Orange stadholder and his
party had been compelled to break with England and to seek the alliance
of France; but their joy was but short-lived. Bad tidings followed
rapidly one upon another. In the first month of the war 200 merchantmen
were captured, of the value of 15,000,000 florins. The fishing fleets
dared not put out to sea. In 1780 more than 2000 vessels passed through
the Sound, in 1781 only eleven. On February 3 St Eustatius surrendered
to Admiral Rodney, when one hundred and thirty merchantmen together with
immense stores fell into the hands of the captors. Surinam and Curacoa
received warning and were able to put themselves into a state of
defence, but the colonies of Demerara, Berbice and Essequibo were taken,
also St Martin, Saba and the Dutch establishments on the coast of
Guinea. In the East Indies Negapatam and the factories in Bengal passed
into English possession; and the Cape, Java and Ceylon would have shared
the same fate, but for the timely protection of a French squadron under
the command of Suffren, one of the ablest and bravest of French seamen.

The losses were enormous, and loud was the outcry raised in Amsterdam
and elsewhere against the prince of being the cause of his country's
misfortunes. "Orange," so his enemies said, "is to blame for everything.
He possessed the power to do whatsoever he would, and he neglected to
use it in providing for the navy and the land's defences." This was to a
considerable extent unjust, for William from 1767 onwards had repeatedly
urged an increase of the sea and land forces, but his proposals had been
thwarted by bitter opposition, especially in Amsterdam itself. The
accusations were to this extent correct that he was undoubtedly invested
with large executive power which he had not the strength of will to use.
It was at this period that Van der Capellen and others started a most
violent press campaign not only against the stadholder, but against the
hereditary stadholdership and all that the house of Orange-Nassau stood
for in the history of the Dutch Republic. Brunswick was attacked with
especial virulence. The "Act of Consultation" had become known; and, had
the prince been willing to throw responsibility upon the duke for bad
advice he might have gained some fleeting popularity by separating
himself from the hated "foreigner." But William, weak though he was,
would not abandon the man who in his youth had been to him and to his
house a wise and staunch prot