Secret Treaty of Dover

It's never going to happen.

But those plans that have been discovered since then, this is known as the Secret Treaty of Dover, kind of points to Charles II still having great Catholic sympathies like his father did.

And keep that in the back of your mind for now, because we're going to be talking about those Catholic sympathies a little bit later on.

Well, basically, Charles II realized that he could not repeat the mistakes that his father had made.

Number 1.

The Treaty of Dover, June 1, 1670.

The Triple Alliance had been entered into by Charles against his personal inclinations.

No one in his confidence regarded it as more than a temporary expedient, for the disruptive forces were as permanent as those which secured it were fleeting.

Her influence over her brother was immense, and her hatred of the States-General, on account of the dependent position in which they kept her nephew, was keener than that of Charles himself.

She more than fulfilled her mission.

On May 5th she arrived at Dover, where she was met by Charles, and on June 1st, 1670, Colbert for France and Arlington, Clifford, Arundel and Sir Richard Baylings from England signed the celebrated Treaty of Dover, the Traité de Madame, as it was often called, though the terms had practically been agreed upon between Arlington and Colbert in March.

A fortnight later the ratifications were exchanged.

He promised to grant Charles II a large subsidy which would free him from the control of his parliament by taking away the need for its grants if Charles II would aid him in his projects against Holland and Spain.

In 1670 the Triple Alliance was replaced by the secret Treaty of Dover between Charles II and Louis XIV.

Under Cromwell England had once more become a power of the first rank in Europe, and the policy of the Triple Alliance would have enabled her to remain so.

But Charles II chose to become a cipher in European politics, and take up the ignominious position of Louis XIV's pensioner, rather than submit to what he considered the vexatious and unwarrantable interference of parliament in the conduct of affairs.

The result of the Treaty of Dover was that in 1672 England joined France in making war upon Holland.

Charles II, that he might have his hands free, first of all dissolved parliament in 1671, because in parliament there was a strong party which would never allow an attack upon Holland, which they looked upon as the bulwark of Protestantism.

Even before war had been declared, Charles II treacherously gave his admirals orders to attack a richly laden fleet of Dutch merchantmen on their way back from Smyrna.

But his day was now fast approaching.

At the close of the year 1671 was concluded the ever-infamous Treaty of Dover.

Charles transformed himself with more than the celerity of the nimblest modern rat from the champion of the Protestant faith in Europe into the ally of its deadliest enemy.

Sir William Temple was recalled from The Hague, and the Triple League between England, the States, and Sweden, which that skillful envoy had taken so much pains to cement, was broken up.

Internationally, Charles II had to navigate a delicate balance.

He sought peace with France by signing the Treaty of Dover while maintaining an uneasy alliance with the Dutch Republic against Spanish influence.

The crown also secured colonial contracts that laid groundwork for future empire expansion.

Line.