In 1785 the former had gained the upper hand; and, by a treaty signed on Christmas Day of that year, a decided preponderance in the councils of the United Provinces had been given to France.

The enfeebled condition of the latter country, however, had allowed little prospect of permanence to this arrangement; and, in the summer of 1787, an insult offered by the French party to the wife of the Stadtholder led to a forcible intervention by the King of Prussia, whose sister she was.

Louis XVI.
prepared to support his partisans, and notified his purpose to Great Britain; whereupon the latter, whose traditional policy for over a century had been to resist the progress of French influence in the Low Countries, replied that she could not remain a quiet spectator, and at once began to arm.

"The Dutch business," wrote Nelson, "is becoming every day more serious; and I hardly think we can keep from a war, without giving forever the weight of the Dutch to the French, and allowing the Stadtholdership to be abolished,--things which I should suppose hardly possible." Already his eager spirit was panting for the fray.

"If we are to have a bustle, I do not want to come on shore; I begin to think I am fonder of the sea than ever." Only five months married! The threatening aspect of affairs necessitated the "Boreas" being kept in commission,--the more so because the economies introduced by Mr.
Pitt into the administration of the two military services had reduced the available naval force below that which France could at once send out.