First League of Armed Neutrality

[4] Denmark-Norway and Sweden, which also ruled Finland, accepting Russia's proposals for an alliance of neutrals, adopted the same policy towards shipping, and the three countries signed bilateral agreements and then a tripartite convention forming the League in August 1780.

The Netherlands planned to join the League in January 1781, but Britain found out before the treaty could be signed and declared war after it had captured a ship bearing the American diplomat Henry Laurens on his way to Amsterdam to negotiate a loan for the Continental Congress.

[5] As the Royal Navy outnumbered all their fleets combined, the alliance as a military measure was what Catherine later called it,[citation needed] an "armed nullity".

Diplomatically, however, it carried greater weight; France and the United States were quick to proclaim their adherence to the new principle of free neutral commerce.

While both sides of the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War tacitly understood it as an attempt to keep the Netherlands out of the League, Britain did not officially regard the alliance as hostile.

A Dutch cartoon depicting a man in a nightshirt (representing Britain) being attacked by several men (representing the First League of Armed Neutrality and the Bourbon Alliance). He is held by a Swede and a Dane, a Frenchman places a fools cap on his head, a Dutchman places shackles around his ankles, an American runs away with his clothes, and a Russian is about to hit him with a club; in the background, a merchant fleet sails out to sea.