A Tour Through the Batavian Republic/Appendix
APPENDIX.
A.
THE representatives of the French nation with the armies of the North, the Sambre, and the Maese, to the people of Batavia.
The tyrants who have combined against the freedom of nations, declared war against us, and threatened to conquer and subjugate us.
The treacherous stadtholder, having reduced your government under his power, entered into the base confederacy formed by tyrants, to force a great people to submit to the yoke of slavery.
Your blood, your treasures, were lavished for this; but the success of our arms has made manifest the justice of our cause, and our all-conquering armies have entered into your country.Batavians! we know you too well to imagine you would be accomplices in so abominable a conspiracy. Our enemies are also yours. The blood of the founders of the United Netherlands still flows in your veins; and in the midst of the confusion of war we consider you as our friends and allies. It is under this name that we enter your country. We seek not to terrify, but to inspire you with confidence. It is but a few years since a tyrannic conqueror prescribed you laws; we have abolished them, and restore you to freedom.
We come not to make you slaves; the French, nation shall preserve to you your independence.
The armies of the republic shall observe the strictest military discipline.
All crimes and civil offences, of citizens against citizens, shall be punished with the most rigid justice.
Personal safety shall be secured, and property protected.
The freedom of religious worship shall suffer no restraint.
The laws and customs of the country shall be, provisionally, maintained.
The people of Batavia, exercising that sovereignty which is their right, shall alone possess the power to alter or modify the form of their government.
| Gillet, Bellegarde, J. B. Lacoste, Joubert, Portiez de L'Oise. |
B.
BEHOLD, citizens, at length the grand basis of your liberty founded, and the aristocratic edifice of your ancient government overthrown. Doubtless this basis will prove durable, having been fixed by the express will, and under the supreme direction, of the Almighty, whose all-powerful hand has been so manifest in the events which have lately happened to us. During one of the most glorious campaigns of which the annals of the world speak, the French army had already approached our frontier, when the natural force of our country, its rivers, its waters of every kind, appeared to retard in some degree, and during a certain period, their progress; — for experience has shewn, that nothing can resist the courage, the activity, and the indefatigable perseverance, of the French nation; and that frontier towns, fortresses, and strong holds of every kind, fall before their zeal and inconceiveable efforts; —but at a moment, however, when it was least expected, and when the campaign was thought to be at an end, a frost, the most intense which almost ever was known, transformed at once our rivers, our canals, and our inundation, into roads and bridges, and what was esteemed in former times the strength of our country, and the security of our government, became the means of accelerating the progress of the arms of a nation which has solemnly and publicly declared, that they regard us not as enemies, but as brethren and allies. This striking event ought to lead us to contemplate with respectful admiration the adorable ways of the Almighty, who, when the prospect of the freedom of our country was otherwise distant and uncertain, thus saved the effusion of so much blood, and snatched so many cities and countries from destruction.
Let us, our hearts being filled with gratitude, render thanks to God for this wonderful interference of his Providence; and since our liberty has so manifestly been founded by his will, let us keep his divine example before our eyes, and with all humility endeavour to make it the object of our imitation. Let justice, equity, and humanity, be the beginning and the end of all our actions and resolutions; and, laying aside all hatreds, all spirit of party, and of vengeance for former wrongs, let us remember that it was he who taught us to bless those who curse us.
Then will a blessing attend our labours; then and then alone will union spring up among usj —union, without which we have seen the country cannot exist, but with the aid of which we have a bright example in our annals that we are invincible.
Then tranquillity and calm will reign in every breast; and the foundation being thus happily laid, the edifice of our liberty will be gradually reared, amid the influence of virtue, of reason, and of philosophy.
When the sovereignty of the people shall have been acknowledged; when the inalienable rights of man, without distinction of religious or political opinions, shall have been solemnly declared; we may expect that peace, liberty, and security, which have so long been banished from our land, will again take up their abode with us, and form the source of our common felicity.
It is for these most desirable ends that I offer up my prayers to the Almighty, that he may grant us his divine blessing; that he may afford us all, and particularly to me whom this assembly has favoured with such a mark of its confidence, his paternal assistance; and that he may turn the efforts which we are about to make to the happiness of a people so long outraged, influenced, and oppressed.
C.
BANK OF AMSTERDAM.
Gazette Extraordinary of Amsterdam, Feb. 5, 1795.
LIBERTY, EQUALITY, FRATERNITY.
THE provisional representatives of the people of Amsterdam, deeming it of the last importance to the commerce of this city that the public should be informed of the state of its bank, styled the Bank of Exchange, and that the credit of the said bank should not be impeached, or suffer any diminution by erroneous opinions, by artful insinuations, or by the first false impressions which rumours circulated relating to it might occasion, have deemed it advisable, and have resolved to declare by this present writing, that according to the reports made on this subject by the committee of commerce and marine, duly authorised by the provisional representatives to examine into the state of the said bank, it appeared, that if the information given by the clerks in the bank, in answer to the enquiries of the committee, and if the balance last struck, are correct, which Ultimately will be minutely examined, no deficiency whatever will exist in the said bank, and the debits and credits will precisely balance, with this exception, that, instead of specie, there have been received into the said bank from time to time, as securities for large sums advanced by it within the last fifty years, a very considerable number of bonds, viz.
Seventy bonds of the India company of Amsterdam, guaranteed by the states of that province, being each for 100,000 florins banco, at three per cent interest; besides a similar one of 50,000 banco; on which there will be due, according to the calculation of the said clerks, the sum of 249,000 florins banco, for interest. On account of which bonds, the treasurer of the said city is debited in the aforesaid balance 6,273,000 florins banco.
Besides these, there are fifty bonds, each for 24,000 florins, on account of the provinces of Holland and West Friesland, belonging to the loan-office of this city, on which, according to the information of the clerks, the bank has advanced, agreeably to the aforesaid balance, the sum of 838,857 florins banco, on which there will be due for interest 30,000 florins.
In addition to which, the loan-office owes the bank, conformable to the same information, the sum of 1,715,000 florins banco.
That further, if every thing shall appear as has been stated by the said clerks, and sterling being converted into stock, the treasurer of the city will, in addition, owe to the bank, and for which it was made debtor at the closing of the accounts above alluded to, the sum of
| F. 38,358 2 0 | |
| And what it owed at the actual closing of the accounts, | 155,314 6 8 |
| Making together, banco, | F. 193,672 8 8 |
There is also due, from the said bank, 227,264 2 8, for which bonds were originally given, but according to the clerks' statement are burnt, but for which the city notwithstanding paid interest annually to the bank.
That it is nevertheless obvious, that the city is responsible for this sum as well as for the whole, as it ought to be considered with respect to it, not only as guarantee, but as actual debtor, to the bank.
That moreover, among other things in the said bank, there has been found in substance all the specie for which accountable receipts have been given, agreeable to the list made out and delivered to the committee of commerce and marine by the cashiers of the bank, and which can, in consequence, be at all times drawn out by the holders of the said receipts, in exchange for them, when it shall please them so to do.
The aforesaid provisional representatives have, therefore, not only taken the requisite and most efficacious measures, that henceforward there shall not be delivered from, nor advanced by, the said bank, contrary to its original institution, any specie whatsoever, by any authority, either as a loan or in any other illegal manner; but also that the said bonds, lodged in the said bank as securities, as aforesaid, shall be liquidated as soon as possible; and generally that this city, as debtor to the bank, shall, with all practicable dispatch, discharge in cash the balance of its account with the said bank; which being done, the provisional representatives declare that there can exist no deficiency of any kind soever, and that they will, without delay, take into their serious consideration, and will carry into immediate effect, the means to obtain this end.
The provisional representatives, nevertheless, declare, that this notification is only made to maintain duly the credit of the bank of this city, and to tranquillise the minds of foreigners and the commercial part of its inhabitants. But they desire by no means to be considered as approving of, or confirming, the use that may have been made of the deposits of the bank, and much less of discharging, by any thing in this proclamation, those who may be reprehensible on that subject.
Given and published Feb. 5th, 1795, the first year of Batavian liberty. By order of the aforesaid representatives.
|
| G. Brender. A. Brandis, Secretary. |
D.
"PHILOSOPHERS of all nations and ages have invariably judged, that when civil dissensions are over, the conquering party has always been guilty of injustice when it has thought worthy of punishment actions which the chiefs of the conquered party have done to maintain their cause, and has in consequence of these principles set on foot a general persecution. Actions which are at all times criminal; actions which are morally bad, independent of all political relations, and consequently always punishable; are then the only ones that can, according to the principles of justice be taken into consideration; are also the only actions which a righteous judge, whose judgment ought not to be directed by any influence of political passions, will esteem criminal and worthy of punishment; and not those actions which we at present consider as highly pernicious, but which have been committed under the eye, and with the plenary approbation of the preceding government."
"If we reject these principles, there is no longer security for any human action; and let it not be dissembled, that he who broaches a contrary doctrine, proclaims in effect the right of the strongest, and consequently the favourite right of tyrants."
"It is a great mistake to compare the circumstances of France in the course of her revovolution with ours. It was not in France a spirit of revenge for the crimes committed under the old government, which occasioned the repeated scenes of terror that were exhibited but the violent opposition to the revolution itself, which occasioned the necessity of a proportionable vigilance to crush all conspiracies. But what opposition have we to expect?"
"All political dissensions, all the revolutions that have taken place in this state since its origin, vanish before so interesting a revolution as the present. They were only disputes between party and party; struggles for power, between unprincipled men, in which the people were constantly duped. To-day it is the cause of the people itself in which we labour, in which you all ought to labour. To-day it is not a faction, but the nation herself, who is victorious. We must direct, therefore, our view, not to the welfare of a few despots, but to the happiness of the whole nation."
The whole of the proclamation breathes a spirit of conciliation and generosity exactly conformable with the above extracts; and for nobleness of sentiment, sound and liberal policy, and humane, enlightened views, was perhaps never exceeded by any state ordinance that has appeared in the world.
E.
Art. 1. The republic of France acknowledges and guarantees the independence of the republic of the United Provinces, and the abolition of the stadtholderate.
2. There shall be a lasting peace, amity, and good understanding, between the two republics.
3. There shall also be an alliance, offensive and defensive, against all the enemies of the respective republics, during the present war.
4. There shall be an alliance, offensive and defensive, against Great Britain for ever. 5. No treaty shall be entered into with Great Britain, without the consent of the two republics.
6. The French republic shall make no peace with any power whatever, without comprising in it the republic of the United Provinces.
7. The republic of the United Provinces shall furnish for the present campaign, twelve ships of the line, and eighteen frigates, for the North-sea and Baltic.
8. The republic of the United Provinces shall furnish for the present campaign half the number of troops which the republic shall have on foot.
9. All the forces employed in actual service shall be under the command of French generals. The arrangements for the campaign shall be made in concert: the states-general may send a deputy, who shall sit and have a deliberative voice in the committee of public safety at Paris.
10. All arsenals and ammunition belonging to the republic of the United Provinces shall be restored.
11. From the ratification of the present treaty, restitution shall be made of all the countries and places belonging to the United Provinces, with the exceptions contained in the following articles.12. Dutch Flanders, and the right side of the Hondt, Maestricht, Venloo, and their dependencies, shall be reserved by the French republic as indemnities.
13. A French garrison shall be admitted, in peace and war, into the town of Flushing, until other arrangements shall have been decided.
14. The port of Flushing shall be open to the two republics, conformably to the rules laid down in the separate articles attached to this treaty.
15. In case of hostilities on the side of the Rhine, or of Zealand, French garrisons shall be admitted into Breda, Bois le Duc, and Bergen-op-Zoom.
16. At the epoch of a general peace, cession shall be made to the United Provinces of portions of territory equivalent in extent to the cession contained in the 12th article, and in a position most convenient to the republic of the United Provinces.
17. Until the general peace, such a number of French troops shall be stationed in the necessary places as shall be deemed adequate to the defence of them.
18. The navigation of the Scheldt and the Hondt shall be open to the two republics: French and Dutch vessels shall be indiscriminately admitted, under the same conditions.19. The French republic gives up to the republic of the United Provinces all the immoveable effects belonging to the house of Orange, and all the moveable property not yet disposed of.
20. As indemnification for the expences of the war, the republic of the United Provinces shall pay to the republic of France one hundred millions of livres; either in specie, or in bills upon foreign powers, as shall be agreed upon.
21. The French republic shall use their good offices with foreign powers in favour of the United Provinces, in order that they may obtain the payment of the sums due to them before the war.
22. No asylum shall be given by the republic of the United Provinces to the French emigrants, and no asylum shall be given by the republic of France to the Orange emigrants.
23. The present treaty shall be ratified within two decades, or sooner if possible.
Concluded at the Hague, on the 15th of May, 1795; afterwards ratified by both the contracting parties.
|
FINIS.
T. Davison, White-Friars.
- ↑ They before styled themselves provisional representatives of the people of Amsterdam: the phrase commune was probably adopted in compliance with French forms, which now begin in some measure to prevail.