Sir,
At length one act has appeared, which looks like war. The following placard was resolved on the 12th of this month.
"The States-General of the United Provinces of the Low Countries to all those who shall see, hear, or read these presents. Greeting. Know ye, that the King of Great Britain having thought proper, without any lawful cause, to attack in a hostile manner this Republic, and as we are obliged to neglect nothing, which can serve for our defence, and to use at the same time the right, the example of which the conduct of the said Crown has commenced by setting us, and to act against it, in the same manner as they act against us, and consequently to do to the said King, and to his subjects, all the prejudice, which shall be in our power; for these causes, and for the protection of the commerce and of the navigation of this country, we have thought fit to establish, and to permit to all the subjects of these States, who shall take or destroy any English vessels of war, or privateers, the following rewards.
I. "All those who shall fit out a privateer, and shall have obtained of his Highness the Prince of Orange and Nassau, in quality of Admiral-General of these countries, suitable commissions, after having given beforehand the requisite securities, shall not be held to furnish the third man of their crew, as it is ordained by the placard of their High Mightinesses, of the 26th of June, 1780, excepting those who will load with merchandises, and take at the same time the said letters of marque. Those, who shall have taken and conducted into one of the ports, or roads, within the jurisdiction of one of the Colleges of Admiralty of this country, a vessel of war or privateer of the King of Great Britain, shall draw, moreover, a bounty of one hundred and fifty florins for each man, who shall be found at the commencement of the combat on board of the said vessel of war, or privateer, as also a like sum for each pound of ball which the artillery, which shall be found on board the said vessel at the time aforesaid, can discharge at one time, not including the swivels, or the balls of the new artillery, called carronades, valued only at one quarter of their weight; in such sort, that if one of our privateers shall make herself master of an English vessel of war, or privateer mounted, for example, with forty pieces of cannon, carrying altogether three hundred and fifty pound weight of ball, that is to say, forty carronades, and fourteen hundred balls of eight pound, and the crew of which shall be two hundred and twenty men, shall receive for bounty or reward, by calculating each man and each pound of ball upon the footing of one hundred and fifty florins, the sum of eightyfive thousand eight hundred florins, and thus more or less in proportion to the crew; and the caliber of the cannon, which shall be found at the time of the combat, upon the English ship, besides the booty and the prize, and all the effects which shall be found on board, without any other deduction to be made from it, than the tenth for the Admiral.
II. "The said recompenses assigned for prizes shall also take place in case the English vessel of war, or privateer, shall be totally destroyed, whether our armed vessel shall have sunk her, or burnt her, or shipwrecked her, or whether the said vessel shall have perished in any other manner, after having been taken; provided, nevertheless, that this recompense is not to be claimed in the whole, at least if the crew of the vessel destroyed has not been taken or killed. And if it should happen, that they have only driven the enemy's vessel on shore, so that the vessel has perished, but the crew has saved itself, our letters of marque shall not enjoy, in this case, but one half of the bounty or reward promised; so that in the case last mentioned they shall receive only fortytwo thousand nine hundred florins, instead of eightyfive thousand eight hundred.
III. "Provided, nevertheless, that neither the prize nor the bounty shall ever be adjudged to any of our letters of marque, until after the affair shall have been carried before one of the Colleges of the Admiralty of this country, and the sentence shall have been there pronounced in her favor.
IV. "The said Colleges of the Admiralty may not adjudge these rewards, until after the Captain, Lieutenant, and Pilot of the privateer, as well as those who shall have freighted her, their book-keepers, and others authorised, shall have declared by a solemn oath, that the vessel of war, or privateer, of which they have made themselves masters, has been duly taken without any collusion directly or indirectly with the English, or with any other known to them. In case the freighters, who claim the adjudication of prizes and bounties, are out of the country, absent, or hindered by some other obstacle, it shall suffice, that the book-keepers, or some other authorised, take the oath, but so far as it is of his knowledge for himself, and for his freighters, conformably to the special procuration, which he shall have for this effect; the freighters nevertheless shall be obliged to take an oath beforehand before the magistrate of their residence, or before other persons competent, whose testimonies they shall send.
V. "And for the better encouragement of the said ships, which shall have armed as privateers, we ordain, that those who shall have been wounded in a combat with the English ship, shall be maintained at the expense of the State, without its costing anything to the proprietors of the privateers, or those who shall be on board. We ordain also, that those who shall be maimed in fighting an English ship, shall be gratified on the part of the State, and without its costing anything to the freighters, with the moiety of the recompense granted by the Republic to those who serve on board vessels of war; they shall not, however, have a right but to those rewards which are given once, and not to those which shall be granted weekly, or monthly, or otherwise. As to what respects the maintenance of the wounded, the account of it shall be presented to the competent College of the Admiralty, to be there examined and duly regulated, so that the maimed, to the end that they may enjoy the moiety of the recompense proposed, may procure themselves an act of the said College of the Admiralty, after having furnished it the necessary proofs.
VI. "For the encouragement of the ships of war, as well as the merchant vessels, which may be provided with commissions to make use of, in case of need, to cause to the English ships all the prejudice possible, we intend that the English ship of which they may make themselves masters, of what nature or denomination soever it may be, shall be given them entire, the tenth for the Admiral excepted, without pretending, however, to any further recompense.
VII. "If it should happen, that our privateers, merchant vessels, or others armed for a cruise at the expense of individuals of this country, should retake any vessels or effects belonging to the subjects of the State, and that such recapture shall be made in the space of fortyeight hours after they shall have been in the hands of the enemy, they shall enjoy in that case one fifth of the just value of the vessels or effects, which they shall have delivered; but if the recapture shall be made in the space of four days after the vessel shall have been in the hands of the English, they shall have one third of the said value; and if the recapture shall be made after four days, they shall have the moiety of it, without having any further regard to the greater or lesser time, that the said vessels or effects retaken shall have been in the hands of the English, after the expiration of the four days.