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against injury.
When in autumn it came to
light that
Bernstorff in a separate treaty with
Great Britain had compromised the rule on contraband, the minister was for the time dismissed from office.
1 It may here be added that on the seventh of May, 1781,
Frederic of
Prussia, acceded to the armed neutrality, and obtained its protection for the commerce of his people.
Five months later, Joseph the Second overcame his ill-humored demurs, and, by yielding by treaty to the empress, gained advantages for the commerce of
Belgium.
The accession of
Portugal took place in July, 1782; that of
Naples in February
of the following year; that of the
Ottoman Porte in September, 1782, by its treaty with
Spain, confirmed in June, 1783, by its treaty with
Russia.
Every considerable power on the continent of
Europe, from Archangel to
Constantinople, accepted the rules of navigation which the empress of
Russia had promulgated; yet
Great Britain, which had met
them without a protest or a denial, was unrelentingly resolved to prevent the accession of the Netherlands to the association through their stadholder or by war.
Even if the
British had reason for suspending all treaties with the Netherlands, the republic remained an independent state, and had all the rights of an unprivileged neutral; yet
Stormont showed it no more respect than might have been done to a vassal.
‘The best way,’ wrote he to
Yorke, ‘to bring the
Dutch around to their senses is to wound them in their most feeling part, their carrying trade.
The ’
