of the allies, the Prince of Saxe Cobourg, after some
altercations with the Dutch generals, who refused to risk another
battle, and after making a powerful but vain appeal to his German
countrymen on the Rhine and the Moselle, to rise _en masse_, for the
defence of all that was dear to them--of their altars and firesides, of
their emperor, their liberty, and their old Germanic honour,--retired
from the command of the imperial army. As for the emperor himself, he
was so irritated by the want of energy and disaffection of the people,
and so discouraged by the events of the war, that a notion got abroad of
his intention to abandon the coalition, and seek a separate peace
with the republicans. This report of secession, however, was probably
circulated for the same purpose as the previous report of the secession
of the King of Prussia; namely, to obtain money from England. At all
events this was the effect produced: alarmed at it, Pitt dispatched Earl
Spencer and Mr. Thomas Grenville to Vienna, and the result was, that the
emperor accepted a large subsidy, in the shape of a guarantee of four
millions, as the price of his adherence to the coalition. As for the
report that the emperor evacuated Flanders, in order that his subjects
might experience the difference between his mild government and that of
the republicans of France, it seems to be wholly without foundation. But
if it afforded him any consolation to know that the Netherlands smarted
under the republican rule, his feelings must have been gratified to
the utmost. Every young man capable of bearing arms was called into the
field of battle; the coin of the country was called in and exchanged
for assignats at par; merchandise and property of all descriptions were
seized by the freebooting republicans; and the guillotine was kept in
constant motion by commissioners sent to fraternise and unite Belgium
with France. Moreover, Ghent, Bruges, Ostend, and other towns, with the
villages, were heavily taxed, and the plunder derived from the whole
country was conveyed to Lisle and Dunkirk, for the use and service of
republican France.

During this campaign, a new treaty was concluded with the Duke of
Brunswick, who engaged to furnish his Britannic majesty with a body of
2,289 troops, upon condition of receiving the same liberal remuneration
as the Hessians, and granting over and above to the noble duke an annual
subsidy of L16,000 sterling. This treaty, however, was made too late