Cassell's History of England, Vol. 4 (of 8): From the Fall of Marlborough to the Peninsular WarAnonymous
History
Cassell's History of England, Vol. 4 (of 8): From the Fall of Marlborough to the Peninsular War
Anonymous
Great Britain -- History
No sooner, therefore, had the Parliament closed and the king set out to
Hanover, than Ministers sent off William Stanhope to Madrid to procure
a treaty of peace without any mention of Gibraltar. On arriving at
Madrid he found that the Court had removed to Seville, in Andalusia.
This had been done by the influence of the queen, in order to draw
Philip from the Council of Castile, which was doing all it could to
prevail on him again to abdicate. Stanhope followed the Court to
Seville, and laboured with such effect that he obtained the signing of
a treaty of defensive alliance between England, Spain, and France, to
which Holland afterwards acceded (November 9, 1729). By this treaty
Spain revoked all the privileges granted to Austria by the treaties of
Vienna, and re-established the British trade with her American colonies
on its former footing, restored all captures, and made compensation
for losses. The Assiento was confirmed to the South Sea Company.
Commissioners were appointed to adjust all claims of Spaniards for
ships taken in 1718, and to settle the limits of the American trade.
The succession of Don Carlos to Parma and Tuscany was recognised, with
the right to garrison the ports of Leghorn, Porto Ferrajo, Parma,
and Placentia with six thousand Spanish troops. Not a word was said
of Gibraltar--a silence amounting to a renunciation of its demand
by Spain; and that Philip regarded it as such was evidenced by his
beginning to construct the strong lines of San Roque, and thus to cut
off all communication with the obnoxious fortress by land.
William Stanhope was rewarded for his accomplishment of this treaty
with the title of Lord Harrington, and was soon after made Secretary
of State. But whilst the English were delighted by the completion of
the treaty, the Emperor was enraged by it, and his mortification was
doubled by the fact that, when he sought to raise four hundred thousand
pounds by a loan in London to supply the want of his Spanish subsidies,
the Ministry brought in and rapidly passed a Bill prohibiting loans to
foreign Powers, except by a licence from the king under the Privy Seal.
The Opposition raised a loud outcry, calling it "a Bill of Terrors," an
"eternal yoke on our fellow-subjects," and a "magnificent boon to the
Dutch." But Walpole very justly answered, "Shall British merchants be
permitted to lend their money against the British nation? Shall they
arm an enemy with strength and assist him with supplies?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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