DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.47347#0059
THE SPANISH SUCCESSION.
43
powers, particularly England, had required as conditions of
peace. It declares null the Act of Versailles, by which
Louis XIV., in December, 1700, had, in a manner entirely
arbitrary and directly opposed to the will of Charles II.,
reserved to Philip V. the rights of a French prince, and
confirmed him in that title.
The act of the 5th of November, 1712, the substance of
which we have just quoted, is moreover of particular im-
portance, inasmuch as it excludes the house of Austria from
the succession to the throne of Spain, to which it would
have been called, agreeably to the will of Charles II., on
the extinction of the descendants, male and female, of
Philip V.; for it stipulated that in this case the crown
should devolve to the ducal family of Savoy.
Hence it has been alleged that the act of the 5th of
November contained an entirely new law of succession, that
it called a new family to the crown of Spain, and that it
established the agnatic succession.
But this opinion is erroneous, for this document1 modifies
the ancient order of cognatic succession, confirmed by the
will of Charles II. no further than in excluding one of the
cognatic lines, that of the house of Austria, from political
considerations, at the same time that, in the reigning line
1 It must not be forgotten here, that none of the treaties concluded between
the great powers at Utrecht forbade the union of Spain with the imperial crown
of Germany ; and that in them was merely proclaimed the impossibility of the
union of Spain with France. Philip V. who, in this act, wishes to induce a
belief that, in excluding the house of Austria, he only fulfils an essential condi-
tion of his recognition by Europe, ventures merely to say, that this condition
had been required by his grandfather, Louis XIV. out of animosity to Austria,
and that it had been assented to by England ; but we are not told that England,
too, had required it, or that the congress of Utrecht had decided that point
with the consent of Austria. We shall show the importance of this remark
by and by.
43
powers, particularly England, had required as conditions of
peace. It declares null the Act of Versailles, by which
Louis XIV., in December, 1700, had, in a manner entirely
arbitrary and directly opposed to the will of Charles II.,
reserved to Philip V. the rights of a French prince, and
confirmed him in that title.
The act of the 5th of November, 1712, the substance of
which we have just quoted, is moreover of particular im-
portance, inasmuch as it excludes the house of Austria from
the succession to the throne of Spain, to which it would
have been called, agreeably to the will of Charles II., on
the extinction of the descendants, male and female, of
Philip V.; for it stipulated that in this case the crown
should devolve to the ducal family of Savoy.
Hence it has been alleged that the act of the 5th of
November contained an entirely new law of succession, that
it called a new family to the crown of Spain, and that it
established the agnatic succession.
But this opinion is erroneous, for this document1 modifies
the ancient order of cognatic succession, confirmed by the
will of Charles II. no further than in excluding one of the
cognatic lines, that of the house of Austria, from political
considerations, at the same time that, in the reigning line
1 It must not be forgotten here, that none of the treaties concluded between
the great powers at Utrecht forbade the union of Spain with the imperial crown
of Germany ; and that in them was merely proclaimed the impossibility of the
union of Spain with France. Philip V. who, in this act, wishes to induce a
belief that, in excluding the house of Austria, he only fulfils an essential condi-
tion of his recognition by Europe, ventures merely to say, that this condition
had been required by his grandfather, Louis XIV. out of animosity to Austria,
and that it had been assented to by England ; but we are not told that England,
too, had required it, or that the congress of Utrecht had decided that point
with the consent of Austria. We shall show the importance of this remark
by and by.