Editing War of the Spanish Succession (section)

===Negotiations===
[[File:Villars a Denain1.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.8|[[Battle of Denain]], July 1712; defeat ended Austrian and Dutch hopes of improving their negotiating position.]]

When talks resumed at [[Geertruidenberg]] in March 1710, Louis now even showed a willingness to assist the Allies in removing his grandson from Spain. The Dutch proposed compensating Philip with Sicily and Sardinia, but neither the Austrians or British would agree, and negotiations broke down again.{{sfn|Onnekink|Bruin|2013|p=65–66}} However, it was clear to the French the mood in Britain had changed. This was confirmed when the pro-peace Tories won a landslide victory in the October [[1710 British general election|1710 British election]], although they confirmed their commitment to the war to prevent a credit crisis. Despite the capture of [[Siege of Bouchain|Bouchain]] in September, a decisive victory in northern France continued to elude the Allies, while an [[Quebec expedition (1711)|attack on Quebec]] ended in disaster.{{sfn|Simms|2008|pp=60–64}}

When Emperor Joseph died in April 1711, his brother Archduke Charles was [[1711 imperial election|elected emperor]]. For the Dutch and British, his accession undermined a key reason for continuing the war, since a union of Spain with Austria was as unwelcome as one with France. The British secretly negotiated peace terms directly with France, leading to the signing of the Preliminary Articles of London on 8 October 1711.{{efn|Also known as the Mesnager Convention.}} These included French acceptance of the [[Act of Settlement 1701]] and a guarantee the French and Spanish crowns would remain separate. In addition, France undertook to ensure Spain ceded Gibraltar and Menorca, while giving Britain a thirty-year monopoly on the {{lang|es|[[Asiento de Negros]]}}, the right to import slaves into Spanish American colonies.{{sfn|Bromley|1979|pp=459–460}} Despite their resentment at being excluded from these talks, the Dutch were financially exhausted by the war, and could not continue without British support. Charles VI initially rejected the idea of a peace conference, only agreeing once the Dutch decided to support it, but continued to oppose the treaty.{{sfn|Elliott|2014|p=63}}