Chap. XX.} 1781. Feb. 3. |
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in St. Christopher, Rodney scorned to read, and
answered: ‘The island of St. Eustatius is Dutch; everything in it is Dutch; everything is under the protection of the Dutch flag, and as Dutch it shall be treated.’
Besides St. Eustatius, all the settlements of the republic in South America were taken during the season.
The undefended Cape of Good Hope, the half-way house on the voyage to India; the feebly garrisoned Negapatam; and the unique harbor of Trincomalee on Ceylon,—were all of them most desirable objects for Great Britain.
The Dutch republic was relatively weak; yet, if her finances were impaired, it was by debts contracted during her alliance with England and in rendering service to that power.
England lost, for the time, its remaining influence on the continent of Europe by this cruel and unjust war. No nation remained with which it had any connection on the score of principle; not one to which it was drawn by regard for the higher interests of humanity.
Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1874.
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