tion, as we mentioned in the miffive above alluded to, of receiving fuch an answer to our propofal as would furnish us with an opportu. nity of giving convincing proofs of our defire to do every thing on our part for the folid re-cftablishment of internal tranquillity, harmony between the members of the regency, and confidence between the regents and the citizens. It grieves us, noble and potent lords, to be obliged to fay that we have been difappointed in our hopes, no answer having been returned by you to that millive, and thus have we been deprived of an opportunity of fhewing by deeds in feveral particular cafes what we had endeavoured to exprefs by fincere declarations. Our fentiments are ftill inviolably the fame, and therefore we here repeat thefe expreffions, and fhall expect from the juftice and true patriotifin of your noble and great mightineffes, that you will at laft lend an car to them, that a path may be opened for putting an end to the unhappy divisions and combuftions, in confequence of which our country is finking into total perdition. Wheretore, &c. further deliberations of your noble and great mightineffes, in the various orders iffued out concerning the troops of that ftate, by which they have been relieved, till further orders, from that part of the oath which bound them to our obedience as captain-general of Holland and Weft Friefland, but which orders your noble and great mightinefles did not think proper to impart to us in our forefaid quality, whilst you fufpend provifionally the effect of your refolution of the 8th of March, 1766, which invested us as captain-general of your province by efpecial delega tion, with power to difpofe of all military employments, from the enlign to the colonel inclufively, ferving in the militia or troops within your jurifdiction. We cannot but be fenfibly hurt at the aforefaid refolution, fince its effect is to deprive us of a right which has been allowed and fecured to us by the unanimous vote of all the members of the ftate, by appointing us captain-general hereditary of Holland and Weft Friefland. We might here claim the immediate effect of fuch a refolution, which as it had been entered into nem, con. cannot, fuppofing it to be revocable, be cancelled, or even fufpended, without the like unanimity. But what goes ftill nearer to our heart, and on which we cannot remain filent, is the motives you are pleafed to adduce in fupport of your latt refolution, namely, that it has been taken with a view to obviate our influence as captain-general over the faid troops,, and the manner of directing them, which is incompatible with the fafety of your province, and the mealures adopted to fecure it. We might, without failing in what we owe to your noble and (G 4) great well as to the provinces of Holland and West Friesland, by the oath taken by us as stadtholder, govern or, captain-general, and hereditary admiral of your province, when we undertook to act in those capacities; we are justified in fuppofing that nothing pofitive hath been laid to our charge, and that all the steps taken against us are merely the refult of fome members of your affembly having too readily lent an ear to the reports of perfons unworthy of their confidence, and whofe fole aim is to abridge our lawful prerogatives, and thofe of our houfe, granted by your noble and great mightineffes, and enjoyed by the ftadtholders and captaingenerals our predeceffors, or even to bring about a total alteration in the lawful and established constitution of thofe countries, entirely abolish the fladtholderfhip, or fo contrive it, that the above dignity fhould become completely ufelefs to our dear country, and its good citizens. Mean while we referve to ourselves the choice of fuch further measures for our jullification as to us may feem belt. great mightineffes, aud in as earneft a manner as befits a matter of fuch high importance, that concerns our honour and good name, request you would be pleafed to communicate to us the reafons of the mistrust your noble and great mightinefies entertain of our influence and direction of the provincial troops, and then you would find that we have it fufficiently in our power to convince your noble and great mightineffes, how groundlefs are both your apprehenfions and the malicious hints thrown out by certain perfons, ill-difpofed towards the country and ourfelves. But we are perfectly eafy and fecured that nothing can be alleged with truth against us, by which we fhould have deferved to forfeit the confidence of your noble and great mightineffes. And we can vouch before God, yourselves, all the citizens of the Netherlands, nay, and before all the world, that in this regard our confcience is perfectly irreproachable. Under pleafure of your noble and great mightinefies, we cannot but declare, fince our honour, dearer to us than life, stands impeached, that we cannot remain under fuch a blame and ftigma, refulting from the tokens of diftruft given us by your noble and great mightineffes, and especially by your recent refolution, and it is a duty we owe to the race from whence we fpring, to the royal houfe to which we have the honour to be allied, to their high mightineffes, to the refpective provinces to whofe fervice we are bound by the employments we hold by hereditary right, and to ourfelves, in fine, to clear ourselves from fuch an afperfion; that, confcious of our innocence, from any failure of our plighted faith to your noble and great mightineffes, as Here we might conclude, did we not think it neceffary to proteft once more, that we never have done, or even attempted any thing that we justly might look upon as deroga tory to the real concerns of the United Provinees in general, or in particular to the states of Holland and Weft Friesland, and that we defire nothing better than to be put to the test of giving effectual proofs of the true love we bear to the country, having nothing more at heart than the profperity of the United Provinces, and efpecially that of the province under the ju rifdiction of your noble and great mightineffes, wherein we were born and brought up, and that our first and warmest wifh is, to become in the hands of the Almighty, a fit inftrument to contribute to the welfare of the country. Wherefore, &c. (Signed) them and the ftadtholder, prince of Orange and Naffau, and the very extraordinary oppreffions which that prince is innocently obliged to fuffer. We will not detain your high migntineffes with any ample WILLIAM, Prince of Orange. detail on that fubject, as his high The King of Pruffia's Letter to the States General of the United Provinces, delivered on the 18th of September, 1785, by the Count de Goertz, bis Majefty's Envoy Extraordinary. WE, Frederic William, by the grace of God, king of Pruflia, marquis of Brandenburgh, &c. &c. to their High Mightineffes the States of the United Provinces of the Low Countries, with offers of friendship, and every good thing in our power. High and mighty lords, particular good friends and neighbours. As it has pleafed providence to call to himself our much honoured and loved uncle Frederic the Third, late king of Pruffia, by which we fucceed to the government of the eftates which he left, we have thought proper to fend to your high mightineffes, in quality of envoy extraordinary, our minifter of fate and grand-mafter of the wardrobe, the comte de Goertz, to give your high mightineffes a proof of our esteem, and that he may by word of mouth communicate to you how defirous we are to continue in that friendship and harmony with the republic of the Seven United Provinces, which has been transmitted down to us by our ancestors for centuries; and alfo to demonftrate the warm part we take in the unhappy diffenfions which have to long divided fome of the provinces, and particularly thofe which have arifen between fome of nefs the prince ftadtholder has, in feveral different letters to the states of Holland and Weft-Friefland, explained in a very ample and convincing manner the hardness of taking from him his prerogatives; but we would rather refer to the letter fent by our predeceffor on the 18th of September, 1785, (See Vol. VI. page 197.) as well to your high mightineffes as to the ftates of Holland and West - Friefland, the contents of which well-intentioned letter we feriously confirm and renew, repeating the amicable request contained in it, that the affairs of the prince ftadtholder may be directed by fuch reciprocally agreeable means, that they may be rcestablished as foon as poffible upon their former footing, conformable to the confiitution, and the convention. By the prefent we request your high mightineffes earnestly and amicably to employ your powerful interceffion, in the moft ferious manner, with the fates of Holland and Weft-Friefland, and wherever elfe your high mightineffes may think proper, to put his ferene highnefs the prince fladtholder in a fituation (by means which are not difficult to be found out) to return with honour and propriety to the Hague, to take upon him his high employments; and that a durable termination be put to all the other differences, in a manner compatible with equity, and the honour and true interefls of all parties, towards which we are wil ling to contribute, with other friends and neighbours of the re public, public, by our councils and mediation, in a manner both equitable and impartial. We have given inftructions to the comte de Goertz to lay all this before your high mightineffes, and, if circumftances require it, before the ftates of each particular province, in a moft explicit manner, to affure on our part all that is neceffary, and, if it be thought proper, to enter into negociations on the fubject. We defire your high mightineffes in confequence to place entire confidence in the comte de Goertz in this weighty affair, and to negociate and finish with him whatever may be thought agreeable to both parties, according to circumftances. We hope and truft that no fufpicions can arife in the minds of your high mightineffes, or those of the states of any of the provinces, on account of our interefting onrfelves fo feriously for the prince ftadtholder. On the one hand, we are fuch near relations, that the lot of that prince, his confort, our beloved and worthy fifter (of whofe fentiments entirely devoted to the republic, your high mightineffes can have no doubt,) and their children and pofterity, cannot be indifferent to us. On the other hand, because we know in the most certain manner, and can infure, that the stadtholder and all his family are most affectionately attached to the republic of the United Provinces, and that certainly they will never do any thing against the interest and fyftem of the ftates, but, on the contrary, will always endeavour to preferve them, and contribute to their well-being; to which we must add, that being the nearest neighbour of the United Provinces, and in confequence of the ties which have never been broken between the two parties, we have great intereft that the government of the republic, conformable to the ancient conftitution, fhould not be changed in any effential point, but always preferved untouched; and that the inteftine divifions and differences, which certainly were caufed merely by miftruft, may be fettled as foon as poffible, by an equitable, juft, and fincere reconciliation, and by a durable good understanding between all the parties concerned. We recommend this important affair, together with all that we have mentioned, to your high mightineffes in the most fincere and amicable manner; and as we hope not to fail herein, we reciprocally affure your high mightineffes, that we have, and always fhall bear, a neighbourly friendship and affection towards the republic in general, and each province in particular. Of your high mightineffes the good frienrd and neighbour, (Signed) FREDERICK WILLIAM. (Counterfigned) FINKENSTEIN V. HERTSBERG. Berlin, Sept. 2, 1786. |