MEMOIRS OF LOUIS XIV AND HIS COURT AND OF THE REGENCY

BY THE DUKE OF SAINT-SIMON




VOLUME 3.




CHAPTER XVIII

For the last two or three years the King of Spain had been in very weak
health, and in danger of his life several times. He had no children, and
no hope of having any. The question, therefore, of the succession to his
vast empire began now to agitate every European Court. The King of
England (William III.), who since his usurpation had much augmented his
credit by the grand alliance he had formed against France, and of which
he had been the soul and the chief up to the Peace of Ryswick, undertook
to arrange this question in a manner that should prevent war when the
King of Spain died. His plan was to give Spain, the Indies, the Low
Countries, and the title of King of Spain to the Archduke, second son of
the Emperor; Guipuscoa, Naples, Sicily, and Lorraine to France; and the
Milanese to M. de Lorraine, as compensation for taking away from him his
territory.

The King of England made this proposition first of all to our King; who,
tired of war, and anxious for repose, as was natural at his age, made few