Secret Treaty of Dover - Consequences of The Treaty of Dover

Consequences of The Treaty of Dover

Military preparations took some time. Louis declared war on the Dutch on 6 April 1672, and Charles followed suit the next day, 27 March (Old Style). The Third Anglo-Dutch War failed to go off as originally planned. The costs of deploying the English fleet were much greater than expected, and the money sent by Louis to offset the costs did not come close to enough. Furthermore the Dutch, led by Captain-General William of Orange put up a much better fight than expected. Desperate for funds, Charles was forced to call Parliament into session for the first time in over two years. He had hoped to keep it prorogued in order to wage the war without its oversight. In 1674, largely because of pressure put upon Charles by Parliament, England signed the Treaty of Westminster ending their involvement in the third Anglo-Dutch War. The French would continue to fight for four more years before signing the Treaty of Nijmegen.

In 1672, Charles issued a Declaration of Indulgence which suspended the penal laws against nonconforming Protestants. This same declaration also relaxed (but did not suspend) the penal laws applying to Roman Catholics. When Parliament reconvened that year they denounced the Declaration and announced that the English monarch did not possess the power to issue proclamations that suspended penal laws passed by the Parliament. Furthermore they refused to fund the ongoing Third Anglo-Dutch War until the declaration was withdrawn. Charles was forced to comply with Parliament's demands, thereby ending the chance offered by the treaty of reconciling England with the Roman Catholic Church.