ART. XV. And whereas their High Mightineffes have stipulated, by the treaty of Munster, in the fourteenth article, that the river Scheld, as alfo the canals of Sas, Swan, and other mouths of the fea, bordering thereupon, fhould be kept fhut on the fide of the States: And, in the fifteenth article, that the ships and commodities going in and coming out of the harbours of Flanders, fhall be, and remain charged with all fuch impofts, and other duties as are raised upon commodities going and coming along the Scheld, and the other canals abovementioned. The Queen of Great-Britain promises and engages, that their High Mightineffes fhall never be difturbed in their right and poffeffion in that refpect, neither directly or indirectly; as also, that the commerce fhall not, in prejudice of the faid treaty, be made more eafy by the fea-ports, than by the rivers, canals, and mouths of the fea, on the fide of the States of the united provinces, neither directly or indirectly. And whereas, by the fixteenth and feventeenth articles of the fame treaty of Munfter, his Majesty the King of Spain is obliged to treat the subjects of their High Might ineffes, as favourably as the fubjects of Great-Britain and the Hans towns, who were then the people most favourably treated; her Britannic Majefty and their High Mightineffes promife likewife, to take care that their High Mightineffes fhall be treated in the Spanish Low-Countries, as well as in Spain, the kingdoms and ftates belonging belonging to it, equally, and as well the one the other, as the people moft favoured. ART. XVI. The said Queen and States-General oblige themselves to furnish, by fea and land, the fuccours and affistance neceffary to maintain by force her faid Majefty in the quiet poffeffion of her kingdoms; and the most ferene house of Hanover in the faid fucceffion, in the manner it is fettled by the acts of parliament before mentioned; and to maintain the faid States-General in the poffeffion of the faid barrier. ART. XVII. After the ratifications of the treaty, a particular convention fhall be made of the conditions, by which the said Queen, and the faid Lords the States-General, will engage themfelves, to furnish the fuccours which thall be thought neceffary, as well by fea as by land. ART. XVIII. If her British Majefty, or the States-General of the united provinces, be attacked by any body whatfoever, by reafon of this convention, they fhall mutually aflift one another with all their forces, and become guarantees of the execution of the faid convention. ART. XIX. There fhall be invited and admitted into the prefent treaty, as foon as poflible, all the kings, princes, and flates, who fall be willing to enter into the fame, particularly his Imperial Majefty, the Kings of Spain and Pruffia, and the Elector of Hanover. And her British Majefty and the States-General of the united provinces, and each of them in particular, fhall VOL. II. be be permitted to require and invite thofe whom they fhall think fit to require and invite, to enter into this treaty, and to be guarantees of its execution. ART. XX. And as time hath fhewn the omiffion which was made in the treaty figned at Ryfwick in the year 1697, between England and France, in refpect of the right of the fucceffion of England in the perfon of her Majefty the Queen of Great-Britain, now reigning; and that, for want of having settled in that treaty this indifputable right of her Majefty, France refused to acknowlege her for Queen of Great Britain, after the death of the late K. William III. of glorious memory: her Majefty the Queen of Great-Britain, and the Lords the States-General of the united provinces, do agree, and engage themselves likewife, not to enter into any negotiation or treaty of peace with France, before the title of her Majefty to the crown of Great-Britain, as alfo, the right of fucceffion of the most serene house of Hanover to the aforefaid crown, in the manner it is fettled and established by the before mentioned acts of parliament, be fully acknowledged as a preliminary by France; and that France hath promised, at the fame time, to remove out of its dominions the person who pretends to be King of Great-Britain; and that no negotiation, or formal difcuffions of the articles of the faid treaty of peace, shall be entered into, but jointly, and at the fame time with the said Queen, or with her ministers. ART. ART. XXI. Her British Majesty, and the Lords the States-General of the united provinces, fhall ratify and confirm all that is contained in the present treaty, within the space of four weeks, to be reckoned from the day of the figning. In testimony whereof, the under written ambaffador extraordinary and plenipotentiary of her British Majefty, and the deputies of the Lords the States-General, have figned this present treaty, and have affixed their feals thereunto. At the Hague, the 29th of October, in the year 1709. (L. S.) Townbend. (L. S.) J. B. Van Reede. (L. S.) G. Hoeuft. THE SEPARATE ARTICLE. S in the preliminary articles, figned here at the Hague, the 28th of May 1709, "by the plenipotentiaries of his Imperial Maje"fty, of her Majefty the Queen of Great Britain, " and of the Lords the States-General of the "united provinces, it is ftipulated, amongst other "things, that the Lords the States-General shall "have, with entire property and fovereignty, the "upper quarter of Guelder, according to the "fifty-fecond article of the treaty of Munster, Q92 " of "of the year 1648; as alfo, that the garrifons "which are, or hereafter fhall be, on the part of "the Lords the States-General in the town of "Huy, the citadel of Liege, and in the town of "Bonne, fhall remain there, until it fhall be o"therwise agreed upon with his Imperial Maje"fty and the empire: and as the barrier, which "is this day agreed upon in the principal treaty "for the mutual guarantee between her British Majefty and the Lords the States-General, "cannot give to the united provinces the safety "for which it is eftablished, unless it be well fe"cured from one end to the other, and that the "communication of it be well joined together, "for which the upper quarter of Guelder, and "the garrifons in the citadel of Liege, Huy, and Bonne, are abfolutely neceffary: (experience "having thrice fhewn, that France having a de"fign to attack the united provinces, has made "ufe of the places above mentioned, in order to 66 come at them, and to penetrate into the faid "provinces.) And further, as, in respect to the "equivalent for which the upper quarter of "Guelder is to be yielded to the united pro"vinces, according to the fifty fecond article of "the treaty of Munfter, above mentioned, his Majefty King Charles III. will be much more "gratified and advantaged in other places, than "that equivalent can avail: to the end, there"fore, that the Lords the States-General may "have the upper quarter of Guelder, with entire "property and fovereignty; and that the faid (6 upper |