"Resolved unanimously, that the opinion of the present assembly is, that a war against North America is evidently a measure, which, by obliging us to carry all our forces to that quarter, puts us out of a condition to resist with vigor, as we might otherwise do, the united efforts of France and Spain, while the said war produces no other effect upon the Americans than to add to the enmity, which has but too long subsisted between us. An enmity, of which we have felt the fatal effects, and which, by putting an obstacle to our union, threatens England with a ruin as complete as it is inevitable."
TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.
Paris, May 2d, 1780.
Sir,
On the twentysixth of April the Duc de Vauguyon, Ambassador of His Most Christian Majesty to the States-General, presented a Memorial to their High Mightinesses, announcing the abolition of the duty of fifteen per cent, to which the greatest part of Dutch merchandises had been subject on their entering into France, as well as the resolution of the Council of State, taken upon this subject. The following are the contents of the Memoir and the Resolution.
"High and Mighty Lords,
"The political system of the King is essentially founded upon the invariable principles of justice and moderation. His Majesty has given the most unequivocal proofs of it from the beginning of the troubles, which have arisen between him and the King of England, in pre-engaging all the neutral powers, by the display of a disposition the most favorable to their prosperity, and by proposing to them no other conditions than those of the most absolute impartiality. His Majesty saw himself, with the most sincere regret, obliged not to acknowledge this character in the resolution of the States-General, of the 19th of November, 1778, by which your High Mightinesses suspended the effects of your protection, relative to one branch of commerce, the liberty of which was assured to you by the public laws of equity, and the most precise stipulations of treaties. The King then instructed me to announce to your High Mightinesses, that if you determined thus to make the sacrifice of one part of your rights to his enemies, his Majesty could not preserve to your subjects the advantages conditionally promised by his last regulation, nor the ancient favors, which their commerce enjoyed in his States, and which are not the result of any treaty, but of a hereditary benevolence and affection. Your High Mightinesses assured his Majesty with earnestness, that you were decided to observe the most exact neutrality during the continuance of the troubles between France and England. But if you announced, that the act, which suspended the effects of the efficacious protection of the Republic in favor of ships loaded with ship timber, ought to be regarded as in force until it should be afterwards confirmed, you declared at the same time, that all discussion upon this matter ought to be suspended, until after the deliberations which were to ascertain the convoys.
"His Majesty not perceiving in this new disposition, any real alteration of intention, thought that he could not avoid setting bounds to the advantages granted in the different parts of his kingdom to the Dutch commerce, whilst your High Mightinesses continued to suspend, in favor of the enemies of his Crown, the exercise of the rights the most solidly established; but he was pleased to preserve them to the different members of the Republic in proportion as they adopted a system, which at the same time that it is conformable to his views is essentially just. He has applauded the remonstrances of your High Mightinesses to the Court of London, and the efforts which you have made to recover the means of restoring to the flag of the United Provinces its ancient consideration, as well as the positive order, which you have given to a squadron, to hold itself ready to convoy and protect all vessels loaded with objects not comprehended among merchandises of contraband, from the time that unlimited convoys should be resolved on, and he has constantly desired, that your High Mightinesses would cease to lay obstacles in the way of the testimonies of his affection, by attaching yourselves entirely to the fundamental principles of your interest, informed of your definitive intentions, in this regard, and assured of the explanation, which your High Mightinesses are determined to make of their neutrality, by granting an efficacious and indefinite protection to the commerce and navigation of your subjects. His Majesty has heard with pleasure the several representations, which several members of the Union, and especially the Prince, who is at the head of the Republic, have made to him relative to the restraints, which the commerce of different Provinces experiences in the ports of his kingdom, and his Majesty has ordered me to declare to your High Mightinesses, that he has revoked by a decree of his Council, of the 22d of April, 1780, an authentic copy of which I have the honor to present, those of the 14th of January, the 27th of April, the 5th of June, and the 18th of September, 1779, but he would not confine himself to re-establish thus the subjects of your High Mightinesses, in the enjoyment of favors, which they experienced before the publication of those new laws; in all the advantages conditionally promised by his regulation, concerning the commerce and navigation of neuters, he would give them a signal proof of his benevolence, and he orders me to declare to your High Mightinesses, that he has ordered the return of all the sums received by the overseers of his Farms, in virtue of the said decrees, he flatters himself, that testimonies so important of his affection, will convince your High Mightinesses, not only that he takes an interest the most sincere in the prosperity of the United Provinces, but also that justice, moderation and beneficence form the essential and invariable basis of his conduct and of his proceedings."