'house of Bourbon, but had also, in direct 'violation of the law of nations, contributed,

as far as they could, to furnish France with ' warlike stores, and had also thought proper 'to countenance the magistracy of Amster'dam in the insult which they had offered to 'this country, by entering into a treaty with the rebellious colonies of Great Britain, as free and independent states.'

·

The States-General, moreover,' his Lordship further observed, had suffered Paul Jones, ' a Scotchman and a pirate, acting without any 'legal authority from any acknowledged government, to bring British ships into their 'ports, and to refit there. A rebel American privateer had also been saluted at the Dutch island of St. Eustatius, after she had been suffered to capture two British ships, within cannon-shot of their forts and castles. The British ministers had 'done all in their power to bring the States'General to a true sense of their interest;

and when the necessity of the case compelled them to seize on the Dutch vessels carrying stores to France, they had paid the 'full value for the cargoes, and returned the

ships, so that neither the private merchant, 'the private adventurers, nor the States, had 'suffered.

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With respect to an observation that had 'been made, that the treaty laid before the 'House between the Dutch and the Americans, was nothing more than a contemplative project; his Lordship remarked, that it 'was actually signed and sealed; the names of Van Berkel, the pensionary of Amsterdam, and Monsieur de Neuville, a merchant and burgess of that city, being subscribed to 'it on the part of the magistracy of Amsterdam, and the name of John Lea, as commis'sioner, or agent, for the Congress of Ame 'rica. The States-General had also refused 'to pay the least attention to the requisition ' in his Majesty's memorial, delivered by Sir Joseph Yorke, that proper notice should be 'taken of Van Berkel and his associates, so far as such a refusal could be implied by a 'contemptuous silence. As for the principal magistrates of Amsterdam, they were so far 'from disavowing the fact, or attempting to 'palliate it, that they gloried in the whole

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transaction, and expressly declared, even

to the States-General, that what they had 'done was what their indispensable duty ' required.'

His Lordship added, that he lamented a 'necessity of a war with Holland, but it ap'peared to him to be an unavoidable, measure. 'He confessed the situation of this country was truly alarming; but when he considered the powerful stand that had already been 'made against the most alarming confederacy 'that had ever been formed against Great Britain; the little success the enemies of this country had met with in all their ' various attempts against it—and the spirit ' and resources of the nation; the public prospects appeared to him much less gloomy than some gentlemen thought proper to represent them. Our difficulties were certainly great, but he trusted that they were by no means insuperable. He was neither ' desirous of concealing their magnitude, nor 'afraid to meet them, great as they must be ' acknowledged, because he was convinced, 'that when the force of this country was fully exerted, it was equal to the contest, and that the only means of obtaining an

'honourable and just peace, was to shew ourselves capable of carrying on the war 'with spirit and with vigour.'

The Dutch nation appear not in the present case to have acted with any degree of prudence. Notwithstanding their provoking conduct toward Great Britain, they had made no preparation for war, in case of being attacked; and although they must have been aware that, in direct violation of every acknowledged law of nations, their merchants had constantly supplied her enemies with warlike stores and provisions, of which they had made the island of St. Eustatius the depot, yet they had not thought it necessary either to take any precautions against detection, or to guard against surprise by the British naval and military commanders in those seas, of whose vigilance and activity they could not have been ignorant.

The British government sent Sir George Rodney and General Vaughan early notice of the declaration of war against the StatesGeneral, with orders to act immediately against their colonies in that quarter*. Not

*These instructions will be found in another part of this work.

an hour was lost in fulfilling these orders, and the blow that fell was like a thunderbolt, as tremendous as it was rapid.

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'TO PHILIP STEPHENS, ESQ.

Sandwich, Gros Islet Bay, St. Lucie, 'December 10th, 1780.

'Be pleased to acquaint their Lordships that 'I sailed from Sandy Hook, on the 16th ' of November, with his Majesty's ships, as ' named in the margin, for the West Indies*. The trade for Great Britain, under convoy

of the Yarmouth, and the detachment of troops, and the trade for the Carolinas,

under the protection of the Roebuck, Raleigh, and Hyæna, sailed at the same ' time.

The next day, a violent gale of wind, which continued for forty-eight hours, dispersed the whole, and I greatly fear has 'occasioned very great damage to his Ma'jesty's ships, some of which, particularly

* Viz.-Sandwich, Resolution, Triumph, Torbay, Shrewsbury, Terrible, Alcide, Intrepid, Cyclops, Boreas, Triton, Shark, Pocohanta, St. Lucia, Lizard.