notions holds in his hands the balance of Europe, and can restore or dethrone, will attend to the interests of his kinsman, and oblige the French and Batavian republics to reinstate him in his offices. This opinion is so wild and baseless, that I would misemploy my time were I elaborately to combat it.
Since the year 1787, when the arms of Prussia overran Holland, and crushed the party which opposed the stadtholder, the character and views of the court of Berlin have been regarded with much attention and anxiety by the Dutch. The patriots, and all true Hollanders in whose bosoms glowed one spark of remembrance of the ancient feats of their countrymen, beheld with indignation a power which had arisen in Europe within the century, giving laws to, and imposing a master on the republic. Since that period, as their interests or partialities have inclined them, Prussia has been viewed by the Dutch with jealousy, fear, or hope. The character of the present King of Prussia excites no alarms in the patriots, and consequently
