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We have had occasion to mention more than once a war which was

then fermenting, for the succession to the states of the Duke

Vincenzo Gonzaga, the second of the name; we have said that, at

the death of this duke, his nearest heir, Carlos Gonzaga, chief

of a younger branch transplanted to France, where he possessed

the duchies of Nevers and Rhetel, had entered into possession of

Mantua and Montferrat; the Spanish minister, who wished, at any

price, to exclude from these two fiefs the new prince, and wanted

some pretence to advance for his exclusion, had declared his

intention to support the claims upon Mantua of another Gonzaga,

Ferrante, Prince of Guastalla; and those upon Montferrat of

Carlos Emanuel the First, Duke of Savoy, and Margherita Gonzaga,

Duchess dowager of Lorraine.