CONTINENTAL AFFAIRS.
At this time Holland was suffering greatly from the effects of the American war. Its finances were embarrassed; its colonies were, for the most part, in the hands of the French; and the country was torn to pieces by intestine divisions. Encouraged by these circumstances, their neighbours and rivals, the Belgians, sought to make Ostend the centre of a great trade, and a place of export and import to and from the East Indies. Seeing their helpless condition, indeed, the Emperor Joseph threatened the very existence of the United Provinces as an independent nation. Ever since the conclusion of the war of succession, the fortresses of the Austrian Netherlands had been deposited in the hands of the Dutch, and garrisoned by them, for the double purpose of defending the Netherlands and Holland, and of forming a bulwark against the inroads of the French. These were secured to them by the barrier treaty; but as early as the year 1781, the Emperor Joseph had determined to do away with this treaty, and to take possession of these fortresses; alleging that the Dutch misapplied the money which he was bound to pay for their support; that they had shamefully surrendered some in the war of 1741, and were allowing the rest to fall into decay; and that they left thin and defective garrisons in them. Accordingly, when the Dutch had committed a sort of political suicide, by sacrificing their old alliance with England, and uniting their forces with those of the House of Bourbon in defence of the Americans, the Emperor Joseph, who was the only real guardian of the barrier treaty, demanded precise accounts of the revenues of the barrier, and of the sums expended on the fortifications. This demand was accompanied with threats; and the States-general, yielding to necessity, withdrew the Dutch garrisons from the barrier; and Joseph began to dismantle the fortresses and sell the materials. He had scarcely begun this work, when the States-general felt great apprehensions for the frontiers of their own provinces; and measures were adopted for putting their own fortresses along the Scheldt into a state of defence. At the same time, the people of Holland were furiously excited by these events; and the Orange party pointed to the open barrier and the rising port of Ostend, as proofs of the mischiefs brought by the French party upon the country in renouncing the alliance with Great Britain. Neither the return of peace with England nor the mediation of Frederic the Great of Prussia could allay the animosities existing between the two parties; and encouraged by them, the Emperor Joseph advanced sundry new claims, and assumed a tone of haughty dictation towards the States-general. Thus he claimed possession and sovereignty to the city and country of Maestricht, and the free navigation of the Scheldt; the latter of which claims was made in order to re-elevate Antwerp to her ancient commercial importance. The States-general, alarmed at his menacing attitude, during the year 1784, sent two plenipotentiaries to Brussels, in order to treat with the emperor’s agents for an amicable arrangement; but the very night after their arrival some Austrian troops entered the territories of the Dutch republic, and took possession of Fort Lillo; while others crossed the frontiers at another point, and pulled down the Dutch flag from the custom-house. The Dutch were alarmed and enraged at these aggressions; and troops were ordered to Maestricht and to the different garrisons of the Scheldt, in order to protect them from the enemy. Fresh disputes, however, arose between the states and the stadtholder concerning the rights, or the limits of their respective powers, so that the movement of these troops was greatly retarded. The only refuge which the Dutch had seemed to be in the French; and they implored the mediation of Louis XVI. between them and the emperor, who was his wife’s brother. Louis made a favourable reply to this request, but in the mean time the breach had become wider. Finding that the navigation of the Scheldt was not readily conceded, the emperor Joseph was resolved to bring the question to issue. A vessel, manned by Flemings, was dispatched by him down that river, with orders to pass the Dutch fort at New Lillo, and not to lower its flag or submit to the search of the guard-ship stationed there, except by compulsion. This vessel was allowed to pass, but a similar experiment was afterwards made, and the Dutch this time fired a gun over her, and sent officers on board to make the search. The emperor now insisted upon his right to the sovereignty of the whole of the Scheldt, from Antwerp to the sea, and he further claimed a free navigation and uninterrupted commerce to and in both the East and West Indies. At the same time, Joseph prepared two armed vessels to assert the right claimed in the Scheldt, and to provoke an open act of hostility. These vessels were to proceed, one from Antwerp to the sea, and the other from the sea to Antwerp, and the vessel that descended was attacked by a Dutch armed cutter, and fell into the hands of the Dutch. War now seemed inevitable. On hearing of this event, the emperor recalled his ambassador from the Hague, broke up the negociations at Brussels, and marched an army of 60,000 men from the Austrian dominions to the Netherlands This army did not arrive at its place of destination however, till it was winter, and as the Dutch had broken down a dyke, in order to prevent its advance, instead of beginning hostilities on their arrival, the Austrians went into winter-quarters. During the winter, little or nothing was done, either in war or negociation, and when the spring arrived, it became known that the emperor was negociating for the exchange of the sovereignty of the Low Countries for the electorate of Bavaria. In this scheme he was favoured by his great ally, the Czarina Catherine, but Frederic the Great of Prussia immediately formed a confederation among the princes of Germany, including the King of England, as elector of Hanover, to oppose, and defeat it. For some time the emperor seemed resolved to persevere in his designs, and to brave this hostile league; but he soon formed other projects, and finding that he could not rely on the assistance of the Czarina of Russia, and that the Bavarians were hostile to his rule, he forewent his intention. In the meantime, the Dutch had concluded a commercial league and close alliance with France, and, soon after, the French ministers went actively to work as mediators between them and the emperor. Négociations were carried on during the summer, and in September, after the deputies of the States-General had apologised for the insult offered to the emperor’s flag, when he attempted to force the navigation of the Scheldt, preliminary articles were signed at Paris. A definitive treaty was signed in November, by which the emperor’s sovereignty over that river, from Antwerp to the limits of Saftingen in Flanders was recognized; but from that point to the sea, it was guaranteed to the States. The free navigation of Antwerp was thus frustrated. The emperor also renounced his claims to Maestricht, but the States agreed to surrender the forts Lillo and Liefkenshoek, and to make compensation in money to his imperial majesty for giving up Maestricht, and to his Netherland subjects for the damages they had sustained by the defensive inundations. Several mutual concessions were also made of villages and districts, so as to give each party a better frontier, and it was agreed that neither of them should possess forts or batteries within cannon shot of the limits of each other’s territories. Two days after this treaty was signed, the compact between the French and Dutch was concluded, and it was ratified on Christmas day. Thus this quarrel, which threatened at one time to lead to another European war, was happily settled; but Holland was still rent to pieces by faction.