Page:English Historical Review Volume 35.djvu/563

 1920 DUTCH MISSIONS TO ENGLAND IN 1689 555 was, as it is now, for the junior to give his opinion first and the senior officer last, whereas the Dutch observed the opposite order. This matter was not made the subject of any clause in the treaty, and it was agreed to stick to the previous practice. Only the more obstinate of the Dutch representatives seem to have troubled themselves about its bearing on their national dignity.^ On 11/21 May the treaty was signed, but at the request of the English commissioners it was dated 29 April. ^ There is no record of a reason for this discrepancy, but it may have been intended to record the fact that the treaty was drafted before the English declaration of war which had now been made. In the naval history of Europe this treaty is important because, except for the details of the number of ships, it lays down the lines on which the co-operation of the English and the Dutch was to continue throughout the two great wars of William III and Anne. The second of the four conventions concluded in 1689 was a treaty of offensive and defensive alliance. Unlike the treaty for the co-operation of the fleets, this lays down nothing at all about the strengths of the contingents to be furnished by the two allies, but the story of the negotiations shows that this omission was in fact the adoption of one policy rather than another on this very point. The easy consent of the English to the Dutch naval proposals would be misunderstood if it were later to imply agreement, even at this early stage, about the degree of effort that was to be made. From an early date in the mission of the extraordinary ambassadors, William intended to appoint commissioners to treat with them for a nearer alliance.^ The king and parliament showed a disposition to declare war on France, and William wished the states general to consider that the maimer and conditions of the common conduct of the war might have to be settled by a convention before England would take that step.* The existing treaty contemplated a war in which one of the sea-powers should act with all its strength and the other should aid it, as an auxiliary only, with a limited con- tingent. The coming struggle was likely to be equally serious for both, and this in itself, at any rate in combination with the known jealousy of the English, would be reason enough for a special agreement. There does not seem any adequate ground for the theory of Klopp that it was in order to preserve the secrecy of the grand alliance, on which secrecy Klopp always lays great stress, that William redundantly made a separate treaty with the Dutch. ^ Had the treaty been, as he says, superfluous both in Witsen to burgomasters, 16/26 April, 26 April/6 May ; to Heinsius 10/20, 11/21 May. ^ Seer, dispatch, 11/21 May. » Dispatch, 15/25 March.
 * Dispatches, 27 March/8 April, 5/15 April, 25 April/5 May, (seer.) 14/24 May.
 * Seer, dispatch, 5/16 March. * Klopp, iv. 490.