ABSTRACT
Shortly after hearing of Augustus II's death, Don Manuel of Portugal sensibly withdrew his candidature. How serious Austria and Russia were in promoting him may have been questionable, but now they were without a candidate. Augustus’ death, so long expected, had taken the courts of Europe by surprise, except for Versailles. Its tight-fisted ambassador, the marquis de Monti, now began spending millions of zloties on Leszczyński's behalf. At the end of March, a conference of Austrian ministers chaired by Charles VI decided that, in spite of everything, a Wettin was preferable to a Bourbon-backed Pole. Besides, the new Saxon elector, married to one of the emperor's nieces, could surely be kept under control and was patently lacking in his father's dangerous qualities. The burdens of Poland could only distract him from pursuing his wife's claims to the Austrian succession in the future. St Petersburg and Vienna agreed that Russia would intervene in Poland itself while Austria would bear the brunt of the expected French assault in the west. In separate treaties with Austria and Russia in July 1733, Frederick Augustus II promised, in return for their assistance, not to tamper with the Polish constitution; to favour their supporters in the distribution of vacancies; to recognise the Pragmatic Sanction; and to abide by Russian policy in Courland. On 14 August, St Petersburg formally announced its endorsement of his candidature.
