1745 · [N.p
by [Treaty of Madrid]: Walpole, Horatio
[N.p, 1745. 17pp. Folio. Loose gatherings. Light vertical crease. Near fine. In a cloth and marbled boards clamshell case. A later copy of the instructions given in 1715 to Ambassador to Spain Sir Paul Methuen, in order to negotiate a commercial treaty with that nation, which lists in fifteen detailed sections the possible positions the Spanish negotiators might take and Methuen's possible answers to them. Where, or even if, there is a 1715 original, is unknown to us. The Treaty of Madrid was signed Dec. 14, 1715, after the initial Treaty of Utrecht, signed in 1713. Methuen began negotiations, but George Bubb closed and signed the treaty on behalf of England. "George Bubb, afterwards celebrated as George Bubb Dodington, Methuen's successor at Madrid, negotiated a new commercial treaty...to the lively satisfaction of the English trading classes. By it duties on commerce in the two countries were reduced to the status quo of the reign of Charles II (of Spain), and each contracting party conceded to the other the privileges of the most favored nation, a clause highly injurious to the French woolen manufacture" - Hunt & Poole. One of the articles specifically mentions indigo and other products from the West Indies, used in the British woolen manufacture. This document was drawn up by Horatio Walpole, 1st Baron Walpole of Wolverton (1678-1757) several years later (the watermark in the paper dates to around 1745), and appears to be, in some capacity, official. Walpole was a diplomat and politician, brother of the powerful Prime Minister and the uncle of the author Horace Walpole. William Hunt & Reginald L. Poole, eds., THE POLITICAL HISTORY OF ENGLAND (1921) (Inventory #: WRCAM43128)