1682-4]

The "Association."

Siege of Vienna

49

held by Charles II and James Duke of York became very apparent. William desired to preserve "the balance of power in Europe by means of English intervention," and he was supported by the Spaniards. On the other hand, the English King saw no objection to the French conquest of Luxemburg, so long as the fortress was razed; and in the United Netherlands his views were supported by a small party of the opponents of William. To Louis it was of the utmost importance that the English Parliament should not be summoned. It would undoubtedly support the views of William of Orange; and, in the event of the European war which seemed likely to follow the French occupation of Luxemburg, England would side with Louis' enemies.

At that moment Hungary and Austria were threatened by a Turkish invasion, and Louis with great acuteness declared that, in order not to hamper the German Princes in their efforts to resist the Ottoman forces, he had withdrawn his troops from Luxemburg. The real motives which induced him to take this step were, therefore, not avowed, and the French King gained the credit for moderation and for taking a keen interest in the welfare of Christendom.

The year 1682 was thus marked both by the preparations made by the Emperor to resist the threatened invasion of Germany by the Turks and by a great political activity on the part of Louis XIV, as shown by his treaty with Denmark and his intrigues in Sweden, Poland, Hungary and Holland, and by his attempt to secure the independence of the Gallican Church. Throughout this and the following years the general uneasiness in Europe caused by Louis' activity and pretensions steadily increased. A notable instance of the effects was the "Association" formed at the Hague in February, 1683; the origin of which is to be found in efforts set on foot by Charles XI of Sweden and William of Orange in 1681, directly after the seizure of Strassburg and Casale, for the maintenance of the Treaty of Nymegen, and which was joined by the Emperor and the King of Spain. It was rendered ineffective by the Turkish advance on Vienna. That advance, followed by the siege of the Austrian capital, roused the interest of Europe and enlisted its sympathy on behalf of the Emperor. John Sobieski and the united Polish and German armies saved Vienna in September, 1683, and the opportunity for Louis to come forward as the defender of Christian Europe against the infidel had passed away. This success, which once more placed Austria in the centre of the resistance to the infidel, imparted fresh confidence to the Spaniards, who, in December, 1683, declared war against France. Luxemburg was at once seriously besieged by the French troops, and was taken in the beginning of June, 1684. It was impossible for the Emperor, with the Turkish War on his hands, to oppose the French successfully; and on August 15 the Truce of Ratisbon was concluded by Leopold and the Empire with Louis.

C. M. H. V.

50 The Truce of Ratisbon. Attitude of England [1684-8

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By this "truce" it was arranged that for twenty years Louis should continue to hold, in addition to Strassburg, all the places assigned to him before August 1, 1681, by the Chambers of Reunion. The Spaniards were compelled to make large concessions to France, including the transfer of many villages in Hainault and Luxemburg, and the establishment of a Spanish protectorate over Genoa; while the Dutch, finding it impossible to secure any united opposition to Louis, accepted a twenty years' truce. It was necessary for the Emperor, who was engaged in his great struggle with the Turks; it was acceptable to Louis, who confidently anticipated that the armistice would be converted into a general peace, and that all the territory and places made over to him provisionally would become permanent portions of the French kingdom.

So far, Louis had owed much of his success to the neutrality of England. Charles II had consistently refused to unite with William of Orange and Spain in checking the French aggressions on the northeastern and eastern frontiers. Louis was thus freed from all fear of an attack on his flank, and enabled to concentrate all his attention upon his aggressive schemes with regard to Germany and the Spanish Netherlands. The sole chance of successfully resisting these schemes lay in a close alliance between England and the continental enemies of the French King. Charles II had thus facilitated the execution of several of Louis' most important designs; it remained to be seen whether James II, who succeeded to the English throne in February, 1685, would be equally friendly to the French projects. Owing to Charles II's compliant attitude, France was in 1685 obtaining a position of incontestable preponderance in continental Europe, nor had the monarchy ever seemed so strong at home. It was in 1685 that Louis felt able to expel the French Protestants and to establish religious uniformity. Under him France had become a Power" uniform in its nationality and ecclesiastical system, with well-defined frontiers, admirably armed for offence and defence, both by land and sea." Previously to the succession of the Stewarts, English monarchs had for the most part carried out a policy of antagonism to France. From 1672 onwards, it is manifest that English foreign policy should have followed similar lines. The rivalry of England and France on the sea was becoming serious; the colonial interests of the two countries were certain to clash; the Protestant feeling in England was deeply moved by the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, and was inclined to sympathise with the opposition of the Dutch and of several of the German States to the aggressive policy of Louis XIV. For three years, however, England was compelled to stand by and watch the preparations for establishing French predominance in Europe.

These three years (1685-8) proved to be decisive in the history of England and France not less than in that of Germany and Holland. James II, owing to his change of religion, showed himself to be more closely attached to France than had been Charles II. His self-confidence

1685-87

Louis XIV and James II

51

was such as to make him believe that the conversion of England to Roman Catholicism was possible, and could be brought about by his own efforts, backed up by the aid of the French King. He was resolved never to break off his alliance with France, and, if necessary, to support Louis against William of Orange. In coming to a resolution of such significance at the very time when Europe was beginning to realise the danger of French preponderance, James was mainly actuated by religious considerations, which to him, as to Louis, were of paramount importance. James, almost openly, aimed at a restoration of the Roman Catholic religion so complete "as to make its subsequent destruction impossible"; and he perceived that only by means of a French alliance could he expect to carry out his policy. His accession at the beginning, and the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes (approved of by the English King) at the close, of the year 1685 were thus calculated, not only to give to the religious question the foremost place in European affairs, but also to impress forcibly upon Europe the existence of a close understanding between the Kings of England and France. Before the end of 1685, James had assured Louis that he hoped to carry out his own religious views in close alliance with France; for a time, however, the sympathy of the English people for the French Protestants forced him to take up a moderate attitude.

By the beginning of 1686 it was becoming evident that a great European crisis was at hand. The proceedings of Louis and James II implied the existence of projects for strengthening Roman Catholicism in England and France; the action of the French King with regard to the Reunions and Luxemburg signified a definite resolution on his part to gain the Imperial dignity for himself or his son. The Truce of Ratisbon had given France for twenty years the left bank of the upper Rhine, which constituted an eighth part of the Empire; and henceforward Louis aimed at converting the truce into a permanent peace. In 1686 the predominance of Louis was fully established, his ally James II was on the English throne, the Emperor was busy with the Turkish War. The situation was not unlike that of 1672. Had James II remained King of England, and the unswerving ally of the French King, Louis' chances of success in his next European war would have been decidedly good. The events in England during the next two years were, therefore, of immense importance to Europe, and the struggle on the eve of being decided in England became an important feature of the great conflict which was about to engross the attention of the civilised world.

The longer hostilities were averted, the stronger became the position of the opponents of Louis. The Emperor Leopold had greatly improved his own by carrying on a crusade against the Turks. He thus secured the support of Innocent XI, and, as a Catholic sovereign furthering the cause of Catholicism, assumed the pre-eminence which Louis had hoped to assert. Moreover, the Revocation of the Edict of

52

The European situation in 1688

[1685-8 Nantes in 1685 roused all the Protestant countries in Europe, while Pope Innocent XI had been alienated by the French King's declaration of the independence of the Gallican Church. Already in February, 1685, the Great Elector, abandoning his alliance with Louis, had made an alliance with William of Orange, and the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes only confirmed him in his Protestant attitude. The resolution arrived at by the Great Elector was all the more important, seeing that the year 1686 might bring with it a joint attack upon Holland by the forces of England and France. The Emperor and the Elector of Bavaria were occupied by the war against the Turks, and James II was the firm ally of Louis XIV, who was resolved to transform the Truce of Ratisbon into a peace. He himself declared that "he could not doubt that he should be attacked, so soon as the war with the Turks had been brought to an end." The formation on July 6, 1686, of the Augsburg Alliance, with the object of preserving the Treaties of Münster and Nymegen, together with the armistice of 1684, justified Louis' apprehensions. It was a defensive alliance between the Emperor and members of the Empire, due to fear of a French attack upon the Palatinate; and Louis was convinced of its hostile purpose. The successes of the Imperialists against the Turks, therefore, could hardly fail to stir Louis into action. In 1686 Buda fell at last; and, in August, 1687, the Emperor won a great victory at Mohács, in consequence of which the Hungarian throne was, in December, declared to be hereditary in the Habsburg line. As the clouds darkened in the east, Louis prepared to take action. He fortified many of the towns provisionally in his occupation; and it was thus quite evident that he intended to enforce their definite cession to him. He openly aimed at acquiring complete military preponderance in Europe, the ecclesiastical independence of France, and the Imperial dignity for himself or his son. In the pursuit of these aims he received. the full support of James II, under whose rule England had become "the corner-stone of the fabric " of French aggression.

The situation in the early months of 1688 was on the whole favourable to the execution of Louis' designs, though his position with regard to the lesser German Powers had become far from satisfactory. The Elector of Brandenburg had definitely thrown in his lot with the Emperor and with William of Orange; and the Elector Maximilian Emanuel of Bavaria, who in 1685 had married the Emperor Leopold's daughter, Maria Antonia, took a leading part in opposing Louis' schemes. Marshal de Villars had in 1687 been sent by Louis to Munich to win over the Elector of Bavaria to the French cause. Through Villars Louis offered the Elector, in exchange for an offensive and defensive alliance, his good offices to obtain the dignity of King of the Romans for him, and to recover Bavaria's former rights over Ratisbon, Nürnberg, Augsburg, and the territories between the Inn and the Danube. He also promised subsidies. In return for these

1688]

The position of the United Provinces

53

advantages the Elector was to further the candidature of the Dauphin to the throne of Spain, should Charles II die without children. In that event, however, the kingdoms of Naples and Sicily would be handed over to Bavaria. The Elector, however, was proof against these offers of Louis, who further urged him to shake off the Habsburg yoke and to emancipate Germany: and he decided to support the Emperor, who appealed to his German sympathies, upheld the claims of his brother, Joseph Clement, Bishop of Freysingen and Ratisbon, to the electorate of Cologne, and proposed, with the consent of Spain, that part of Flanders should be ceded to Maximilian.

The year 1688 proved decisive for the future of Europe. The ascendancy of France had become a standing menace to the peace of Europe; the domination of Louis XIV was not less dangerous to the European world than was that of Napoleon in the early years of the nineteenth century. Under a vigorous, intelligent, and centralised despotism, France, with her immense material resources as yet unimpaired, held an undisputed supremacy in the west. The French armies were accounted the best in Europe, and the French fleets commanded the Mediterranean and rivalled those of England and Holland. French diplomacy had no equal. The effects of the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes were not yet felt, and the resources of France had not yet been squandered by interminable wars. So far, all attempts to form coalitions against the French predominance in Europe had failed, and the League of Augsburg had had humbler aims. It was not till the Revolution in England which placed William of Orange on the throne of the Stewarts that the foundation was laid of the Grand Alliance, which checked the arrogant pretensions of Louis XIV and eventually removed the danger of French supremacy in Europe.

Until that Revolution had been accomplished, there was a wellfounded fear in the minds of the enemies of France that the events of 1672 might be reproduced, and that Holland might again be found helpless before the forces of England and France. The danger was a real one; for, while all the Powers from whom the Dutch Government could look for support were occupied in the war against the Turks, James and Louis had come to an understanding with regard to operations against Holland and the Empire. A quarrel between Denmark, the ally of France, and Sweden about Schleswig-Holstein had led to an agreement between James and Louis, with the object of preventing a combination between Sweden and Holland. It was arranged that an English fleet should put to sea and make a demonstration so as to prevent Dutch aid being given to Sweden in an attempt upon the Danish islands. In June, 1688, an English fleet of twenty ships anchored in the Downs, and Louis undertook that it should shortly be joined by the French fleet, which had been sent to the Mediterranean to bombard Algiers. In the same month the Empire was also threatened.

In