place he did not much distinguish
himself, and the issue of the contest was entirely owing to our troops
and to our generals.

After the Peace of Amiens, observing that Bonaparte intended to
annihilate instead of establishing universal liberty, Daendels gave in
his resignation and retired to obscurity, not wishing to be an instrument
of tyranny, after having so long fought for freedom. Had he possessed
the patriotism of a Brutus or a Cato, he would have bled or died for his
cause and country sooner than have deserted them both; or had the
ambition and love of glory of a Caesar held a place in his bosom, he
would have attempted to be the chief of his country, and by generosity
and clemency atone, if possible, for the loss of liberty. Upon the line
of baseness,--the deserter is placed next to the traitor.

Dumonceau, another Batavian general of some publicity, is not by birth a
citizen of the United States, but was born at Brussels in 1758, and was
by profession a stonemason when, in 1789, he joined, as a volunteer, the
Belgian insurgents. After their dispersion in 1790 he took refuge and
served in France, and was made an officer in the corps of Belgians,
formed after the declaration of war against Austria in 1792. Here he
frequently distinguished himself, and was, therefore, advanced to the
rank of a general; but the Dutch general officers being better paid than
those of the French Republic, he was, with the permission of our
Directory, received, in 1795, as a lieutenant-general of the Batavian
Republic. He has often evinced bravery, but seldom great capacity. His
natural talents are considered as but indifferent, and his education is
worse.

These are the only three military characters who might, with any prospect
of success, have tried to play the part of a Napoleon Bonaparte in
Holland.

LETTER XXXII.

PARIS, August, 1805.

MY LORD:--Not to give umbrage to the Cabinet of Berlin, Bonaparte
communicated to it the necessity he was under of altering the form of
Government in Holland, and, if report be true, even condescended to ask
advice concerning a chief magistrate for that country. The young Prince
of Orange, brother-in-law of His Prussian Majesty, naturally presented
himself; but, after some time, Talleyrand's agents discovered that great
pecuniary sacrifices could not be expected from that quarter, and perhaps
less submission to France experienced than from the former governors. An
eye was then