pourront jamais être réunies. Ainsi le Sérénissime Roi T. C. et la Sérénissime Reine de la Grande Bretagne s'engagent solemnellement, et par parole de Roi, l'un à l'autre, qu'eux ni leurs héritiers et successeurs ne feront jamais rien, ni ne permettront que jamais il soit rien fait capable d'empêcher les rénonciations et d'autres transactions susdites d'avoir leur plein et entier effet, au contraire leurs Majestés Royales prendront un soin sincère, et feront leurs efforts afin que rien ne donne atteinte à ce fondement du salut public ni ne puisse l'ébranler. En autre S. M. C. demeure d'accord et s'engage que son intention n'est pas de tâcher d'obtenir, ni même d'accepter à l'avenir que pour l'utilité de ses sujets, il soit rien changé, ni innové dans l'Espagne ni dans l'Amérique Espagnole, tant en matière de commerce qu'en matière de navigation, aux usages pratiquez en ces païs sous le règne du feu Roi d'Espagne Charles II., non plus que de procurer à ses sujets dans les susdites païs aucun avantage qui ne soit pas accordé de même dans toute son étendue aux autres peuples et nations lesquelles y négotient.

No. II.

(Translation.)

Royal Cedula, establishing as law His Catholic Majesty's Renunciation of the Succession to the Crown of France, and the Renunciations of the Succession to the Crown of Spain by the French Princes, excluding therefrom the House of Austria, and declaring it to, and calling to it, the House of Savoy, in default of descendants of King Don Philip V.

Don Philip, by the grace of God, King of Castile, Leon,
Aragon, &c. &c.

The lively desires with which the Most Christian King my grandfather, and I, have endeavoured to put an end to the sanguinary and obstinate war which for so many years afflicts Europe, and to afford due relief to our most faithful subjects, oppressed by the weight of so many calamities and hardships, which nothing but their invincible spirit and steadfast love and loyalty could have tolerated, have by all possible means sought to bring about universal peace with the powers leagued against the two crowns, and to prefer it even to our own inteAnd having first negociated the treaties of peace with the Queen of England, it has been agreed between the three crowns, Spain, France, and England, that I should renounce, for myself and my descendants, the right which I may possess, or may hereafter come to possess, to the crown of France, with the rest, as set forth in the said instrument, whose tenor is as follows:

rests.

"Don Philip, by the grace of God, King of Castile, of Leon, of Aragon, &c.

'By the purport and contents of this instrument and deed

of renunciation and desistance, and to the end that it may be for ever remembered, I make known and manifest to the kings, princes, potentates, republics, communities and private persons, who shall be in the ages to come, that it being one of the principal objects of the treaties of peace in force between the crown of Spain and that of France, with the crown of England, to lay a firm and permanent foundation for peace, and to proceed to a general peace, on the maxim of ensuring for ever the universal good and tranquillity of Europe, in an equilibrium of power, so that many being united in one, the balance of the desired equality may not lean in favour of one to the danger and suspicion of the others, it was proposed and urged by England, and agreed to on my part, and that of the King my grandfather, that in order to avoid, AT ANY TIME, the union of this monarchy and that of France, and the POSSIBILITY of its happening IN ANY CASE, there should be made reciprocal renunciations, by me, and all my descendants, of the POSSIBLE SUCCESSION to the monarchy of France, and by the descendants of the French princes, and of all their lines, EXISTING AND FUTURE, of the succession to this monarchy, forming a decorous declaration to abdicate all the rights that might be ACQUIRED by the two royal houses of this and that monarchy for the purpose of succeeding to each other mutually, separating, by the legal means of my renunciation, my branch from the royal trunk of France, and all the branches of France from the kindred derivation of the royal Spanish blood; it being also stipulated, in consequence of the fundamental and perpetual maxim of the equilibrium of the powers of Europe, which as it inculcates and justifies the avoidance in all imaginable cases of the union of the Spanish with the French monarchy, the inconvenience should be guarded against of the case happening that in default of descendants of mine, this monarchy might possibly revert to the House of Austria (whose dominions and dependencies, even without the union of the empire, would render it formidable), which motive in former times made the separation of the hereditary states of the House of Austria from the body of the Spanish monarchy to be viewed with favour, it being agreed upon and settled for this purpose by England with me, and with the King my grandfather, that in default

of my person and of my descendants, the succession to this monarchy should devolve upon the Duke of Savoy and his sons and male descendants, born in constant legitimate matrimony; and in default of their male lines, to the Prince Amadeus of Carignan, and his sons and male descendants, the issue of uninterrupted lawful marriage; and in default of their lines, to Prince Thomas, the brother of the Prince of Carignan, his sons, and male descendants, the offspring of constant lawful wedlock, who from being descendants of the Infanta Donna Catarina, the daughter of King Philip the Second, and from express calls, have a clear and acknowledged right, under the supposition that the Duke of Savoy and his descendants will be always solicitous to covet and seek the perpetual amity and alliance with this crown, it being presumed that this constant expectation will prove the pivot of the balance by which an amicable equilibrium will be upheld among all the powers, wearied by the toil and uncertainty of battles, no means being left to any of the parties for disturbing this federate equilibrium by any contract of renunciation or retrocession, inasmuch as there is every reason to look forward to its permanence, which is the motive for establishing it, seeing that there will be framed a fundamental constitution for regulating by an unalterable law the succession for the time to come.

"In consequence of what is stated above, and from the affection I bear to the Spaniards, as well as from the knowledge of what I owe to their attachment and to the numerous proofs of their loyalty, and in order to evince my gratitude to Divine Providence, by resignation to its decrees for having placed and maintained me on the throne of such illustrious and worthy subjects, I have come to the determination of abdicating for myself and all my descendants the right of succeeding to the crown of France, being desirous not to part, but to live and die with my beloved and faithful Spaniards, and to extend to all my descendants the inseparable bond of this fidelity and affection. And in order that this resolution may have its due effect, and that a period may be put to what has been considered as one of the principal motives of the war which has hitherto afflicted Europe, I, Don Philip, by the grace

H

of God, King of Castile, Leon, Aragon, &c., do of my own accord, for myself, my heirs, and successors, freely, spontaneously, and most willingly, by this present instrument, renounce, abandon, and for evermore desist from all pretensions, rights, and titles, which I or any descendants of mine MAY POSSESS NOW, or can at any FUTURE TIME POSSESS, to the succession of the crown of France; and I do declare and hold myself excluded and removed, as I do likewise declare and hold my sons, heirs, and descendants, without limitation, difference, or distinction of persons, grades, sexes, and times, as perpetually excluded and absolutely incapacitated from the action and right of succeeding to the crown of France. And I will and consent, for me and my said descendants, that from this moment to that time there shall be held as passed and transferred to him who, by reason of myself and them being excluded, incapacitated, and disabled, shall happen to be the person next following in degree and immediately after the King on account of whose death the succession to the said crown of France shall be vacant, and may have to be regulated and transferred at any time, and in any case, in order that he may have and hold it as the legitimate and true possessor, the same as if I and my descendants had not been born, or had not existed in the world, for as such we are to be held and reputed, to the end that it may be impossible to consider or imagine in my person or in theirs any ground of active or passive representation, principal, or effective continuation of lines, or such as contains substance, blood, or quality, or to derive descent or computation of degrees from the persons of the most Christian King, my sovereign and grandfather, or from that of the Señor Dauphin, my father, or from the glorious kings his progenitors, or for any other effect to enter on the succession, or pre-occupy the grade of proximity and exclude from it the person who, as has been said, shall chance to be the next following in degree.

"I will and consent, for myself and my descendants, that at the present moment, as well as then, this right may be viewed and considered as passed and transferred to the Duke of Berry, my brother, and to his sons and male descendants, born in constant legitimate matrimony; and in default of their male lines, to the Duke of Orleans, my uncle, and to