her good friends of the
republic.

In his opinion, the terms of the suggested truce contained sufficient
guarantees for the liberty of the provinces, not only during the truce,
but for ever.

No stronger recognition of their independence could be expected than the
one given. It was entirely without example, argued the president, that in
similar changes brought about by force of arms, sovereigns after having
been despoiled of their states have been compelled to abandon their
rights shamefully by a public confession, unless they had absolutely
fallen into the hands of their enemies and were completely at their
mercy. "Yet the princes who made this great concession," continued
Jeannin, "are not lying vanquished at your feet, nor reduced by dire
necessity to yield what they have yielded."

He reminded the assembly that the Swiss enjoyed at that moment their
liberty in virtue of a simple truce, without ever having obtained from
their former sovereign a declaration such as was now offered to the
United Provinces.

The president argued, moreover, with much force and acuteness that it was
beneath the dignity of the States, and inconsistent with their
consciousness of strength, to lay so much stress on the phraseology by
which their liberty was recognised. That freedom had been won by the
sword, and would be maintained against all the world by the sword.

"In truth," said the orator, "you do wrong to your liberty by calling it
so often in doubt, and in claiming with so much contentious anxiety from
your enemies a title-deed for your independence. You hold it by your own
public decree. In virtue of that decree, confirmed by the success of your
arms, you have enjoyed it long. Nor could anything obtained from your
enemies be of use to you if those same arms with which you gained your
liberty could not still preserve it for you."

Therefore, in the opinion of the president, this persistence in demanding
a more explicit and unlimited recognition of independence was only a
pretext for continuing the war, ingeniously used by those who hated
peace.

Addressing himself more particularly to the celebrated circular letter of
Prince Maurice against the truce, the president maintained that the
liberty of the republic was as much acknowledged in the proposed articles
as if the words "for ever" had been added. "To acknowledge liberty is an
act which, by its very nature, admits of no conditions," he observed,
with considerable force.