The Treaty of Westminster was signed on 5 May 1654, which ended the First Anglo-Dutch War (1652-1654). Based on the terms of the accord, the United Provinces recognized Oliver Cromwell's Navigation Acts, which required that imports to the Commonwealth of England must be carried in English ships, or ships from the goods' origin. Since the Navigation Acts had been one of the causes of the war, the treaty failed to resolve the dispute between the two countries and merely set the stage for the Second Anglo-Dutch War of 1665–1667.
The Treaty of Westminster had a secret clause: the Act of Seclusion which excluded William III, Prince of Orange from being appointed Stadtholder. This was a "deal" from the leading Dutch politicians Johan de Witt and his uncle Cornelis de Graeff.
Famous quotes containing the word treaty:
“There is between sleep and us something like a pact, a treaty with no secret clauses, and according to this convention it is agreed that, far from being a dangerous, bewitching force, sleep will become domesticated and serve as an instrument of our power to act. We surrender to sleep, but in the way that the master entrusts himself to the slave who serves him.”
—Maurice Blanchot (b. 1907)