powers; 25,000 French troops were to be
quartered in the Republic and were to be fed, clothed and paid. The
Dutch were compelled to permit the free circulation of the worthless
_assignats_ in their country.

One of the first results of this treaty was a breach with Great Britain.
The Dutch coast was blockaded; British fleets stopped all sea-borne
commerce; and the Dutch colonies in the East and West Indies were one
after the other captured. The action of the Prince of Orange made this
an easy task. William placed in the hands of the British commanders
letters addressed to the governors of the Dutch colonies ordering them
"to admit the troops sent out on behalf of his Britannic Majesty and to
offer no resistance to the British warships, but to regard them as
vessels of a friendly Power." The Cape of Good Hope surrendered to
Admiral Rodney; and in quick succession followed Malacca, Ceylon and the
Moluccas. A squadron of nine ships under Rear-Admiral Lucas, sent out to
recover the Cape and the other East Indian possessions, was compelled to
surrender to the English in Saldanha Bay on August 17, 1796, almost
without resistance, owing to the Orange sympathies of the crews. The
West Indian Colonies fared no better. Demerara, Essequibo and Berbice
capitulated in the spring of 1796; Surinam remained in Dutch hands until
1799; Java until 1801. The occupation by the English of this island, the
most important of all the Dutch overseas possessions, made the tale of
their colonial losses complete. The offensive and defensive alliance
with France had thus brought upon the Republic, as a trading and
colonial power, a ruin which the efforts of the provisional government
under French pressure to re-organise and strengthen their naval and
military forces had been unable to prevent. The erstwhile exiles,
Daendels and Dumonceau, who had attained the rank of generals in the
French service, were on their return entrusted with the task of raising
an army of 36,000 men, disciplined and equipped on the French system.
The navy was dealt with by a special Committee, of which Pieter Paulus
was the energetic president. Unfortunately for the Committee, a large
proportion of the officers and crews were strongly Orangist. Most of the
officers resigned, and it was necessary to purge the crews. Their places
had to be supplied by less experienced and trustworthy material; but
Vice-Admiral Jan de Winter did his utmost to create a fleet in fit
condition t