ector and friend; and he knew, moreover,
that the accusations against Brunswick were really aimed at himself. The
duke, however, after appealing to the States-General, and being by them
declared free from blame, found the spirit of hostility so strong at
Amsterdam and in several of the Provincial Estates that he withdrew
first (1782) to Hertogenbosch, of which place he was governor, and
finally left the country in 1784.

The war meanwhile, which had been the cause, or rather the pretext, for
this outburst of popular feeling against Brunswick, was pursuing its
course. In the summer of 1781 Rear-Admiral Zoutman, at the head of a
squadron of fifteen war-ships, was ordered to convoy seventy-two
merchantmen into the Baltic. He met an English force of twelve vessels,
which were larger and better armed than the Dutch, under Vice-Admiral
Hyde Parker. A fierce encounter took place at the Doggerbank on August
5, which lasted all day without either side being able to claim the
victory. Parker was the first to retreat, but Zoutman had likewise to
return to the Texel to repair his disabled ships, and his convoy never
reached the Baltic. The Dutch however were greatly elated at the result
of the fight, and Zoutman and his captains were feted as heroes.

Doggerbank battle was but, at the most, an indecisive engagement on a
very small scale, and it brought no relaxation in the English blockade.
No Dutch admiral throughout all the rest of the war ventured to face the
English squadrons in the North Sea and in the Channel; and the Dutch
mercantile marine disappeared from the ocean. England was strong enough
to defy the Armed Neutrality, which indeed proved, as its authoress
Catherine II is reported to have said, "an armed nullity." There was
deep dissatisfaction throughout the country, and mutual recriminations
between the various responsible authorities, but there was some justice
in making the stadholder the chief scapegoat, for, whatever may have
been the faults of others, a vigorous initiative in the earlier years of
his stadholdership might have effected much, and would have certainly
gained for him increased influence and respect.

The war lasted for two years, if war that could be called in which there
was practically no fighting. There were changes of government in
England during that time, and the party of which Fox was the leader had
no desire to press hardly upon the Dutch. Several efforts were made to
induce them to negotiat