Excerpt from The History of the Reign of Philip the Third, King of Spain, Vol. 2: The First Four Books The collected treasures of America, over which the cortes had not any control, enabled Charles V. to trample on the liberties of his own subjects, and to threaten neighbouring states with universal dominion. The ambition of the emperor descended, together with his immense resources, to his son, Philip II. and engaged him in projects beyond his abilities. The monarch was governed by a lust of power, and the people were seized with a spirit of emigration. The energy of the nation was diverted from domestic industry, the true source of national wealth and grandeur, and turned to distant enterprises of colonization and of war. The monarchy became faint through the loss of its blood and treasure; and the power, on which its vast ambition had been originally founded, was subverted. But ideas of uncontrolable dominion were by this time deeply impressed on the Austrian race; and Philip III. with exhausted resources, and a feeble mind, faintly pursued the same ambitious plan that had been formed or adopted by his predecessors on the Spanish throne, not more formidable for their extensive revenues, than for the vigilance, vigor, and perseverance of their nature. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.