well-grounded instances made by the provinces
of Gueldres, Utrecht, Overyssel, and Groningen; and, on the other, to
comply with the ardent and just desires expressed by the commercial
inhabitants of the country. She told them, that the deputation which
waited on her consisted of forty merchants, a number that merited
attention, no less than the speech they pronounced, of which a great
number of printed copies were distributed through all parts of the
country. Without making any particular remarks on the harangue, she only
observed, that the drift of it did not tend to facilitate the negotiation
begun with Great Britain, nor to induce the nation to prefer a
convention to a rupture with that crown. From this circumstance she
inferred, it was more than time to finish the deliberations on the
proposal for augmenting the forces both by sea and land; a measure,
without which, she was convinced in her conscience, the state was, and
would always remain, exposed to all sorts of misfortune and danger both
now and hereafter.

In consequence of this interposition, the states-general that same day
sent a letter to the states of Holland and West Friesland, communicating
the sentiments of the princess-regent, and insisting upon the necessity
of complying with her proposal of the double augmentation. They
observed, that an augmentation of the land-forces, for the defence of
the frontiers, was unavoidable, as well as an equipment by sea for the
security of commerce: that the states of the provinces of Gueldres,
Utrecht, Overyssel, and Groningen, joined with them in the same opinion;
and accordingly had insisted, by divers letters and propositions, on
those two points so essential to the public interest. They represented
the danger of delay, and the fatal effects of discord; they proposed,
that by a reciprocal indulgence one party should comply with the
sentiments of the other, in order to avoid a schism and dangerous
division among the confederates, the consequences of which would be
very deplorable; while the republic, in the meantime, would remain in
a defenceless condition, both by sea and land, and depend upon the
arbitrary power of its neighbours. They conjured them, therefore, as
they valued the safety of their country, and all that was dear to them;
as they regarded the protection of the good inhabitants, the concord
and harmony which at all times but especially at the present critical
juncture, was of the last necessity, that t