The War of the Austrian Succession had been raging since 1740 in one form or another, although Britain and France had only formally gone to war with each other in 1744. There was a strong anti-war faction in Britain, who grew in strength after a number of military setbacks. Equally in France there were those who advocated peace because the war was draining French resources and money. Talks were arranged and agreed to be held by representatives of the two states in the Dutch Republic, in practice a warring state allied to Britain, but officially neutral.