For general Dutch history of the 16th and 17th centuries: Blok, Davies, Haley, Schama. For Dutch ascendancy and expansion of trade: in addition to the above, Boxer, Blok. For revolt of the Netherlands: in addition to the general histories, especially Davies, Geyl, Motley, Blok, Part 3, Schama.
1 “THE COUNTRY WHERE I AM”: to Abigail, letters of September 14, 15, 1780, Adams, Book of Abigail and John.
2 GREATEST TRADING NATION IN THE WORLD: Boxer, 27, 69.
3 ADMIRAL DE RUYTER ASTONISHED A FRENCH OFFICER: Haley, 37.
4 10,000 SHIPS: Palmer, 138; Mahan, Influence, 96.
5 PITT, “SUGAR, EH?”: Mintz, 156.
6 “BUNCH OF BEGGARS”: Motley, I, 160.
7 COUNCIL OF BLOOD: Boxer, 9.
8 “ODIOUS PERSONAGE”: q. G. P. Gooch, History and Historians in the 19th Century, Boston, 1965, p. 387.
9 “IT IS NOT NECESSARY TO HOPE”: q. in a Memorial to the late Carl Friedrich by a Committee of the Department of Government, Harvard University, Harvard Gazette, February 7, 1986. This striking statement was a favorite of Professor Friedrich of Harvard and he liked to repeat it to his classes. The only published version the author has found is in slightly altered words in The Oxford Book of Quotations, p. 1489.
10 SIEGE OF LEYDEN: Motley, II, 363-582. (This and other major events of the revolt will be found in the several Dutch histories of the period.)
11 WILLIAM’S PROPOSAL TO OPEN THE DIKES: Davies, II, 10.
12 CHOSE THE UNIVERSITY: Davies, II, 15.
13 OATH OF ABJURATION: Geyl, 183; Davies, II, 100 ff.
14 COUNCILOR OF FRIESLAND EXPIRES ON TAKING OATH: Davies, II, 111.
15 HANDS ON A CRUCIFIX: see the picture by Ter Borch reproduced in Haley, 112-13.
16 ON PIERRE BAYLE: Palmer, 276.
17 “AN IDEAL SOCIETY”: Haley, 172.
CHAPTER IV “THE MADDEST IDEA IN THE WORLD”—AN AMERICAN NAVY
For origins of the American navy, sources are: Morison, Jones; Morison, History; and Bancroft, V, 410 ff. For Greathead correspondence: Schulte, Edler, and Clark. For the Continental Flag: Lorenz, Burch. For Baltimore Hero, the protests of Greathead, Colpoys, and Admiral Young, and de Graaff’s hearings by the West India Company: Melville, Schulte.
1 WASHINGTON’S CREATION OF THE NAVY: Morison, Jones, 35.
2 WASHINGTON ASKS FOR ARMED SHIP TO GO TO BERMUDA: Fitzpatrick, Writings, III, 386.
3 SAMUEL CHASE, “MADDEST IDEA IN THE WORLD”: October 7, 1775, Journals of Continental Congress, I—III, 485.
4 GEORGE WYTHE, “NO MARITIME POWER”: October 21, 1775, ibid., 500.
5 “YOU HAVE BEGUN TO BURN OUR TOWNS,” BENJAMIN FRANKLIN TO WILLIAM STRAHAN, JULY 5, 1775: The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, XXII, New Haven and London, 1982, p. 85.
6 ESEK HOPKINS, “A PACK OF DAMN FOOLS”: q. Morison, Jones, 34.
7 MARGARET MANNY RECEIVED 49 YARDS: the order for red-and-white-striped bunting survives in James Wharton’s Day Book, now in the State Library, Hartford, Connecticut; Lorenz, 58.
8 NEW FLAG RAISED BY JONES: Lorenz, 58.
9 FIGHT WITH THE GLASGOW: Morison, Jones, 47-52.
10 “AWAY CAME POOR GLASGOW”: q. Lorenz, 70.
11 CAPTAIN BIDDLE, “A MORE IMPRUDENT”: q. Morison, Jones, 52.
12 CAPTAIN ROBINSON’S SEALED ORDERS: Burch, 4; Melville, 59-60. For incident of salute, Melville, 71-3.
13 CAPTAIN ROBINSON DIPPED HIS FLAG: Hartog, 71.
14 RAVENÉ ORDERED TO RESPOND: Burch, 4; Melville, 61.
15 BIDDLE ORDERED TO SALUTE OTHER FORTS: Clark, 1210.
16 NAVAL REGULATIONS FOR ACTION AT SEA: Morison, Jones, 38.
CHAPTER V BUCCANEER—THE BALTIMORE HERO
See references for Chapter IV.
1 BALTIMORE HERO CAPTURES THE MAY: Hartog, 73; Maclay, 133; Schulte, 45.
2 CORRESPONDENCE ON BALTIMORE HERO OF GREATHEAD, YOUNG, VAN BIBBER: Melville, 62; Prescott, 2; fully documented in Edler, 245; Clark, 673; Schulte, 41-5; Young to de Graaff, December 14, 1776, Clark, 486.
3 GREATHEAD ACCUSATIONS: Melville, 62 et seq.; Clark, 507-9.
4 DE GRAAFF SUBJECT TO SEASICKNESS: Schulte, 13; PRO, Admiralty, 1/309, 31/336.
5 “A DISEASE WHICH RECEIVES NO PITY”: Anonymous, 32.
6 DE GRAAFF’S REPLY TO CHARGES AT HEARINGS: Clark, 501, 524-5; Schulte, 41-5.
7 TROTTMAN’S TESTIMONY: Clark, 485.
8 COMMITTEE ACCEPTS HIS DEFENSE: Jameson, 695.
9 182 SHIPS IN THIRTEEN MONTHS: ibid., 686.
10 ADAMS ON INCREASE: August 4, 1779, Adams, Works, VII, 104; Edler, 61-2.
11 TWO PRIVATEERS NAMED FOR DE GRAAFF AND WIFE: MUNDY, II, 46.
12 F. W. CRAGIN COMMISSIONS PORTRAIT: Donor was F. W. Cragin, who lived in Surinam as U.S. Consul to Paramaribo. The portrait of de Graaff, by an unknown painter, was commissioned by his brother, Paul Cragin, and donated in 1837 to New Hampshire, the Cragins’ native state. Letter to author from Visitors Center of State House, Concord, N.H.
13 YORKE ADDRESSES NETHERLANDS AS BOSTON: Adams, Works, VII, 329.
14 BRUNSWICK, “MOST INSOLENT AND IMPROPER”: q. Edler, 50.
15 “WRATH WITHOUT POWER”: q. Schulte, 43.
16 YORKE “RAISED A VIOLENT FERMENTATION”: to Sir William Eden, March 7, 1777: Edler, 51; Schulte, 21.
17 ISSUE OF UNLIMITED CONVOY: Schulte, 70-2.
18 ALL MEN OF SUBSTANCE “SEEMED TO SHUDDER”: Adams, Works, VII, 523.
CHAPTER VI THE DUTCH AND THE ENGLISH: ANOTHER WAR
For Dutch conditions, the major source is Schulte, on the political structure, especially Blok. Personalities of William V and the Duke of Brunswick are drawn by two observers, Malmesbury and Wraxall.
1 THE CONSTITUTION WAS “SO COMPLICATED AND WHIMSICAL A THING”: Adams, Works, VII, 507.
2 VAN BLEISWIJK: Schulte, prologue; van Loon, 297; Adams, Works, VII, 618.
3 “WHILE THE BURGHER IS SMALL”: q. Boxer, 33.
4 DE WITT, “THE PERFECT HOLLANDER”: ibid.
5 WILLIAM CARR, “SURPASS ALL OTHER CITIES”: q. Haley, 156.
6 WILLIAM II OPPOSED TERMS WITH SPAIN: Blok, IV, 142.
7 MACAULAY ON SILESIA: Macaulay, “Frederick the Great,” Critical and Historical Essays, II, 117.
8 BRUNSWICK MANIFESTO: James Robinson and Charles Beard, Readings in Modern European History, Boston, 1908, I, 292-4.
9 SECRET ACT OF ADVISERSHIP: Schama, 36.
10 ON BRUNSWICK, “I HAVE RARELY SEEN”: Wraxall, 78.
11 PRINCE-STADTHOLDER’S “CONSTITUTIONAL SOMNOLENCY”: ibid., 75.
12 ON FREDERIKA SOPHIA, “WELL-EDUCATED”: Blok, V, 152.
13 “NOT EVEN GO TO PARADISE”: Malmesbury, II, 95.
14 ON WILLIAM V, “HIS UNDERSTANDING WAS CULTIVATED”: Wraxall, 75.
15 WILLIAM V WISHED HIS FATHER HAD NEVER BECOME STADTHOLDER: Schama, 57.
16 “I WISH I WERE DEAD”: q. Schulte, 14.
17 TWENTY-FOUR SHIPS DISCUSSED FOR SEVEN YEARS: Blok, V, 61-2.
18 ON DECLINE: Blok, V, 146 ff., and VI, 188-92; Schulte, prologue, 3-17.
19 YORKE, “MERCHANTS OR MONEY GETTERS”: q. Schulte, 6.
20 JOHANN HERDER, HOLLAND “IS SINKING”: ibid., 7-8.
21 ADAMS DISENCHANTED, “THIS COUNTRY IS INDEED”: Adams, Works, VII, 418-19.
22 HERMAN COLENBRANDER ACKNOWLEDGED THE URGE: q. Schulte, 6.
23 WALPOLE, “A TERRESTRIAL PARADISE”: to Mann, May 18, 1782, Corres., XXV.
24 ON VAN DER CAPELLEN: van Loon, 200; Schulte, 21-31.
25 “A LAFAYETTE WITH AN EVEN LIGHTER HEAD”: q. Schulte, 22.
26 SCOTS BRIGADE: Schama, 37; van Loon, 185; Blok, V, 158.
27 VAN DER CAPELLEN’S SPEECH ON SCOTS BRIGADE: Schulte, 26; Edler, 32.
28 COLPOYS PROTESTS SALUTE OF THE AMERICAN VESSELS: Clark, 586-8.
29 THE BRIG SMACK AND BRIG BETSY AND CARGOES: Augur, 23.
30 YORKE, “TO RESTORE THE APPEARANCE”: to Suffolk, May 29, 1778, q. Edler, 101.
31 �
�MULTIPLY LIKE SAND”: the phrase was used by Desnoyers, French chargé at The Hague to Vergennes, September 10, 1776, q. Edler, 22, n. 1.
32 “A DESULTORY RAGE OF A FEW ENTHUSIASTS”: September 25, 1780, q. Smith, John Adams, I, 483.
33 BUFFON, “NIGGARDLY SKY AND UNPROLIFIC LAND”: q. Schulte. This and other statements of the time about Americans and America by European travelers and pseudo-scientific writers are quoted in Schulte, 133-40.
34 UNLIMITED CONVOY: Boxer, 112-15; Blok, V, 164-8.
35 VAUGUYON, A POLICY OF EASE AND QUIET: Edler, 20, n. 1.
36 FIELDING-BYLANDT COMBAT: Blok, V, 165-6.
37 MARINE COMMITTEE’S PLANS FOR JONES: Morison, Jones, 76-7.
38 FIGHT OF BONHOMME RICHARD AND SERAPIS: Whipple, 48-9; Lorenz, 288 et seq.
39 YORKE’S ACCESS TO SECRET CORRESPONDENCE: Edler, 17, n. 3.
40 BANCROFT AS “SUPREME SPY”: Augur, 136.
41 JONES REPORTS THE DUTCH PEOPLE ARE FOR US: q. Schama, 62.
42 YORKE’S PROTESTS ON PRESENCE OF JONES: q. Schulte, 72-3; Lorenz, 320.
43 “A THOUGHT STRUCK ME YESTERDAY,” YORKE WROTE TO THE ADMIRALTY: q. Lorenz, 327.
44 JONES, “DRAWBRIDGES HAULED UP OR LET DOWN AT OUR DISCRETION”: q. Schulte, 73.
45 THE DE NEUFVILLE OR SECRET TREATY: Augur, 322; Bemis, 289 ff.
46 WILLIAM V WOULD RESIGN AS STADTHOLDER RATHER THAN ACCEPT THE TREATY: Schulte, 63.
47 SECRET TREATY BECOMES PUBLICLY KNOWN: van Loon, 221, 252 ff.
48 CATHERINE II AND THE NEUTRALITY LEAGUE: de Madariaga, 383-5.
49 “LA MARIÉE EST TROP BELLE. ON VEUT ME TROMPER”: q. Haslip, 278.
50 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, “EVERY NATION IN EUROPE”: Committee of Secret Correspondence, March 12, 1977, q. Edler, 9.
51 FIVE PRINCIPLES OF NEUTRALITY: Bemis, 152 ff.
52 CABINET MEETING AT WHICH LORD NORTH FELL ASLEEP: Mackesy, 378-9.
53 MALMESBURY, “UNGRATEFUL DIRTY SENSELESS BOORS”: to Sir Robert Keith, November 29, 1780, Malmesbury, Diaries, I, 345.
54 LAURENS LOSES DE NEUFVILLE TREATY OVERBOARD: Blok, V, 168; Schulte, 148.
55 STORMONT TO YORKE, “EQUIVALENT TO ACTUAL AGGRESSION”: q. Schulte, 149.
56 LAURENS PAPERS WOULD GIVE “PROPEREST DIRECTION TO THE WAR”: ibid.
57 PUBLICATION WOULD “OCCASION A WONDERFUL ALARM”: ibid.
58 YORKE DEMANDS PUNISHMENT OF VAN BERCKEL ET AL.: Schulte, 150; Blok, V, 168.
59 ADAMS REPORTS YORKE TREATING AMSTERDAM AS BOSTON: q. Schulte, 150.
60 ADAMS, “A VIOLENT STRUGGLE” IN THE REPUBLIC: to Congress, December 25, 1780, Adams, Works, VII, 346-7.
61 DUTCH JOIN THE LEAGUE: Blok, V, 168-9; Madariaga, 238.
62 LORD NORTH’S SPEECH ANNOUNCING THE WAR: January 25, 1781, GB Parl.
CHAPTER VII ENTER ADMIRAL RODNEY
Correspondence and remarks by and about Admiral Rodney not cited are from the biographies by Mundy and Spinney; on conditions under sail: Whipple; Mahan, Types; Morison, Jones.
1 RODNEY RECEIVES ORDERS JANUARY 27 TO TAKE ST. EUSTATIUS: Mahan, Types, 217.
2 “FIRST OBJECTS OF ATTACK”: Spinney, 360, q. from Sandwich Papers, IV, 128.
3 GREAT “QUANTITIES OF PROVISIONS … LAID UP THERE”: Mundy, II, 8.
4 ATTACK ON EUSTATIUS “A MOST PROFOUND SECRET”: ibid., 15.
5 RODNEY DEMANDS “INSTANT SURRENDER”: ibid., 12-13.
6 “MORE DETRIMENTAL”: Rodney to Sandwich, February 7, 1781, Sandwich Papers, IV, 148.
7 RODNEY ENTERS ST. EUSTATIUS FLYING FRENCH FLAG: Miller, 591.
8 RODNEY’S CONFISCATIONS: Hartog, chap. 9; Jameson, 700 et seq.; Augur, 323; Larrabee, 165.
9 SINGLES OUT THE JEWS: Hartog, 88; Jameson, 705; Hannay, 154.
10 RODNEY ON DE GRAAFF AS “FIRST MAN WHO INSULTED THE BRITISH FLAG”: to Stephens, March 6, 1781, q. Mundy, II, 46.
11 DE GRAAFF SEIZED AND SENT AS PRISONER TO BRITAIN: Mundy, II, 46.
12 TRADING WITH THE ENEMY: Augur, 53.
13 MERCHANTS’ PAPERS DEPOSITED WITH LORD GEORGE GERMAIN: Spinney, 420; MacIntyre, 163.
14 PAPERS MISSING AFTER THE WAR: Augur, 325; Larrabee, 168.
15 WIFE WRITES, “JOY TO YOU, MY DEAR SIR GEORGE”: March 17, 1781, Mundy, II, 50-1.
16 ADAMS REPORTS “GLOOM AND TERROR” IN THE NETHERLANDS: Adams, Works, VII, 523.
17 RODNEY, “LOSS TO HOLLAND … GREATER THAN CAN BE CONCEIVED”: Mundy, II, 15-16.
18 BURKE’S SPEECH ON CRUELTY AND OPPRESSION OF RODNEY: debate November 30, 1781, GB Parl.
19 GERMAIN’S DEFENSE OF RODNEY: ibid.
20 CHARLES JAMES FOX’S SPEECH: ibid.
21 DEFENSE BY LORD ADVOCATE OF SCOTLAND: ibid.
22 RODNEY, “NEST OF VIPERS”: Mundy, II, 29.
23 RODNEY, “THEY DESERVE SCOURGING”: to Germain, q. Jameson, 702.
24 RODNEY’S LOSS: Larrabee, 167-8; Jameson, 707, 708n.
25 RODNEY AND VAUGHAN WILL LEAVE THE ISLAND “A MERE DESERT … THIS ROCK … HAS DONE ENGLAND MORE HARM,” APRIL 23, 1781: Mundy, II, 97.
26 A FAMILY OF GREATER ANTIQUITY THAN FAME: Hannay, I.
27 KING GEORGE I AS GODFATHER: Hannay, 4; Spinney, 19, declares this claim is a myth.
28 WRAXALL, “TWO PASSIONS HIGHLY INJURIOUS”: Wraxall, 130.
29 WALPOLE, THE PRINCESS AMELIA AND “LITTLE MISS ASHE”: to Montagu, June 23, 1750, Walpole, Corres., IX, 106, n. 13; Wraxall, 130.
30 RODNEY, “MAKING HIMSELF FREQUENTLY THE THEME OF HIS OWN DISCOURSE”: Wraxall, 130.
31 “HIS PERSON WAS MORE ELEGANT”: ibid.
32 “THE MOST ENTERPRISING AND IRASCIBLE”: Valentine, Establishment, II, 747.
33 ADMIRAL KING: Hough, 219.
34 ADMIRAL HYDE PARKER, LESTOCK, MATHEWS, D’ESTAING AND OTHERS WHO WERE IRASCIBLE: Lestock and Mathews, MacIntyre, 20; Hyde Parker and d’Estaing, Lewis, C. L., 71-80.
35 DE GRASSE ADMINISTERED “SHARPEST REPROACHES”: Tornquist, 42.
36 SANDWICH, “NO SET OF MEN UNDERSTAND THESE MATTERS SO ILL”: q. Martelli, 23.
37 “CHARMING MARITIME ILL-TEMPER”: Anonymous, 63.
38 ADMIRAL MAHAN ON NEED OF EDUCATION: Mahan, Influence, 267.
39 HAKLUYT, CHARLES V WITH “GREAT FORESIGHT”: Richard Hakluyt, The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffics, and Discoveries of the English Nation, Glasgow, 1903, I, 34-5.
40 ENGLISH LOOT AT FINISTERRE: Lewis, C. L., 24-7; MacIntyre, 27.
41 FIGHT OF THE GLOIRE AT FINISTERRE: Lewis, C. L., 24-6.
42 PRIZE LAW ON DIVISION OF LOOT AMONG OFFICERS: MacIntyre, 26; Morison, Jones, 68.
43 RODNEY’S SHARE WAS £8,165: Spinney, 80.
44 LOOT AT HAVANA: Lewis, C. L., 69.
45 BRITISH NAVAL APPROPRIATIONS CUT: Kennedy, 109.
46 FRENCH NAVAL THEORY, ADMIRAL GRIVEL QUOTED: q. Mahan, Influence, 289.
47 NELSON’S VICTORY REQUIRED 2,500 TREES: Whipple, 17.
48 CONDUCT OF GUNNERY: Morison, Jones, 41-2.
49 GUN CREWS COULD FIRE ONCE EVERY TWO MINUTES: Whipple, 30.
50 MANAGEMENT OF SAIL: Morison, Jones, 58; Larrabee, 7.
51 M. MAUREPAS, PIFF POFF: q. Martelli, 215.
52 MATHEWS-LESTOCK QUARREL AT BATTLE OF TOULON: Mahan, Influence, 265-7; Lewis, C. L., 22; MacIntyre, 20-1.
53 MAHAN, “POSSIBLE TAINT OF ILL WILL”: Mahan, Influence, 267.
54 FIGHTING INSTRUCTIONS: MacIntyre, 21; Encyc. Brit., 11th edition: “Toulon”; Whipple, 13.
55 MATHEWS-LESTOCK COURTS-MARTIAL: MacIntyre, 22-3.
56 LINE AHEAD: Whipple, 45.
57 LOUIS XVI, “BUT WHO SHALL RESTORE THE BRAVE SAILORS”: Mundy, II, 273.
58 ADMIRALTY’S REPORT OF 35 SHIPS OF THE LINE: James, W. M., 122; Mahan, Influence, 341.
59 KEPPEL, “NO PLEASURE TO HIS SEAMAN’S EYE”: ibid.
60 ON CONDITIONS IN THE NAVY: MacIntyre, 35-6, 74-6.
61 BYNG, “I SHALL ENDEAVOR TO AVOID”: q. Mahan, Types, 571-3; for the case of Admiral Byng, Mahan, Influence, 286-91.
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br /> 62 BYNG CONDEMNED FOR NEGLIGENCE: MacIntyre, 37.
63 RODNEY AIDS PETITION FOR PARDON: Spinney, 131.
64 SCHOOLBOY OF EDINBURGH, JOHN CLERK: Whipple, 53-4.
65 BREAKING THE LINE: Mahan, Influence, 381.
66 CHURCHILL, “PROFESSIONAL HIERARCHY OF THE ROYAL NAVY”: Hough, 247.
67 BATTLES OFF BREST AND CAPE FINISTERRE: Spinney, 75-84.
68 GEORGE II ON RODNEY’S YOUTH: Mundy, I, 43.
69 WALPOLE, “STREETS OF OUR CAPITAL, THE OCEAN”: to Mann, May 18, 1782, Corres., XXV, 277.
70 MAHAN, “KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN HAD BECOME THE BRITISH EMPIRE”: Mahan, Influence, 291.
71 QUIBERON BAY CALLED “THE GREATEST VICTORY”: Valentine, Establishment, I, 429.
72 RODNEY AT LE HAVRE: Mundy, I, 54-5; Spinney, 153 et seq.
73 COLORS FOR GRADES OF ADMIRAL: letter to author from Naval Historical Library of Ministry of Defence, London, November 2, 1987.
74 GEORGE III, “OUR ISLANDS MUST BE DEFENDED.… IF WE LOSE OUR SUGAR ISLANDS”: Sandwich Papers, III, 163.
75 SANDWICH, FLEET IN LEEWARDS “VERY DEPLORABLE”: ibid., 164.
76 RODNEY AT MARTINIQUE IN 1761 “SILENCED THE FORTS”: Mundy, I, 69-70.
77 “NOBLEST AND BEST HARBOUR”: ibid., 73.
78 “FROM THAT MOMENT,” WROTE RODNEY’S BIOGRAPHER, PREDICTING MOVEMENT FOR INDEPENDENCE: ibid., 99.
79 ON RANKS OF REAR AND VICE ADMIRAL AND RODNEY’S CAREER PROGRESSION: Spinney, appendix XI.
CHAPTER VIII THE FRENCH INTERVENTION
For political quarrel in the Royal Navy: Wraxall, Spinney. For the Carlisle peace mission: Townshend, McDevitt.
1 BATTLE OF USHANT AND CONSEQUENCES: James, W. M., 124-42; Griffith, 518-19; Mahan, Influence, 350-3.
2 PALLISER-KEPPEL CONTROVERSY: Miller, 336-7; Mackesy, 239-43; James, B., 135-42.
3 “FIERCE TORRENT OF INVECTIVE” AGAINST SANDWICH: Jesse, II, 241.
4 LONDON MOB CELEBRATES KEPPEL’S ACQUITTAL: Spinney, 292; Griffith, 542.
5 LORD NORTH CLIMBED TO THE ROOF: Miller, 336.
6 REFUSALS TO SERVE UNDER SANDWICH: Spinney, 292.
7 “SO VIOLENT WAS THE SPIRIT OF PARTY”: Wraxall, 306.
8 HOOD ON “WANT OF DISCIPLINE”: George A. Billias, ed., George Washington’s Opponents: British Generals and Admirals in the American Revolution, New York, 1969, p. 297.
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