Page:Karl Marx - Secret Diplomatic History of the Eighteenth Century (1899).djvu/77

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OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY
73

confirmation whereof we have ordered our great seal of England to be put to these presents, which were given at our palace of Kensington, 25th of February, in the year of our Lord 1700, and in the 11th year of our reign (Gulielmus Rex).[1]

"Query. How can any of us that declares himself for the late happy revolution, and that is a true and grateful lover of King William's for ever-glorious memory … yet bear with the least patience, that the said treaty should (that I may again use the words of the 20th article) be departed from, under any pretence of profit, or upon any colour whatsoever, especially so insignificant and trifling a one as that which has been made use of for two years together to employ our ships, our men, and our money, to accomplish the ruin of Sweden, that same Sweden whose defence and preservation this great and wise monarch of ours has so solemnly promised, and which he always looked upon to be of the utmost necessity for to secure the Protestant interest in Europe?"

  1. The treaty was concluded at the Hague on the 6th and 16th January, 1700, and ratified by William III. on February 5th, 1700.