begun that career which was shortly to make his name so famous.  The chief provisions of the treaty of alliance, signed on September 7, 1701, were that Austria was to have the Italian possessions of Spain; the Belgic provinces were to remain as a barrier and protection for Holland against French aggression; and England and the States were to retain any conquests they might make in the Spanish West Indies.  Nothing was said about the crown of Spain, a silence which implied a kind of recognition of Philip V. To this league were joined Prussia, Hanover, Lueneburg, Hesse-Cassel, while France, to whom Spain was now allied, could count upon the help of Bavaria.  War was not yet declared, but at this very moment Louis XIV took a step which was wantonly provocative.  James II died at St Germain on September 6; and his son was at once acknowledged by Louis as King of England, by the title of James III.  This action aroused a storm of indignation among the English people, and William found himself supported by public opinion in raising troops and obtaining supplies for war.  The preparations were on a vast scale.  The emperor undertook to place 90,000 men in the field; England, 40,000; the German states, 54,000; and the Republic no less than 100,000.  William had succeeded at last in the object of his life; a mighty confederation had been called into being to maintain the balance of power in Europe, and overthrow the threatened French domination.  This confederation in arms, of which he was the soul and the acknowledged head, was destined to accomplish the object for which it was formed, but not under his leadership.  The king had spent the autumn in Holland in close consultation with Heinsius, visiting the camps, the arsenals and the dockyards, and giving instructions to the admirals and generals to have everything in readiness for the campaign of the following spring.  Then in November he went to England to hurry on the preparations, which were in a more backward condition than in the States.  But he had overtaxed his strength.  Always frail and ailing, William had for years by sheer force of will-power conquered his bodily weakness and endured the fatigue of campaigns in which he was content to share all hardships with his soldiers.  In his double capacity, too, of king and stadholder, the cares of government and the conduct of foreign affairs had left him no rest.  Especially had this been the case in England during the years which had followed Queen Mary’s death, when he found himself opposed and thwarted and humiliated by party intrigues and cabals, to such an extent that he more than once thought of abdicating.  He was feeling very ill and tired when he returned, and he grew weaker, for the winter in England always tried him.  His medical advisers warned him that his case was one for which medicine was of no avail, and that he was not fit to bear the strain of the work he was doing.  But the indomitable spirit of the man would not give way, and he still