nted to the
presidency of Santo Domingo.

CHAPTER XXVI

With the death of King Charles II. in the year 1700 the Austrian dynasty
upon the throne of Spain became extinct. One daughter of his
predecessor, Philip IV., had married a Bavarian prince, another had
become the wife of Louis XIV. of France. The offspring of these
marriages and other candidates presented themselves for the succession
and caused endless diplomatic parleys and plunged Spain into a most
harassing state of uncertainty, even before the King expired. He had
signed a will in favor of the Bourbon claimant, Philip of Anjou, who
succeeded him as Philip V., but the Austrian archduke Charles contested
this succession, until the death of his brother. Joseph called him to
the throne of Austria and forced him to relinquish his claim to that of
Spain. The interval, however, was spent in what is known as the War of
the Austrian Succession which was far more than a war of succession to
the Spanish throne, but one which involved a European problem.

The hostility between England and France was known to be acute; the
designs of Austria upon Spain were also known to be the source of
incipient conflicts. In order to curb the insatiable ambition of Louis
XIV., England had entered into an alliance with Austria and Holland. The
unexpected ascension of the archduke Charles to the throne of Austria
suddenly changed the political aspect of the time for England. Louis
XIV. and Philip V. had agreed that in order to secure the balance of
European power the crowns of France and Spain should never be united.
Spain, however, was bound in the future to follow the trend of French
politics. It renounced her rights to the Netherlands, which were the
only barrier against invasions of France on the continent, and left
England in possession of Gibraltar. As this was its most important
fortress, Gibraltar was ever to be a thorn in the flesh of Spain.

The treaty of Utrecht, which was signed in the year 1713, seemed by its
reapportionment of the countries and the readjustment of the map of
Europe to have temporarily assured peace. But the price paid for this
peace by Spain was hardly to be estimated in currency. As Guiteras
justly remarks, Philip V. found Spain prostrate from the impudent
efforts of the Austrian dynasty to preserve her predominance among the
European nations. The wars waged during the reigns of his predecessors
had drained the coffers of Spain and alarmingly de