Besides the above squadron ready for sea, there were a few old ships lying in ordinary in the Nieueve Diep. But the strongest portion of the Dutch navy lay at Amsterdam and in the Meuse. In the first-named port there were, in commission, if not in readiness for sea, four 74 and two 64 gun ships, and in the second, one 74 and seven 64 gun ships, besides several frigates and brigs.

For employment in this troops, in large numbers, were assembled at Southampton, under Lieutenant-general Sir Ralph Abercromby, and others had rendezvoused at Ramsgate, Margate, Barham-Downs, and Yarmouth ; the whole, amounting to about 27,000 men, placed, as on the former occasion under the command of his Royal Highness the Duke of York. A treaty had also been entered into between Great Britain and Russia; wherein the latter stipulated to furnish 17,593 men, also six ships of the line and five frigates, all armed en flûte, and two transports, to carry a portion of the troops. The emperor was to receive for the hire of his troops �88,000 sterling ; half of which was to be paid when the troops were ready to embark at Revel, and the remainder in three months afterwards. A subsidy of �44,000 a month was also to be paid, from the day on which the troops were ready. For the ships Great Britain was to pay �58,976. 10s. sterling, as a three months' subsidy for expenses of equipments, &c., to be computed from the day on which the ships should depart from Cronstadt ; and, after the expiration of those three months, she was to continue to pay at the rate of �19,642. 10s. sterling a month. All this was independently of subsistence. The emperor, therefore, made a tolerable market of his ships and troops.

On the 13th of August a fleet, composed of about 150 sail of ships of war, transports, and cutters, having on board the first division of the troops destined for Holland, put to sea from Margate roads and the Downs ; the troops, numbering about 17,000, commanded by Lieutenant-general Abercromby, and the naval part of the expedition, by Vice-admiral Andrew Mitchell, the effective force of which consisted of the following ships

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