins. It was under these circumstances that this Prince refused to
sign the treaty of Utrecht, that treaty which Louis XIV. had signed and
sealed with his own royal hand, and engaged to make him accept it, even
though the allied powers should not grant him what he desired to
bequeath to Madame des Ursins.[66] Such a firm attitude proved plainly
enough that there was good reason for reliance upon him.

[66] Memoirs of Duke of Berwick, tom. ii., pp. 164-169.

But this affair "hung up" the peace, to use Saint Simon's phrase--the
peace that Louis XIV. could now sign, because it was honourable. His
displeasure was extreme. It was all very well for Madame des Ursins to
say that she had nothing to do with the matter, that the King of Spain
was only following his own inclination, and that after all she despised
the malevolent designs of his enemies; still the delay experienced in
the conclusion of the general peace was imputed to her. She was accused
of occupying herself too exclusively with her own interests, and of
placing in the scales the repose of Europe entire: it was said that she
abused Philip's good-nature, and that she ought not to have availed
herself of her ascendancy over that conscientious prince save to release
him from his promise, to free him from all trammel, and incline him
towards the wishes of his grandfather.

It was from the French ministry that these complaints came, and Torcy,
so greatly humiliated in 1704, at length had his revenge. Madame de
Maintenon herself made remarks upon her, based upon the same motives;
only that she threw more form into them, contenting herself with giving