Louis Ernest's accumulated positions and tangled interests led to problems. As early as 1771 there was talk of an attempt on his life in the Hague, but the bullet fired at him passed between his widespread legs. (Rumour had it that an earlier bullet had hit him in his private parts.) Pieter Paulus in 1773 gained national recognition through his book about the stadholderian system, in which he blamed the Duke of Brunswick for the abuses of that system. In December 1780 Great Britain declared war on the Republic. The war went badly for the Dutch and many blamed the Duke. The opposition against the stadtholderian system would rise to a crescendo during the Patriottentijd (named after the political faction that opposed the stadtholder). But even his partisans knew that things had to change for the better. The Amsterdam "burgemeester" Joachim Rendorp pleaded for an advisory council for the prince.