Part 8

"That nothing was more necessary for the well-being of the illustrious House of his Highness, to maintain his authority, to preserve to him the esteem and the attachment of the nation, and for his own reputation with the neighboring powers, since they could assure, and they ought to advertise his Highness, that it is possible he may become one day the object of the indifference and distrust of the public, instead of being and continuing always the worthy object of the love and esteem of the people; and the Regencies, as they made the sincerest wishes, that his Highness and his illustrious posterity might constantly enjoy them, considering, that thereon depended in a great measure, the conservation of the well-being of their country, and of the House of Orange.

"That although they know very well, that the members of the sovereignty have always a right, and that their duty requires them even to expose their sentiments to his Highness and their co-regents, concerning the state and administration of public affairs, they should, however, have now voluntarily spared the present measure, if there had been only the smallest hope of amendment or alteration, but that from the aforesaid reasons, they dared not longer flatter themselves, and that the necessity having arisen to the highest point, it appeared that there was no other part to take, but to lay open in this manner to his Highness the real situation of affairs, praying him most earnestly to take it into serious consideration, and no longer listen to the counsels and insinuations of a man, upon whom the hatred of the great and the little was accumulated, and whom they regard as a stranger, not having a sufficient knowledge of our form of government, and not having a sincere affection for the Republic.

"That the Regents of Amsterdam were very far from desiring to accuse this nobleman of that of which, however, he was too publicly charged; or to consider as well founded, the suspicions of an excessive attachment to the Court of London, of bad faith and of corruption, that they assure themselves, that a person of so illustrious a birth and so high rank, is incapable of such baseness; but that they judge, that the unfortunate ideas, which have been unhappily conceived with regard to him, and which have caused a general distrust, have rendered him absolutely useless and hurtful to the service of the country, and of his Highness.

"That thus it was convenient to dismiss him from the direction of affairs, from the person and Court of his Highness, as being a perpetual obstacle to the re-establishment of that good harmony, so highly necessary between his Highness and the principal members of the State, while his continuance would but too much occasion the distrust conceived of his counsels, to fall, whether with or without reason, upon the person, and the administration of his Highness himself.

"That these representations did not proceed from a principle of personal hatred or private rancor against the Duke, who, in former times, has had reason to value himself on the benevolence and real proofs of the affection of the Regency of Amsterdam; but that they ought to protest before God and the world, that the conservation of their country, and of the illustrious House of his Highness, and the desire to prevent their approaching ruin, had been the only motives of these representations.

"That they had seen themselves obliged to them, both in quality of citizens of the country, and as an integral member of its sovereign Assembly, to the end to make by this step one last effort, and to furnish yet, perhaps in time, a means of saving, under the blessing of the Almighty, the vessel of the State from the most imminent dangers, and conduct it to a good port, or at least, in every case, to acquit themselves of their duty, and to satisfy their consciences, and to place themselves in safety from all reproach from the present age, and from posterity."

To this representation, the Duke has made an answer to their High Mightinesses, in which he demands an inquiry and a vindication of his honor, as dearer to him than his life. This answer will be transmitted as soon as possible. The transaction will form a crisis, but what will be the result of this, or any other measure taken in this country, I cannot pretend to foretel.

I have the honor to be, &c.

JOHN ADAMS.

* * * * *

TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.

Amsterdam, June 27th, 1781.

Sir,

Major Jackson has been some time here, in pursuance of instructions from Colonel Laurens, in order to despatch the purchase of the goods, and the shipping of the goods and cash, for the United States, which are to go by the South Carolina.

But when all things appeared to be ready, I received a letter from his Excellency Dr Franklin, informing me that he feared his funds would not admit of his accepting bills for more than fifteen thousand pounds sterling, the accounts of the Indian and the goods amounted to more than fifty thousand pounds, which showed that there had not been an understanding sufficiently precise and explicit between the Doctor, and the Colonel. There was, however, no remedy but a journey to Passy, which Major Jackson undertook, despatched the whole business, and returned to Amsterdam in seven days, so that I hope now there will be no more delays.

Major Jackson has conducted, through the whole of his residence here, as far as I have been able to observe, with great activity and accuracy in business, and an exemplary zeal for the public service.

I have the honor to be, &c.

JOHN ADAMS.

* * * * *

TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.

Amsterdam, June 29th, 1781.

Sir,

On the 21st of this month, the Field Maréchal, Duke Louis, of Brunswick, presented to the States-General the following paper.

"High and Mighty Lords,

"It is not without the greatest reluctance, that I see myself forced to interrupt the important deliberations of your High Mightinesses, and to have recourse to you in an affair, which indeed regards me personally, but the simple explanation of which, I assure myself, will prove, that if I should neglect this step, I should be essentially wanting to the dignity of character, with which your High Mightinesses have clothed me.

"After having passed in 1750 into the service of the State, it pleased your High Mightinesses, by your resolution of the 13th of November of the same year, to create me Field Maréchal of your troops. When, afterwards, the arrangements for the tuition of the Stadtholder in his minority were resolved on, by express resolutions of all the High Confederates, and it was resolved, that his Highness should be represented in the administration of his military employments, your High Mightinesses then condescended, by honoring me with their distinguished confidence, to confer upon me, by your resolution of the 13th of January, 1759, the title of the representative of the Prince Stadtholder, as Captain-General during the time of his minority.

"I shall say nothing of the resolutions, which your High Mightinesses and the respective Provinces took on the 8th of March, 1766, the day of the majority of the Prince, and in the sequel, under different dates, relative to the manner in which I had answered to the confidence, which you had condescended to put in me. These resolutions are too flattering to be recited here; they are, however, sure pledges, that at that time, at least, I had the good fortune to see my conduct and my services rendered to the State, approved by the high government. In fine, your High Mightinesses continued to honor me with your confidence, even after the time of the minority of the Stadtholder. You took on the same 8th of March, 1766, the resolution to cause to be solicited by your Envoy Extraordinary at the Court of Vienna, the consent of her Imperial and Royal Majesty, in whose service I was also engaged as Field Maréchal, to continue me still in the same quality in the service of your High Mightinesses. The pleasure of her Majesty being obtained, I did not refuse this honor, but continued vested with the character of Field Maréchal of the troops of the State, in the service of your High Mightinesses.

"Having thus filled for more than thirty years, under the eyes of their High Mightinesses, and in a manner which is sufficiently known to you, the employments which you had confided to me, could I have expected that they would one day render my person the object of the public hatred to such a degree, that I could be exposed to the step which they have taken upon my subject; a step the most dishonorable to the character, with which your High Mightinesses have condescended to invest me, and which puts me in the absolute necessity of addressing myself this day to you.

"In effect, High and Mighty Lords, after having seen myself in public, the object of accusations and calumnies the most atrocious, (but which I have always despised as such, and of which I shall never take notice, while no one presents himself to support them) after that they had excited against me a general cry, as if my person could be no longer endured, it was necessary for me still further to suffer, that the gentlemen, the Deputies of the city of Amsterdam, and namely the two reigning Burgomasters, Messieurs Temminck and Rendorp, accompanied with the Pensionary Vischer, should have addressed themselves to my Lord, the Prince of Orange, and in presence of the Counsellor Pensionary of Holland, should have read to him a certain memorial, in the name and by the order of their constituents, who are therein throughout introduced as speaking in the name of the Regency of Amsterdam, and in which I receive an affront the most sensible for an upright heart. It is true, that the Deputies whom I have just named, took back with them this memorial; but, since, changing their plan, they have thought fit to transmit it, on the 14th of the month, by the Burgomaster Rendorp, not indeed in the name of the Regency of Amsterdam, but in that of the gentlemen the Burgomasters to the Counsellor Pensionary, praying him to transmit it to the Prince, to whom they left the liberty to make such use of it as should seem to him convenient.

"Informed in this way, and by the communication which his Highness made to me of it, of the contents of this memorial, I there found so long a concatenation of expressions and reasonings, each more insulting than the other, against my person, which I should be afraid to abuse the attention of your High Mightinesses by inserting them here; lest, however, I should represent them out of their order, and the chain which connects them together, your High Mightinesses will pardon me, I hope, if I transcribe from the memorial, the periods which relate to me, and by which I am attacked.

"After having made several reflections, which in nowise concern me, and which I ought, consequently, to leave to be answered by those who are attacked by them, but which tend to justify the proposition, which the gentlemen, the Deputies of the city of Amsterdam, made the 18th of May last, in the Assembly of the States of Holland in particular, to join to his Highness a privy council or committee, the gentlemen, the Burgomasters, continue to address themselves to the Prince literally in these terms."

[Here follows the substance of the representations of the Burgomasters, contained in my letter to Congress, of the 26th of June, 1781.]

"In those pieces, which I have just now literally related, your High Mightinesses will perceive, and probably not without indignation, that after a train of reflections, each more injurious than the other, in which there is no accusation against me as Field Maréchal, and which, moreover, are only grounded upon pretended public sentiments and reports artfully circulated, that nevertheless the gentlemen, the Burgomasters, have judged it necessary to insist that his Highness would remove me from his person and Court, in a manner the most disgraceful, and condemn me without further examination, as a criminal attainted and convicted to dishonorable exile.

"I cannot then but consider a proceeding, accompanied with so many odious and humiliating expressions, which is not made by simple individuals, but a deputation of two reigning Burgomasters, with the Pensionary of one of the most considerable cities of Holland, in the name and by the order of the Regency of that city, (according to the terms of the memorial, although according to the letter whereof I have spoken of the Burgomaster Rendorp, it was only in the name of the gentlemen, the Burgomasters of that city) and that in a formal manner, after mature deliberation, and after having confirmed this action in the most injurious manner, by taking back the memorial, and causing it to be sent to his Highness, I cannot, I say, but consider this proceeding as wounding, in the most violent manner, my character and my person; and in this same writing, where they dare not specify any crime to my charge, and where they are obliged to acknowledge the falsity of the reports which have circulated against me, and of the suspicions of an excessive and illicit attachment to the English Court, of bad faith and of corruption, they appear, notwithstanding, to give credit to these calumnies, and to be willing to cast upon me the blame of the evils of the times, to the end, to exculpate those who are the true causes of it. I should think myself unworthy of bearing any longer the character that your High Mightinesses have confided to me, if I testified upon this article an indifference or an insensibility.

"I dare also assure myself, that your High Mightinesses will consider my proceeding in the same point of light, and that they will agree with me, that it is of the highest importance to know, if he, whom your High Mightinesses have clothed with the dignity of Field Maréchal, whom they have engaged and continued in their service in the manner abovementioned, is in fact the true cause of the deplorable state of the weakness of the Republic, of all the negligence they suppose to have taken place, of all the false steps, that they say have been taken, and of all the unhappy consequences, that have resulted from them. Your High Mightinesses are to examine in the most exact manner, things so interesting, and to see if this person is the source of the distrust and disunion; for what reasons he would be totally unuseful and prejudicial to the service of the State and of his Highness; what are the proofs of his want of affection to the country; in one word, for what reason he should be hereafter unworthy of the confidence of the Prince, who is placed at the head of this Republic, to whose testimony I here take the liberty of appealing; finally, for what reason he hath merited to be removed from the person of his Highness, and of his Court, as a perpetual obstacle to the good intelligence between his Highness and the Court.

"And as my honor is more dear to me than life, and as I am attacked in a part so sensible, it is also for this reason, and in consideration of that, which I owe to myself even, and to the relations, which I have as well with this State and to your High Mightinesses, as to those which I still have with his Imperial and Royal Majesty, to which otherwise I should be too much wanting, that I see myself obliged to address myself to your High Mightinesses, and by them to all the confederates, to supplicate them respectfully, and to insist in the most express manner, that your High Mightinesses would deign, after the most severe and scrupulous examination, to take such measures in protecting efficaciously the character, which your High Mightinesses have confided to me, that I may be justified in a proper manner from the blame, that the abovementioned proceeding hath cast upon me, and that so sensible an affront as hath been offered me by it, may be suitably repaired; that to this end it may please your High Mightinesses to direct things in such a manner, that the four reigning Burgomasters of Amsterdam, who have caused to be delivered in their name the said Memorial, according to the letter of Burgomaster Rendorp, be obliged, as well as the Pensionary Vischer, to allege the reasons they have had of injuring me so grievously as they have done by the said proceeding, and by the accusation, therein contained, and to verify the whole in a suitable manner, which I cannot but consider all that, which is there said as calumnies, and that they may be obliged, moreover, to specify more precisely the other heads of accusation, that they pretend to allege to my charge, and to bring the requisite judiciary proofs of them; and in case that they can specify nothing, or that they cannot prove sufficiently their allegations, that the authors of the infamous reports circulated against me may be sought out, to the end, that they may be punished as calumniators, according to their deserts; finally, that your High Mightinesses will then, conjointly with all the confederates, take such justificatory resolutions, as will save my honor and my reputation in the nation, and in the eyes of all Europe; that thus I may be placed in a situation to support with proper dignity the character, which your High Mightinesses have given me, and that I may obtain the satisfaction, that your High Mightinesses, according to their profound wisdom and known equity, shall judge equivalent to the affront offered to my character and my relations.

"I have the honor to be, with the most sincere and respectful attachment, High and Mighty Lords, your High Mightinesses' most humble, most obedient, and faithful servant, L. DUC DE BRUNSVIC."

I have the honor to be, &c.

JOHN ADAMS.

* * * * *

TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.

Amsterdam, July 5th, 1781.[1]

Sir,

The following is an extract from the registry of the resolutions of their High Mightinesses, the States-General of the United Provinces of the Low Countries.

_Thursday, June the 20th, 1781._ His Serene Highness, the Prince of Orange and Nassau, having appeared in the Assembly, made to their High Mightinesses the following proposition.

"High and Mighty Lords,

"I have judged necessary to propose to your High Mightinesses to examine, with the greatest care, if, since the present troubles have arisen, proper attention has been paid to the placing the marine of the State in that situation, that it had been able to act efficaciously against an enemy, particularly one so strongly armed by sea as the kingdom of Great Britain is, or if any negligence or supineness hath had place in that respect, and in that case, to what it ought to be attributed; and to the end to receive the necessary information on that head, to write to the respective Colleges of Admiralty, that they may make report, and declare how many vessels they had in 1776, and how many were then equipped, and with how many men, what they have done since the English have begun to molest the ships of the inhabitants of this country, employed in the West India trade under pretext of the disputes arisen with their colonies in North America, and by consequence from the end of 1776 and the beginning of 1777, to place themselves as much as was possible and in their power, in a state to protect the commerce of this country, and what they have done since the troubles have begun in Europe, and that it was to be feared, that the Republic would have a share in them, for to put it as much as depended on them, in a state of not only protecting her commerce, but also to be able to assist in defending the country, and in attacking the enemy; if they have been active to effect that, which hath been resolved by your High Mightinesses for this object, or if there has been a negligence in this respect; and in that case, for what reason they have not executed these resolutions; if it has been possible for them to furnish the ships put in commission and equip them, to the end, that it may appear from whence it arises, that the Republic finds itself in so deplorable a state of defence by sea, which is certainly the point the most interesting in this war, and upon which all the inhabitants of this country have an eye. Although on this occasion I make only mention of the defence by sea, I esteem it necessary to represent to your High Mightinesses, that I am very far from avowing by that, that the land forces of this State are sufficient to assure us, that the country is in a respectable state of defence by land.

"I do not think myself under the necessity of justifying my conduct, and that your High Mightinesses are ignorant of the efforts I have made since my majority to place everything, which regards this Republic, in a respectable posture of defence; nevertheless, I have thought it in my power to represent to your High Mightinesses, that I have on more than one occasion, given it as my opinion, that this Republic ought to be placed not only by land but also by sea, in a proper state of defence, to the end to be able to maintain its liberty and independence, and not to be obliged to take measures contrary to the true interests of the country; but conformable to those of a power from whose menaces it has at length more to fear, because it is not in a state to resist it.

"It is for that reason that even in the beginning of 1771, I have given to understand, that the Deputies of the Province of Holland and West Friesland had proposed in the assembly of your High Mightinesses, by the express orders of the gentlemen, the States their constituents, to cause to be formed a petition for the construction of twentyfour vessels of war; that I have not neglected to insist upon all occasions, as well upon the re-establishment of the marine as upon the augmentation of the land forces, and to press particularly more than once the conclusion of the petition for the construction of vessels.

"It is for the same reason, that in the beginning of the year 1775, upon occasion of the exertions made by the gentlemen, the Commissaries of your High Mightinesses for the affairs of war, with some members of the Council of State, to conciliate the different sentiments of the respective confederates, in regard to the plan of augmentation of the land forces, proposed by the Council of State, the 19th of July, 1773, I have made a conciliatory proposition to this purport, viz. 'that the sum for the department of war should be fixed at six hundred thousand florins for the marine, and to make amends for that, that the sum of one million five hundred thousand florins demanded in 1773, for an augmentation to be made of the land forces, should be reduced to nine hundred thousand florins;' which proposition was embraced at that time by the gentlemen, the States of Guelderland, Friesland, Overyssel, and Gronigen, but hath had no further operation.