Barrier TreatiesArticle Free Pass Barrier Treaties, three
treaties negotiated between 1709 and 1715 granting the United
Provinces of the Netherlands (the Dutch republic) the right to
garrison and govern certain towns along the southern boundary of
the Spanish (subsequently the Austrian) Netherlands as
protection against attack by France. By the First Barrier Treaty
(Oct. 29, 1709) Great Britain agreed to support the restoration
to the United Provinces of the fortresses that it had been
granted by the Treaty of Rijswijk (1697), which had been lost to
the French in 1701. In return the United Provinces undertook to
support the succession of the house of Hanover in Great Britain.
This treaty was set aside by Britain, and a Second Barrier
Treaty, less favourable commercially to the United Provinces,
was signed (Jan. 29, 1713). It was confirmed by the treaties of
Utrecht, Rastatt, and Baden (1713–14), which ended the War of
the Spanish Succession. The details of the barrier were further
modified by the Third Barrie