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I am facing the difficult task of locating the page number within a multi-volume Dutch text of the 18th century of the following extract/quotation: ‘our simple and upright ancestors were not capable of such tricks of which they are accused by the English’ [it's a discussion about what military tactics to use to conquer fortresses built in the East]. It would be really helpful to know how one says this in Dutch so that my task might be a little easier (I speak German but not Dutch).
Can somebody help me with this little translation with a moment to spare?
"Onze eenvoudige en eerlijke voorvaderen waren niet in staat tot zulks ongerief, waarvan zij beschuldigd werden door de Engelsen"
At the end of the 18th century the growing English dominance at sea was still annoyingly teased by diminishing power of the Dutch trading nation. Especially when the English struggled against the independance of America, the Dutch smuggled all kinds of materials (among which weapons) to their harbours against good profits. Also the whole European continent started to be aware of the growing supremacy of the British at sea, which endangerd the fragile balance amongst the European nations and eventualy lead to the fourth English-French war. At that time in the East however the British and VOC (not the Dutch, as it was a company not a nation that then had their interests built out in the East) had already devided the colonial territory roughly in which the VOC lost many interests along the West African coast, in South Africa, India, Ceylon and Australia.
