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
