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88-819: After the outbreak of the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War in December 1780 the Dutch Republic became informally involved in the American Revolutionary War on the side of France and its allies, without, however, a formal alliance being formed. On the initiative of the Amsterdam delegation in the States of Holland the States General resolved in early 1782 to come to some kind of arrangement with France to at least discuss

176-657: A common strategy in the sea war, which became known as the Concert . This proposition was accepted by the French with some alacrity, as in their eyes the Dutch military resources, especially the Dutch fleet, lay fallow in the roadstead of the Texel. When in September 1782 a large British fleet under Admiral Howe departed for besieged Gibraltar in an effort to relieve that stronghold, thereby denuding

264-486: A conference with the other flag officers present at the Texel, to ask for their opinion in the matter. The flag officers then stated in a written declaration, signed by all, that the order could not be executed in the given circumstances, and this declaration was sent to the Admiral General. The stadtholder then presented this declaration, together with the rest of the correspondence he received from Admiral Hartsinck, to

352-655: A criminal prosecution before the competent courts. It took a while to convince the other provinces, but eventually the committee of naval affairs itself started an inquiry by asking the Admiralty Colleges of the three Admiralties to justify their behavior. It was no surprise that they managed to clear their reputations, so the Committee repeated its proposal to leave the inquest to the Admiralty courts, which five provinces accepted, but Holland and Groningen opposed. It illustrates

440-551: A different action, Captain Bylandt (a nephew of the admiral of the same name) surrendered his ship. The pronounced inferiority of the Dutch fleet, and its state of "unreadiness" was a frequently reiterated excuse for the Dutch naval commanders, especially Vice Admiral Andries Hartsinck, who commanded the Texel squadron, to keep the fleet at anchor, thereby ceding dominance of the North Sea to

528-576: A disaster for the Netherlands, particularly economically. It also proved to be confirmation of the weakening of Dutch power in the 18th century. In the immediate aftermath of the war, the bad result was blamed on the stadholder's mismanagement (if not worse) by his opponents, who coalesced into the Patriot party . These managed for a while to roll back a number of the reforms of the revolution of 1747 , strongly diminishing his powers. However, this Patriot revolt

616-571: A few days after the non-event. He at first refused point blank to give the required information, and when the full States forced him to reply, he was very terse in the information he provided. Then the States of Friesland demanded in impolite terms to get Answers from "their" Admiral General (which he wasn't in a formal sense), which he did in a brief statement, that did not satisfy the Frisian States. They therefore approached all other provincial States with

704-617: A formal military alliance with France and her allies before the end of the war. A treaty of amity and commerce was, however, concluded with the Americans in October 1782, after John Adams, who succeeded Henry Laurens, had managed to obtain diplomatic recognition of the American republic from the States General in April 1782. The republic was the second European power (after France, but before Spain) to recognise

792-517: A furor in the Republic. The Patriot press in the first place doubted if the lack of readiness of the ships was indeed the true reason for the refusal to depart, but even if this was true, this opened the more important question: why was the fleet not ready, and who was responsible? The first to pose these questions was the Personnel Commission of the States of Holland, who approached the stadtholder

880-533: A grinding halt for the others also. The case languished for the next three quarters of a year, until in September 1787 the stadtholder was restored in all his offices, and the Patriots were purged from theirs (including fiscal Pieter Paulus, who was fired in November 1787). The States of Gelderland promoted the repeal of the resolution to institute the special court on 12 November 1787. The stadtholder quietly "forgot" about

968-461: A happenstance battle in the Cape Verde Islands , Suffren was able to arrive before Johnstone, and the strength of French troops he left dissuaded Johnstone from attacking the colony. After capturing a number of VOC ships in the nearby Saldanha Bay , he returned to North Atlantic waters. Suffren had continued on to Isle de France (now Mauritius ) and then India. There, he arrived and fought

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1056-595: A naval history of the Netherlands that was based on the Dutch naval archives, a large part of which were destroyed in a fire in the archives of the Dutch Department of the Navy in 1844. By default therefore this history had to come in the place of the lost primary documents. De Jonge was born in an old "patrician" family of Zeeland notables (his ancestor Bonifacius de Jonge had been Raadpensionaris of Zeeland from 1615 to 1625 ), for which reason he and his family received

1144-704: A number of actions against Hughes. Suffren attempted to take the Dutch port of Negapatam ( taken by the British in 1781 ), but was frustrated by Hughes . In August, the French recaptured Trincomalee , and Suffren fought Hughes to a standstill in a naval battle several days later. The two fleets withdrew and the British repaired in Bombay while the French refitted in the Dutch colony of Sumatra . Hughes and Suffren met again in 1783, but news of preliminary peace between France and Britain ended hostilities in India. In August 1781, word of

1232-529: A number of the naval defeats the British suffered after 1781. The Dutch East India Company (VOC) had been responsible for defending its own colonies east of the Cape Colony , but for the first time, had to request assistance from the Dutch navy. However, ships were lacking at first and what naval forces were available were unable to prevent Britain from taking full control of Dutch India . In early 1782 British Admiral Sir Edward Hughes captured Trincomalee on

1320-537: A permanent base for both its own operations in the Dutch East Indies (where the flotilla might turn the balance of military power in that theater of the war against the British, in combination with French naval units), and for combined naval operations with French and Spanish fleets in the area of the English Channel, to obtain a naval superiority there. Vergennes the next day instructed the French ambassador in

1408-604: A tactical draw. Another promising venture seemed to be what has become known as the Brest Affair . In September 1782, after the Dutch politicians had hesitantly agreed to coordinate their actions with the French, acting "in concert", an opportunity seemed to exist to combine a Dutch squadron of 10 ships of the line with the French squadron at Brest , as the British fleet in the channel had suddenly sailed south. However, Hartsinck, as usual, made objections, based on intelligence that British ships lay in ambush. When this proved false,

1496-589: The Dutch Republic had been allies since the Glorious Revolution of 1688, the Dutch had become very much the junior partner in the alliance and had slowly lost their former dominance of world trade to the British. During the Second Stadtholderless Period , the Dutch Republic had more or less abdicated its pretences as a major power and this became painfully evident to the rest of Europe during

1584-464: The English Channel of Royal Navy forces, the French marquis de Castries saw a chance to kill two birds with one stone, and wrote a memorandum for the French minister of foreign affairs, Vergennes , in which he proposed that the Dutch should take this opportunity to safely pass through the English Channel to send a flotilla of ships of the line to the French naval base of Brest , to use that as

1672-592: The Second Anglo-Dutch War , known as the principle of "free ship, free goods", which was enshrined in the Anglo-Dutch Commercial Treaty of 1668, reconfirmed in the Treaty of Westminster (1674) . This early formulation of the principle of Freedom of Navigation exempted all but narrowly defined " contraband " goods carried in Dutch ships from confiscation by the British prize courts , in wars in which

1760-577: The War of the Austrian Succession . Near the end of that war in 1747, an Orangist revolution restored the stadtholderate with vastly increased powers for the stadtholder and made the stadtholderate hereditary. This did not lead to a resurgence of the republic as a major power because of what many in the republic saw as the mismanagement of the stadtholderian regency during the minority of stadtholder William V , and subsequently during his own reign. Instead,

1848-530: The Waterloo campaign with the Dutch army. After his return to Leiden he received his doctorate in law and history on 27 July 1816 with the doctoral thesis Diplomata quaedam Hollandica et Zelandica partim inedita partim emendata animadversionibus illustrata . He married Henrietta Philippina Jacoba van Kretschmar on 18 September 1816 with whom he had five children. He died after suffering a stroke in his mansion Huize Zuidhoorn near Rijswijk /The Hague in 1853. He

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1936-463: The British cruiser HMS Vestal in September 1780, on the high seas. He had been sent by the Continental Congress to establish diplomatic relations with the Dutch Republic. The draft treaty was cited as proof by the British of the non-neutral conduct of the Dutch. Dutch naval power had been in decline since 1712. The fleet had been long neglected, and the Dutch navy, having only 20 ships of

2024-426: The Dutch Republic did not enter into a formal alliance with the rebelling American colonies and their allies, American ambassador (and future president ) John Adams managed to establish diplomatic relations with the Dutch Republic, making it the second European country to diplomatically recognise the Continental Congress in April 1782. In October 1782, a treaty of amity and commerce was concluded as well. Most of

2112-412: The Dutch flotilla to Brest appeared to be soon past. This motivated the States General to amend their resolution in the sense that the flotilla had to depart no later than 8 October. The Dutch naval top (admirals Zoutman and Reynst), who had been involved in an advisory capacity, were opposed to the plan, but their advice was ignored. The Admiral General had on 30 September already sent a secret order to

2200-577: The Dutch remained neutral. According to the treaty naval stores , including ship's timbers, masts, spars, canvas, tar, rope, and pitch, were not contraband and the Dutch, therefore, were free to continue their trade with France in these goods. Because of the still-important role of the Dutch in the European carrying trade, this opened up a large loophole in the British embargo . The British then unilaterally declared naval stores to be contraband and enforced their embargo by arresting Dutch and other neutral ships on

2288-538: The Dutch to seek admission to the First League of Armed Neutrality , which espoused the principle of "free ship, free goods", especially after Britain formally abrogated the Commercial Treaty of 1668. The Dutch hoped to gain the armed support of the other members of the league to maintain their neutral status. The British government saw the danger of this move (it might embroil Great Britain in war with Russia and

2376-466: The French and their allies went ahead with the signing of the general peace. The Dutch, therefore, were forced to sign a preliminary peace just before that general treaty was signed. The republic joined the armistice between Britain and France in January 1783. The signing of the Treaty of Paris (1783–1784) made Negapatnam , in India, a British colony. Ceylon was restored to Dutch control. The British gained

2464-463: The French declared war on Britain, Amsterdam merchants also became heavily involved in the trade in naval stores with France. The French needed those supplies for their naval construction, but were prevented from obtaining those themselves, due to the blockade by the Royal Navy (France being the weaker naval power in that conflict). The Dutch were privileged by a concession obtained after their victory in

2552-466: The Grand Pensionary, and later to the members of the committee for naval affairs of the States General, and the latter decided a few days later to withdraw the order to send the flotilla to Brest, as the deadline of 8 October, mentioned in that order, had already passed. which made the whole project moot. The planned "expedition" therefore was a non-event; it never happened. The refusal to sail caused

2640-456: The Nordic powers Sweden and Denmark–Norway also), so declared war on the republic shortly after it announced its intentions in December 1780. To forestall Russia from coming to the aid of the Dutch (something Empress Catherine II of Russia was not keen on, either), the British government cited a number of grievances that were ostensibly unrelated to the Dutch accession to the league. One of these

2728-601: The Republic whose "first servant" the stadtholder was) to keep Dutch foreign policy neutral. Initially, the British considered the Dutch allies in their attempt to stamp out the rebellion in their North American Thirteen Colonies . They attempted to "borrow" the mercenary Scots Brigade of the Dutch States Army for use in the Americas, in a similar manner to the Hessian and Brunswicker contingents they hired and deployed. This

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2816-532: The Republic, Vauguyon to put that proposal before the Dutch stadtholder, in his capacity of Admiral-General of the Dutch navy, which happened on 22 September. The stadtholder (as always hesitant) involved the Dutch Grand Pensionary Pieter van Bleiswijk who was immediately enthusiastic and put the question to the secret besogne (committee) for naval affairs of the States General, where the maritime provinces were in favor right away, but (as usual)

2904-459: The Republic, on behalf of admiral van Bylandt, who was a member of the Gelderland ridderschap (College of Nobles) as gefürsteter Graf of Bylandt-Halt. Bringing him before a special court against his will was a clear breach of that right. So the States of Gelderland for good measure forbade him to appear before the court. As he would have been the main defendant this brought the whole procedure to

2992-452: The States General accepted this proposal on 24 July 1786. A court of twelve delegated judges was instituted (three members of each of four Admiralty courts; the Amsterdam court was excluded because of conflicts of interest) and they convened on 16 November 1786. But still the trial could not start, because Gelderland now invoked the Jus de non evocando , a basic civil right under the constitution of

3080-458: The United States. Adams also succeeded in raising a substantial loan for the Americans on the still-significant Dutch capital market. The republic involved itself in the peace congress that the French foreign minister, Vergennes , organised, negotiating separately with the British commissioners. The Dutch demands were not supported by the French, and this put them into an untenable position when

3168-632: The VOC, which already in a severe crisis, was to go bankrupt just a few years later. Johannes Cornelis de Jonge Jhr . Johannes Cornelis de Jonge (9 May 1793 in Zierikzee  – 12 June 1853 in The Hague ) was a Dutch Rijksarchivaris (Chief Archivist of the Dutch National Archives ), historian, and politician. He is best known for his encyclopedic Geschiedenis van het Nederlandsche Zeewezen ,

3256-710: The West Indies were taken by the British, some, like Curaçao , were not attacked due to their defensive strength. As far as the Dutch were concerned, the war in the West Indies was over almost before it had begun. Admiral Rodney , the commander of the Leeward Islands station of the Royal Navy, attacked the Dutch colonies in that part of the Caribbean : St. Eustatius, Saba , and Saint Martin , as soon as he had received word of

3344-405: The admiral commanding the Texel squadron ( Andries Hartsinck ) to make preparations for a speedy departure in case the order would be formally given, and the admiral had thus instructed his captains, without, however, telling them the reason. When the formal resolution was made on 3 October the Admiral General sent two letters with the formal order to Hartsinck and Vice-Admiral Lodewijk van Bylandt ,

3432-415: The aid of the Dutch, was very active in offering her services to mediate the dispute. Both the British and the Dutch, with varying amounts of sincerity, cooperated in these diplomatic manoeuvres, which came to nothing, but helped to keep military activities at a low level while they lasted. The British government also made overtures to the Dutch to come to a speedy conclusion of hostilities, especially after

3520-467: The archives. In 1820 he became a corresponding member of the Royal Institute of the Netherlands . In 1825 he became a regular member. In 1831, after the death of his mentor Van Wijn, he himself was appointed Rijksarchivaris . In this period he wrote his magnum opus on the history of the Dutch navy: Geschiedenis van het Nederlandsche Zeewezen (6 volumes, between 1833 and 1848). In 1833 he obtained

3608-505: The aristocratic title of Jonkheer , when king William I of the Netherlands reorganized the Dutch aristocracy in 1814. He was the son of Willem Adriaan de Jonge van Campens Nieuwland and Cornelia Petronella Mogge Pous. As a boy he was already interested in history, and he was instrumental in saving a number of medieval Zeeland charters from being auctioned off in 1810 by the French authorities in his native city of Zierikzee. This brought him to

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3696-461: The attention of Hendrik van Wijn , the first archivist of the Batavian Republic , who became the first Rijksarchivaris in the new Kingdom of the Netherlands in 1814, and nominated de Jonge as his deputy in that year. Meanwhile, de Jonge was pursuing his studies in jurisprudence and history at Leiden University , and as a member of the studentenweerbaarheid (student militia) he took part in

3784-488: The blockading British fleet. Within a few weeks of the beginning of the war, more than 200 Dutch merchantmen, with cargo to the amount of 15 million guilders, had been captured by the British and 300 more were locked up in foreign ports. Another reason for the lack of activity of the Dutch navy was the fact that diplomatic activity never ceased and gave the Dutch government the illusion that the war would be of only short duration. Empress Catharine, though she refused to come to

3872-486: The cabinet of Lord North had been replaced by that of Rockingham and Fox in March 1782. Fox immediately proposed a separate peace on favourable conditions to the Dutch government. Unfortunately for the Dutch, they had just bound themselves closer to France by agreeing to act "in concert" with France in naval actions, so a separate peace was no longer an option. A real military alliance with France was, however, still blocked by

3960-526: The case, and any criminal proceedings were forever shelved. Fourth Anglo-Dutch War The Fourth Anglo-Dutch War ( Dutch : Vierde Engels-Nederlandse Oorlog ; 1780–1784) was a conflict between the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Dutch Republic . The war, contemporary with the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783), broke out over British and Dutch disagreements on the legality and conduct of Dutch trade with Britain's enemies in that war. Although

4048-469: The causes of the fleet's failure to comply with direct orders, the States of Holland took the initiative to require from the States General that that august body would indeed institute such an inquest. Pensionary Cornelis de Gijselaar of the city of Dordrecht demanded on 4 January 1783 that the committee of naval affairs of the States General would convene to make a report on the matter. The committee reported that they felt that an inquiry should be left to

4136-415: The competent admiralty courts of the three admiralties whose officers were involved in the matter: Amsterdam, Zeeland and Rotterdam (the two other admiralties, North Holland and Friesland, had no ships in the planned expedition) to decide on the question whether criminal charges should be preferred against any officers. But the States of Holland rejected this proposal, firstly because it seemed to cast doubt on

4224-455: The declaration of war, in the process surprising a number of Dutch naval and merchant ships, which were still unaware of the start of hostilities. St. Eustatius ( captured on 3 February 1781 ), that had played such a large role in the supply of the American rebels with arms, was completely devastated by him. He proved himself especially vengeful against the Jewish merchants on the island. All goods on

4312-602: The eastern coast of Dutch Ceylon , considered to be the finest harbour in the Bay of Bengal . In March 1781, British Admiral George Johnstone was sent to capture the Cape Colony. France, which had already planned to send a fleet to India, received intelligence of this, and directed its commander, the Bailli de Suffren , to try to reach the Cape before Johnstone. After Johnstone and Suffren met in

4400-433: The fleet, and with 100 company soldiers sailed for Padang . On 18 August, Jacob van Heemskerk, the VOC chief resident at Padang, surrendered all of the west coast outposts without a fight, unaware that Botham's force was relatively weak. The capture netted the British 500,000 florins in goods and money. The fortress at Padang was destroyed before the town was returned to VOC control in 1784. The republic did not form

4488-489: The following arguments. Firstly, the fleet was not ready to depart at short notice, due to lack of provisions, and disrepair of the ships. Secondly, he brought the political argument to the table, that the stadtholder and the navy were already accused of cowardice in the war with Great Britain, and of possible collusion with the enemy, and that any mishap therefore would be used to further those accusations. Thirdly, he made clear that he personally could not, and would not execute

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4576-555: The following conclusions: It should be remembered that in the Summer of 1785 the political situation in The Hague was slowly coming to the boil; the stadtholder would leave the city for his Het Loo Palace in September, not to return to the city before the Patriot party was suppressed by foreign intervention two years later. It should therefore cause no surprise that at first nothing happened with

4664-468: The governor of the island, Johannes de Graeff , was the first to salute the flag of the United States , leading to growing British suspicions of the Dutch. In 1778, the Dutch refused take Britain's side in the war against France. The British invoked a number of old treaties (1678, 1689, 1716) to have the republic support them militarily, but as in the Seven Years' War , the Dutch government refused. After

4752-578: The high seas. This led to strong protests by the affected Dutch merchants, who demanded institution of convoys escorted by the Dutch States Navy , to protect them against the Royal Navy and British privateers . According to customary international law, such convoys were (and still are) exempt from the right of Visit and Search by belligerents. Initially, the stadtholder managed to prevent this, but strong diplomatic pressure by France, that selectively applied economic sanctions to Dutch cities supporting

4840-413: The island were confiscated and all merchants, Dutch, American, French, even British, deported. Part of the loot was auctioned off on the spot, but an appreciable amount was put on a convoy destined for Britain. However, much of the convoy was captured in the English Channel by a French squadron under Admiral Picquet de la Motte . The French did not return the goods to the Dutch, however. Though an attempt

4928-411: The land provinces needed more convincing, causing a delay until 3 October, before a definitive decision was made to send a flotilla of ten ships of the line and several frigates. Meanwhile, the States General received secret intelligence that the siege of Gibraltar was about to be raised, which made it likely that Admiral Howe would return sooner than expected, so that the favorable circumstances for moving

5016-510: The line at the start of the conflict, was no match for the British Royal Navy . Although the States General had decided on a substantial expansion of the fleet in 1779, just before the fateful decision to offer limited convoys, and had even voted the funds for such a naval-construction program, it progressed but slowly. Another reason for the slow expansion of the Dutch fleet was a lack of suitable recruits—the Dutch navy paid lower wages than

5104-464: The merchant marine and did not use impressment like the Royal Navy. The number of available ships was diminished even more at the start of the war when several ships were captured by the British in the West Indies because they were unaware the war had started. A convoy under Rear Admiral Willem Krul was lost this way near St. Eustatius in February 1781, and the admiral was killed in the short action; in

5192-444: The officer designated to command the flotilla. Hartsinck only received the letter on 5 October, but van Bylandt was absent that day, because he had departed on 3 October, together with his second-in-command, Rear-Admiral Van Hoey, for The Hague . Van Bylandt hoped to persuade the stadtholder and Admiral-General at the last moment to desist of giving the order, or to withdraw it. So he was rather embarrassed when he heard on 4 October that

5280-444: The order had already been sent and that he was to depart within three days with the flotilla as its commander. Nevertheless, he did his best to convince the stadtholder in an interview on the evening of 4 October (of which nothing is known with certainty as both Van Bylandt and William have always refused to divulge the details). It seems likely, according to the Dutch naval historian Johannes Cornelis de Jonge that van Bylandt presented

5368-415: The order of the States General to send the flotilla, and asked them whether such an order in their opinion could be executed at such short notice (i.e. before 8 October). The captains had replied unanimously that this was impossible, due to the state of the ships and the lack of provisions. Van Bylandt felt understandably justified by this news in his refusal to execute the order, but asked Hartsinck to convene

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5456-407: The order to depart with the flotilla in the given circumstances. The stadtholder did not directly confront van Bylandt about this refusal, but deflected the matter to the Grand Pensionary that same evening. Van Bleiswijk apparently was convinced, at least according to van Bylandt, and more or less seems to have given permission to ignore the order. The stadtholder, however, decided after consulting with

5544-684: The original copy of the Union of Utrecht treaty for the National Archives from the Koninklijke Bibliotheek , and a large collection of original medieval charters that had previously been held in the Charter room of the County, later Province, of Holland . De Jonge was also politically active. He was appointed a member of the municipal council of The Hague in 1825. In that capacity he became editor of

5632-653: The pensionaries of Haarlem , Adriaan van Zeebergh , and Amsterdam, Engelbert François van Berckel for Holland (both leaders of the Patriot faction); W.A. van Beveren for Zeeland; E. van Haften tot Ophemert for Gelderland; W.E. de Perponcher de Sedlnitsky for Utrecht; R.L. van Andringa de Kempenaer for Friesland; L.G. Rouse for Overijssel; and J.H. Siccama for Groningen. The commission started its work on 30 March 1784. Its inquest lasted no less than 15 months, and when it reported on 24 June 1785 its report comprised three volumes. All officers were questioned either personally, or in writing (Rear-Admiral Jan Hendrik van Kinsbergen , who

5720-418: The proposal to convene a conference, outside the States General, to discuss the state of the country's defense. Meanwhile, the admiralty colleges of Amsterdam and Rotterdam, not without reason afraid that they would be held at least partially responsible for the derelict state of the fleet, came with a public defense of their conduct in the matter of the fleet's logistics. In the general clamor for an inquest into

5808-472: The question whether anyone could be blameworthy (a question the States had already answered to their own satisfaction), and because the three admiralties mentioned could already themselves be at fault in the matter, and would therefore have a clear conflict of interest. The States therefore wanted the States General to appoint a commission of inquiry that should report as soon as possible, and if necessary, if it found certain people to be culpable, to refer those to

5896-601: The report, also because the commission had made no recommendations the States General could directly act upon. So only in November 1785 there was movement in the sense that the two Holland members of the commission, the pensionaries Zeebergh and van Berckel moved in the States of Holland that the officers whose conduct had been criticized by the commission should be brought before the proper Admiralty courts to be tried. However, as this would mean that three courts would be competent for three different groups of defendants this would possibly lead to different treatments in like cases, which

5984-472: The representatives of the Admiralty of Amsterdam , Van der Hoop, and of Rotterdam , Bisdom, to persist with the order and to send the two flag officers to the Texel to execute it. Van Bylandt therefore departed for the Texel, but could not board Hartsinck's flagship before 7 October, due to inclement weather. Harsinck told him that he had convened his captains on 5 October in a council of war, presented them with

6072-462: The republic remained stubbornly neutral during the Seven Years' War , which enabled it to greatly neglect both its army and navy. The stadtholderian regime was pro-British, with the stadtholder being a grandson of King George II of Great Britain , but his opponents for this reason favoured France, and those opponents were strong enough in the States General of the Netherlands (the governing body of

6160-476: The right of free trade with part of the Dutch East Indies , which had been a major war aim for British merchants. The French also returned the other Dutch colonies they had recaptured from the British, including the ones in the West Indies (like St. Eustatius that had been taken by Admiral Rodney in February 1781, but was retaken by the French Admiral De Grasse on 27 November 1781). The war proved

6248-435: The safety of the Texel roadstead mounted and several cautious attempts were made to capture British convoys, or escort Dutch convoys. In one of those forays, an unusually strong squadron, under Admiral Johan Zoutman and his second-in-command, Rear Admiral Jan Hendrik van Kinsbergen , encountered in August 1781 a British squadron of about equal strength under Admiral Hyde Parker in the Battle of Dogger Bank , which ended in

6336-455: The ships that suffered from severe wear and tear. Also, because an appreciable number of ships had to be detached to maintain naval superiority in the North Sea, the already overstretched Royal Navy was even more strained after 1781. Ships that were needed to blockade the Dutch coast could not be used against the French, Americans, and Spaniards in other theatres of war. This may have contributed to

6424-410: The stadtholder in this policy, forced his hand in November 1779. The States General now ordered him to provide the escorts and the first convoy, under command of Rear Admiral Lodewijk van Bylandt , sailed in December. This led to the humiliating Affair of Fielding and Bylandt on 31 December, which enraged Dutch public opinion and further undermined the position of the stadtholder. The incident motivated

6512-410: The stadtholder ordered him to send the squadron, under command of Vice Admiral Count Lodewijk van Bylandt to Brest. However, as had happened countless times before, Bylandt, after having inspected the ships, declared them "unready" to put out to sea. In this refusal, he was supported by the other flag officers. The incident caused a political storm that threatened to engulf the stadtholder himself, as he

6600-604: The stadtholder, despite the fact that many in the republic favoured it. The war, as far as it went, was fought in three main theatres. Britain blockaded Dutch ports in Europe, and embarked on expeditions to seize Dutch colonial properties throughout the world. These were almost entirely successful; only an attempt to capture the Dutch Elmina Castle on the Africa's Gold Coast (modern Ghana ) failed. While many Dutch territories in

6688-440: The true power relations within the States General that Holland eventually prevailed and that on 23 December 1783 (so almost a year after de Gijselaar had made his initial demand) a resolution was passed to form a special commission of the States General to hold the inquest, as Holland had always wanted. The composition of the commission was two members for Holland, and one for each of the other provinces. The members appointed were

6776-506: The war consisted of a series of British operations against Dutch colonial economic interests, although British and Dutch naval forces also met once off the Dutch coast . The war ended disastrously for the Dutch and exposed the weakness of the political and economic foundations of the republic. The war settled the decline of the Dutch Empire and further cemented Great Britain as the leading commercial power . Although Great Britain and

6864-426: The war reached Sumatra, where both the Dutch and British companies had trading outposts. The directors of the British company at Fort Marlborough received instructions from Bombay to destroy all of the Dutch outposts on the west coast of Sumatra. Quite fortuitously, a fleet of five East Indiamen arrived not long after, and the directors seized the opportunity for action. Henry Botham, one of the directors, commandeered

6952-420: Was suppressed in 1787 by Prussian and British intervention. The Patriots were driven abroad, but returned in 1795 with the help of the French revolutionary armies and established a Batavian Republic in place of the old Dutch Republic. The Low Countries remained central to British strategic thinking, and they sent expeditionary forces to the Netherlands in 1793, 1799, and 1809. The war caused severe damage to

7040-552: Was appointed substituut (deputy) Rijksarchivaris in March 1814. In 1816 he was also appointed superintendent of the Koninklijk Kabinet van Munten, Penningen en Gesneden Stenen (Royal Dutch Numismatic Collection). In both offices he promoted the accessibility of the collections of archival sources and coins by publishing catalogs. He wrote a large number of historical publications and published facsimile publications of historical documents, in which he used his direct access to

7128-484: Was cruising in the Mediterranean at this time). Especially pensionary van Zeebergh had been active in the, often sharp, interrogatories. Even the stadtholder was interviewed. The commission was very critical about the conduct of the admirals Hartsinck and van Bylandt, especially the latter, who, in the words of the report, "had used all kinds of frivolous and artificial excuses to justify himself". The commission came to

7216-570: Was made to likewise capture the Dutch Leeward Antilles , these remained in Dutch hands, as did Suriname , though neighbouring Berbice , Demerara , and Essequibo were rapidly taken by the British early in 1781. These were retaken by the French captain Armand de Kersaint in 1782, and restored to the Dutch after the war. Admiral Hartsinck at first proved himself highly reluctant to risk his fleet. However, political pressure to venture outside

7304-601: Was mainly conducted via the Caribbean entrepôt of St. Eustatius , an island colony of the Dutch West India Company . There, American colonial wares, such as tobacco and indigo, were imported (in contravention of the British Navigation Acts ) and re-exported to Europe. For their return cargo, the Americans purchased arms, munitions, and naval stores brought to the island by Dutch and French merchants. In 1776

7392-411: Was responsible as commander-in-chief for both the state of readiness of the fleet and its strategic decisions (though the officers were tactically and operationally responsible, and could not decline responsibility for the alleged state of "unreadiness" themselves). The opponents of the stadtholder demanded an investigation that was, however, very long drawn out, and quietly terminated after the stadtholder

7480-462: Was restored in his full powers after 1787, long after the end of the war. Though, except for the Dogger-Bank skirmish, no major battles were fought in European waters, and the British blockade encountered little opposition from the Dutch fleet, the blockade itself exacted its toll on the British seamen, who were at sea for long times at a stretch (which even exposed them to the danger of scurvy ) and

7568-472: Was strongly opposed by the Dutch sympathizers of the American Revolution, led by Baron Joan van der Capellen tot den Pol , who managed to convince the States General to refuse the British request. More importantly, Dutch merchants, especially those from Amsterdam, became involved in the supply of arms and munitions to the American rebels soon after the outbreak of American Revolutionary War. This trade

7656-514: Was the shelter the Dutch had (reluctantly) given to the American privateer John Paul Jones in 1779. More importantly, much was made of a draft treaty of commerce, secretly negotiated between the Amsterdam banker Jean de Neufville and the American agent in Aix-la-Chapelle , William Lee , with the connivance of the Amsterdam pensionary Van Berckel , and found among the effects of Henry Laurens , an American diplomat who had been apprehended by

7744-407: Was to be avoided in the cause of justice. They therefore proposed that a special court would be formed from members of the Admiralty courts, and that only one of the Admiralty fiscals would be charged with conducting the prosecution before this special court (they nominated the new fiscal of the Admiralty of Rotterdam, Pieter Paulus for this task). Despite the opposition of Zeeland and Gelderland

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