n of
Elsass to Lothringen, the return of the three bishoprics to the empire;
the, Hollanders, commissioned to negotiate in the name of the coalition,
were not yet satisfied. "The desire of the allies," they said, "is, that
the king should undertake, himself alone and by his own forces, either to
persuade or to oblige the King of Spain to give up all his monarchy.
Neither money nor the co-operation of the French troops suit their
purpose; if the preliminary articles be not complied with in the space of
two months, the truce is broken off, war will recommence, even though on
the part of the king the other conditions should have been wholly
fulfilled. The sole means of obtaining peace is to receive from the
king's hands Spain and the Indies."

The French plenipotentiaries had been recommended to have patience.
Marshal d'Huxelles was a courtier as smooth as he was clever; Abbe de
Polignac was shrewd and supple, yet he could not contain his indignation.
"It is evident that you have not been accustomed to conquer!" said he
haughtily to the Dutch delegates. When the allies' ultimatum reached the
king, the pride of the sovereign and the affection of the father rose up
at last in revolt. "Since war there must be," said he, "I would rather
wage it against my enemies than against my grandson;" and he withdrew all
the concessions which had reduced Philip V. to despair. The allies had
already invaded Artois; at the end of the campaign they were masters of
Douai, St. Venant, Bethune, and Aire; France was threatened everywhere,
the king could no longer protect the King of Spain; he confined himself
to sending him Vendome. Philip V., sustained by the indomitable courage
of his young wife, refused absolutely to abdicate. "Whatever misfortunes
may await me," he wrote to the king, "I still prefer the course of
submission to whatever it may please God to decide for me by fighting to
that of deciding for myself by consenting to an arrangement which would
force me to abandon the people on whom my reverses have hitherto produced
no other effect than to increase their zeal and affection for me."

It was, therefore, with none but the forces of Spain that Philip V., at
the outset of the campaign of 1710, found himself confronting the English
and Portuguese armies. The Emperor Joseph, brother of Archduke Charles,
had sent him a body of troops commanded by a distinguished general, Count
von Stahrenberg. Going from defeat to defeat, the yo