Rhingrave of Salm their Commander in chief; a Prince without talents,
without courage, and without principle. He might have held out in
Utrecht, for a considerable time, but he surrendered the place without
firing a gun, literally ran away and hid himself, so that for months it
was not known what was become of him. Amsterdam was then attacked,
and capitulated. In the mean time, the negotiations for the quadruple
alliance were proceeding favorably; but the secrecy with which they were
attempted to be conducted, was penetrated by Fraser, Charge des Affaires
of England at St. Petersburg, who instantly notified his court, and gave
the alarm to Prussia. The King saw at once what would be his situation,
between the jaws of France, Austria, and Russia. In great dismay, he
besought the court of London not to abandon him, sent Alvensleben to
Paris to explain and soothe; and England, through the Duke of Dorset
and Eden, renewed her conferences for accommodation. The Archbishop,
who shuddered at the idea of war, and preferred a peaceful surrender
of right, to an armed vindication of it, received them with open
arms, entered into cordial conferences, and a declaration, and
counter-declaration, were cooked up at Versailles, and sent to London
for approbation. They were approved there, reached Paris at one o'clock
of the 27th, and were signed that night at Versailles. It was said and
believed at Paris, that M. de Montrnorin, literally 'pleuroit cotnrae
un enfant,' when obliged to sign this counter-declaration; so distressed
was he by the dishonor of sacrificing the Patriots, after assurances so
solemn of protection, and absolute encouragement to proceed. The Prince
of Orange was reinstated in all his powers, now become regal. A great
emigration of the Patriots took place; all were deprived of office, many
exiled, and their property confiscated. They were received in France,
and subsisted, for some time, on her bounty. Thus fell Holland, by the
treachery of her Chief, from her honorable independence, to become
a province of England; and so, also, her Stadtholder, from the high
station of the first citizen of a free Republic, to be the servile
Viceroy of a foreign Sovereign. And this was effected by a mere scene of
bullying and demonstration; not one of the parties, France, England,
or Prussia, having ever really meant to encounter actual war for the
interest of the Prince of Orange. But it had all the effect of a real
and decisive war