Kew Letters
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The Kew Letters (also known as the Circular Note of Kew) were a number of letters, written by stadtholder William V, Prince of Orange between January 30 and February 8, 1795 from the "Dutch House" at Kew Palace, where he temporarily stayed after his flight to England on January 18, 1795. The letters were written in his capacity of Captain-general of the Dutch Republic to the civil and military authorities in the provinces of Zeeland and Friesland (that had not yet capitulated at the time), the officers commanding Dutch naval vessels in British harbors, and Dutch colonial governors, to continue resistance in cooperation with Great Britain against the armed forces of the French Republic that had invaded the Dutch Republic and forced him to flee to England. In particular the letters to the colonial governors played an important role, because they ordered them to surrender those colonies to the British "for safekeeping."
The governors of Malacca, Amboina, and West Sumatra complied without a fight. Cochin surrendered after a brief bombardment. The rest of the Dutch enclaves in southern India were quickly overrun. Elsewhere, though the governors did not comply with the order to put their military installations at British disposal, many were confused and demoralized by the letters.
[edit] Sources
- Israel, J.I. (1995), The Dutch Republic: Its Rise, Greatness and Fall, 1477-1806, Oxford University Press,ISBN 0-19-873072-1 hardback, ISBN 0-19-820734-4 paperback, p. 1127
- (Dutch) Woelderink, B. and Muij-Fleurke, H.J. de (2005) Inventaris van de archieven van stadhouder Willem V (1745-1808) en de Hofcommissie van Willem IV en Willem V (1732-1794), Uitgeverij Verloren, ISBN 9065508902, p. 102 (No. 1007)
