Everything about Treaty Of Westminster 1674 totally explained
The
Treaty of Westminster of 1674 was the
peace treaty that ended the
Third Anglo-Dutch War. It shouldn't be confused with the
Treaty of Westminster of 1654 that ended the
First Anglo-Dutch War. It was signed on
19 February 19 1674 (
New Style) by
Charles II of England and ratified by the
States-General of the Netherlands on
5 March 1674. England was forced to sign the treaty as Parliament wouldn't allow more money to be spent on the war and had become aware of the secret
Treaty of Dover in which Charles had promised
Louis XIV of France to convert to
Roman Catholicism at an opportune moment. The English were dismayed by the unexpected fact that Dutch raiders managed to capture more English ships than vice versa and that
New Amsterdam had been retaken by the Dutch in 1673. As such, it can easily be seen as an English defeat, as they'd started the war, and the Dutch managed to make the war so costly that the English had to withdraw.
Most of the initial peace conditions demanded by the English in the
Accord of Heeswijk of 1672 were not met, but the Dutch paid two million
guilders (down from an original demand of ten million) to be paid over a period of three years (basically to compensate for the loss of French subsidies) and again affirmed the English right of salute, their
Dominium Marium from
Land's End northward to
Staten Land. This was qualified by the condition that Dutch fishery would in no way be impeded by this right. The treaty conditions of 1668, regulating trade and shipping, were reconfirmed. As regards territorial disputes, the treaty was a typical
status quo ante arrangement:
» That whatsoever countries, islands, towns, ports, castles, or forts have or shall be taken on both sides, since the time the late unhappy war broke out, either in Europe or elsewhere, shall be restored to the former lord or proprietor, in the same condition they'll be in when the peace itself shall be proclaimed
Peace was proclaimed at
Whitehall on 27 February (New Style) at 10:00 AM. The condition implied that
New Netherland, retaken by
Cornelis Evertsen the Youngest in 1673, would henceforth again be an English possession and that
Suriname, captured by the Dutch in
1667, would remain their colony, legalising the status quo of 1667. These issues had been left undecided by the
Peace of Breda of that year, an
uti possidetis agreement. Also the islands of
Tobago,
Saba,
St Eustatius and
Tortola, taken by the English in 1672, would have to be returned.
As the peace couldn't be communicated quickly to all parts of the world, different dates had been determined upon which legal hostilities would end. From the
Soundings to the coast of Norway, fighting should end by 8 March; south to
Tangier by 7 April; from there to the
Equator by 5 May and in the rest of the world after 24 October 1674.
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