Let any man read these two treaties from the beginning to the end, he will imagine that the king of Portugal and his ministers sat down and made them by themselves, and then sent them to their allies to sign; the whole spirit and tenour of them quite through running only upon this single point, what we and Holland are to do for Portugal, without any mention of an equivalent, except those ten ships, which, at the time when we have greatest need of their assistance, are obliged to attend upon their own coasts.
The barrier treaty between Great-Britain and Holland was concluded at the Hague on the 29th of October in the year 1709. In this treaty, neither her majesty nor her kingdoms have any interest or concern, farther than what is mentioned in the second, and the twentieth articles; by the former, the States are to assist the queen in defending the [[w:Act of Settlement 1701|act of succession; and by the other, not to treat of a peace, till France has acknowledged the queen, and the succession of Hanover, and promised to remove the pretender out of that king's dominions.
As to the first of these, it is certainly for the safety and interest of the States-general, that the protestant succession should be preserved in England; because, such a popish prince as we apprehend would infallibly join with France in the ruin of that republick. And the Dutch are as much bound to support our succession, as they are tied to any part of a treaty, or league offensive and defensive against a common enemy, without any separate benefit upon that consideration. Her majesty is in the full peaceable possession of her kingdoms, and of the hearts of her people; among whom, hardly one in five thousand are in the pretender's interest. And whether the as-
