Sir Joseph Yorke was the British ambassador at the Hague. He insisted that the Dutch Government should take from Captain Jones, the Serapis and the Countess of Scarborough. He said that as England had not recognized the United States, the captures were illegal, as a commission had not been granted to Captain Jones by a sovereign power. ----- “As it is possible that you have not yet seen the memorial of your ambassador to the States General, I enclose a paper which contains a copy. And I think he has since written what, in the opinion of good men, will do still less honor to his pen. I cannot conclude without informing you that unless Captain Cunningham is immediately better treated in England, I expect orders, in consequence, from his Excellency, Dr. Franklin. Therefore, I beseech you, sir, to interfere.” The British Government, by threats, so intimidated the States General, that they disavowed any intention of recognizing the Independence of the United States. They refused to furnish Captain Jones with any munitions of war, and ordered him immediately to leave the Texel. This seemed to insure his utter destruction; for powerful British men-of-war were cruising just off the island, on the watch to grasp him the moment he should put to sea. In a memorial which the British minister, Sir Joseph Yorke, presented on the 29th of September, he wrote: “I cannot but comply with the strict orders of his majesty (the king of England) by renewing, in the strongest and most pressing manner his request, that these ships and their crews may be stopped and delivered up, which the _pirate Paul Jones_, of Scotland, who is a rebel subject, and a criminal of the state, has taken.” He also demanded that all the officers of the United States navy should be treated as _pirates_; for their commissions were illegal, not having been granted by a government which England had recognized as a sovereign power. But the French Government promptly and efficiently interfered. It assured the States General that though Captain Jones received his commission from the Congress of the United States, still that he also sailed under the sanction of the flag of France, in a French ship, and that the French flag covered the prizes he had captured. The sympathies of the Dutch Government were with America. Under this complicated state of affairs it was decided that prizes which Captain Jones had taken with French ships, should be regarded as prizes belonging to the king of France; and that Captain Jones should take command of the American frigate the Alliance.