Lord Castlereagh (1769–1822), born Robert Stewart, styled Viscount Castlereagh from 1796 and later 2nd Marquess of Londonderry, was a British statesman who served as Foreign Secretary from 1812 until his death in 1822. As the cabinet minister chiefly responsible for the conduct of British foreign policy in the years immediately following the Napoleonic Wars, he played a direct part in the negotiations that culminated in the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of London (1824) and in the diplomatic exchanges which preceded them.
Role in the Anglo-Dutch Colonial Negotiations
In the correspondence and memoranda reviewed by P. H. Van der Kemp (1900), Castlereagh appears as the British minister with whom the Dutch plenipotentiaries dealt during the preliminary exchanges of 1820. Notes were exchanged between Castlereagh and Canning on the British side, and the Dutch envoys Fagel and Elout on the other, on 4 August 1820, in which the declaration was already set forth that Britain would not oppose Dutch arrangements in the archipelago provided Dutch policy did not clash with British commercial interests. As Van der Kemp noted, this declaration was “not new” in 1824, since it had already been put on paper in the Castlereagh–Canning/Fagel–Elout exchanges of 1820, though at that time the parties had failed to reach a formal treaty and the documents had been left in suspension.
Castlereagh’s name recurs in connection with the Dutch envoy Fagel’s reports to the Netherlands foreign minister Van Nagell. In January 1820 an exchange took place in which Castlereagh was said to have communicated to Fagel that the Netherlands ought to be prepared to make certain sacrifices in order to satisfy opposition sentiment in England. The Dutch minister Van Nagell was deeply indignant at this communication; Castlereagh afterwards denied having made the statement, but Fagel maintained the truth of his report. The episode, preserved among the documents printed by Van der Kemp, illustrates the mistrust that ran beneath the surface of Anglo-Dutch relations during the negotiations that eventually produced the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of London (1824).
Historical Significance
Castlereagh’s conduct of British foreign policy was marked by the congress system of the post-1815 settlement and by a general preference for stability and balance among the European powers. In colonial affairs his approach was pragmatic: he was prepared to acknowledge the Dutch position in the East Indies while safeguarding the freedom of British commerce, an attitude that set the parameters within which the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of London (1824) was finally negotiated. Although Castlereagh died by suicide in August 1822, before the treaty was signed, the diplomatic groundwork laid under his direction continued to shape the negotiations carried through by his successor Canning and by the Dutch plenipotentiaries Fagel and Elout.
For the Acheh question specifically, Castlereagh’s significance lies in the fact that the diplomatic exchanges of 1820 — which produced no formal treaty but established the language of mutual non-interference later invoked in 1824 — took place under his authority. The eventual abandonment of the Acheh treaty of 1819 concluded by Raffles with Sultan Jauhar Alum was thus prepared during Castlereagh’s tenure at the Foreign Office.
See Also
- George Canning
- Anglo-Dutch Treaty of London (1824)
- Fagel-Elout negotiations (August 1820)
- Acheh treaty of 1819
- Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles
Source
Raffles’ Atjeh-overeenkomst van 1819, by P. H. van der Kemp, in Bijdragen van het Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde van Nederlandsch-Indië, 6e Volgr., Deel VII (1900), pp. 159-239. Universiteitsbibliotheek Vrije Universiteit, LS.08781.
Lord Castlereagh (1769–1822), born Robert Stewart, styled Viscount Castlereagh from 1796 and later 2nd Marquess of Londonderry, was a British statesman who served as Foreign Secretary from 1812 until his death in 1822. As the cabinet minister chiefly responsible for the conduct of British foreign policy in the years immediately following the Napoleonic Wars, he played a direct part in the negotiations that culminated in the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of London (1824) and in the diplomatic exchanges which preceded them.
Role in the Anglo-Dutch Colonial Negotiations
In the correspondence and memoranda reviewed by P. H. Van der Kemp (1900), Castlereagh appears as the British minister with whom the Dutch plenipotentiaries dealt during the preliminary exchanges of 1820. Notes were exchanged between Castlereagh and Canning on the British side, and the Dutch envoys Fagel and Elout on the other, on 4 August 1820, in which the declaration was already set forth that Britain would not oppose Dutch arrangements in the archipelago provided Dutch policy did not clash with British commercial interests. As Van der Kemp noted, this declaration was “not new” in 1824, since it had already been put on paper in the Castlereagh–Canning/Fagel–Elout exchanges of 1820, though at that time the parties had failed to reach a formal treaty and the documents had been left in suspension.
Castlereagh’s name recurs in connection with the Dutch envoy Fagel’s reports to the Netherlands foreign minister Van Nagell. In January 1820 an exchange took place in which Castlereagh was said to have communicated to Fagel that the Netherlands ought to be prepared to make certain sacrifices in order to satisfy opposition sentiment in England. The Dutch minister Van Nagell was deeply indignant at this communication; Castlereagh afterwards denied having made the statement, but Fagel maintained the truth of his report. The episode, preserved among the documents printed by Van der Kemp, illustrates the mistrust that ran beneath the surface of Anglo-Dutch relations during the negotiations that eventually produced the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of London (1824).
Historical Significance
Castlereagh’s conduct of British foreign policy was marked by the congress system of the post-1815 settlement and by a general preference for stability and balance among the European powers. In colonial affairs his approach was pragmatic: he was prepared to acknowledge the Dutch position in the East Indies while safeguarding the freedom of British commerce, an attitude that set the parameters within which the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of London (1824) was finally negotiated. Although Castlereagh died by suicide in August 1822, before the treaty was signed, the diplomatic groundwork laid under his direction continued to shape the negotiations carried through by his successor Canning and by the Dutch plenipotentiaries Fagel and Elout.
For the Acheh question specifically, Castlereagh’s significance lies in the fact that the diplomatic exchanges of 1820 — which produced no formal treaty but established the language of mutual non-interference later invoked in 1824 — took place under his authority. The eventual abandonment of the Acheh treaty of 1819 concluded by Raffles with Sultan Jauhar Alum was thus prepared during Castlereagh’s tenure at the Foreign Office.
See Also
- George Canning
- Anglo-Dutch Treaty of London (1824)
- Fagel-Elout negotiations (August 1820)
- Acheh treaty of 1819
- Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles
Source
Raffles’ Atjeh-overeenkomst van 1819, by P. H. van der Kemp, in Bijdragen van het Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde van Nederlandsch-Indië, 6e Volgr., Deel VII (1900), pp. 159-239. Universiteitsbibliotheek Vrije Universiteit, LS.08781.