DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.47347#0057
THE SPANISH SUCCESSION.
41
nected with the stipulations of the treaty of Utrecht. It is
from an effect of pure imagination that it has been alleged
that, in this abolition and the establishment of the funda-
mental dispositions of the Salic law, Philip V. merely per-
formed an obligation imposed upon him by an European
treaty of peace; that is to say, by the highest authority of
the law of nations, before which the objections that might
be deduced from the Spanish national law would fall to the
ground.
In general, it is an incontestable rule of law, alike adopted
in private right and in public right, that he who advances an
allegation ought to prove it. We, therefore, wait quietly
for the advocates of the adverse opinion to bring forward
the documents which justify their pretensions. We shall con-
tent ourselves with remarking, as a superabundant proof,
that Philip V. did not ground his change in the order of
succession on any obligation whatever imposed upon him by
the treaty of Utrecht, and that he sought not in the least to
justify it by the clauses of that treaty, which he certainly
would have done, seeing the great obstacles that he had to
encounter, and the extreme dislike of the Spaniards for this
innovation.
At any rate, we can affirm, in a positive manner, that the
grand object of the peace of Utrecht was completely at-
tained, as soon as the union of the crowns of Spain and
France was declared to be for ever impossible. It is proved
that Philip V. never contracted any other obligation towards
the great powers than that of renouncing the crown of
France for that of Spain.
The most conclusive evidence is furnished us by the act
of renunciation of Philip V., dated November the 5th, 17121,
in which the king declares to the Spanish nation, as well as
to the kings, princes, and republics of Europe, “ that, the
1 See Dumont, t. viii. p. 311.
41
nected with the stipulations of the treaty of Utrecht. It is
from an effect of pure imagination that it has been alleged
that, in this abolition and the establishment of the funda-
mental dispositions of the Salic law, Philip V. merely per-
formed an obligation imposed upon him by an European
treaty of peace; that is to say, by the highest authority of
the law of nations, before which the objections that might
be deduced from the Spanish national law would fall to the
ground.
In general, it is an incontestable rule of law, alike adopted
in private right and in public right, that he who advances an
allegation ought to prove it. We, therefore, wait quietly
for the advocates of the adverse opinion to bring forward
the documents which justify their pretensions. We shall con-
tent ourselves with remarking, as a superabundant proof,
that Philip V. did not ground his change in the order of
succession on any obligation whatever imposed upon him by
the treaty of Utrecht, and that he sought not in the least to
justify it by the clauses of that treaty, which he certainly
would have done, seeing the great obstacles that he had to
encounter, and the extreme dislike of the Spaniards for this
innovation.
At any rate, we can affirm, in a positive manner, that the
grand object of the peace of Utrecht was completely at-
tained, as soon as the union of the crowns of Spain and
France was declared to be for ever impossible. It is proved
that Philip V. never contracted any other obligation towards
the great powers than that of renouncing the crown of
France for that of Spain.
The most conclusive evidence is furnished us by the act
of renunciation of Philip V., dated November the 5th, 17121,
in which the king declares to the Spanish nation, as well as
to the kings, princes, and republics of Europe, “ that, the
1 See Dumont, t. viii. p. 311.