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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 February 2009
This article explores the domestic political aspects of the last great disaster of French foreign policy before the revolution: the unsuccessful intervention in Holland between 1784 and 1787. These have been largely ignored by historians, although much attention has been given both to the internal politics of the Dutch republic as well as to British involvement in her affairs during this period. The article argues that the increasing incoherence of French policy towards the United Provinces was caused by profound splits within the king's council. These culminated in a series of attacks on the diplomacy of the powerful foreign minister, the comte de Vergennes, by his ministerial opponents. The Dutch affair reveals the fragmentation of foreign policy during the last years of the ancien régime, and also paints a wider picture of a deeply divided royal government on the eve of the revolution.
1 The best treatments are Cobban, A., Ambassadors and secret agents: the diplomacy of the first earl of Malmesbury at the Hague (London, 1954)Google Scholar and Schama, S., Patriots and liberators (London, 1992 edition)Google Scholar. For the wider context see Blanning, T. C. W., The origins of the French revolutionary wars (London, 1986), pp. 36–52.Google Scholar
2 It should be emphasized, however, that the smallness of France's territorial gains from the American War aroused bitter controversy at the time. See Harlow, V. T., The founding of the second British empire (2 vols., London, 1952), I, 379–82.Google Scholar
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27 Which actually occurred, in the princess of Orange's case, in June 1787.
28 See a secret mémoire, Renseignements sur la négotiation entamée en 1784 relativement au projet de traité de navigation et de commerce à conclure entre la République de Hollande el la France in Ministère des Affaires Etrangères, série Correspondance Politique Hollande, supplément 21, fo. 103.
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37 AAE CP Hollande 562, fos. 8–11.
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49 See Mercy to Joseph II, 7 Apr. 1787, ibid. II, 89.
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62 Ibid, III, 15–16.
63 Vergennes to Castries, 9 Oct. 1785. AAE CP Hollande 564 fos. 355–6.
64 Castries to Vergennes, 10 Oct. 1785, ibid. fos. 371–4.
65 This is scattered across AAE CP Hollande, 564–6.
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69 ibid. fo. 463.
70 Grimoard to Vergennes, 30 Oct. 1785, ibid. fos. 491–2.
71 Grimoard to Vergennes, 18 Oct. 1785, ibid. fo. 423.
72 Louis de Conzié, bishop of Arras. Before the revolution an ally of Castries and Breteuil, but during the emigration defected to Artois. See Aston, N., The end of an élite: the French bishops and the coming of the Revolution 1786–90 (Oxford University Press, 1992), p. 10 n. 30CrossRefGoogle Scholar, and Cars, duc des, Mémoires (2 vols., Paris, 1890), II, 204–11.Google Scholar
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76 Grimoard to Vergennes, 30 Oct. 1785, ibid. fo. 491.
77 Castries to Bouillé, 21 Oct. 1785, ibid. fos. 433–4.
78 Grimoard to Vergennes, 4 Nov. 1785, AAE CP Hollande 565, fos. 21–2.
79 ibid. fo. 21.
80 ibid.
81 ibid.
82 Grimoard to Vergennes, 4 Nov. 1785, ibid. fo. 19.
83 ibid. fos. 19–23.
84 See Price, , The comte de Vergennes and the baron de Breteuil, pp. 116–17.Google Scholar
85 Grimoard to Vergennes, 4 Nov. 1785, AAE CP Hollande 565, fo. 23.
86 See Price, , The comte de Vergennes and the baron de Breteuil, pp. 121–71, 215–21.Google Scholar
87 Grimoard to Vergennes, 4 Nov. 1785, AAE CP Hollande 565, fo. 19.
88 ibid.
89 Grimoard to Vergennes, 30 Oct. 1785, AAE CP Hollande 564, fo. 492.
90 Vergennes to Grimoard, 12 Oct. 1785, ibid. fos. 377–9.
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92 Grimoard to Vergennes, 2 Dec. 1785, AAE CP Hollande 565, fo. 189.
93 ibid.
94 See Cobban, , Ambassadors and secret agents, pp. 44–5.Google Scholar
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96 Salm to Vergennes, 7 Jun. 1784, AAE CP Hollande 558, fos. 197–9.
97 Grimoard to Vergennes, 16 Dec. 1785, AAE CP Hollande 565, fos. 226–31.
98 ibid.
99 Résultat des mémoires respectifs remis par le Rhingrafou qui lui ont été remis, 19 Jun. 1786Google Scholar, cited in Colenbrander, , De patriottenijd, III, 33.Google Scholar
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101 Vergennes to Verac, 15 Dec. 1785, ibid. fo. 217.
102 Soulavie, , Mémoires historiques et poliliques, V, 1–96.Google Scholar
103 ‘On voudrait en vain se dissimuler les progrès de la dégradation rapide du crédit de la France et de sa considération, desa dignité mêmé, ibid, cited in Labourdette, , Vergennes, p. 288.Google Scholar
104 ibid. p. 42.
105 ibid. pp. 43–4.
106 ibid. pp. 44–5.
107 ibid. p. 45.
108 Dull, J. R., The French navy and American independence: a study of arms and diplomacy, 1774–1787 (Princeton, 1975).Google Scholar
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110 The point is made by Dull, in The French Navy, pp. 342–3.Google Scholar
111 Cited in Donaghay, , ‘The marechal de Castries’, p. 309.Google Scholar
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113 ibid. pp. 302–3.
114 ibid. pp. 297, 299.
115 ibid. pp. 300–3.
116 ibid. pp. 302 and n. 34.
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119 See comte d'Espinchal, Mémoires, ed. d'Hauterive, E. (English edition, London, 1912), pp. 205–6.Google Scholar
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121 Bérenger to Vergennes, 10 Dec. 1784, AAE CP Hollande 560, fo. 222.
122 Grimoard to Vergennes, 16 Dec. 1785, AAE CP Hollande 565, fos. 226–31.
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125 See Maillebois to Vergennes, 16 Jul. 1786, AAE CP Hollande 568, fo. 72.
126 See comte de Polignac to marquise de Monconseil nd, enclosed in letter comte de Polignac-Vergennes, 15 Jun. 1786, AAE CP Hollande 567, fos. 280–1.
127 These letters are in AAE MDF 1398.
128 Maillebois to Vergennes, 19 Mar. 1784, ibid. fo. 74.
129 Journal du maréchal de Castries (entry for 7 Mar. 1785).
130 There was always a strong pro-French party at Berlin in this period, led by Frederick the Great himself and his brother Prince Henry. The latter's visit to France in late 1784 to encourage the ministry to oppose Joseph II's Scheldt policy marked a crucial moment in tacit Franco-Prussian co-operation in this period. Important evidence of Prince Henry's links with Vergennes, Calonne and Jaucourt at this point is provided in des Cars, Mémoires, II, 31–40.
131 Castries to Louis XVI, 21 Jan. 1785, AN K 163, no. 18.
132 Castries, Observations, ibid.
133 ibid.
134 ibid.
135 Vérac to Vergennes, 8 Mar. 1785, AAE CP Hollande 562, fos. 46–7.
136 Vérac to Vergennes, 10 Jun. 1785, AAE CP 563, fo. 52.
137 One need only look as far as his views on Bouillé.
138 Maillebois to Vergennes, 20 Dec. 1784, AAE CP Hollande 560, fo. 320.
139 Maillebois to Vergennes, 27 Mar. 1786, AAE CP Hollande 566, fos. 389–90.
140 Maillebois to Vergennes, 21 Apr. 1786, AAE CP Hollande 566, fo. 66.
141 Maillebois to Vergennes, 24 Mar. 1786, AAE CP Hollande 566, fo. 367.
142 See Maillebois to Vergennes, 16 Jul. 1786, AAE CP Hollande 568, fos. 71–2.
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160 Thulemeyer to Goltz, 9 May 1786. This letter was intercepted by the French; a copy of it is in AAE CP Hollande 567, fos. 123–4.
161 See Maillebois to Vergennes, 12 Oct. 1785, AAE CP Hollande 564, fo. 382.
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170 Vergennes to Rayneval, 5 Jan. 1787, AAE CP Hollande 571, fo. 99.
171 ibid.
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183 ibid. pp. 330–2.
