 Another potentially important consequence of the peace might have been that a number of provisions of the Treaty of The Hague , that had been conditional on a peace , like the reduction of the French army of occupation , would now have become operational . However , the First Consul proved reluctant to reduce the numbers of French troops , or return the port of Flushing , for the good of the Dutch as he pointed out , as they needed many of their own troops in their restored colonies , so the " protection " of the French troops was considered necessary . On the other hand , the departure of the French troops was an indispensable point for the British as they could not allow the Netherlands to be dominated by a hostile power , and the Batavian Republic was incapable of defending its own neutrality . This was to be an insoluble dilemma in the coming years . 
