BOOK III. in this mode of conducting it, the possibility, of 1696. advantage.

Defection

of the Duke of Savoy.

The campaign on the Rhine resembled that in Flanders, and consisted wholly of marches and counter-marches, affording no incident which can be supposed to claim the slightest attention of the general historian.

In Catalonia, M. de Vendome, an officer rising into great reputation, who had superseded the duc de Noailles, passing the Ter, attacked and forced the Spanish army under the prince of Hesse Darmstadt, encamped near the town of Ostalric. The Spaniards, however, upon this occasion made a good defence, and a regular retreat under the cannon of Ostalric; so that no farther advantage could be gained over them; and it appeared on this and many other occasions that the state of imbecility into which Spain had for near a century fallen, was owing not to any want of energy in the people, but to the miserable and wretched policy of a senseless and distracted government.

The most important event of the present year was the defection of the duke of Savoy, who, finding the leading powers of the alliance still reluctant to meet the advances of France, and at the same time, as Lamberti affirms, secretly apprised by the court of Versailles of the infallible restoration of king James in consequence of

11

the measures then concerted, thought it expedient BOOK III. to provide for his own security by a separate treaty, 1696. signed early in the spring, privately and confidentially, at Loretto, to which place the duke had repaired on a pretended pilgrimage; and openly and avowedly towards the close of the summer. The emperor and the kings of Spain and England were highly exasperated at this desertion.. One of the conditions of the treaty was to establish a neutrality in Italy, and the consequent evacuation of that country by the confederate armies. To this the courts of Vienna and Madrid refused with disdain to accede; upon which the duke of Savoy, taking upon him the command of the combined forces of France and Piedmont, entered the duchy of Milan, and invested the fortress of Valentia. After the trenches had been opened for thirteen days, a courier arrived with dispatches signifying the consent of his catholic majesty to the proposed neutrality; on which the imperial and French troops retired to their respective countries; and his Most Christian majesty ordered a most solemn Te Deum to be sung at Nôtre Dame for the termination of the war in Italy, and splendid fireworks to be exhibited before the Hôtel de Ville, with the happy device of Alexander cutting the Gordian knot.

In Hungary the imperial armies were again commanded by the elector of Saxony, who dis-.

the Rus

sians.

BOOK III. tinguished himself as a general rather by his bra1696. very than his military skill and conduct. A fierce but indecisive engagement between the two armies took place August 1696, on a plain bordering on the river Beque; after which a sort of cessation Conquest of of hostilities seemed to ensue. The attention of Asoph by Europe was, however, forcibly drawn to this side of the continent, in consequence of the sudden and successful attack made by Peter czar of Muscovy on the Turkish dominions, and the surrender of the important city of Asoph, situated at the mouth of the Tanais, to the Russian arms. The emperor Leopold was eager on this event to conclude a treaty of alliance with the czar; and Europe now for the first time began to entertain some faint idea of the greatness of that power, which was destined to make so distinguished a figure in the transactions of the succeeding century. The talents of the young czar, clouded and obscured as they were by the defects of a barbarous education, already appeared in the view of penetrating observers to bode extraordinary changes and events. His father Alexis, who died in 1675, left three sons, Theodore, Iwan, and Peter, and a daughter, Sophia. Theodore dying in 1682, constituted Iwan and Peter joint sovereigns; and, on account of the imbecility of Iwan, and the tender years of Peter, Sophia was declared regent of the empire. She

1696.

was a woman of great courage, address, and BOOK III. ambition. Her administration was violent and bloody; and she harboured the design of seizing on the empire, to the exclusion of her brothers. But Peter, who had now attained to the age of seventeen, with equal sagacity and resolution attacked the princess suddenly at Moscow, defeated her partisans, and, making her a prisoner, compelled her to retire within the walls of a monastery. Iwan dying in the present year, Peter now reigned sole emperor, and soon gave indications of an ardent and aspiring mind, formed for vast and boundless enterprise.

The court of Versailles having renewed its overtures for peace, and even delegated M. de Callieres to the States General with specific proposals, the maritime powers, alarmed at the defection of the duke of Savoy, seemed at length to lend a serious ear to the propositions of France. And on the 3d of September 1696, their high mightinesses, with the approbation of the king of England, came to a solemn resolution, "that, in consequence of the concessions of France to the imperial demands, matters were now brought to such a crisis, that, in concert with their allies, the mediation of Sweden might be accepted." But Spain and the emperor in haughty terms signified their opinion, that the declarations of France were not yet sufficiently explicit-they insisted

BOOK III. upon the re-establishment of the treaty of West1696. phalia in all its parts; and they added this extraordinary condition to their acceptance of the mediation," that the king of Sweden, as guarantee of the treaty of Westphalia, should join his forces to those of the allies, in case France should refuse to accede to the terms proposed." The prospect of a peace, therefore, was to appearance still very distant; and the king of England, after adjusting measures for the next campaign, returned early in the month of October to England.

State of Af

fairs in

During his absence in the summer, a session Scotland. of parliament had been held in Scotland-lord Murray, created earl of Tullibardine, presiding as high commissioner. A spirit of loyalty seemed to pervade the whole of their proceedings; the supplies demanded by the court were granted without difficulty; and an association similar to that of England was adopted with equal unanimity.

State of Af

fairs in Ireland.

Ireland this year sustained a great public loss by the death of the lord deputy Capel. Peaceand order seemed, however, in a great measure restored. The government of that kingdom was transferred to sir Charles Porter, lord chancellor, and the earls of Montrath and Drogheda, as lords justices. A session of parliament being held, the association of the English legislature was signed by all the members, excepting one