fhew of refiftance; but on the tenth of October that proud capital, now closely invested, opened its gates to the victor. To the aftonishment of the world, that republic which maintained a conteft of eighty years against the power of Spain; which contended for the empire of the ocean with Great Britain; which repulfed the attacks of Louis the fourteenth in the zenith of his glory; was over-run by the arms of Pruffia in a fingle month. In the whole of this tranfaction Pruffia acted in intimate and avowed concert with Great Britain; and it was on this occafion that the British government concluded a fubfidiary treaty with the landgrave of Heffe Caffel; by which the latter engaged to furnish England with a body of twelve thousand men at four weeks notice, for thirty-fix thousand pounds per annum. It is to be hoped that a fimilar tranfaction will never again ftain the annals of our country, where the authority of Britain will be afferted on the fide of defpotifm, and a foreign ftate fhall presume to arrest any power of Europe in its ardent purfuit of liberty-in its glorious ftruggles to obtain a free conftitution. So late as the month of September, and just before the duke of Brunfwick began his march, France tardily profeffed her intention of affifting the Dutch in cafe they were attacked by any foreign power. This circumftance animated the court of London to act with spirit and decifion, and vigorous naval preparations were made to fupport the King of Pruffia, in oppofition to the menacing declarations of France. But the object of the Pruffian expedition being accomplished in a much shorter fpace of time than could have been previously imagined, the court of Verfailles found itfelf difengaged from all obligations. The duke of Dorfet ambaffador at Paris, in confequence of the events which had taken place, prefented on the twenty-feventh of October a memorial to the king of France, fignifying, "that no fubject of difcuffion, much lefs of conteft, now remaining between the two courts, he was authorifed to afk, whether it was the intention of his moft christian majefty to carry into effect the notification made by his moft chriftian majefty's plenipotentiary, which, by announcing

nouncing that fuccours would be given to Holland, had occafioned the naval armaments on the part of his Britannic majefty, which armaments have been reciprocal. If the court of Verfailles is difpofed to explain herself satisfactorily on the fubject, the ambaffador propofes that all warlike preparations fhould be difcontinued, and that the navies of the two nations fhould be again placed on the footing of the peace eftablishment, as it ftood on the first of January of the prefent year." To this memorial. the count de Montmorin, the new minifter for foreign affairs in France, replied on the very fame day, in a style of exemplary forbearance and moderation, "that the intention of his majesty not being, and never having been, to interfere by force in the affairs of Holland, the communication made to the court of London, on the fixteenth of last month having had no other object than to announce to that court an intention, the motives to which no longer exifted,efpecially fince the king of Pruffia has imparted his refolution; his majefty makes no fcruple to declare, that he will not give any effect to the declaration above mentioned, and agrees with p'eafure to the proposal of mutually difarming, made on the part of his Britannic majesty.'

XXXVIII. In confequence of thefe tranfactions, it was found neceflary to affemble the parliament of Great Britain fomewhat earlier than is ufual in time of peace; and, the feffion having commenced on the twenty feventh of November, the king, in his fpeech to both houses, remarked, "that at the clofe of the laft feffion he had informed them of the concern with which he obferved the difputes unhappily fubfifting in the republic of the united provinces. Their fituation foon afterwards became more critical and alarming. The king of Pruffia having demanded fatisfaction for the infult offered to the princess of Orange his fifter,the party which had ufurped the government applied to the most chriftian king for affiftance; and that prince having notified to his majefty his intention of granting their request, the king did not hesitate to declare that he could not remain a quiet fpectator, and

A. D. 1787. gave immediate orders for augmenting his forces both by fea and land; and in the courfe of this tranfaction he had concluded a fubfidiary treaty with the Landgrave of Heffe Caffel. In the mean time the rapid fuccefs of the duke of Brunswick enabled the provinces to deliver themfelves from the oppression under which they laboured ; and all fubjects of contelt being thus removed, an amicable explanation had taken place between the courts of London and Verfailles."

XXXIX. It is worthy of tranfient remark that the language of the fpeech from the throne was rather that of a zealous partifan of the house of Orange, than of a great monarch, who, by a vigorous and feafonable interpofition, had reftored tranquillity to a country, convulfed by internal feuds and diffentions. It is inconceivable how the exifting government of Holland could with any colour of justice be ftigmatized as an ufurpation; for by the conftitution of that country the prince of Orange as stadtholder was not a fovereign, but a fubject poffeffing no fhare of the legislative power; and though by the formula of 1747 the office was declared hereditary, it was not on that account irrevocable any more than the hereditary offices of earl marshal or great chamberlain under the English conftitution. And the oppressions alluded to in the fpeech were certainly nothing more than the ufual feverities inflicted upon thofe who prefumed to refift the measures of the fupreme government. If the British court imagined that their recent conduct, in interfering in the internal concerns of another nation, was not a violation of the fundamental principles of political justice, it will in the fequel be found that the Dutch not only thought otherwife, but entertained a deep and lasting refentment against England, for what they with fome reafon deemed an outrageous attack on their rights and independence. It mult however be confeffed that the prompt and vigorous measures of the English cabinet were abfolutely neceffary to counteract the infidious defigns of France in her projected interference in the affairs of Holland, and in this point of view their conduct was

highly and defervedly applauded by the nation. The addreffes in antwer to the king's fpeech were voted with great unanimity in both houfes; and the fubfidy to Heffe paffed without a diffentient vote.

XL. In a fhort time treaties of alliance were concluded between the courts of London, Berlin, and the Hague; by which the two former guaranteed the ftadtholderate in perpetuity to the ferene houfe of Orange, as an effential part of the conftitution of the united provinces. By the treaty between the kings of Great Britain and Pruffia, each of the high contracting powers engages, in case of attack, to furnish the other with a fuccour of fixteen thoufand infantry and four thoufand cavalry, or an equivalent in money, within the term of two months from the date of the requifition. Thus was Britain once more fatally entangled in the intricate and inextricable toils of continental engagements.

XLI. The most confiderable legislative measure of the prefent feffion, related to a controverfy which had arisen between the board of control and the Eaft India com. pany. At the moment of the general alarm excited by the affairs of Holland, government propofed to the directors, to send out four regiments of the king's troops, as a reinforcement to the army in India, upon condition that the whole expence was defrayed by the company. This propofal was at firft partly accepted, but the rumor of war having speedily fubfided, the matter was reconfidered by the board of direction and finally rejected. They contended, that lord North's bill of 1781 expreffly provided, that the company fhould pay only for fuch troops as by their requifition fhould be fent to India; and the opinion of different eminent lawyers who had been confulted on the fubject, appeared perfectly to coincide with that of the directors. Part of the troops however were already prepared for embarkation, and the company refufing to admit them on board their fhips, the minifter, to extricate himself from this perplexing dilemma, introduced into parliament his famous declaratory act, to fhew that his own India bill of 1784 had

yefted in the board of control, and not in the directors, the fupreme power of determining the propriety of every fuch measure, The declaratory bill met with a moft formidable oppofition in parliament. Colonel Barre protefted that he had from the firft difcerned the traces of a fyftem of Indian patronage, of which he believed the bill under difcuffion to be a great advance to the final completion; and if it fhould be fuffered to pafs, a fatal tab would be given to the constitution. Indeed the oppofition had never perhaps on any occafion jufter grounds of exultation and triumph than at prefent. The Ind a bill of 1784 had proved (as they had forefeen and foretold) a fource of perpetual altercation and difpute between the boards of direction and control; and an attempt to explain and determine its fenfe, by a declaratory law, was an unanswerable proof of its imperfections. But the infidious nature of the regulation bill was now also fully demonftrated, for under pretext of declaring its meaning, it was notorious that new and important powers were conferred on the board of control. Mr. Sheridan called upon the house to compare the power of Mr. Fox's commiffioners with those which were now afferted to belong to the board of control. Lord Fitzwilliam could not send out a dispatch; he could neither declare war, nor make peace in India; he could neither collect the revenues of the company, nor apply them to the purpofes he should think proper, without having firft the pleasure of the king fignified to him through the medium of the fecretary of ftate. The board of control could do all this. The minifter had now yiolated that compact with the company on which he originally and profeffedly ftood; how then could he escape the ignoininy of deliberately breaking his moft folemn engagements? Mr. Burke defired to be informed by adminiftration, "whether when they brought in the act of 17841 and complained that Mr. Fox's bill took too much, they had honeftly stated that all they meant to take was the military power, the political direction, the management of the revenue, and as much as they could get of the

commerce?