Kew Letters

It urged them 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.

The governors of Malacca, Amboina, and West Sumatra complied without a fight.

The rest of the Dutch enclaves in southern India and seaside Sri Lanka were quickly taken as well.

Elsewhere, though the governors did not comply with the order to put their military installations at British disposal, many were confused and demoralised by the letters.

In the 1801 Oranienstein Letters, William V and his son did recognise the Batavian Republic, and renounced their hereditary stadtholderate.

William V, Prince of Orange , who wrote the letters