Editing Batavian Republic (section)

====Invasion preparations and economic warfare====
[[File:MUSTERING THE BATAVIAN FLEET IN VLISSINGEN HARBOUR, 1804.jpg|thumb|The Batavian fleet in [[Vlissingen]], 1804]]
The peace turned out to be of short duration. On 18 May 1803, slightly more than a year after the peace, war resumed. Napoleon was now intent on the destruction of Great Britain by culminating in an ambitious [[Napoleon's planned invasion of the United Kingdom|planned invasion]]. The French expected the Batavian Republic to play a major supporting role in this. As the Franco-Batavian alliance's embodiment, the ''Staatsbewind'' was forced to assent to a Convention bringing the total of French and Batavian forces in the Netherlands to 35,000. In addition, 9,000 Batavian troops were slated for the proposed overseas expedition. Even more importantly, the Dutch were to supply five ships-of-the-line, five frigates, 100 gunboats, and 250 flat-bottomed transport craft, capable of holding 60–80 men by December 1803.  In total the Dutch were meant to provide transport for 25,000 men and 2,500 horses, the major part of Napoleon's invasion armada, and all at Dutch expense. Napoleon's imposed real burdens on the finances of the Republic and on its economy.<ref>Schama, p. 442.</ref>

Another real burden was the [[economic warfare]] that Napoleon launched against the British, which was answered by a British counter-boycott. This foreshadowed the [[Continental System]] which was written into law in 1806.  However already in 1803 it started to choke off Dutch trade. Ostensibly, the ''Staatsbewind'' did its part by prohibiting the import of all goods from the enemy on 5 July 1803. Later it banned cheese exports and butter. These measures were of little practical effect, since in 1804 the volume of general exports to Britain was nearly equal to that in the last year of peace in 1802. British goods reached Dutch destinations via neutral German ports or disguised as "American cargo". The republic was therefore an important "keyhole into Europe" that undermined the French economic sanctions against Britain. Since the members of the ''Staatsbewind'', and their friends, often profited from this clandestine trade directly, the patience of the French was wearing thin.{{Efn|In the old Republic trading with the enemy had been looked upon as a necessary evil. The Admiralties had been partially financed with so-called ''[[Admiralty of Amsterdam#"Convooi" and "Licent"|licenten]]'', license fees for allowing such trade.}} Matters came to a head when the French commander in the Republic, [[Auguste de Marmont]], ordered in November 1804 that French naval patrols and customs officials were to take over the responsibility for the surveillance of cargoes in Dutch ports, with powers of confiscation without reference to Dutch authorities.  The''Staatsbewind'' forbade any Batavian official to take orders from the French on 23 November 1804.<ref>Schama, pp.463–464.</ref>