ce langage, tenu avec
energie, en imposera a l'audace des Anglomanes, et que Monsieur
le Prince de Nassau croira courir quelque risque en provoquant le
ressentiment de sa Majeste.'_ *

[*Extract from the despatch of the Count de Vergennes, to
the Marquis de Verac, Ambassador from France, at the Hague,
dated March 1, 1788.

'The King will give his aid, as far as may be in his power,
towards the success of the affair, and you will, on his
part, invite the Patriots to communicate to him their views,
their plans, and their discontents. You may assure them,
that the King takes a real interest in themselves, as well
as their cause, and that they may rely upon his protection.
On this they may place the greater dependence, as we do not
conceal, that if the Stadtholder resumes his former
influence, the English system will soon prevail, and our
alliance become a mere affair of the imagination. The
Patriots will readily feel, that this position would be
incompatible both with the dignity and consideration of his
Majesty. But in case the chief of the Patriots should have
to fear a division, they would have time sufficient to
reclaim those whom the Anglomaniacs had misled, and to
prepare matters in such a manner, that the question when
again agitated, might be decided according to their wishes.
In such a hypothetical case, the King authorizes you to act
in concert with them, to pursue the direction which they may
think proper to give you, and to employ every means to
augment the number of the partisans of the good cause. It
remains for me to speak of the personal security of the
Patriots. You may assure them, that under every
circumstance, the King will take them under his immediate
protection, and you will make known wherever you may judge
necessary, that his Majesty will regard, as a personal
offence, every undertaking against their libeity. It is to
be presumed that this language, energetically maintained,
may have some effect on the audacity of the Anglomaniacs,
and that the Prince de Nassau will feel that he runs some
risk in provoking the resentment of his Majesty.']

This letter was communicated by the Patriots to me, when at Amsterdam,
in 1788, and a copy sent by me to Mr. Jay, in my letter to him of March
16, 1788.

The object of the Patriots was,