 To ameliorate the situation the old Republic maintained a policy of severe austerity during the century , especially economizing on its defense outlays ( which in large part explains why its military and political role declined so much ) . Up to the Fourth Anglo @-@ Dutch War this policy succeeded in bringing down the level of debt , but this war brought a large uptick in the public debt : between 1780 and 1794 the province of Holland alone issued 120 million guilders of new bonds . In 1795 , its total debt stood at 455 million guilders . To this should be added the debts of the United East India Company and its sister , the WIC , and the five Dutch Admiralties for a total of about 150 million guilders . The other provinces owed 155 million guilders . The grand total in 1795 , at the beginning of the Batavian Republic , came to 760 million guilders ; this imposed a debt service of 25 million guilders annually . The indemnity of the Treaty of The Hague immediately added 100 million guilders to this total , and the maintenance of the French army of occupation added about 12 million annually ( while the other funding requirements of the republic added another 20 million annually ) . In 1814 the public debt stood at 1 @.@ 7 billion guilders . 
