deputies to him, to consult on their affairs.
They refused in the first moment; but afterwards nominated deputies;
without giving them any power, however, to concede any thing. In the
mean time, they are arming and training themselves. Probably the Emperor
will avail himself of the aid of these deputies, to tread back his
steps. He will be the more prompt to do this, that he may be in
readiness to act freely, if he finds occasion, in the new scenes
preparing in Holland. What these will be, cannot be foreseen. You
well know, that the original party-divisions of that country were into
Stadtholderians, Aristocrats, and Democrats. There was a subdivision
of the Aristocrats, into violent and moderate, which was important.
The violent Aristocrats would have wished to preserve all the powers
of government in the hands of the Regents, and that these should remain
self-elective: but choosing to receive a modification of these powers
from the Stadtholder, rather than from the people, they threw themselves
into his scale. The moderate Aristocrats would have consented to a
temperate mixture of democracy, and particularly, that the Regents
should be elected by the people. They were the declared enemies of the
Stadtholder, and acted in concert with the Democrats, forming with them
what was called the Patriots. It is the opinion of dispassionate
people on the spot, that their views might have been effected. But the
democratic party aimed at more. They talked of establishing tribunes of
the people, of annual accounts, of depriving the magistrates at the will
of the people, &c.; of enforcing all this with the arms in the hands of
the _corps francs_; and in some places, as at Heusden, Sprang, &c.
began the execution of these projects. The moderate Aristocrats found it
difficult to strain their principles to this pitch. A schism took place
between them and the Democrats, and the former have for some time been
dropping off from the latter into the scale of the Stadtholder. This
is the fatal coalition which governs without obstacle in Zealand,
Friesland, and Guelderland, which constitutes the States of Utrecht, at
Amersfort, and, with their aid, the plurality in the States General.
The States of Holland, Groningen, and Overyssel, vote as yet in the
opposition. But the coalition gains ground in the States of Holland, and
has been prevalent in the Council of Amsterdam. If its progress be not
stopped by a little moderation in the Democrats, it