estors had enjoyed, which I sincerely believed would be inconsistent
with the safety and freedom of my country.

_William_.--Let me stop you a moment here. When my great-grandfather
formed the plan of the Dutch Commonwealth, he made the power of a
Stadtholder one of the principal springs in his system of government. How
could you imagine that it would ever go well when deprived of this
spring, so necessary to adjust and balance its motions? A constitution
originally formed with no mixture of regal power may long be maintained
in all its vigour and energy without such a power; but if any degree of
monarchy was mixed from the beginning in the principles of it, the
forcing that out must necessarily disorder and weaken the whole fabric.
This was particularly the case in our Republic. The negative voice of
every small town in the provincial States, the tedious slowness of our
forms and deliberations, the facility with which foreign Ministers may
seduce or purchase the opinions of so many persons as have a right to
concur in all our resolutions, make it impossible for the Government,
even in the quietest times, to be well carried on without the authority
and influence of a Stadtholder, which are the only remedy our
constitution has provided for those evils.

_De Witt_.--I acknowledge they are; but I and my party thought no evil so
great as that remedy, and therefore we sought for other more pleasing
resources. One of these, upon which we most confidently depended, was
the friendship of France. I flattered myself that the interest of the
French would secure to me their favour, as your relation to the Crown of
England might naturally raise in them a jealousy of your power. I hoped
they would encourage the trade and commerce of the Dutch in opposition to
the English, the ancient enemies of their Crown, and let us enjoy all the
benefits of a perpetual peace, unless we made war upon England, or
England upon us, in either of which cases it was reasonable to presume we
should have their assistance. The French Minister at the Hague, who
served his Court but too well, so confirmed me in these notions, that I
had no apprehensions of the mine which was forming under my feet.

_William_.--You found your authority strengthened by a plan so agreeable
to your party, and this contributed more to deceive your sagacity than
all the art of D'Estrades.

_De Witt_.--My policy seemed to me entirely suitable to the lasting
security of my