We had every Right to expect, that such a Discovery would have roused them to a just Indignation at the Insult offered to Us, and to themselves; and that they would have been eager to give Us full and ample Satisfaction for the Offence, and to inflict the severest Punishment upon the Offenders. The Urgency of the Business made an instant Answer essential to the Honour and Safety of this Country.[1] The Demand was accordingly pressed by Our Ambassador in repeated Conferences with the Ministers, and in a Second Memorial: It was pressed with all the Earnestness which could proceed from Our ancient Friendship, and the Sense of recent Injuries; and the Answer now given to a Memorial on such a Subject, delivered about Five Weeks ago, is, That the States have taken it ad referendum. Such an Answer, upon such an Occasion, could only be dictated by the fixt Purpose of Hostility meditated, and already resolved, by the States, induced by the offensive Councils of Amsterdam thus to countenance the hostile Aggression, which the Magistrates of that City have made in the Name of the Republic.
There is an End of the Faith of all Treaties with Them, if Amsterdam may usurp the Sovereign Power, may violate those Treaties with Impunity, by pledging the States to Engagements directly contrary, and leaguing the Republic with the Rebels of a Sovereign to whom she is bound by the closest Ties. An Infraction of the Law of Nations, by the meanest Member of any Country, gives the injured State a Right to demand Satisfaction and Punishment: How much more so, when the Injury complained of is a flagrant Violation of Public Faith, committed by leading and predominant Members in the State? Since then the Satisfaction we have demanded is not given, We must, though most reluctantly, do Ourselves that Justice which We cannot otherwise obtain: We must consider the States General as Parties in the Injury which they will not repair, as Sharers in the Aggression which they refuse to punish, and must act accordingly. We have therefore ordered Our Ambassador to withdraw from the Hague, and shall immediately pursue such vigorous Measures as the Occasion fully justifies, and Our Dignity and the essential Interests of Our People require.
From a Regard to the Dutch Nation at large, We wish it were possible to direct those Measures wholly against Amsterdam; but this cannot be, unless the States General will immediately declare, that Amsterdam shall, upon this Occasion, receive no Assistance from them, but be left to abide the Consequences of it's Aggression.
Whilst Amsterdam is suffered to prevail in the general Councils, and is backed by the Strength of the State, it is impossible to resist the Aggression of so considerable a Part, without contending with the Whole. But We are too sensible of the common Interests of both Countries not to remember, in the Midst of such a Contest, that the only Point to be aimed at by Us, is to raise a Disposition in the Councils of the Republic to return to our ancient Union, by giving Us that Satisfaction for the past, and Security for the future, which We shall be as ready to receive as They can be to offer, and to the Attainment of which We shall direct all Our Operations. We mean only to provide for Our own Security, by defeating the dangerous Designs that have been formed against Us. We shall ever be disposed to return to Friendship with the States General, when they sincerely revert to that System which the Wisdom of their Ancestors formed, and which has now been subverted by a powerful Faction, conspiring with France against the true Interests of the Republic, no less than against those of Great Britain.
St. James's, December 20, 1780.
G. R.
No printed copy found, except as published in the "London Gazette Extraordinary," December 21, 1780, from which this transcript was taken.
FOOTNOTE:
[1] The Privy Council, by an order of April 17, 1780, declared that whereas the United Provinces had not lived up to the terms of their alliance with Great Britain, they should henceforth be considered a neutral power not privileged by treaty. On the same date as the publication of the Manifesto, December 20, 1780, the Council ordered that general reprisals should be granted against the ships of the United Provinces (Privy Council Register, III Geo., vol. 18). On December 27, 1780, the King issued a proclamation providing for the distribution of the prizes during the hostilities with the United Provinces, which is not here printed since it remotely concerns America.