1703. Treaty entered into by the Emperor and BOOK V. had retired into Portugal with the wealth he could carry with him, and by urgent persuasions and specious allurements prevailed upon the king of Portugal to accede to the grand confederacy. His imperial majesty, in the name of his son the archduke, engaged to cede to the crown of Portugal, Badajoz, Alcantara, &c. in Estramadura, Vigo, Gordia, &c. in Galicia, and certain provinces or districts of the Spanish empire in America-thus prematurely disposing of what as yet was not, and probably might never be, in his possession. A treaty was in consequence signed on the 24th of May, 1703, between the emperor, the queen of Great Britain, the States the Mari- General, and the king of Portugal, by which the maritime powers engaged to send over a powerful fleet, with 12,000 troops and a great supply of money and arms, to Portugal-that monarch stipulating to have an army of 28,000 men ready to join them, and the archduke was to take the command of the combined forces in person. In the month of October the nominal monarch arrived in Holland, having had an interview with the duke of Marlborough at Dusseldorf, to whom he presented a rich sword, accompanying it with high expressions of esteem and regard-saying, "he hoped the duke would not think it the worse for his having worn it himself one day." time Pow ers with Portugal. dous Storm. His catholic majesty was detained some weeks BOOK V. in Holland by a succession of storms and tem- 1703. pests, which on the night of the 26th of November (1703), rose to a height never before remembered in England. The city of London was shaken as by an earthquake; the noise and violence of the hurricane, accompanied by torrents of rain, were dreadfully terrific ; and the darkness was changed into artificial day by the incessant glare of lightning. The roofs of very many churches, and other public buildings, were uncovered-the wind rolling up the sheets of lead as scrolls of parchment. The storm was no less terrible in the distant provinces. A great number of houses were blown down. Dr. Kidder, bishop of Bath and Wells, with others of the family, were killed by the fall of the episcopal palace; and the damage sustained in all parts of the kingdom was incalculable. Rear-admiral Beaumont, who commanded a squadron then lying in the Downs, was lost on the Goodwin Sands, in the Mary of sixty-four guns, with several other ships of war; and 1500 seamen were computed to have perished. The admired and beautiful structure of the Eddystone lighthouse, built by the famous Winstanley, was demolished; the architect himself being of the number of persons inclosed in it. Having been frequently told that the edifice was too slight to 1703. BOOK V. withstand the fury of the winds and waves; he was accustomed to reply contemptuously, that he only wished to be in it when a storm should hap pen. Unfortunately his desire was gratified. Signals of distress were made, but in so tremendous a sea no vessel could live, or would venture to put off to their relief. Arrival of About the end of December the king of Spain landed at Portsmouth, and immediately repaired to Windsor, where the court was then celebrating the festival of Christmas. Here he was entertained with a splendor and magnificence corresponding with the opulence and grandeur of the British nation. This young prince displayed the true Austrian reserve and gravity, speaking very little, and never once being perceived to smile. His manners were nevertheless perfectly decorous and obliging, and he appeared highly pleased and gratified with his reception. Early in the new year (1704), he sailed, under convoy of a a powerful squadron commanded by sir George Rooke, to Lisbon, where he was welcomed with all the honors due to the sovereign of the Spanish monarchy. The duke of Ormond had filled the high office of viceroy of Ireland, since the dismission of the earl of Rochester, with great reputation and popularity, living in a style of extraordinary magnificence, and deporting himself with much ge 1703. nerosity and affability. In the month of Sep- BOOK V. tember 1703, his grace held a session of parliament in Dublin; and, addressing the two houses in a most gracious speech, assured them, "that, since the queen had done him the honor to place him in that station, as his duty and gratitude. obliged him to serve her majesty with the utmost diligence and fidelity, so his inclination and interest, and the examples of his ancestors, were indispensable obligations upon him, to improve every opportunity to the advantage and prosperity of this his native country." The addresses returned by the two houses were in the highest degree loyal to the queen, and complimentary to the present illustrious chief governor: but the proceedings of parliament during the whole of the session indicated the deep sense entertained by the Irish legislature of the multiplicity and magnitude of the national grievances. In a representation to the sovereign of the state of the nation, the commons complain "that the constitution of the kingdom of Ireland had been of late greatly shaken;-the lives, liberties, and estates, of the subjects thereof being called in question, and tried in a manner unknown to their ancestors; they could not without the greatest grief of heart reflect upon the great decay and loss of their trade, which, from the restrictions and discouragements it laboured under, was be VOL. II 1703. BOOK V. come in a manner unprofitable;-that many civilofficers were arrived at such a pitch of corrup→ tion as was almost insupportable; that others in considerable employments dwelt and resided for the most part out of the kingdom and they conclude a long and affecting memorial with the remarkable declaration, that they could not despair of her majesty's goodness being extended towards them in such a prudent and gracious manner as might afford them relief according to the exigencies of their condition, by restoring Parliament them to a full enjoyment of their constitution OR by promoting a more firm and strict UNION England. with her majesty's subjects of England." of Ireland courts a Union with The address of the lords was expressive of the same just and rational sentiment. "As we are sensible," say they," "that our préservation is owing to our being united to the crown of England, so we are convinced it would tend to our farther security and happiness, to have a more comprehensive and entire UNION with that kingdoin." The answers of the duke of Ormond, and probably his wishes, were favorable to this great project, but his political influence was very circumscribed; and an undertaking of such magnitude and difficulty was not likely to be entered upon, but from motives of the most urgent political necessity; and the earnest desire of the Irish Legislature, directed to an object most important |