FRENCH OPERATIONS IN HOLLAND, ETC.
It has been seen that when the Duke of York returned to London, he left the command of the British troops to Count Walmoden, and that Walmoden was attacked by the French army on the Waal, under Pichegru. It became evident that nothing but a hasty retreat could save the British army from destruction; and, after spiking their guns, and destroying all the ammunition they could not carry away, on the 16th of January they retired towards Leek. In his retreat Walmoden was pursued by Pichegru; but Walmoden, after sustaining several assaults, and after a march of nearly two months through countries inimical to the British, finally reached the mouth of the Elbe, when the Duke of York’s army embarked at Bremen for England. Throughout their whole route it was manifest that the population of Holland were, in the main, revolutionists; in every Dutch town and village through which they passed, the majority of the inhabitants looked upon them as the original cause of the calamities inflicted upon their country, and took every opportunity of insulting them in their misery and adding to their sufferings. Now that the British were departed the feelings of the Dutch were manifested in a clearer light. Before this, our ally, the stadtholder, and his son, the hereditary Prince of Orange, had fled for refuge to England, so that the democrats, which everywhere abounded, had no check in a display of their principles. Those of Amsterdam planted the tree of liberty in the chief places of the city, mounted the French cockade, and gave an enthusiastic reception to Pichegru. Utrecht, Rotterdam, Haerlam, Leyden, Flushing, Middlebourg, and Bergen-op-Zoom, one of the strongest fortresses in the world—these all fell into the hands of the French, either by conquest or by treachery. The States-general, indeed, or as many of them as chose to assemble at the Hague, issued proclamations, calling upon the people to admit the friendly troops of the republic; so that scarcely one of the many fortresses which studded the country, made more than a show of resistance. Many of them had opened their gates to the republican troops of France before the Duke of York left the country, and those which remained in the occupation of the Dutch, or of German troops in the pay of the stadtholder, for the most part now followed their example. Holland fraternised with France. A requisition of clothes and provisions for the use of the republican army, to the amount of one million and a half sterling, cooled the ardour of the thrifty Dutchmen for a moment; but it soon returned, on considering the blessings they were to obtain for their money. They were flattered by a convocation of a representative assembly, on the principles of equality and liberty: an assembly which abolished the hereditary stadtholderate, with all the forms of the preceding constitution, published the declaration of the rights of man, reversed the sentences passed in a previous year against democrats, and recalled all those who had been exiled for their democratical principles. On discovering this movement in Holland, the English government immediately laid an embargo upon all Dutch ships and goods in the ports of Great Britain, Ireland, and our colonies; and the ministry soon took into consideration the important subject of the Dutch colonies. An expedition was sent out on the 14th of July, under Vice-Admiral Sir G. Keith Elphinstone and Major-General Craig, who took possession of the Cape of Good Hope. Instructions were also sent to our naval and military commanders in the East Indies, to prepare for the reduction and occupation of the Dutch settlements in that part of the world; and about the close of the year all the places which the Dutch held in Ceylon, with Malacca, Cochin, Chinsura, Amboyna, and Banda, fell into the hands of the British. Other plans were also arranged for the seizure of the Dutch colonies in the West Indies, and on the coast of South America. Holland was, therefore, now reckoned among the enemies of England.
GEORGE III. 1795-1796