rance and Spain, and
allowed American privateers, and notably Paul Jones, to refit and equip
their ships and to sell their prizes in Dutch ports. The British
ambassador, Sir Joseph Yorke, remonstrated strongly against these
unfriendly acts on the part of a nation in close alliance with his
sovereign. He could gain no satisfaction; for though the party of the
stadholder was anxious to keep on friendly terms, the pensionary and the
city of Amsterdam were violently opposed to England, and the merchants
generally were on their side. Late in 1779 a fleet of Dutch merchantmen,
laden with timber and naval stores for France, and sailing under the
convoy of an admiral, was met by an English squadron. The Dutch fired on
the boats sent to search their ships; the English returned the fire,
captured some of the ships, and brought them into Spithead. Bitter
complaints were made on both sides, and the Dutch, encouraged by the
declaration of the armed neutrality and the influence of France and
Prussia, showed no inclination to yield to Yorke's remonstrances.

At last England had an opportunity of putting an end to this course of
unacknowledged hostility. In October, 1780, a British frigate captured
an American packet which was carrying Laurens, lately president of
congress, as ambassador to Holland. He threw his papers overboard, but a
British seaman promptly went after them and brought them back. Among
them was a draft of a proposed treaty of commerce and amity between
Holland and the United States of America, signed by the pensionary of
Amsterdam and Lee, an American envoy, in September, 1778, when Holland
was bound by treaty to a close alliance with Great Britain. England
demanded a disavowal of the treaty and the punishment of the pensionary.
The states-general voted to join the armed neutrality and, while
disavowing the treaty, did not proceed against the pensionary. England
declared war on December 20. The opposition maintained that the
government had behaved arrogantly and was actuated by a desire for
plunder, and that it was unjust to found a war on a mere proposal
emanating from the magistracy of a single city and not confirmed by the
states-general. Yet, if the conduct of Holland is viewed as a whole, it
will be found to justify the course pursued by the government. England,
then, in addition to the war with her rebellious colonies, had to meet
the forces of France, Spain, and Holland. Nevertheless, the new
accession to the n