trolled in the hands of thofe to whom it has been committed by the conflitution, and found by thofe principles established by the unaniious confent of the nation. His majefty will never have any other object than to obferve the moft impartial conduct, fuch as may be naturally expected from a good neighbour and friend, to whom the interests of the proteftant religion, of the commerce and local fituation of the two countries, as well as the tics of kindred with the prince to whom your High Mightineffes have entrusted the important charge of the State, fo effentially engage to prevent any injury being offered to the independence of the Repub lic." (Signed) Sir JAMES HARRIS. The Prince of Orange's Letter to the States of the Province of Holland, fent Sept. 3, 1786, on the Subject of their late Refolution with regard to the Command of the Garrifn of the Hague. Noble and potent lords, our very good friends. WE have received the refolution of your noble and great mightineffes, in which you repeat and confirm a refolution taken on the 4th and 5th of March, 1672, with regard to the command of the garrifon of the Hague, and cannot conceal our furprise that your noble and great mightineffes fl:ould have thought proper, on a majority of no more than a fingle voice, to come to a refolution notorioutly injurious to our perfon, as well as to the high dignities hereditarily fettled upon our family by your noble and great mightineffes, by contiring a refolution taken at a time when there not only was no ftadt holder, governor, or captain general of this province, but which was entered into for the expreis purpofe of preventing any perfon from arrogating to h.mielf, under another title, what was established to belong to the office of stadtholder, governor, and captain-general of the faid province. We have not the leaft defign, noble and po ent lords, to question the fuperiority of your noble and great mightineffes over the military, as well of the whole province as the garrifon of the Hague. We acknowledge as frankly as any per fon, the power of the fovereign to execute perfonally, if need be, thofe high offices, of which it had entruited the exercise in its name to other colleges or perfons. "By the memorial which we had the honour to addrefs to your noble and great mightineffes, on the 4th of last December in maintenance of our right, we declared in the most precife terms, and again declare this day, that we never could fuppofe ourselves invested with a power equal, much lefs fuperior to that of the ftates over the military, and that we might act according to our own pleafure and independently of the fovereige, or make regulations contrary to its or ders and approbation, which might any ways tend to thwart its fupre macy, or prove an obstacle to its refolutions. It appears then by this fincere acknowledgment of the fovereignty of your noble and great mighti neffes, that fhould the cafe exift that an hereditary stadtholder, he reditary governor, or captain-gene ral, fo far forget himself, as to turn the authority vested in him by your noble and great mightineffes to the hurt of the true interests of the country, and therefore to thwart (G 3) the the intention of the fovereign, we lay it down for a certain maxim, that your noble and great mightineffes have the right and power to take order in the matter for your own authority and fafety in an effectual manner; which right is not limited to giving orders to the military in the place of residence of your noble and great mightineffes, but extends over all the military in your territory. Yet we entertain fo refpectful an idea of the juftice of the fovereign as to be confident this would never take place, except there were plaufible proofs of the delegated authority having been abuted. None fuch have at any time been produced against us, and in truth never will be, as we have always made it a duty and a pleasure to fulfil the views of your noble and great mightineffes in our offices in your province with all the zeal in our power; and if your noble and great mightineffes had had any difcontent or mistrust on that head, we have a right to hope that you would not have failed to inform us of it. : But this never having been done, and your noble and great mightineffes having, notwithstanding, thought proper to deprive us by your refolution of a right which has always belonged to the offices we exercife in your name, we cannot be contented with the faid refolution, faving all the refpect we pay to the orders of your noble and great mightineffes, nor filently acquiefce in it, as that would be tantamount to an open declaration, that we fet no value on your con fidence, or our own honour, and are, therefore, incapable of exercifing the other no lefs important departments of the high offices which have devolved upon us, in fuch a manner, as that the whole nation could reit with the neceflary certainty, affection, and confidence on our care. Let not your noble and great mightineffes therefore be difpleafed that we continue to contider such a refolution (which reflects fo great difhonour on the fidelity of the houfe from which we are defcended, and in whofe fteps we have always endeavoured to tread) as null and void, faving the refpect due to all thofe refolutions of your noble and great might ineffes by which neither our honour nor rights are attacked. In the mean time thefe circumftances furnish us with a fresh occafion, to our greater regret, of pouring into the bofom of your noble and great mightineffes, and laying before the nation in general, the part which is not prejudiced, our complaints with regard to the injurious fufpicions which have for fome time been conceived, and are every day excited more violently. We have already at various times repeated thefe complaints, and particularly in our millive of April 26, 1784, directed to your noble and great mightineffes, and the other confederates. We there declared, in the most unreferved manner, that we defired nothing fo ardently as to employ the legal power which was entrusted aad confided to us in the maintenance of the liberty, the peace, and increase of the profperity and welfare of the country; that we were very far from withing to extend that power beyond its legal bounds; and that we delire nothing more than to remain in undifturbed poffeffion of the preroga tives and pre-eminences attached to our dignities, of which a stadtholder cannot be deprived but when the general welfare is at stake. And this we did with a fincere expecta It grieves us, noble and potent lords, to be obliged to fay that we have been difappointed in our hopes, no anfwer having been returned by you to hat mitive, and thus have we been deprived of an opportunity of fhewing by deeds in feveral particular cafes what we had endea voured 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 ear to them, that a path may be opened for putting an end to the unhappy divifions and combuftions, in confequence of which our country is finking into total perdition. Wheretore, &c. further deliberations of your noble and great migh ineffes, in the various orders iffued out concerning the troops of that fate, 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 Friesland, but which orders your noble and great mightineffes did not think proper to impart to us in our aforefaid quality, whilft 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 enfign 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 West Friefe land. 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 last 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 meatures 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 great mightineffes, aud in as ear- Here we might conclude, did we not think it neceffary to prorell once more, that we never have done, or even attempted any thing that we juitly might look upon as derogatory to the real concerns of the United Provinces in general, or in particular to the ftates of Holland and West Friefland, 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 especially 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 wish is, to become in the hands of the Almighty, a fit inftrument to contribute to the welfare of the country. Wherefore, &c. (S'gned) them and the fladtholder, 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 Prufia's Letter to the States General of the United Proinces, delivered on the 18th of September, 1785, by the Count de Goertz, his Majefty's Envoy Extraordinary. WE, Frederic William, by the grace of God, king of Pruffia, marquis of Brandenburgh, &c. &c. to their High Mightineffes the States of the United Provinces of the Low Countrie, with offers of friendship, and every good thing in our power. nefs the prince ftadtholder has, in feveral different letters to the flates of Holland and Weft-Friefland, explained in a very ample and convincing inanner the hardnefs of taking from him his prerogatives; but we would rather refer to the letter fént 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 Weft - Friefland, the contents of which well-intentioned letter we ferioufly confirm and renew, repeating the amicable requeft contained in it, that the affairs of High and mighty lords, particular the prince ftadtholder may be digood friends and neighbours. rected by fuch reciprocally agreeAs it has pleafed providence to able means, that they may be recall to himself our much honoured established as foon as poffible upon and loved uncle Frederic the Third, their former footing, conformable late king of Pruffia, by which we to the conftitution, and the confucceed to the government of the vention. By the prefent we requeft eftates which he left, we have your high mightinefies earnestly thought proper to fend to your and amicably to employ your pow high mightineffes, in quality of erful interceffion, in the moft feenvoy extraordinary, our minifter rious manner, with the flates of of fate and grand-mafter of the Holland and West-Friefland, and wardrobe, the comte de Goertz, to wherever elfe your high mightigive your high mightineffes a nefies may think proper, to put proof of our esteem, and that he his ferene highnefs the prince fladtmay by word of mouth communi- holder in a fituation (by means cate to you how defirous we are to which are not difficult to be found continue in that friendship and har- out) to return with honour and mony with the republic of the propriety to the Hague, to take upon Seven United Provinces, which has him his high employments; and been tranfmitted down to us by our that a durable termination be put to ancestors for centuries; and alfo to all the other differences, in a mandemonftrate the warm part we take ner compatible with equity, and in the unhappy diffenfions which the honour and true interells of all have to long divided fome of the parties, towards which we are wilprovinces, and particularly thofe ling to contribute, with other which have arifen between fome of friends and neighbours of the re public, |