Treaty of Westminster (1674)

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Treaty of Westminster (1674)
Type of treaty	Peace treaty
Signed - location	19 February 1674 Westminster
Sealed	5 March 1674
Effective	5 March 1674
Signatories	King Charles II of England, States-General of the Netherlands
Language	English

The Treaty of Westminster of 1674 was the peace treaty that ended the Third Anglo-Dutch War. It should not 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 would not 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 had 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 shall 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 could not 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.