nce
might consent, receiving in gratification a well-rounded portion of the
Austrian Netherlands, with the islands of Candia, Cyprus, Rhodes, and
perhaps lower Egypt. But all this is in embryo, uncertainty known, and
counterworked by the machinations of the courts of London and Berlin.

The following solution of the British armaments is supposed in a letter
of the 25th ultimo, from Colonel Blachden of Connecticut, now at
Dunkirk, to the Marquis de La Fayette. I will cite it in his own
words:--"A gentleman who left London two days ago, and came to this
place to-day, informs me that it is now generally supposed that Mr.
Pitt's great secret, which has puzzled the whole nation so long, and to
accomplish which design the whole force of the nation is armed, is to
make a vigorous effort for the recovery of America. When I recollect
the delay they have made in delivering the forts in America, and that
little more than a year ago, one of the British ministry wrote to the
King a letter, in which were these remarkable words, 'if your Majesty
pleases, America may yet be yours;' add to this, if it were possible
for the present ministry in England to effect such a matter, they would
secure their places and their power for a long time, and should they
fail in the end, they would be certain of holding them during the
attempt, which it is in their power to prolong as much as they please,
and, at all events, they would boast of having endeavored the recovery
of what a former ministry had abandoned--it is possible." A similar
surmise has come in a letter from a person in Rotterdam to one at this
place. I am satisfied that the King of England believes the mass of our
people to be tired of their independence, and desirous of returning
under his government; and that the same opinion prevails in the
ministry and nation. They have hired their news writers to repeat this
lie in their gazettes so long, that they have become the dupes of it
themselves. But there is no occasion to recur to this, in order to
account for their arming. A more rational purpose avowed, that purpose
executed, and when executed, a solemn agreement to disarm, seem to
leave no doubt that the re-establishment of the Stadtholder was their
object. Yet it is possible, that having found that this court will not
make war in this moment for any ally, new views may arise, and they may
think the moment favorable for executing any purposes they may have, in
our quarter. Add to this,