ht forward by the
Stadtholder as indispensable to the security of the commonwealth,
sanctioned by all the provinces except Holland, and sanctioned by
seventeen of the eighteen town councils of Holland, had repeatedly been
negatived by the single voice of Amsterdam. The only constitutional
remedy in such cases was that deputies from the cities which were agreed
should pay a visit to the city which dissented, for the purpose of
expostulation. The number of deputies was unlimited: they might continue
to expostulate as long as they thought fit; and meanwhile all their
expenses were defrayed by the obstinate community which refused to yield
to their arguments. This absurd mode of coercion had once been tried
with success on the little town of Gorkum, but was not likely to produce
much effect on the mighty and opulent Amsterdam, renowned throughout
the world for its haven bristling with innumerable masts, its canals
bordered by stately mansions, its gorgeous hall of state, walled,
roofed, and floored with polished marble, its warehouses filled with
the most costly productions of Ceylon and Surinam, and its Exchange
resounding with the endless hubbub of all the languages spoken by
civilised men. [426]

The disputes between the majority which supported the Stadtholder and
the minority headed by the magistrates of Amsterdam had repeatedly run
so high that bloodshed had seemed to be inevitable. On one occasion the
Prince had attempted to bring the refractory deputies to punishment as
traitors. On another occasion the gates of Amsterdam had been barred
against him, and troops had been raised to defend the privileges of the
municipal council. That the rulers of this great city would ever consent
to an expedition offensive in the highest degree to Lewis whom they
courted, and likely to aggrandise the House of Orange which they
abhorred, was not likely. Yet, without their consent, such an expedition
could not legally be undertaken. To quell their opposition by main force
was a course from which, in different circumstances, the resolute and
daring Stadtholder would not have shrunk. But at that moment it was
most important that he should carefully avoid every act which could
be represented as tyrannical. He could not venture to violate the
fundamental laws of Holland at the very moment at which he was drawing
the sword against his father in law for violating the fundamental laws
of England. The violent subversion of one free constituti