Secret letter to Charles II of Jan 1672 My hair stood on end when I read Meanwhile William had written a secret letter to Charles in January 1672 asking his uncle to exploit the situation by exerting pressure on the States General to appoint William stadtholder in the section Conflict with republicans Since when did the States General appoint stadtholders I looked at the citation given Troost pp 65 66 and indeed no such claim is made there In the quote from the letter William speaks of the States which has to refer to the States of Holland his most persistent opponents Troost does not make the claim that States General is intended here I have deleted General which leaves the ambiguous States from the letter No need to change or challenge the citation I have made a number of other edits some of which regrettably anonymous because I forgot to log in to dot a number of other i s For instance the Act of Seclusion itself was not in the secret annexe with the Treaty of Westminster 1654 which article I have recently rewritten but was required by it De Witt was quite capable of drafting the text of the Act without having it dictated to him I don t think the provinces suspended the stadtholderate Friesland certainly did not and left uncle William Frederick in place but most left the office vacant