RIESBECK’s TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY.

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are the martyrs of truth—and by what means can the prince poffefs himfelf of the go-vernment of the republic? With twenty-eight thoufand of the wretchedeft foldiers inthe world, who, if you except the nine thoufand Swifs and Germans , are not equal tothe taking of Amfterdam. And fuppofing him to get all Idolland, what would he bethe better for it when he had done ? France, England, and even the Dutch Eaff-India company, would take care to prevent him from poflefling himfelf of any part of the fo-reign dominions. The rich, too, would leave a land in which there was no longer anyliberty, according to their notions of it, and betake themfelves to England or America ;the arts and indultry would of courfe foon follow, and the prince would not have enoughleft to defend himfelfagainlt the fea, the rivers, and the frogs.

The jealoufy which the natives entertain for the numerous German princes and nobles,which were employed by the Prince and his right hand, the Duke of Brunfwick, in thearmy, contributed much, no doubt, to leffen his authority ; but without thefe ftrangersthe land fervice could not have been put upon a refpeftable footing. As to the natives,the factions which eternally fubfift among them Hand in the way of all fubordination, re-gularity, and military difcipline; every ftripling belonging to a demagogue of Amfter-dam or Rotterdam confiders himfelf as a particle of the fovereignty : it would furnifhenalefs food for fatire, to recount how many irregularities in the fervice arife from thisiingle caufe.—Even on the Swifs, who are fo averfe to any kind of nobility, this treatmentof the Prince and the Duke has had no good effect.

The evil, however, which really undermines the Stadtholderlhip, lies much deeper.It is the fame which brought Charles to the block and Cromwell to thejprote&orate;which railed the Whigs , and was fo long the objecl of Swift’s fatire. It is generallyimagined, that it was the American revolution which raifed the republican fpirit whichfo fuddenly poffeffed the Dutch ; but it had long been in them, and only flept tillawakened by the prefent war. The reformed, whofe opinions are fo favourable to de-mocracy, and the Memnonites, who publicly preach the equality of mankind, but treatall who hand in their way without pity, are the real inllruments which opprel's theStadtholder . Thefe enthufiafts are without comparifon the richeft people in the repub-lic j they are alfo the moll numerous part of the inhabitants of fome of the greateft ci-ties, for inftance, of Idaerlem. The fums which thefe advocates for the natural equalityof mankind have lent out for many years paft at fix, eight, and even ten per cent, tothe poor nobility, have made the latter entirely dependant upon them. The confequenceof this is, that though their religious opinions will not allow them to take any part inthe government of the ftate, their fecret influence is inexprefiibly great. Thefe hypo-crites, who confider it as a fin to wear metal buckles or buttons, but will ufe every fpe-cies of meannefs to fill their purfes with the ducats of honeft men, have ufurped l'uch apower, as to threaten the very near downfall of the Stadtholder , the only bond of unionwhich fubfifts in the republic. The heads of the Dutch mob are filled with every kindof nonfenfe which thefe pretended faints can fuggeft.—As they knew that the-Stadtholder was too forgiving, too good-hearted, and, if the truth be told, had too little experienceto make head againll a mob himfelf; the firft thing they did was to procure the banilh-ment of the acute, determined, and ftubborn Duke of Brunfwick. His ruin was theprelude to the ruin of the Stadtholder , whom nothing can poflibly fave but a fpeedypeace, which will reduce thefe republicans to their former inafiivity.

It is enough ; this war has fhewn the republic to Europe in all her nakednefs; it hasbeen made evident, that flie has no folid conftitution, nor, as the reft of the Europeanpowers now ftand, ftrength enough to make her refpe&able as a friend, or formidable as^an enemy. For four-fcore years fhe was entirely forgot. During this period, the ava-rice