# A Tour Through the Batavian Republic/Letter VI

LETTER VI.
AMONG the curiosities at the Hague which formerly attracted the attention of the ​inquisitive stranger, the prince's cabinet of natural history and museum of rarities held a distinguished place. It is now removed to Paris; and as the influence of party operates, its loss is regarded as a weighty misfortune, or a trifle unworthy of notice. They who accommodate themselves to the circumstances of the times, represent it as a collection of baubles fit only for the amusement of women and children; and the enemies of the present system, who inveigh against the rapacity of the French, maintain its superiority over the British Museum. The real value of this cabinet is perhaps to be found in the medium between these opposite opinions. Professor Pallas, the Pliny of Russia, acquired in this collection the elements of that knowledge which has since rendered his, of deserved reputation, studied in the same school. It may therefore be presumed, that this collection could enrich the man of science, as well as amuse the feeble ​amateur, and its removal must be considered as an event eminently disserviceable to the progress of natural history in Holland. This is the more to be regretted, as the Dutch have perhaps cultivated natural history, and the sciences allied to it, which demand perseverance in enquiry and accuracy of observation, with more success than any other nation in Europe. Had this cabinet been transported to England, it would probably have been added, with little advantage to science, to the dusty stores of Montague-house; nor is it probable its fate will be happier in the National Institute of France, where it now reposes. The Dutch government might have purchased its redemption at a moderate price; but legislators are not often philosophers; and while the wealth of nations is exhausted for the destruction of the human species, small are the sums that are expended for the advancement of useful knowledge.
At the distance of two miles from the Hague is Scheveling, the village from which the stadtholder embarked, when he fled from his ​country. Its inhabitants are chiefly fishermen, and these poor men beheld the departure of their prince with the liveliest concern. The beach was crowded with afflicted spectators, whose respectful silence and tears spoke their feelings. The stadtholder, his son the hereditary prince, and two or three Dutch noblemen, attached to the fortunes of the house of Orange, embarked on board a small fishing vessel, navigated by five men, and bid adieu, probably for ever, to their country. The princesses had departed the day before in a vessel equally unsuitable to their rank and sex; and such may be considered as the end of the political existence of a family which for two hundred years watched over the safety of the republic.
While the poor fishermen at Scheveling lamented their fugitive princes, the populace at the Hague, with that inconstancy which characterises the vulgar, assembled in a tumultuous manner to express their contempt of their ancient governors, and to insult the unfortunate partisans of the house of Orange. The most distinguished nobles who remained, ​generously determined to share the fate of their country, were thrown into prison to protect them from popular violence, and guards were placed in their houses to preserve them from pillage. It may not be improper here to mention, that the conduct of a Dutch mob is strongly marked with the characteristic frugality of the nation. They will plunder their real or supposed enemies without reluctance; but when their resentments extend even to an utter disregard for the lives of individuals, they as carefully avoid the destruction of property, as they would in the most equitable transactions. Immediately that the flight of the prince was known, his tradesmen wisely removed from their shops the armorial bearings of the house of Orange, which before were ostentatiously displayed, and substituted in their place those emblems of liberty which inflamed the passions of the populace. But notwithstanding these precautions not to exasperate the mob, the security of these inoffensive persons and their property was extremely dubious, until the arrival of a detachment of the French ​army at the Hague, four days after the departure of the stadtholder. The French troops were accompanied by two members of the convention, dignified with the lofty title of representatives of the people, who prohibited in severe terms any tumultuous meetings, and preserved by their vigorous measures the unfortunate adherents of the stadtholder from the terrible effects of popular indignation. It is said that the leaders of the patriotic party, as it was styled, who had been oppressed by the Orange faction, solicited permission for eight-and-forty hours to exercise the vengeance they thirsted for on their enemies; but the French representatives magnanimously declared, that they came to deliver the whole Batavian people from oppression, not to gratify the resentments of individuals, and a proclamation was issued to restrain popular violence. The salutary effects of these wise measures, and the evils which were thereby averted, were pointed out to me, in a strain of becoming gratitude, by a person warmly attached to the exiled ​prince, and ardently desirous of his re-establishment.
The joy which manifested itself at the Hague on the departure of the stadtholder will occasion some astonishment, when we consider how much that village was indebted for its splendour to the fostering care of the house of Orange. From the death of William I. towards the close of the sixteenth century, it had been, with few intervals, the residence of the court, and the seat of government. The ample revenues of the stadtholder were principally expended here, and the persons attached to him through interest or principle were numerous in every class of society. His splendid establishment gave easy employment and support to multitudes, and the extensive patronage which he enjoyed in consequence of his high offices in the state, if attended with some degree of envy, afforded him the ready means of conciliating many friends.
In the personal character of the prince, and the circumstances of the times, we shall ​discover the causes of that animosity against him which immediately on his departure was virulently displayed. The services performed by the first princes of the house of Orange were rewarded by the republic with the highest employments of dignity and trust in the state, and the confidence of the nation was not abused by the illustrious chiefs to whom power was thus delegated. The splendid abilities of the first stadtholders, and their successes in wars and negociations, happily asserted and established with renown the independence of the United Provinces. If their enemies have accused them with justice of uniformly endeavouring to extend their authority at the expence of the liberties of the people, the lustre of their glories threw a veil over their ambition, and the solid benefits they conferred on the state were gratefully acknowledged by the sternest republicans. For upwards of a hundred years, under an auspicious succession of five princes of the house of Orange, the United Provinces flourished in arms, riches, and arts. A territory of small geographical extent ranked ​with the most potent kingdoms of Europe, and resisted the gigantic forces of the monarchies of England and France.
From the death of William the Third, whose talents and address rescued the republic from the most imminent danger, the stadtholderate remained vacant, till the difficulties in which the states found themselves involved in 1747, together with the wishes of the nation, and the powerful interposition of George the Second, induced them to confer that dignity on William the father of the present Prince of Orange, and to make the offices of captain-general and admiral-general of the republic hereditary in his family. William the Fourth was a prince of considerable talents, but he survived his elevation only a few years, and his administration was too short for the nation to derive much advantage from it.
The stadtholders hitherto had shed a lustre on the republic by their great abilities, which concealed their designs against the liberties of the people; but William the Fifth inherited the ambition of his ancestors, without any ​pretensions to their splendid talents. His reign (if I may be permitted to use that term to denominate an authority almost regal) was marked by a succession of disasters, and closed with the conquest of his country and his precipitate flight. If a long train of circumstances, for which the stadtholder could not be blamed, had impaired the resources and weakened the energies of the republic, its fall was undoubtedly accelerated by the feeble and impolitic administration of that prince and his ministers. But the chief cause of his unpopularity, and of the extravagant joy that was displayed on his departure, was his attachment to the court of London. The Dutch had long viewed with bitter jealousy, on account of their own impoverished trade, the flourishing commerce of the British empire, and a mysterious connection highly unfavourable to the republic was supposed to exist between the stadtholder and the English government.
It was reported (with what truth I cannot determine) and received with avidity, that the battle of the Dogger Bank, a combat ​honourable to the Dutch marine, was fought in disobedience to the orders of the admiral-general; and amongst other rumours then circulated and afterwards revived, it was said, that when the news of the battle arrived at the Hague, the stadtholder expressed his satisfaction that the English had not lost any ships. A naval officer, extremely well disposed to the new government, to whom in conversation I applied for information on the subject, assured me of his entire disbelief of either reports; and it is probable had any evidence existed of orders given by the stadtholder to his admirals to avoid the English fleet, the directory would have published a fact so disgraceful to the Prince of Orange.
But if we reject, as originating in the malice of party, the story which accuses the stadtholder of absolutely betraying his country, and expressing a most unnatural joy at the success of its enemies, it is certain his partiality for England was so plainly manifested as to excite universal discontent, not only in the great commercial cities of the United Provinces, which regarded Great ​Britain as the dangerous and insidious rival of their trade, but at the Hague and other places where the personal influence of the Prince of Orange might be supposed to be considerable.
These discontents, shortly after the restoration of peace, ripened into open insurrection, and the stadtholder would have been dismissed with ignominy from his government, had not Prussia and Great Britain interfered for the preservation of his authority. The arms of one of these powers, and the threats of the other, maintained the Prince of Orange in his offices, and even procured for him an accession of power. But his forcible re-establishment in the stadtholderate by the violent interference of foreign powers, gave great offence to the moderate as well as to the republican party, and in proportion as the prince's authority was augmented, the respect to his character was diminished. The zealous republicans, who with difficulty would have tolerated a stadtholder of the most profound talents, beheld with vivid indignation that high dignity, at a crisis ​which demanded consummate abilities, filled by a prince of a very limited capacity; and the notion was extensively circulated by the mischievous activity of party, that the calamities of the nation were to be attributed solely to the maladministration of the prince.
Other causes contributed to swell the stream of popular odium which flowed against the stadtholder. His princess, a woman of more than ordinary powers of understanding, was on many accounts extremely disagreeable to the Dutch, and had on some occasions, where the utmost delicacy of management was required, interfered in public measures in a manner unbecoming her situation and sex. Her ascendency over the prince her husband might have been overlooked or applauded, as the natural consequence of superior ​talents, had her counsels tended to the prosperity of the republic; but they were uniformly directed to augment the power of the stadtholder, and with little suitable attention to the genius or prejudices of the nation, on whose rights she endeavoured to encroach. She possessed few of those qualities which engage the affections of the vulgar; and the severe etiquette of her court, together with its expensive magnificence, disgusted the higher ranks of a frugal people, jealous of their liberties.
The French revolution added a third party to the factions which divided Holland, and it may be doubted whether the majority of the Dutch nation entered cordially into the war with France. The republican party looked up to France as the only power capable of delivering them from the yoke of the stadtholder, and the influence of England; and it is well known that when the Austrian and British troops bravely disputed every inch of ground, the Dutch forces opposed a very feeble resistance to the French army. If it is certain that there was much disaffection or ​supineness in the Dutch army, where the influence of the stadtholder might be supposed to be considerable, it will not occasion wonder that many towns and cities of the republic openly avowed a disposition hostile to his cause. At a time when the further progress of the French was dubious, and the career of their arms might have been arrested, had the Dutch cordially united to defend their country, the sick and wounded of the British army were refused admission into Delft, and a corps of burghers was formed at Amsterdam to prevent the entrance of foreign troops (by which were exclusively meant the English) into that city. Other instances equally strong might be brought forward.
A short time before the French crossed the Waal, which passage decided the fate of the republic, the stadtholder was invested with additional powers, which in some sort resembled those of the ancient dictators of Rome. But in obtaining the paramount object of his ambition, he alienated more and more the affections of his countrymen, and his proclamation commanding the people to ​rise in a mass, scarcely procured the additional strength of fifty recruits to the Dutch array. It was then ordered throughout the United Provinces, that three houses should furnish one man among them for the defence of the republic; but the antipathy of the nation to the stadtholder's government prevented the execution of this plan.
Under these circumstances of almost universal irritation and discontent, the intelligence of the Prince of Orange's flight was generally received with transports of joy. Policy, or the fear of giving offence to the predominate party, if they acted otherwise, undoubtedly induced some to affect the popular enthusiasm, and some, for no solid reasons desirous of a change, rejoiced they knew not why; but a vast majority, fully expressing the voice and wish of the nation, beheld with the most sincere pleasure, notwithstanding the calamitous circumstances which made it necessary, the abdication of the stadtholder.
The moderation which marked the first acts of the French commanders and representatives, ​was opposed to the rigorous measures which the sad necessities of the times obliged the stadtholder to have recourse to, and tended at once to reconcile the people to the important changes which took place, and to render the subverted government odious. Had the revolution been effected by the Dutch patriots, it is probable much blood would have been shed, for the resentments of the leaders of that party were sharpened by seven years' proscription, and the haughty triumph of their adversaries. General Daendals, who fled from Holland in 1787, on account of the active part which he took in the troubles of that time, became afterwards a general of division in the army which conquered his country, and distinguished himself on a variety of arduous occasions. During his exile, this person is supposed to have imbibed at Paris some of the sanguinary sentiments of the revolutionary clubs; and as he may be considered as one of the heads of the patriotic party, it is of consequence to relate what those sentiments were. In 1787, on account of his opposition ​to the authority of the stadtholder, and subsequent flight from Holland, he incurred a kind of outlawry, in consequence of which his property and estates, which were considerable, were confiscated and sold. On his triumphant return to his country in 1795, and the political annihilation of his enemies, he was not content with being restored to the possession of his estates, and receiving ample indemnification for the loss of his property, but he threatened with extermination all who had been concerned in the confiscation or detention of his fortune. Happily he could not communicate the same spirit of personal animosity and virulence to the French commanders, and consequently his plans of terrible vengeance proved abortive.
General Daendals, on the settlement of the: new government, was appointed commander in chief of the Batavian forces, in which capacity he rendered important services to the republic when the English invaded Holland: he still continues to fill this situation, and I am sincerely pleased to add with the most laudable moderation. Of his abilities ​as a general I shall have occasion hereafter to speak, I shall therefore at present only observe, that they fully justify the high confidence which the nation and government repose in him.
It is most honourable to all who were concerned in the subversion of the ancient government of the United Provinces, a government which had subsisted two hundred years, respected in its foreign and domestic relations, and enjoying all the advantages of prescription and long establishment, that not one drop of human blood was judicially shed on its overthrow. I was at great pains to gather what would probably have been the fate of the stadtholder and his family, had they awaited in Holland the storm that burst over their unfortunate house, and amidst a great diversity of opinions, the prevailing sentiment was, that they would have been banished from the territories of the republic. This opinion is corroborated by: the knowledge of the influence which the King of Prussia, at that time negociating with France, possessed in the councils of that ​republic; and he certainly would have averted, either by threats or force, any violence from being offered to the Princess of Orange his sister, or her family. But undoubtedly, under the alarming circumstances in which they were placed, the wisest measure which the family of Orange could pursue, was that which they adopted; for had they remained at the Hague till the arrival of the enemy, had their personal safeties not been endangered, they must have suffered many indignities, and been harassed with much anxiety and alarm.
In the course of the enquiries from whence the foregoing information and opinions were derived, I learnt that on the arrival of the French at Amsterdam, three emigrants were shot in the square before the stadthouse of that city. Similar executions to a much greater extent had taken place on the frontiers, but the men so put to death were found in arms against the republic, while the unfortunate wretches that suffered at Amsterdam were guilty of no other crime than that of having quitted their country. The ​number of French emigrants who were in the interior of Holland, at the time when it was over-run by their countrymen, was considerable, but through the clemency of general Pichegru, or his humane connivance, the interposition of the Dutch government, and the activity of their own fears, which, furnished them with wings to fly, three only were publicly executed. On the departure of the prince from Scheveling, an order was sent from the states-general to prevent the sailing of any more vessels from that place: had it been strictly attended to, three or four fishing boats crowded with wretched emigrants would have been detained, but their unhappy situation, and the urgency of their case, procured them a ready exemption from an order which, perhaps, was only meant to conciliate the conquerors.
A French general of high rank, whose acquaintance I gained through the kindness of General Chorié, conversing with me respecting the lives of the emigrants, assured me that many of these unhappy men would have been saved, had the powers who coalsced against France ​vigorously interposed in their behalf, and exercised for a period similar severities on the republican troops, had their remonstrances been unattended with success. He informed me, that when a town surrendered to the arms of France, in which emigrants were supposed to be, it was not unusual for the general commanding the besieging forces to allow the governor of the captured town a number of covered waggons, which should be permitted to pass without inspection, in order that the miserable emigrants might escape in them; but it sometimes happened that mercenary commanders chose rather to employ these waggons for their private emolument, than to use them for the humane purposes for which they were granted, and in such cases the severe laws of the republic were sternly executed. With a national pride, which did honour to his heart, he added, at the moment when he most loudly condemned their principles, that the emigrants were the bravest enemies whom the republican troops had to encounter. I insinuated that he might mistake for heroic courage ​what was in reality the effects of despair; but he assured me again and again that their excessive gallantry proceeded from no other cause than their being Frenchmen.
I was much pleased with a sentiment expressed by the same intelligent person, which also, now that their zeal for making converts is abated, is held by most respectable Frenchmen, and marks the return the nation is making to its former habits of thinking. I asked him what reception an Englishman would receive at his hands, who would offer to serve in the armies of the French republic; He answered, he should endeavour to dissuade him from his purpose; but if his arguments proved ineffectual, it would then be his duty to signify the offer to the commander in chief, or the minister at war. In that case, the Englishman might probably receive an appointment, but from that moment he should consider him unworthy of a place at his table, and not deserving to receive the slightest attention or civility. He would view him as a soldier with suspicion, and as a man with contempt. In these sentiments, he added, most ​of the officers with whom he had served cordially joined, and there were few republicans of integrity and reflection who were not of the same opinion.
I was amused at the house of a citizen of the world (such was the appellation which he bestowed on himself), where we dined — whose country you cannot mistake when I inform you, that he assured me Sir John Pringle was the most skilful physician that had appeared since the days of Hippocrates or Celsus — with the contrast of a man coldly appreciating the merits and defects of different nations, and pretending an equal attachment to all, and two or three Frenchmen so partial to their own, as to affirm all excellence was confined to the territories of their republic. The warm enthusiasm of the Frenchmen was an agreeable vanity which it was impossible not to admire, and especially as it was opposed to the frigid, cold-hearted system of the North Briton. One of the Frenchmen had been a planter in Saint Domingo, where he had valuable estates, which, as tranquillity is now in a great ​measure restored to that island, he hopes to recover. He described with great sensibility his feelings on seeing the coast of France, from the deck of the vessel which brought him to Europe, after an absence of sixteen years. He had suffered much from the revolution both in the West-Indies and in France, where his patrimonial fortune was sequestrated; but still he loved his country with unabated fervour, and was most deeply interested in its welfare. This gentleman is promised by Bonaparte a high appointment in Saint Domingo, whenever the French government shall turn its attention to that island, and this he intimated was now in contemplation.