Fourth Anglo-Dutch War - Background

Background

Although Great Britain and 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 erstwhile 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 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 (the stadtholderate became hereditary). However, 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, 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 (the stadtholder being a grandson of king George I of Great Britain), but his opponents for this reason favored France, and those opponents were strong enough in the States-General of the Netherlands (the governing body of 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 American colonies. They attempted to "borrow" the mercenary Scotch 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. However, this 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 rebels soon after the start of the American Revolution. This trade was mainly conducted via the entrepôt of St. Eustatius, an island colony of the Dutch West India Company in the Caribbean. There American colonial wares, like 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. To add insult to injury, in 1776 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 to be bullied into taking 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 the French and Spanish entry into the American Revolutionary War the 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 of the Royal Navy (France being the weaker naval power in the conflict). The Dutch were privileged by a concession obtained after their victory in 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 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 therefore unilaterally declared naval stores to be contraband and enforced their embargo by arresting Dutch (and other neutral) ships on the high seas. This led to strong protests by the affected Dutch merchants, who demanded institution of convoys escorted by the Dutch 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 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 1779. This led to the humiliating Affair of Fielding and Bylandt on 31 December 1779, which enraged Dutch public opinion and further undermined the position of the stadtholder. The incident motivated the Dutch to seek adherence 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.