Life and Death of John of Barneveld, Advocate of Holland : with a view of the primary causes and movements of the Thirty Years' War — Complete (1609-15) eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 422 pages of information about Life and Death of John of Barneveld, Advocate of Holland .

Life and Death of John of Barneveld, Advocate of Holland : with a view of the primary causes and movements of the Thirty Years' War — Complete (1609-15) eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 422 pages of information about Life and Death of John of Barneveld, Advocate of Holland .

“As no acquisition could therefore be greater, so your Majesty should never be deprived of it without thorough consideration of the case.  The Archduke fears, and so do his ministers, that if we refuse to restore Wesel, the United Provinces would break the truce.  For my part I believe, and there are many who agree with me, that they would on the contrary be more inclined to stand by the truce, hoping to obtain by negotiation that which it must be obvious to them they cannot hope to capture by force.  But let Wesel be at once restored.  Let that be done which is so much desired by the United Provinces and other great enemies and rivals of your Majesty, and what security will there be that the same Provinces will not again attempt the same invasion?  Is not the example of Julich fresh?  And how much more important is Wesel!  Julich was after all not situate on their frontiers, while Wesel lies at their principal gates.  Your Majesty now sees the good and upright intentions of those Provinces and their friends.  They have made a settlement between Brandenburg and Neuburg, not in order to breed concord but confusion between those two, not tranquillity for the country, but greater turbulence than ever before.  Nor have they done this with any other thought than that the United Provinces might find new opportunities to derive the same profit from fresh tumults as they have already done so shamelessly from those which are past.  After all I don’t say that Wesel should never be restored, if circumstances require it, and if your Majesty, approving the Treaty of Xanten, should sanction the measure.  But such a result should be reached only after full consultation with your Majesty, to whose glorious military exploits these splendid results are chiefly owing.”

The treaty finally decided upon rejected the principle of alternate possession, and established a permanent division of the territory in dispute between Brandenburg and Neuburg.

The two portions were to be made as equal as possible, and lots were to be thrown or drawn by the two princes for the first choice.  To the one side were assigned the Duchy of Cleve, the County of Mark, and the Seigniories of Ravensberg and Ravenstein, with some other baronies and feuds in Brabant and Flanders; to the other the Duchies of Julich and Berg with their dependencies.  Each prince was to reside exclusively within the territory assigned to him by lot.  The troops introduced by either party were to be withdrawn, fortifications made since the preceding month of May to be razed, and all persons who had been expelled, or who had emigrated, to be restored to their offices, property, or benefices.  It was also stipulated that no place within the whole debateable territory should be put in the hands of a third power.

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Life and Death of John of Barneveld, Advocate of Holland : with a view of the primary causes and movements of the Thirty Years' War — Complete (1609-15) from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.