The emperor, invested with the imperial crown, hastened to Vienna, and, with unexpected energy, entered upon the administration of the complicated interests of his widespread realms.  After passing a few weeks in Vienna, he repaired to Prague, where, in May, he was, with much pomp, crowned King of Hungary.  He then returned to Vienna, and prepared to press with new vigor the war of the Spanish succession.

Louis XIV. was now suffering the earthly retribution for his ill-spent life.  The finances of the realm were in a state of hopeless embarrassment; famine was filling the kingdom with misery; his armies were everywhere defeated; the imprecations of a beggared people were rising around his throne; his palace was the scene of incessant feuds and intrigues.  His children were dead; he was old, infirm, sick, the victim of insupportable melancholy—­utterly weary of life, and yet awfully afraid to die.  France, in the person of Louis XIV., who could justly say, “I am the State,” was humbled.

The accession of Charles to the throne of the empire, and to that of Austria, Hungary and Bohemia, while at the same time he claimed sovereignty over the vast realms of the Spanish kingdom, invested him with such enormous power, that England, which had combined Europe against the colossal growth of France, having humbled that power, was disposed to form a combination against Austria.  There was in consequence an immediate relaxation of hostilities just at the time when the French batteries on the frontiers were battered down, and when the allied army had apparently an unobstructed way opened to the gates of Paris.  In this state of affairs the British ministry pressed negotiations for peace.  The preliminaries were settled in London on the 8th of October, 1711.  By this treaty Louis XIV. agreed to make such a change in the law of hereditary descent, as to render it impossible for any king to wear at the same time the crowns of France and of Spain, and made various other important concessions.

Charles, whose ambition was roused by his sudden and unexpected elevation, exerted all his energies to thwart the progress of negotiations, and bitterly complained that the allies were dishonorably deserting the cause which they had espoused.  The emperor dispatched circular letters to all the courts of Europe, and sent Prince Eugene as a special ambassador to London, to influence Queen Anne, if possible, to persevere in the grand alliance.  But he was entirely unsuccessful.  The Duke of Marlborough was disgraced, and dismissed from office.  The peace party rendered Eugene so unpopular that he was insulted in the streets of London.  The Austrian party in England was utterly defeated, and a congress was appointed to meet at Utrecht to settle the terms of peace.  But Charles was now so powerful that he resolved to prosecute the war even though abandoned by England.  He accordingly sent an ambassador to Utrecht to embarrass the proceedings as much as possible, and, in case the grand alliance should be broken up, to secure as many powers as possible in fidelity to Austria.