Secret Treaty of Dover - Negotiation and Provisions

Negotiation and Provisions

Exactly who first proposed the alliance between the two kingdoms is unknown, as is the date when the possibility was first discussed. However, it is known that the two nations had discussed forming a closer relationship since 1663. The only participants in the talks to begin with were King Louis XIV of France, King Charles II, and Charles's sister Henrietta, duchesse d'Orléans. Louis was first cousin to Charles (through their grandfather Henry IV of France). Henrietta was also Louis's sister-in-law through her marriage to his only brother Phillippe, duc d'Orléans.

No real progress was made in the negotiations until 1669 after Charles allegedly held a meeting with some of his advisors. During this meeting Charles announced that he wished to officially convert to Catholicism and at the same time reunite his lands with the Roman Catholic Church. Whether this meeting actually took place is a source of intense speculation. Although much of the groundwork had been laid by Henrietta, the finer points and actual provisions of the treaty were hammered out by Henry Bennet, 1st Earl of Arlington and Sir Thomas Clifford.

Charles was to abandon England's Triple Alliance with Sweden and the Dutch Republic in favour of assisting Louis in conquering the Dutch Republic. Provided that the conquest was successfully completed, England was promised several very profitable ports along one of the major rivers that run through the Dutch Republic. In particular, the main components of the treaty were the following:

The King of England will make a public profession of the Catholic faith, and will receive the sum of two millions of crowns, to aid him in this project, from the Most Christian King, in the course of the next six months. The date of this declaration is left absolutely to his own pleasure. The King of France will faithfully observe the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, as regards Spain, and the King of England will maintain the Treaty of the Triple Alliance in a similar manner. If new rights to the Spanish monarchy revert to the King of France, the King of England will aid him in maintaining these rights. The two Kings will declare war against the United Provinces. The King of France will attack them by land, and will receive the help of 6000 men from England. The King of England will send 50 men-of-war to sea, and the King of France 30; the combined fleets will be under the Duke of York's command. His Britannic Majesty will be content to receive Walcheren, the mouth of the Scheldt, and the isle of Cadzand, as his share of the conquered provinces. Separate articles will provide for the interests of the Prince of Orange. The Treaty of Commerce, which has already begun, shall be concluded as promptly as possible.

The secret treaty did not in fact become public until 1771 after the historian Sir John Dalrymple published its contents in his Memoirs of Great Britain and Ireland.