John Methuen (diplomat) the Treaty on 16 May 1703, a step of great significance in the War of the Spanish Succession. John, on his return from England, concluded a commercial treaty on 27 December 1703, opening Portugal to the English cloth trade in return for preferential rates of duty on the import of wine. How beneficial to either country the Treaty was in the long run has been debated; possibly its most important result was the development of the port wine trade, and it was later referred to humorously as "the Port-Wine Treaty". Methuen in later life increasingly suffered from gout and rheumatism;
Treaty between Thailand and Japan (1940) common concern. Article 3 stipulated that if a party was under attack by a third party, the other party would not lend any assistance to the attacking third party. Article 4 provided for the ratification of the treaty. Article 5 stipulated the treaty would remain in force for five years, with the possibility to extend it further. The growing co-operation between the Thai and the Japanese governments in the wake of the treaty led the Thais to wage a brief and successful war against French Indochina in 1940-1941, which resulted in some territorial conquests for Thailand with Japanese assistance. In