6] 
ing the customary duties. Had this 
permission been granted, upwards 
of twenty millions of specie, and 
other treasure, would, it was said, 
have been brought into this country. 
The reason alleged, for denying 
the request of the Dutch merchants, 
was, that if they were allowed to 
transport their effects into England, 
it would operate as a discourage- 
ment to their countrymen, and pre- 
vent them from acting with vigour 
against the French, who, having sub- 
dued the Austrian Netherlands, 
were then preparing to carry their 
victorious arms into the United 
Provinces: but the reply to this al- 
legation was, that the French party 
was so powerful in Holland, that it 
was easy to foresee that all resis- 
tance would be vain. It would have 
been good policy, therefore, to have 
encouraged the monied-men, in that 
country, to have lodged their pro- 
perty in England ; as most of them 
were manifestly inclined to do, in 
order to preserve it from ithe rapa- 
city of the French, whose wants 
were such as would infallibly induce 
them to supercede all considerations, 
im order to provide for them as soon 
as they should find themselves in 
‘possession of a country, the wealth 
of which was competent to supply 
them with what they needed. 
This refusal, on the part of the 
British administration, was generally 
deemed a Very unseasonable over- 
sight. 
the French an immense quantity of 
money and wealth of every denomi- 
nation, which might evidently have 
centered in England, together with 
its owners. This would, ina very 
considerable measure, have compen- 
sated for the loss of Holland to the 
confederacy, and amply indemni- 
fied Great Britain, by the prodigi- 
Tt threw into the hands of. 
ANNUAL REGISTER, 1796. 
ous accession of real property that 
must have been the necessary con- 
sequence of the emigrations of rich 
individuals from the United Pro- 
vinces. 
Another oversight, no less real, 
though less noticed, was an ar- 
ticle in a treaty which had been 
agreed on with the American States, 
by which their trade to the British 
islands in thé West Indies was re- 
stricted to vessels of an inferior size. 
This, instead of diminishing their 
commerce thither, tended rather to 
increase it, by adding to their num- 
ber of seamen : whether 1n large, or 
in small vessels, this commerce was 
so profitable to them, tbat whatever 
obstacles were thrown in their way, 
would quickly be overcome by their 
industry and activity: the profits of 
trade would be more divided, but 
the number of hands employed in it 
would produce the double conse- 
quence, both of gradually extending 
it, and of augmenting the number of 
American seamen. 
These various considerations con- 
tributed materially to displease the. 
generality of people. The burthens 
of the war were so heavy, and such 
multitudes felt their weight, that 
discontents and murmurs abounded 
every where, The different mo- 
tives assigned, at different epochs 
of the war, for its continuance, 
were also highly prejudicial to mi- 
nisters, as they Jed many to think 
that the real motive was purposedly 
kept out of sight, and was of too 
invidious a nature to be frankly ac- 
knowledged. 
Ideas of this nature were now 
universally current among the dis- 
approvers of the war, and were as- 
serted aud circulated: bysthem with 
considerable effect. But that cir- 
cumstance which was the most un- 
fortwnate 
