1714] Peace between Spain and the United Provinces 455

to France. Various petty Princes, temporal or spiritual, of the Empire recovered the possessions taken from them by France since the Peace of Ryswyk; on the other hand, her allies, the Electors of Bavaria and Cologne, were replaced in the position in which they had stood at the beginning of the War. "In the event ". so ran one of the Articles of the Peace" of the House of Bavaria finding some exchange of its States in conformity with its interests," France would raise no objection. But the supposition is untenable that in this Article an exchange of the whole of the Bavarian dominions was contemplated, as was seventy years later contended by Joseph II when he sought to exchange for Bavaria the Belgic Netherlands, which the Peace of Baden recognised as belonging to the House of Austria, together with the dominions left to it in Italy by the Peace of Utrecht.

The Peace of Baden was, however, by no means a mere repetition of the Peace of Utrecht; for at Baden the Emperor did not acknowledge the rule of Philip V in Spain, and Philip in his turn gave no consent to the dismemberment of the Spanish monarchy in favour of the Austrian Habsburgs. There are other points of difference-notably as to the treatment of the Elector of Bavaria, who at Baden profited greatly from the late successes of his French ally, and from the magnanimity with which on this, as on other occasions, Louis XIV supported the interests of his friends. The Peace of Baden was ratified by the Diet of the Empire, but not till after many difficulties had been raised and surmounted; for while the Protestant Estates recorded a protest against the maintenance of the notorious clause of the Fourth Article of the Peace of Ryswyk, other protests were recorded by several Italian princes, and by the Pope himself, against other sections of the present treaty.

As indicated above, two further treaties have yet to be noticed in this survey, concluded respectively a little before and a little after the Peace of Baden. The Peace between Spain and the United Provinces, which was signed at Utrecht on June 26, 1714, had been delayed so long on account of the persistent refusal of the Emperor to assent to the Article in the Peace between France and the United Provinces in favour of the Princess Orsini. Philip V was now at last persuaded to give way, and in this same year the ascendancy of the Princess itself came to an end after the death of Philip's Queen, Marie-Louise. Certain other reasons had contributed to delay the conclusion of the Spanish-Dutch treaty. Its most important provisions as a matter of course had reference to trade, as to which Spain placed the United Provinces on the footing of the most favoured nation, with the exception of trade with the Spanish American colonies. This remained closed to all European nations except, in so far as the Asiento was concerned, to Great Britain. The attempt of the Spaniards to secure the cession of Maestricht and certain other districts, which in a critical moment of

456

Peace between Portugal and Spain

[1701-15

their fortunes (1673) the States General had promised to make over to them so as to secure their aid against the invasion of Louis XIV, inevitably broke down, since the Belgian Netherlands as a whole were now to pass, not to Spain, but to the House of Austria.

Portugal and Spain likewise concluded peace at a date so late as February 6, 1715. The lasting hatred between the two neighbour peoples goes a long way to account for the delay; but it must also be allowed that Portugal, who, as has been seen, had faithfully adhered to the Grand Alliance since British diplomacy had induced her to join it in 1703-notwithstanding the dangers and damages to which her colonial empire had been exposed in consequence- might justly have expected a fuller consideration of her claims in the Peace than she had succeeded in obtaining. She was left very much to make her own terms with Spain; and, though in the end she reduced her demands to the single city of Badajoz and the abandonment of the Spanish claims (upheld by the valour of Indians trained by Jesuits) in the colony of St Sacrament in Uruguay, to whose strange history reference is made elsewhere, the Government of Philip V was provided with further counter-claims of its own. When, however, it became apparent that the Emperor had resolved to conclude no peace with Spain at present, the Spanish negotiations with Portugal were resumed; and, under pres sure from her ungenerous British ally, Portugal was brought to sign the Peace - both the contracting Powers making it very evident through the behaviour of their plenipotentiaries, that they and their peoples were affectionately disposed towards each other. On the whole, the conditions of this treaty were necessarily favourable to Portugal. The home frontier was regulated in accordance with the status quo ante bellum; and Spain gave up the disputed colony of St Sacrament to Portugal, unless she should within eighteen months have found and accepted a suitable equivalent. The later changes in the history of the colony were as numerous as the earlier, but cannot occupy us here.

This account may fitly be concluded by a few words concerning the "Barrier Treaties," of which the third and last finishes the series of transactions calling for notice here. Article IX of the Treaty of 1701, in which the lines of the Grand Alliance were laid down, had contained an assurance to the United Provinces of a barrier against France. The importance of such a protection to the Provinces was of course patent. Nature had done little or nothing for the Low Countries in the way of barrier or boundary; and the repulse of the French invasion of 1672-one of those great crises in the history of a nation which must end either in the destruction or in the preservation of a nation's existence as such-had so far only proved that, but for an extraordinary effort of national patriotism under a great national leader, the Dutch Republic might have sunk under the waters, instead of emerging from them.

The question of the Dutch Barrier had accordingly become a theme

1701-9]

The First Barrier Treaty

457

of protracted discussion between the States General and the Imperial Government, which of course began with treating the Spanish Netherlands as part of the dominions of the Habsburg candidate for the Spanish throne, Archduke Charles. In the course of these discussions the States General advanced claims which the Imperial Government resisted; but, as during the progress of the War that Government became aware of the danger (sufficiently illustrated in the previous section), that Louis XIV might seek to tempt the Dutch by offering to conclude a separate Peace with them, Count Sinzendorf was in 1708 sent to the Hague by the Emperor Joseph to negotiate an arrangement on the subject with the States General, through the mediation of Marlborough. At that date there was no difficulty in settling that the States General would listen to no peace propositions that should fail to ensure the indivisibility of the Spanish monarchy under the House of Habsburg; but as to the question of the "Barrier" it was not so easy to arrive at an agreement. The contention of the Imperial Government-reasonable enough if alliances were designed to last for ever was that, if the Austrian claimant to the Spanish monarchy were secured in the possession of the Spanish Netherlands, there was no necessity for any "Barrier" at all for why should the Dutch have the right of garrisoning a series of fortified places in a friendly territory? The Dutch, however, taking a less trustful view, actually designated the fortified places of which they would like their Barrier to consist, and which at first included not only Ostend, Nieuport, and Dendermonde, but even Antwerp. This liberal selection, however, in its turn naturally excited on the part of Great Britain both jealousy and apprehension of the results which might follow in the not absolutely impossible event of a future Anglo-Dutch conflict.

When, however, as was seen in the earlier section of this chapter, the peace negotiations of 1709-10 broke down, and the War had to be resumed by the Allies, both Great Britain and the United Provinces perceived that the vexed question of the Barrier ought to be got out of the way, even though the Emperor, for the benefit of whose claimant the Spanish Netherlands were being contested against France, might take no immediate part in the transaction. The result was the so-called First Barrier Treaty, concluded on October 29, 1709. In this compact

the British Government undertook to secure to the States General the right of garrisoning nine strong places which belonged or had belonged to the Spanish Netherlands, namely Nieuport, Furnes, Knoque, Ypres, Menin, Lille, Tournay, Condé, and Valenciennes, in addition to ten others (including Charleroi, Namur, and the citadel of Ghent) in case of their being recaptured from the French, in whose hands they at the present remained. A million of francs was to be annually paid to the Dutch out of the revenues of the Spanish Netherlands for the maintenance of the fortresses and garrisons aforesaid.

458

The Second Barrier Treaty

[1709-13

This Barrier Treaty, which in fact amounted to a renewal, by way of reassurance, of the defensive and offensive alliance between Great Britain and the United Provinces, in terms favourable beyond precedent to the latter, was decried in Parliament as unfavourable to England as well as to France; and this complaint was echoed in the country at large. A strong popular feeling against the Dutch had survived from the ignoble factiousness of the reign of William III, and it was probably augmented by some genuine fears as to the consequences of strengthening the posi tion of England's chief mercantile rival. Thus, notwithstanding the Barrier Treaty, or partly in consequence of it, considerable soreness ensued between the two peoples and Governments; and, when, in December, 1711, Marlborough was dismissed from his public employments, the States General made over the command of their troops, not to his successor, the Duke of Ormond, but to the Imperial Commander, Prince Eugene. Party feeling took advantage of these relations to undermine the Grand Alliance by such semi-official manifestos as Swift's Remarks on the Barrier Treaty (1712).

Thus, during the progress of the peace negotiations of 1711 and 1712 between the British and French Governments, the former were found quite ready to meet the wishes of France as to a revision of the Barrier Treaty, of which it is certainly not too much to say that it seriously impaired the force of the compact. Several of the Barrier places on which the Treaty had insisted being now promised to France, it became necessary for Great Britain, if her present policy was to be carried out, to conclude a Second Barrier Treaty with the States General, and this was accomplished at Utrecht on January 30, 1713. In this Treaty, by which the First was formally revoked, it was settled that the States General should have the right of keeping garrisons in Knoque, Ypres, Menin, Tournay, Mons, Charleroi, Namur, and Ghent; but Lille, Condé, Valenciennes and Maubeuge, which were included as Barrier places in the First Treaty, were not so included in the Second. Great Britain was to furnish 10,000 and the States General 6000 men, and each of the two Powers the same number of vessels, for the maintenance of the Treaty. Upper Gelders, which the First Treaty had assured to the United Provinces, was passed over in the Second, it being, as has been seen, intended to dispose of it otherwise (in favour of Prussia).

Now, though the Treaties of Utrecht, Rastatt, and Baden had alike kept in view the transfer of the "Spanish" Netherlands to the House of Austria, yet they had all provided that these Belgic Provinces should remain in the occupation of the States General, until they should have arrived at a satisfactory understanding with the Emperor on the subject of their Barrier. With a view to such an understanding, a conference was held at Antwerp between representatives of the Imperial Government and of the States General, General Cadogan, who after Queen Anne's death had been reinstated as Lieutenant-General and appointed

1715-8]

The Third Barrier Treaty

459

envoy at the Hague, acting as mediator. The Dutch, whose influence among the Allies had as a matter of course been much depressed under the Tory rule of the last four years of Queen Anne, had now regained a much stronger position; and it was improved by the exertions of Cadogan, who was active in keeping up a good understanding between the Whigs and the German States friendly to the Hanoverian Succession. Thus the Third Barrier Treaty, concluded at Antwerp on November 15, 1715, was more favourable to the claims of the United Provinces than might have seemed possible during the course of the Utrecht negotiations. They obtained the Barrier places desired by them, namely Namur, Tournay, Menin, Furnes, Warneton, Ypres, and Knoque, together with the right of joint garrison at Dendermonde. 35,000 men were to form the garrisons of these places-three-fifths of the cost involved being furnished by the Imperial Government, and two-fifths by that of the States General, to whom certain of the revenues of the now Austrian Netherlands were to be pledged as a security for the Austrian share of the expense. Furthermore, in Upper Gelders Venloo was, together with certain smaller places, ceded to the States General; and there was also a small cession of territory in Flanders which would be useful to them in time of war, in the event of their desiring to place the country between Meuse and Scheldt under water. Great Britain guaranteed the whole of the Treaty, and, in the case of any attack upon the Barrier places mentioned in it, undertook to furnish towards their defence a force of 10,000 men and twenty ships of war; and, should these prove insufficient, to apply all further requisite efforts, and if necessary to declare war against the aggressor.

On the whole, therefore, the Dutch had by their tenacity, and by taking advantage of the favourable opportunity which had at last come to them, obtained a guaranteed agreement which not only effected their main object, the establishment of a well-protected frontier as towards France, but even (in the words of a Dutch historian) placed what were now the Austrian Netherlands in a relation which was in some degree a relation of dependence as towards the Free. For by the Third Barrier Treaty the States General at once gave up to the Emperor all those portions of the Netherlands which had been in the possession of King Charles II of Spain; but they retained under certain pretexts those districts which France had restored to the House of Austria in the Treaties of Utrecht, Rastatt, and Baden. These were likewise delivered up to the Emperor by virtue of a supplementary convention signed at the Hague on December 22, 1718. The unity of the monarchy of the Spanish Habsburgs, which the will of Charles II had sought to preserve, had received its final blow; and under the guarantee of Great Britain the head of the House of Austria had re-entered into the possession of one of the fairest of the jewels in the crown of his great namesake.