Corrected and Revised by Horatio Walpole
[WALPOLE, Robert.]
Observations upon the Treaty between the Crowns of Great-Britain, France, and Spain, concluded at Seville on the Ninth of November, 1729, N. S. [bound with, as probably issued:] The Treaty of Peace, Union, Friendship, and Mutual Defence, between the Crowns of Great-Britain, France, and Spain … London, J. Roberts, 1729.
8vo, pp. 29, [1, blank], 20, interleaved with blanks (‘Gerrevink’ watermark); light water-stain to head of first three printed leaves, the odd mark but a very good copy; bound in nineteenth-century half morocco with marbled paper sides, spine lettered directly in gilt; from the library of the Walpole family at Wolterton Hall, nineteenth-century note on front flyleaf ‘Duplicate before correction. Corrected by Ld. Walpole’, manuscript shelfmark, manuscript corrections, additions and deletions throughout in the margins and on the interleaves in the hand of Horatio Walpole, later 1st Baron Walpole of Wolterton.
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Observations upon the Treaty between the Crowns of Great-Britain, France, and Spain, concluded at Seville on the Ninth of November, 1729, N. S. [bound with, as probably issued:] The Treaty of Peace, Union, Friendship, and Mutual Defence, between the Crowns of Great-Britain, France, and Spain …
First edition, very rare, of Robert Walpole’s commentary on the Treaty of Seville, revised and corrected in manuscript by his brother, Horatio Walpole, who had played an important role in the negotiations. Many, but not all, of these changes were incorporated into the next edition.
The Treaty of Seville brought to an end of the 1727–9 Anglo-Spanish War, providing a fragile lull in animosities that restored English trading rights to the Spanish Americas, particularly the lucrative asiento de negros, the licence to supply slaves. As the English ambassador to France in 1724–1730, Horatio Walpole (1678–1757) had an active role in managing the 1727 Preliminaries of Paris, and would continue to play a significant part in negotiations up to and including Seville, ‘coming over to England each session to defend the Government’s foreign policy in the House of Commons. As ambassador he was on excellent personal terms with Cardinal Fleury’ (History of Parliament, online), and like his brother, favoured peaceful relations with France. He was a seasoned diplomat and ‘a very good treaty dictionary, to which his brother often referred for facts’ (John Hervey), and it is unsurprising that he would have been consulted by his brother on his defence of the Treaty of Seville.
Horatio’s revisions bring new emphases to the text, chiefly on adapting to the novelty of ‘a general tranquillity in Europe’, many of which were adopted by Robert in the next edition of the Observations (ESTC T41885). But there are also a number of revisions which do not appear in the later editions. In these latter, unpublished, annotations, Horatio sympathises with merchants’ losses to Spain, declaring ‘for in case they have been so levied, taken and confiscated on such an unjustifiable pretext they will be entitled to reparation’; he also shares and intensifies his brother’s disdain for those celebrating the Prussian-German rupture – ‘especially since they have no reason to apprehend any the less danger and disturbance from any provocation on their part; or on any other account but that of his Majesty’s adhering to the interest of his British subjects’. On all points other than the condemnation of British opponents, Horatio appears more conciliatory than his brother: he cuts, for example, references to a Minister as ‘Corrupt’ and to the King of Prussia as ‘weak’, and downgrades a hypothetical ‘Violation’ of the terms by Spain to a ‘Breach’.
ESTC does not specify precedence (there are three editions in 1729), but from the evidence of this copy this is clearly the first and is very rare. ESTC records three locations only: British Library (wanting the Treaty); Massachusetts Historical Society, and University of California (wanting the Treaty).
ESTC T2596; Sabin 101147 (not differentiating between editions).