ABSTRACT
The enforced idleness in Britain in 1713 gave Charles Whitworth the time to crystallize his thoughts on the situation in the north. His temporary employment in Britain and his post in Ratisbon coincided with the conclusion of the War of the Spanish Succession and demonstrated the extent to which some issues and conflicts remained unresolved at the end of this war. Peace negotiations between Britain and France had commenced in 1710, when a Tory ministry, which included several of Whitworth’s main correspondents such as Robert Harley and Henry St John, Viscount Bolingbroke, came to power and began secret negotiations with the French. France and Britain came to terms at the Congress at Utrecht in April 1713. Whitworth concluded his paper with a list of what he saw as the ‘Interest or Obligation of Great Britain’. Whitworth’s second mission to Berlin was of short duration; within eight months he was on the move again.
