the quarrel between the two Rivals and succeeded in it however this Accident could not be kept so secret but that the King being informed of it forbid them the Court. The Duke de Sejar parted from hence to go and serve in Flanders in quality of a Volunteer He was a Person of Illustrious Birth very rich and very young the reason he did this was only because he was jealous of his Lady The Count de Talara had the Place of Judge of the Forrests conferred upon him which was vacant by the Death of the Marquess de la Garde and Don Francisco de Manserato obtained the Title of Marquess de Tamarit The King ordered the Council to discharge all the Receivers of the Impositions that are laid upon the Provinces These Officers were above a thousand and the suppressing of them must needs be of great advantage to his Catholick Majesty and to his Subjects A Vessel which came to Cales from the Honduras brought News that the Flota was happily arrived on the fifth of September and that the Merchants of Lima offered three hundred thousand Crowns to the King on condition that for an year and half he would not send the Gallions here In the mean time ill Weather hindred the Fleet which had set sail from Cales a little before from doubling the Cape of St. Vincent the bad effects of this Tempest were not only perceived at Sea for it was so violent in all parts of Castile that several Houses were beaten down and the exceeding Rains so swelled the Rivers that the Roads were o'reflown and almost all the Bridges carried away by the rapidity of the Waters This ill News was followed immediately by three Couriers one upon the neck of another and the first of them arrived on the 13 th of March from Abbot Masserati Envoy of Spain in Portugal He dispatched them to inform the Council that they had received Advice at Lisbon by a Vessel that the Governour of Buenosaires having got together abundance of Indians had joyned them to his Garrison that on the 15 th of August 1680. he had surprized the Fort which the Portugueses had began to build in the Isle of St. Gabriel that he had taken the Governour Prisoner and cut the Garrison in pieces that the Prince-Regent being provoked at this Insult had assembled the Council of State where the Queen of Portugal was present that they had reâ—olved to raise the Militia and send 400 Horse and four Regiments of Old Soldiers into Estramadura that it would be necessary to get Magazines ready on the Frontiers and to have a General Rendezvous at Eluas that having demanded Audience of the Prince-Regent he had refused it him and that in all probability a War would ensue 'T was expected at Court that the Envoy of Portugala would make his Complaints but they were extreamly surprized to see him take no noticâ— of it at all so now it was not doubted bu that this silence certainly presaged a surprize of the Spanish Territories like to that which the Governour of Buenosaires had committed in the Indies upon the Portugueses The Ministers judged it convenient to prevent this blow and spoke to the English Ambassador about it desiring him to represent to the Envoy of Portugal that the King of England would be obliged to take up Arms against him who first broke the Peace whereof he was Guarrantee that he had also a more particular Reason than this forasmuch as by the League that was concluded between the King his Master and his Catholick Majesty they had mutually engaged to Declare against the Enemy that fell upon either of them This Discourse was spoke with a great deal of heat but the Envoy of Portugal answered him That he looked upon him to be a Partisan of the Court of Spain rather than an Ambassador from the King of England that he knew very well he spoke without Order and of his own Head This Answer was followed by a Protestation in Writing wherein it was declared that the King of England could not upon any Reason whatever hinder the Prince of Portugal from using the Right of Reprisals and endeavouring to get Satisfaction from the Spaniards for the Injuries received A little after this the Envoy of Portugal received an Order from the Prince-Regent to demand Publick Audience upon this Occasion and told his Catholick Majesty that he demanded an entire Satisfaction from him and that the Prince-Regent desired that they would set the Souldiers and Governour at Liberty that they would punish those of Buenosaires that they would restore the Ammunition and Cannon that if the Fort were razed they would rebuild it or else surrender the place that in case the Prisoners were sent into Spain they would set them at Liberty that they would receive into the Fort of St. Gabriel the Garrison which the Prince of Portugal should send thither that the Governour of Buenosaires should be chastised and that an Answer be given in within Twenty Days or else they would begin Actions of Hostility Upon this the Council met and spent three days to deliberate about it They gave Orders for their Forces to march towards the most exposed defenceless places and Don Antonio Panyagua Master-General of the Camp was charged to stay there till he saw an end of this Affair Besides they set forth a great Memorial wherein were contained the Arguments which the Envoy of Spain had given in at Lisbon to make it appear by Authentick Papers that according to the Limits appointed by Pope Alexander VI. the Isle of St. Gabriel belongs to the Spaniards and that they have had it a hundred fourscore and six Years in their possession After this they took notice of the Declaration of the Envoy of Portugal and ended all with a Protestation signifying That they were desirous to preserve the Peace and that they would labour with all Application in this matter This Manifesto was sent to all the Foreign Ministers to communicate to their Masters but they had scarce given it to them when they sent in all hast back again for the Copies to Correct something or other and then they returned them again At the same time a Rumour was industriously dispersed that the Nuncio by an express Order from the Pope had moved them to send an Ambassador to Lisbon to treat about an Accomodation But this was really a Temperament they had found out to conceal the true motives which engaged them to make this Advance The Nuncio upon this said openly that he had never interposed in the business and that it was impossible to receive any Orders from Rome about so fresh an Affair The Duke de Giovenazzo was chosen for this Embassy As soon as he was arrived at Lisbon he saw the Prince-Regent who nominated the Duke de Cadaval and the Marquess de Fronteyra for Commissioners He would have made his Complaints at first and demanded Satisfaction But he was told that they were of a Humour clearly opposite to
for the Troubles he brought upon her The Reason of her using this Conduct with the Queen was only to exclude the Marchioness de Los Velez and the Dutchess de l' Infantado whom she did not greatly care for She thought with her self that if she desired to oblige the Queen to take a Camarera from her Hands it would he necessary for her to testifie no Aversion for her that was to fill that Place and that the Queen being desirous to be seconded by her would demand of her whom she pitched upon and so take a Person of her own chusing The Young Queen was aware of her Mother-in-Law's Designs However she pretended to know nothing of them supposing that such a one would be always obliged to do as the Queen-Mother directed her Having therefore a particular inclination for the Marchioness de Los Velez she was resolved to sound the King's Sentiments upon that Affair and proposed her to him but he exprest an extraordinary Antipathy to her If says he you knew the Marchioness de Los Velez as well as I do I am confident you would never think of placing her so near you She has been my Governante and is the only Person in the World whom I dread most The Duke de Medina Celi desired no more to see her in that Station than the King did and shew'd as great a dislike to the Dutchess de l' Infantado all their Votes concurr'd in behalf of the Dutchess de Albuquerque and it was agreed upon at last to perswade the Queen that she ought to chuse her This Choice had infallibly succeeded if the Queen could have cured her self of those disagreeable impressions which the Camarera had made upon her in relation to that Dutchess She often thought of the imperious Humour that was attributed to her of the pretended Aversion she had to the French but especially of what the King had told her That when once the Dutchess de Terra Nova was removed and another put into her Place she must never think of turning her off She was perswaded that she should be no Gainer by the change if she pitched upon the Dutchess de Albuquerque Nay that it might so happen to her as to be a considerable loser by it This Imagination hindered her from pushing this Affair any farther and she thought it would be much better to carry a little till she could find out some other Lady who might be altogether agreeable to her In effect as she was searching after one she was told of the Marchioness de Eytona who was a Woman of Solid Vertue great Merit and had abundance of Wit and Gallantry In fine she was every way so well Accomplished that it was necessary for her Majesty to have her near her and by the Relations she had at the Queen-Mother's Court and with the Chief Minister she could not chuse but please both Parties alike The King shew'd no opposition to her and the Queen who knew her loved her already so that she was mighty joyful to meet with one whom she liked so well But this Joy did not continue long for the Marchioness de Eytona fell sick and died a few days after The Young Queen was sensibly Afflicted at this Loss and not knowing where to make a better choice she came back again to the Marchioness de Los Velez because she comprehended no difference between the Dutchess de Terra Nova and the Dutchess de Albuquerque And as for the Dutchess de l' Infantado â—he perceived well enough that she was not fit for her But now to propose the Marchioness de Los Velez was to attempt a thing that could never succeed for the Reasons I have already mentioned The Marchioness who perceived them better than any body could not endure to be so long exposed to an Exclusion that was so very disobliging to her So she went to find out the Queen and returned her Thanks for her great Favours but she told her That her Age and the Trouble she had had with the King when she was Governante to him gave her so great a disrelish for the Court that she could by means reconcile her self to it and therefore desired her to think of her no more All these Difficulties seemed to arise for the Satisfaction of the Dutchess de Terra Nova or at least they proved the occasion why she continued still in her Place and that the Queen utterly wearied to find so many disappointments in her way was come to such a pass that she was no longer desirous to remove her The Queen-Mother all the while intrigued more than she because she earnestly desired to have that Lady turned out of the Palace What still contributed to make the Young Queen less concerned for the matter was that her Mind was taken up with new Troubles that were more pressing upon her than those she received from the Camarera I mean the Apprehensions they had at Court of a Rupture between the two Crowns The Queen remained inconsolable when she considered that the Peace of Nimeguen of which she was as it were the Seal was going to be broken The Love she had for France and the Obligations that fastened her to Spain ballanced all her Inclinaâ—ions and she often shed Tears out of a fear only of seeing the War renewed The most Christian King pretended That the Spaniards had pillaged and abused his Subjects in several places and either burnt or taken many French Vessels That they returned him no Answer at Madrid to the Complaints he had made That the Marquess de Borgomaine who resided at London in quality of Ambassador Extraordinary from the King of Spain observed no manner of measures nay not even those that Decency prescribes That he had made a League in the Name of the King his Master with the King of England against France That he was well informed that as he was upon his departure to go Ambassador to Vienna he had received private Orders to stay some time in Holland to try if he could perswade the Hollanders to do the most prejudicial things they could to France The King provoked at so clandestine a Conduct and so extraordinary in the midst of a Peace which he had not infringed the least on his part was resolved to act according to his usual Justice and Equity and finding himself possess'd with these Resentments he had nothing to incline him to believe that he was obliged to part with any of his Rights He ordered his Gallies to put to Sea with an express Command to make those of Spain give them the first Gun whenever they met them He knew that this Affair had been regulated at the same time when Philip IV. had agreed that his Ambassadors should never appear in Publick with those of France and he made the Duke de Medina Celi be acquainted that the Conduct he used during the Peace was so opposite to Peace it self that he saw himself obliged to seek out all Advantages on his side
as he found it expedient The King of Spain for his part complained of the exact Severity that was show'n him in the smallest matters alledging that when the Commissioners of the most Christian King were to have adjusted with those that came from Spain the Limits of what had been yielded up by the Treaty of Nimeguen the French had refused to Treat with the Deputies â—f Spain as long as the Catholick King should take upon him the Quality of the Duke of Burgundy They added a Declaration to this Refusal That if within a certain time assigned they did not Treat by Vertue of another Commission where this Title was not inserted they would immediately put the King of France in Possession of the Territories and Rights which belonged to him So that the King of Spain was content to cut off the Titles he usually assumes with an c. This League about which the Marquess de Borgomaine made such a bustle and stir in England was at last concluded with Spain It was a mutual Engagement on both sides whereby they obliged themselves to defend one another in what place soever they should happen to be attacked For this end England was to furnish Eight Thousand Foot and Thirty Men of War and Spain was obliged to send an Hundred Thousand Crowns every Month into Flanders to keep the Garisons there in a good condition and have Twelve Thousand Men in pay in Champagne They were in good hopes that the Emperour and the Hollander would likewise enter into the League Don Pedro Ronquillo Ambassador Extraordinary of Spain in England sent a Courier with a Ratification of the Treaty which was received at Madrid on the 25 th of Iune 1680. Most People were very well satisfied when they saw the several Motions on both sides that the War would infallibly be kindled somewhere or other in Flanders The Duke de Villa Hermosa had demanded to be recalled home and that another Governour might be sent to supply his Place The unconcerned Temper as well as the Natural Slowness of the Spaniards held the matter a considerable time in suspence without giving themselves the trouble to determine it The Marquess de Los Balbazez was first pitched upon to be sent thither but as soon as he received Advice of it he endeavoured all he could to get himself excused out of an Apprehension that they would engage him at the same time to contract vast Debts to which his Thrifty Humour gave him an invincible Aversion Besides this they found it a difficult matter to meet with any Subject who was to their Mind The Report ran That the Duke of Lorrain would go to command there in Chief Afterwards it was said the Duke of Newburg would be the Man for whom the Marquess de Grana did several good Offices After they had deliberated a long time about the Merits of these two Competitors at last they cast â—heir Eyes upon Prince Alexander Farnese he obtained the Preference and was named aâ—out the beginning of Iuly He was Brother to the Duke of Parma and was about Threescore Year old the Gouâ— very much troubled him and the Tallness of his Stature was very Extraordinary He had been a long time devoted to Spain and particularly to the Queen-Mother at the juncture when she had those great Differences with Don Iuan He had been General of the Cavalry in Estramadura and Catalonia and passed for a very great Souldier although 't is certain he had but very little Experience and the Management of his private Affairs sufficiently demonstrated it for he ow'd every body Money paid seldom and had not a Farthing by him his Profuseness and his Mistresses ruined him and although after all he had really a great Estate yet it was miserably incumbred It was the General Opinion here that if the War commenced Flanders would be the first Victim and this made them believe that it would be less ignominious for Spain to suffer this Loss when an Italian was Governour of the Low-Countries than if a Spaniard were there In short it could be nothing else but this Consideration only that could possibly induce them to believe they did well to fill this Post with a Man who never had managed as yet any Affair of that vast importance as these were They bargained with Don Francisco de Castile for the Sum of Three Hundred Thousand Crowns which was to be remitted to Brussels for the payment of the Troops And after Prince Alexander had received the Thirty Thousand Crowns which the King ordered to be given him to bear the Expence of his Voyage he parted on the 17 th of Iuly to go and take Shipping at the Groyne in Galicia He took along with him abundance of Voluntiers and a numerous Train of Domesticks He sent a Courier into France to get necessary Pasports and left the Court in such haste that he forgot to carry with him the Patent for his Government It was not very long before he heartily repented for so doing and he prest earnestly to have it However they promised him one but dâ—ferr'd to expedite it so that he could only be said to be Governour for the Interim and it was believed with Reason enough that he would not be well pleased with this Usage He had intrusted some Persons at Madrid to sollicite this Affair for him but they refused the Expeditions when the Court would oblige them to take them in such a Form and after many Petitions on their side and several Contests with the Ministers about it it was not at last inserted into the Patent after what manner he was made Governour In the mean-time the Prince departed from Madrid with so little Money according to his usual Custom that he was scarce arrived at the Groyne but he dispatch'd a Courier away to the Court with some Letters wherein he demanded Money to perform his Voyage They answered him very coldly That they would advise him not to defer the day of his departure and that they could by no means believe that he had already spent his Thirty Thousand Crowns He embarked immediately accompanied by some Vessels belonging to Biscay which transported five hundred new raised Men that had been levied in Galicia and were commanded to guard the Frontiers The People in Flanders had not for many Years seen any other Governour but Don Iuan he possessed the Government as his own till his Death and although he was at so great a distance yet Couriers were still dispatched to him to receive his Orders even in thâ— most important Conjunctures To say the truth the Constable of Castile had been sent thither as I have already observed in the beginning of these Memoirs in the Place of that Prince and he obtained a General Patent without specifying in it that it was only by a Commission but the Queen-Mother would have it so on purpose to disgust Don Iuan. The pressing Necessity there was for Money in Flanders obliged the Duke de Medina Celi to search
I have mentioned the People continued to cry out and complain of their Grievances because no care was taken to redress them It was now a full year since the Duke de Medina Celi had been made Chief Minister and it was hoped that he would have taken all necessary measures in a matter so pressing and important as was the easing of the People but he so far forgot his Duty that every thing went worse and worse still and indeed the least Inconveniencies sensibly improve in their malignity when they are neglected The lessening the Value of the Copper-Money had occasioned a great Disorder 'T is true indeed it might have been managed to the Publick Advantage but they took such wrong measures in the Regulation that it became a most horrible Oppression for the Species of Gold and Silver being thus reduced to one half of its just Value Forreigners took such hold of this opportunity that they exported prodigious Sums out of the Kingdom Besides this the Price of Segovia Wooll which is an excellent Commodity and brings a mighty Profit to those that deal in it rose in proportion to the Abatement of the Money so that no body would buy it unless they would sink the Price And things being in this condition then at last came the crying down of the Money and this totally compleated and ratified their Misery There was computed to be of it to the Value of Six Millions of Crowns The King did not at all take them off although he had promised by his Edict to pay the full Value of the Metal to those who brought them into the Offices appointed to receive them So all this Money lay absolutely dead and it is no easie ' matter to express the Loss which the Bankers the Merchants the King's Farmers and almost every private Man suffered by this decrying of it down Forreigners were the only Men that made Advantage of this General Misfortune of Spain They bought this Copper Money that was mixt with a good Allay of Silver for very little and sent it to Genoa to Portugal and other Places The Council very well knew the Prejudice the Kingdom received by it and Assembled several times to find out an Expedient to put a stop to it There were some Undertakers that offered to treat for all of it and separate the Silver from the Copper and as I said before Don Philip Vinzani was made choice of in this Affair but he had not been preferred before others if it had not been for the Credit of Don Pedro de Arragon This Man owed him great Sums of Money and had been twice Bankrupt and was just upon the Point of breaking the third time so he was desirous to introduce him into some great business that he might by this means enrich himself and be in a capacity of paying his Debts But this Project did not succeed because so great a quantity of this Money was already carried out of the Kingdom and the separating of the Allay was so difficult a matter These Losses were the cause that abundance of Persons of great Quality found themselves under a necessity of selling their Plate and Jewels 'T is true there is so much both of the one and the other at Madrid that it cannot well fail in a long time What made several private Men suffer the more was that the Rents of the Town-Hall which were reduced from eight to five in the hundred were not now paid at all because the Corregidors and Regidors who were concerned in the payment of it were such great Villains that although the City was sufficiently harassed with Customs Taxes and heavy Duties before these People had drained it as long as they pleased and that they had put some small inconsiderable matter of it into the King's Coffers there was nothing left more out of so many Imposts and yet they were not levied for the greatest part but under the pretence of satisfying the Rents of the Town-Hall But how was it possible to put things as they now stood into a better Order It was resolved that there should not be above four Regidors there had been more than fifty and their Places were worth sixty thousand Crowns It is certain that before they could reimburse themselves of such a Sum they must be guilty of great Extortion and Cheating An Order was sent from Madrid to all the Ports to publish Reprisals in favour of the Subjects of the King of Spain upon the Vessels belonging to the Elector of Brandenburgh I have already spoke of the Vessel which that Elector's Subjects had taken away from his Catholick Majesty The Elector had allowed three Months to redeem her but they were not in a condition to do it The Ambassadors of England and Holland laboured to Accommodate the Businesss with no Success because the Elector declared he would be paid his Eight Hundred Thousand Crowns that were due to him and he would restore nothing but upon that condition And therefore the Court would rather suffer him to enjoy his Prize however to save the Honour of Spain the Ministers pretended that the King would have his Vessel restored before he would do any thing and that he refused to hearken to any other Proposal till that were executed The Queen-Mother who seldom stirred abroad and who lived a very Melancholy Life at her Palace invited the Young Queen one day to Dinner when the King was gone out a Hunting They afterwards shut themselves up in the Queen-Mother's great Closet and as she told the Marchioness de Mortare from whom I afterwards had the Story they began to weep and embrace one another very tenderly The Queen-Mother complained That the Queen her Daughter-in-law had prejudiced the King against her and that she suffered as great a Confinement as if Don Juan did still Govern that she was not ignorant that the Duke de Medina Celi d' Eguya and the Confessor did her all the ill Offices they were able that if she had only these to Combat she would endeavour to destroy them that perhaps she might be able to accomplish it but that when she saw the Queen at the Head of the Party she had no Courage left to defend her self that although she very well knew she had promised to do her all the injury she could yet she could not forbear to speak to her of it rather to ease her self than out of any hopes to soften her dispositions Alas Madam Alas cryed the Young Queen all in Tears why do you add such stabbing Suspicions to the other ills you have done me Could you not be content to poyson my Conduct before the King and make him shew me a thousand sensible unkindnesses upon that score but must you insult upon me too and accuse me of the only thing in the World I am uncapable of doing At these words the Queen-Mother stretched out her Arms to her and they tarried a considerable space of time without being able to speak a Syllable so much were