I 7 8 0 English and Dutch Difficulties The Pretext Since the accession of William of Orange to the English throne in 1689, England and the Netherlands had been in alliance. The Dutch carried on a large trade with the United States chiefly through the West Indian island of Saint Eustatius and a still greater trade with France. Commercial jealousies were strong and the English felt aggrieved because the Dutch had not lived up to the treaty agreements to assist England when attacked by either France or Spain. The Dutch, on their part, held up an old treaty providing that if Holland or England went to war with a third nation, the commerce of the one at peace should not be disturbed by the other. Fielding's firing on the flag-ship of Count Bylandt had aroused great bitterness in the Netherlands; the British were almost equally indignant because the Dutch had allowed John Paul Jones to remain ten weeks in the Texel. The new maritime code gave great protection to Dutch commerce, but it would not be wise to go to war because Holland had joined the "Armed Neutrality." Some other pretext must be found. In September, 1780, a British vessel captured an American packet carrying Henry Laurens who was on his way to negotiate a loan in the Netherlands. Among his papers was the draft of a commercial treaty drawn up two years before and signed by Van Berckel, the chief magistrate of Amsterdam. The paper had not been ratified by the Dutch government and had no validity, but England demanded prompt satisfaction and an exemplary punishment of Van Berckel. The Dutch government disavowed the act, but, owing to the decentralized Dutch constitution, it was more difficult for the states general to find a way to punish the magistrate of a particular city than it is for the United States to inflict punishment for the murder of Italians in New Orleans or Chinese in San Francisco. The reply of the states general was held to be evasive and England declared It was evident that the accession of the Dutch to the "Armed Neutrality" was the real cause of the war, but Catherine evaded their demand for aid, alleging that war. the quarrel grew out of an incident with which the league 1 7 8 1 had nothing to do. This reluctance of Catherine left the "Armed Neutrality" little more than an "armed nullity." Saint The British ministry at once sent orders to Rodney to Rodney Takes seize Saint Eustatius. On the third of February, 1781, Eustatius Rodney appeared before the island. The governor, ignorant that war had been declared and unable to make any defense, surrendered. The booty was immense, in value more than fifteen million dollars. "This rock of only six miles in length and three in breadth," Rodney wrote to his wife, "has done England more harm than all the arms of her most potent enemies, and alone supported the infamous American rebellion." He determined to leave it, "instead of the greatest emporium upon earth, a mere desert and only known by report." Public and private property was seized and many of the plundered inhabitants were forced to leave the island. "With stratagem perhaps not illegal but certainly not glorious, the Dutch flag was kept flying" in order that Dutch, French, Spanish, and American vessels might be decoyed into the roadstead and seized as a part of the spoils. According to Rodney, more than fifty American vessels were thus taken. England's treatment of the Dutch and her capture of A Statue Saint Eustatius brought their own retribution. While Over-gilt on its way to Europe, a large part of the booty was captured by a French fleet. Another part was lost when Saint Eustatius was taken by a French force as it was before the end of the year. Even the plunder that was sold by the British went at a low price and much of it ultimately came into the possession of England's enemies at a cheaper rate than it would if the island had remained in the hands of the Dutch. England had now to face still another enemy. Most important of all to America, while Rodney lingered at Saint Eustatius gathering the spoil, the comte de Grasse, with a French fleet, "slipped around the shoulder of Martinique and joined the other French ships in the roadstead of Fort Royal." This junction was pregnant with momentous consequences. General CHAPTER XII I THE RECLAMATION OF THE CAROLINAS N ATHANAEL Greene was the son of a Rhode Island Quaker farmer and blacksmith. An ardent patriot, he joined a militia company called the Kentish guards and was expelled from the Society of Friends. Foreseeing the impending conflict, he studied military science and, at the outbreak of the war, was made a brigadiergeneral. He commanded the Rhode Island forces before Boston, was made a major-general, and, but for an inopportune illness, would have been in command of the American forces in the battle of Long Island. He was in the battles at Harlem Heights, Trenton, Brandywine, Germantown, and elsewhere and served for a time as quartermastergeneral. In October, 1780, Washington selected him to succeed Gates as commander of the southern department. On the second of December, Greene took command of the American army at Charlotte, about three hundred discouraged men, half fed and ill-clothed and many of them defiant of 1 7 8 o discipline. The number of regulars did not exceed General Map of the Southern Campaign of 1781 eleven hundred. In front of them and in a country infested with Tories was an army superior in numbers, equipment, and discipline, elated with victory, and commanded by the most enterprising officers that the |