Page:Life of William Shelburne (vol 2).djvu/98

76 undoubted result of the selfish desire of England to destroy her trade. No power had in consequence laboured more assiduously for the principle that free ships make free goods. Ultimately, in 1674 a treaty with England had established the new principle; on the other hand, according to the Treaties of 1678 and 1716, Holland was bound by positive stipulations to assist England in the event of her being attacked in Europe. England therefore could not claim to exercise the same rights against Dutch ships as she might against those of Russia and Sweden.

From the commencement of the war however, the respect paid by the English cruisers to the Treaty of 1674 was of the most equivocal character, and timber on board Dutch vessels was treated as contraband of war. In July 1779 the English Government demanded of the States-General the succour stipulated by the Treaties of 1678 and 1716, and soon after claimed that the American privateers in Dutch ports should be treated as pirates and their prizes restored.

The States-General were in a position of great difficulty. The United Provinces at this time enjoyed the most cumbrous form of Government which probably has ever existed. It was difficult to say where the powers of the States-General ended, and those of the Seven Provinces began. In the States-General the voting was by provinces, but the representatives of any province could claim the right of consulting their constituents. It was not clear in what cases either a majority or absolute unanimity was necessary; the Presidency was a weekly office, occupied in rotation by representatives of the provinces; the power of the Stadtholder was chiefly executive, and was in reality not equal to that of the Grand Pensionary of Holland, who was practically the foreign minister of the Republic. The Stadtholder was attached to England, and the Grand Pensionary to France. Such was the position of affairs when the repeated aggressions of the