77. Vander Meer at Madrid, of the figning of the Preliminaries,had ordered the Ships under his Command to for. bear all Acts of Hoftility; the Spaniards at Cadiz and in the Bay of Gibraltar having done the like. With the Lord Vere Beauclair arrived likewife the Lord Henry Beauclair his Brother, and the Lord Charles Hay; the latter being fent by the Earl of Portmore, Governor of Gibraltar, with Advice, that a Ceffation of Arms had been agreed between the faid Governor and the Conde de las Torres, General of the Spanish Army. On the 22d one of his Majesty's Meffengers arrived at St. James's from Paris, haven been difpatched from thence the 19th Inftant Express by Horatio Walpole, Efq; His Majefty's Ambaffador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, with Advice, * that the Ratifications in form of the Preliminary Articles for a general Pacification, by the Emperor, the King of Great Britain, the most Christian King, and the States General, had been mutually exchanged by the refpective Minifters of those feveral Powers: And this Meffenger brought with him the Emperor's Ratification of the faid Preliminary Articles. But fome Difficulties having been started by the Court of Spain, as to the full Execution of the Preliminary Articles, particularly with refpe&t to Great Britain, M. Vander-Meer, the Dutch Ambaffador at Madrid, and who, at the fame time, took Care of the British Affairs there, wrote a very remarkable LETTER to the Marquis de la Paz, Minifter and Secretary of State to the King of Spain, dated July 5th N. S. 1727. as follows: SIR, INCE you have not fent me the Order for Poft Horfes, as I demanded of you, I judge that you are defirous I fhould (before the difparching my Courier) anfwer the Letter which you did me the Honour to write me, to fignify the Intention of his Catholick Majesty, upon the Memorial which I gave you the rit of *The Preliminary Articles ratifi d by the Emperor, Great Britain, France, and the States General 1 of this Month, in relation to the Steps made by his Britannick Majefty for the entire Ceffation of Hoftilities, provided the fame were Reciprocal from his Catholick Majefty; and to fatisfy you therein, I muft tell you, Sir, that after the Conferences which we have had together, I hoped that Things might have been prefently fettled in fuch a Manner, that I might confequently have been enabled to remit you the Original Orders to my Lord Portmore, and Admirals Wager and Hofter; but as I fee that the Difpofitions of his Catholick Majefty are very different from the Thoughts of England and France, I must neceffarily, before I do it, ftay for new Orders; and I perceive with Sorrow, that Affairs will fpin out a long time, unless his Catholick Majefty doth contribute to furmount the Difficulties which are ftarted in the first Execution of the Preliminary Articles; which are, as I conceive, clear enough, not to leave any Doubt in relation to the Difficulties now in Question: I concur with you, that without feeking to give Interpretations, or Extenfions to the Preliminaries, they are only to ferve in a literal Senfe, to fhew in what Manner the contracting Powers ought to govern themfelves; and it appears likewife to me, that his Britan nick Majefty doth not in any Thing, go from what is ftipulated, and that his Majesty's Orders are en tiely conform to the End and Intentions of the faid Preliminaries. The Fifth Article which you cite, and wherein you remark, that it is clearly faid, that the English Squadron, as well on the Spanish Coafts as in the Indies, fhall retire, after the Ceffation of Hoftilities fhall be begun, carries, according to my Judgment, an entire raifing of the Siege of Gibraltar, fince it is not poffible to look upon the Hoftilities as ceafed, fo long as an Army is encamped before a Place, and that all her Batteries are ready to fire; and I demand of your felf, Sir, if it be Prudence for England to abandon it felf intirely to the Faith of Treaties, in ordering her Ships to retire which are Part of the Security of that Place, when on the Side of Spain, they are under Arms, and will not lay them down, till after the Execution of the the Articles, which were agreed amicably? Let us look on this Occafion (tho' in a Senfe a little different) on the Continent of Spain block'd up by an Engli Squadron; the Preliminaries are no fooner figned, but they retire into their Ports, and leave an entire Liberty to the Spanish Subjects to navigate. Is it not a reciprocal Right, that the Spanish Army, which is befieging Gibraltar, fhall alfo retire as Admiral Wager has done; whereid he has fhewn an Example of the fincere Intentions of the King his Matter? What paffes now before that Place, cannot be looked upon as a real Ceffation of Hoftilitles, but only a Sufpenfion ad interim, which the General Commanding Officers of both Sides have mutually agreed upon, at a Time when he who commanded the Place had no Orders from his Court. Therefore, in Regularity, his Catholick Majefty ought, at prefent by real Effects, to fhew that Hoftilities are effectually ceafed ; and for that End raife the Siege of Gibraltar, that my Lord Portmore, and Admiral Wager may be able to execute their Orders, in fending back to England the Ships and fuperfluous Troops which are in Gibraltar. I am perfuaded, Sir, that his Catholick Majefty will exac. ly keep the Engagements which he has entered into, in figning the Preliminaries, and I am fure of the fame on the Part of his Britannick Maj. But thofe two Powers owe one another a mutual Confidence; if Spain will not have any, how can fhe expect that England fhall? The Reftitution in general of the Ships or Effects taken on either Side, before the figning of the Preliminaries, fhould not likewife fuffer any Difficulty fince the Clause inferted in the Fifth Article, in the fe Words is reciprocal, And the Ships which may have been taken, fhall be Bona Fide, restored, with their Cargoes, &c. And as for what relates to the Ship Prince Frederick, belonging to the South Sea Company, it is a particular Cafe, which will not fuffer any Equivocation, nor the leaft Retardment; for it is faid, in the Second and Third Articles of the Preliminaries, That all the Poffef fions and Privileges, as well in the Indies as in Spain, fhall be put upon the fame Foot as they were by the Treaties and Conven tions made before the Year. And by the Affiento Treaty for Negroes, it is ftipulated, Article XL. That in Cafe of a Declaration of War between the two Crowns, the SouthSea Company shall have a Year and a half to withdraw their Effects from India and Spain. The Article is very pofitive in all Refpects, and it is irregular (tho' in open War) to ftop or feize any Thing belonging to the faid South-Sea Company, which, in the Senfe of the Treaties, fhould have no Concerns with the Hoftilities between the Two Powers; therefore it is clear, that there fhould not be the leaft Difficulty, for the Reftitution not only of that Ship, but likewife of all the other Effects, of what Nature foever, belonging to that Company. Things being upon this Foot, you fee, Sir, that till his Catholick Majefty has acquiefced to what is demanded of him, I cannot part with his Britannick Majefty's Orders to my Lord Portmore, and to the Admirals Wager and Hofter, fince my Inftructions are not to do it, till I receive the like Orders from his Catholick Majefty I am therefore obliged to communicate to his Britannick Majefty and to my Mafters, what paffes, that they may let me know their farther Intentions. In this Interval I cannot answer for what the abovefaid Admirals or my Lord Portmore may do, fince they muft govern themselves according to the Orders they have before received. : After having fpoken of the Affairs of the Continent of Spain, you tell me, that as for what regards. the Indies, his Catholick Majefty is ready to give Orders, that within the Term of three Months, to reckon from the Day of the Difpatches, all Hostilities fhall ceafe, and that they restore to the English the Prizes taken from them fince the Day the Preliminaries were figned; his Catholick Majesty not finding it fitting, nor defigning to do the like, for what have been taken before, because you fay, Sir, that there is nothing of it stipulated in the Preliminaries, and that likewife his Catholick Majesty doth exclude the Reftitution of the Ship Prince Frederick, as a Thing to be difcuffed at the future Congrefs, &c. I have already fully taken Notice of what concerns this Ship, and I can but recommend the fame Thing once more to your Attention, that in the Fifth Article of the Preliminaries 7 liminaries, preceding what regards the Retreat of his Britannick Majefty's Squadron from the Indies, there are expreffed the Words which I have already cited, viz. That the Ships which may have been taken fhall be, bona fide, reflored with their Cargoes and that it is after this Claufe that it is faid, That the Galleon's fhall have Permiffion to come home freely. It is a Condition fine qua non, and without the Execution of which, Admiral Hofter cannot (fo far as he can prevent it) permit the Galleons to depart. This being a natural Inference, has been. received equally by England and by France, with whom his Britannick Majefty has concerted the expediting of his Orders for the Ceffation of Hoftilities. And I cannot well comprehend why there fhould be an Explica tion given contrary to the Literal Senfe of the Preli minaries, which have no other View than to put an immediate Stop to the War, and to restore every one to their Rights, in the fame Manner as they enjoy'd 'em before the Rupture between their Catholick and Britannick Majefties; that there might be laid before the future Congrefs, not fuch Points as are clear, and have been folidly established by authentick Treaties, but only fuch as may be litigated, or are obfcure, or equivocal: And if there are in the abovefaid Fifth Article any Words which, by a forced Construction, may seem to regard only the Emperor, and the Ostend Ships, it is eafy to fee that it is an Equivocation, which is to be made ufe of to avoid coming to the de fired End. The Terms of the Preliminaries are fhort, and eafy to be underfood, to prevent Affairs taking up too much Time. In the Fifth Article the Interests of his Catholick Majefty are mixed with thofe of his Imperial Majefty, tho' with one Diftic&ion which fays; That the Moment after the Articles fhall be figned, all Hoftilities fhall ceafe, and with regard to Spain, Eight Days after the Preliminaries fhall have been communicated to him, and that the Oftend Ships, which failed before the Ceffation, may freely return: This is for the Emperor. The Ships which may have been taken, fhall be, Bona Fide restored, with their Cargoes: And the Galleons may freely return to Spain: This is for Spain. And the Confequence is juft, that it is in Virtue of the one that L the |