the disposition of the Court of Sweden with regard to the war which has broken out between the two maritime Powers and of the desire of His Swedish Majesty to learn our own sentiments on this subject. Accustomed as we are to reply in kind to the confidence of our allies, we are still less inclined to deviate from this rule in the present circumstances, in which consideration for our respective engagements with regard to armed neutrality must elicit in the same degree our attention and our interest. Therefore, you are authorized to speak confidentially with Count Scheffer, so that he may inform his master, telling him that as soon as we learned of the sudden departure of the Duke of York from The Hague, we hastened to make the strongest kind of representations to the Court of London, to prevent it from entering upon active hostilities. We were then ignorant of the fact that hostilities were to follow immediately upon the departure of its Ambassador. Being convinced of this fact a few days later and realizing the futility of any step to prevent hostilities, we turned our attention to new measures better adapted to the times and circumstances, which would be capable of extinguishing the sparks of war at the outset. We were led to this course by a twofold reason: the thought of humanity suffering from the shedding of innocent blood, and the interests of neutral nations with regard to their commerce with belligerents. Although, after the formal request of the King of England for our mediation, conjointly with the Emperor of the Romans, to bring about peace between him and the Courts of France and Spain, there seemed to be some hope for opening peace negotiations, nevertheless, as time was required to discuss the matter with the two Crowns and to receive their mutual consent, we have deemed it advisable to find a shorter way to reconcile England and Holland and have offered our separate mediation1 for that purpose. It was our intention by this action to prevent in this reconciliation the discussion of any subject that is foreign to them, especially the question of the independence of the Americans, which would have caused the chief difficulty. The States-General received our offer with gratitude, and were eager to take advantage of it, as you will see from the enclosure herewith. England, on the contrary, declined postponing its reconciliation with the Republic until the general peace

1 Proposed in a memorial presented to the States-General and to Great Britain on March 3, 1781. Annual Register, 1781, p. 310.

negotiation, under the joint mediation of the two Imperial Courts.1 When that takes place, we shall not fail to exert our own efforts in favor of the Republic of Holland as well as to interest His Majesty the Emperor in its behalf, in order that it may be included in the general pacification. After having given assurances to the StatesGeneral, we promised them at the same time to confer amicably with our allies with a view to a further common and unanimous effort with the Court of London, to bring it to a moderate course and to the love of peace.

We hesitated the less to give these assurances to their High Mightinesses, because we noted in the memorandum of February 17,2 communicated by Baron Nolken, a copy of which is enclosed herewith for your information, a decided determination on the part of His Swedish Majesty to follow a similar course. The entire contents of this memorandum show, on the one hand, the profound penetration of that Prince, and, on the other hand, a point of view in perfect accord with ours. In truth, the time and the circumstances in which Great Britain has attacked her old ally, the Republic of Holland, indicate sufficiently that the real cause of her aggression lies in the accession of the States-General to our maritime conventions, the more so because Holland thereby protected the navigation and commercial industries of her subjects, the greater part of which was carried on with the enemies of England.

But, on the other hand, it is no less true that the actual rupture preceded the formal accession of their High Mightinesses to the conventions of Copenhagen and Petersburg, and that the reasons set forth antedate and are foreign to the cause of the allies of the armed neutrality. In the first part of this argument, Articles 7, 8, and 9 are entirely favorable to the Dutch; but Article 6 frees us, in terms no less clear, from the duty of participating in their war with England. So essential a difference in the stipulations of these conventions leaves the three allied Courts free to follow the course that is most advantageous and the most in harmony with their interests.

There could be no more judicious or wiser appraisement of the delicacy of the decision to be made than that adopted in the Swedish memorandum. The drawbacks on each side were discussed and shown in their true light, with an indication of the best way to avoid

1Ibid., p. 315.

2 February 28, 1781, new style. Ante, p. 370.

them. In admitting this method-that is to say, the observance of neutrality as the rule of conduct for the three allied Crowns in the new war between maritime Powers,--we did not fail to inform at once the Courts of Stockholm and Copenhagen of the orders which we had transmitted to our commanding officers at sea to regard the Republic of the United Provinces as a neutral Power with respect to the two branches of the House of Bourbon, and belligerent with respect to England. In calculating the time, we shall expect to hear soon from you and from the Councilor of State, Mr. Sacken, that the Kings our allies have likewise given similar orders in their States, so that all our actions and all the steps that we take shall be everywhere entirely uniform in all respects, and bear witness to the close union among us, which in the centuries to come must justify this beneficent system of neutral merchant navigation.

After having taken the measures that we owe to the welfare of our own States before all foreign interests, we shall not fail, as we have said heretofore, to employ in favor of the Republic of Holland all means compatible with this paramount duty. Consequently we willingly give our support to the idea of His Swedish Majesty that suitable representations be made at the Court of London in the name of the three allied Courts. In the Swedish memorandum there is question of a declaration, but a declaration might by its very nature carry us beyond our intentions, while a mere verbal hint, expressing the same views with the same force, can bind us in no way against our will and desire. This observation, as simple as it is essential, will not escape Count Scheffer's sagacity, with whom you are to confer as to the wording of these representations, as to the time when they shall be made at London, and as to the manner in which our respective Ministers at that Court shall make them.

We should not have placed any obstacle in the way of the adoption of the very wording proposed in the above-mentioned memorandum, since we found it as moderate as it was in keeping with the purpose in view, if circumstances, which have now become well known to the Court of Stockholm, did not seem to require certain changes. To this end, you will find hereto annexed a new draft of the representations, which you will bring to the knowledge of Count de Scheffer, telling him that in our opinion, in order that they may be more readily

1

'Not printed in Martens.

understood by the English Ministry, they might be delivered in writing, on condition, however, that they be regarded as merely a verbal hint. We shall not object if the Court of Sweden or the Court of Denmark, for reasons of their own, should make use of a different wording or of a different style. It is sufficient if the substance is the same, and if on that account the English Ministers pay greater attention to this salutary action on the part of the three sovereigns in

concert.

The speeches and the conduct of these Ministers indicate plainly enough that nothing short of the fear of involving their country in a war with all Europe and of being taxed with personal responsibility therefor will induce them to listen to reasonable terms of peace. To make them more tractable, it would doubtless be well to keep this fear alive in them. There is a means of accomplishing this which is as efficacious as it is inexpensive in the fact that the sovereigns hold a considerable portion of their naval forces armed and ready for action. Let the Swedish and Danish squadrons cruise for a time beyond the Sound, and we for our part shall keep a squadron in the Mediterranean and another in the Arctic Ocean, as a defensive measure, following the example of the preceding year against foreign privateers. And as, to assist this twofold action, our squadrons which passed the winter of last year at Leghorn and at Lisbon, are to return immediately or have already returned to the Baltic, we shall thus present at the same time very respectable armaments in these different seas. The possibility of the Russian, Swedish, and Danish squadrons meeting at the same point immediately on the orders of their sovereigns will doubtless have its effect on all the belligerent Powers and will at the same time ensure the safety of the merchant navigation of our respective subjects. Therefore such a joining of forces, even before it is effected, will secure to the three Courts a very great and a very real advantage. In communicating a summary of this rescript to Mr. Sacken, we enjoined him to discuss its contents with the Danish Minister and to inform us without delay of the result of their conference. He has orders to inform you directly, so that as much time as possible may be gained in putting into execution concerted and unanimous measures, to be decided upon among us, and so that we may be in a position to give our Minister at London necessary instructions, which shall be sufficient together with those that our allies will give to their Ministers at the same Court. We enclose herewith a copy of the

rescript sent to the said Mr. Sacken.1 You will bring it to the knowledge of the Swedish Minister, and you will insist in your conversation with him upon the necessity of his Court's entering, on its part, into direct communication with the Court of Copenhagen, also for the purpose of saving time. As it is far from our intention to embarrass, in a common cause, the will and intentions of the Kings, our allies, you will not fail in your conversation with the Swedish Minister to discuss with him the sentiments of his own Court, and to receive ad referendum all proposals that he may submit, assuring him in advance that we shall consider them with all due respect and deference.

used

Counter-Manifesto of the States-General of the Netherlands regarding Relations with Great Britain, March 12, 17812

If ever the world's annals have furnished an example of a free and independent State hostilely attacked in the most unjust manner and without the least vestige of justice or equity by a neighboring Power long allied and closely bound to it by ties of interests in common, that State is without dispute the Republic of the United Provinces of the Netherlands, which is now in such a situation with respect to the King of Great Britain and his Ministry.

At the very beginning of the troubles between that kingdom and its colonies in America, Their High Mightinesses, though not obliged to take any part therein, had formed the steadfast and invariable design to adopt and to follow, with regard to these troubles, a system of the most perfect and scrupulous neutrality. And when these same troubles afterwards resulted in a war which extended to several other Powers and spread to many quarters of the world, Their High Mightinesses constantly observed and followed this same system, while at the same time they have not failed on more than one occasion to give, with respect to very vital matters, the most convincing evidence of their sincere disposition to satisfy His Majesty's desires, in so far as

1Ante, p. 374.

2Hennings, vol. 1, p. 73. For the manifesto of Great Britain, see ante, p. 330.