promised that the laws and customs of Holland should be provisionally maintained; and that the Batavian people alone, exercising that sovereignty which belonged to them, should have the power to alter and modify the constitution of their country[1].
The regents of Amsterdam resigned their offices, or were displaced, and Visscher, who scarcely two months before was sentenced to six years' imprisonment in the Rasp-house, was triumphantly liberated from his confinement, and placed, with the title of mayor, at the head of the magistracy of the city. For this arduous office he was well qualified by the situations which he had formerly filled with honour, and for the unimpeached integrity and patriotism of his character.
At this time a proclamation was issued to the French army by General Pichegru, prohibiting the troops, under pain of death, from committing any acts of plunder or disorder,<references>
- ↑ See in the Appendix, the paper marked A.
