158

HISTORY OF ENGLAND.

CHAP.

XXIV.

mas.

Treaty of Alliance concluded in 1689, bound themselves tosupport the pretensions of the Emperor to the Spanishthrone; and they now, in direct defiance of that article,agreed to an arrangement by which he was excluded fromthe Spanish throne. The truth is that the secret articlewill not, whether construed according to the letter oraccording to the spirit, bear the sense which has generallybeen put upon it. The stipulations of that article wereintroduced by a preamble, in which it was set forth that theDauphin was preparing to assert by arms his claim to thegreat heritage which his mother had renounced, and thatthere was reason to believe that he also aspired to thedignity of King of the Romans. For these reasons, Englandand the States General, considering the evil consequenceswhich must follow if he should succeed ip attaining eitherof his objects, promised to support with all their power hisCaesarean Majesty against the French and their adherents.Surely we cannot reasonably interpret this engagement tomean that, when the dangers mentioned in the preamblehad ceased to exist, when the eldest Archduke was King ofthe Romans, and when the Dauphin had, for the sake ofpeace, withdrawn his claim to the Spanish Crown, Englandand the United Provinces would be bound to go to war forthe purpose of supporting the cause of the Emperor, notagainst the French but against his own grandson, againstthe only prince who could reign at Madrid without excitingfear and jealousy throughout all Christendom.

"While some persons accused William of breaking faith