Studies in American History 
9 
treaty. A little later, in 1784, Joseph took steps toward re- 
opening the Scheldt to navigation. The Dutch did not want 
to see Antwerp restored as a commercial rival of Amsterdam. 
Immediately they protested, pleaded, and argued. Joseph or- 
dered one of his ships to sail to the mouth of the Scheldt, at 
the same time warning the Dutch that any interference would 
be considered as an act of war. But with all of this warning, 
the Dutch, conscious of what their act might bring, forcibly 
stopped the Austrian ship and prepared for war. Fortunately 
for the Dutch they did not have to tight this time, for Ver- 
gennes was still living then and was willing to take their side 
against Joseph, which was enough to make the latter consent 
to live up to the treaty of 1648, by which the river Scheldt 
had been closed to navigation.^^ The significance of all this is 
that the Dutch could bestir themselves when their commercial 
activity was threatened. Politically the period was anything 
but brilliant for the Netherlands. The government was slow, 
cumbersome, and inefficient. At best the central government 
was only a confederacy of the loosest kind. Local govern- 
ments and traditions, however, were strong enough to pre- 
serve order. The central government did nothing to help in- 
dustry and commerce, but it also did nothing to hamper it. 
Thus commerce so far as the Dutch government was concerned 
could practically follow the channels determined by economic 
law. As a result, the Dutch commerce after the war with 
England, 1781-1783, grew to unprecedented proportions. Mr. 
Eden stated that the exports of Holland, of foreign goods 
alone, after the war amounted to £18,000,000 annually.^^ 
It has sometimes been stated that the Dutch could not or 
would not give credit to American merchants as freely as did 
the English. The fact seems to be that during a part of this 
period the English could not give credit, as three-fourths of 
their London merchants were bankrupt in 1786, because of 
sending great quantities of goods and extending credit reck- 
lessly25 to Americans, in their effort to win back the market.-^ 
The amount of exports from England to the United States for 
Piaganel, Histoire de Joseph II, 400. 
Tench Coxe, A View' of the United States of America (Philadelphia, 1794), 185. 
25 Lord Sheffield, Observations on the Commerce of the United States (London, 1784), 
248. 
2® David Maepherson, Annals of Commerce . ... of the British Empire and 
Other Cov/ntries (4 volg., London, 1805), 18, 
