XVI. institutions that the real cause of the stability and good CHAP. faith of their government, and the tranquil, industrious character of their people, is to be found. 1794. of the 93. The preceding account of this interesting commonwealth will not, by the reflecting mind, be deemed mis- Importance placed even in a work of general history. It is not merely preceding by magnitude of territory, or numbers of inhabitants, record of that the importance of a country is to be measured. The wisdom of institutions, the heroism of actions, the patriotism of the people, constitute the only real passport to immortality. Judging by this standard, the United Provinces will take a place second only to France and Britain in European history. Amidst the multiplied scenes of carnage, the sickening deeds of iniquity which have ever characterised democratic ascendency in the world, it is refreshing to find one instance in which a commonwealth has existed independent for centuries, unchanged alike in its character and its institutions; in which order has co-existed with freedom, social happiness with national independence, heavy public burdens with unshaken national faith. It encourages the pleasing hope, that means may yet be found of reconciling the contending interests of society; of elevating labour without destroying property, of affording protection without encouraging license, and opening industry without inducing equality. 94. England to But most of all, the British historian feels himself called upon to render such an act of justice to the United Pro- Injustice of vinces. Twice in English history-during periods which Holland in he would willingly blot from its annals England, in recent violation alike of its plighted faith and its obvious interests, has united with France for the oppression of country; in which it ever ought to be the obedient and not the ruling power. times. XVI. 1794. CHAP. Holland: once in the seventeenth century, when bought by French gold; once in the nineteenth, when deluded by French democracy. The British historian cannot restore to the House of Orange the kingdom of the Netherlands, guaranteed by his government in the treaty of Vienna; nor the citadel of Antwerp, reft from its dominions by the arms of his country. But he can, with sorrow, confess a breach of national honour equalling the partition of Poland in its injustice, and an error in policy exceeding Joseph's destruction of the barrier towns in its inexpedience. And if these lines should meet the eye of a citizen of that ancient and memorable republic, it may afford him some consolation to discover, that there are men in England who can characterise with equal severity injustice committed under their own flag, as beneath the banners of their enemies; and see, in the impartial administration of Providence, the same justice dealt out to his own as to foreign usurpation. He must be blind indeed, who does not discern, in the fierce demand for the Repeal of the Union, which so soon after threatened dismemberment to the British empire, the natural consequence and just punishment of that iniquitous interference to support a Romish rebellion, and effect the partition of an ancient ally, which, bringing the arms of England, for the first time recorded in history, into a league with Roman Catholic fanaticism and French propagandism, has succeeded in converting the barrier of Europe against France, into the outwork of France against Europe, and restoring Antwerp, the fulcrum of Napoleon against Britain, to a revolutionary dynasty, and the sway of the tricolor flag.* At the end of December, the Meuse being entirely frozen over, and the cold as low as 17° below zero of Reaumur, O'Connell, in his speeches in Ireland in 1842 and 1843, to forward the cause of the Repeal of the Union, frequently alluded to the separation of Belgium from Holland, as at once a proof of what a nation determined to recover its rights could do, and an example which should and might be followed in the British empire. It is not surprising that he did so, and that the refer CHAP. 1794. 95. general at Allied posi Dec. 28. corresponding to 6° below zero of Fahrenheit, the French army commenced its winter campaign by an attack on two columns of the Dutch advanced posts. The result was what might have been expected from an irruption into a Pichegru cordon of troops by concentrated forces. The Dutch makes a troops, after a slight resistance, fled in confusion, some to tack on the Utrecht, and others to Gorcum, leaving sixty pieces of tion. cannon, and sixteen hundred prisoners, in the hands of the invaders. In the general confusion, the Republicans even made themselves masters of some forts on the Waal, and crossed that river; but the stream being not yet passable for heavy artillery, Pichegru withdrew, in the first instance, his troops to the left bank. But meanwhile the right of the Dutch position was assailed by the French, one brigade driven into Williamstadt, another made prisoners, and the investment of Breda completed. On the following day Grave capitulated, after an honourable resistance of two months, and a bombardment of three weeks, from famine; a noble example, the more worthy Dec. 29. of admiration from its having occurred in the middle of Jom. vi. the general consternation, and after numerous instances of Toul. v. 170. shameful dereliction of duty on the part of the Dutch 190. troops.1 1 186, 188. Th. vii. 186, 96. retires to So many disasters produced their usual effect in sowing dissension among the Allied generals. Wal- Walmoden moden was desirous of concentrating his forces on the wards HanWaal between Nimeguen and St André, to make head over. against the French, who were preparing to cross that river; but the Prince of Orange insisted on the Allied forces approaching Gorcum, in order to cover the direct road to Amsterdam, where the Republican agents had been long preparing a revolutionary movement, and an explosion was daily expected. Thus thwarted in the only ence produced the greatest effect on his audience; for it was an instance of a successful and forcible repeal of a union of two kingdoms, the one Protestant, the other Roman Catholic, brought about by the combined efforts of Romish fanaticism and revolutionary fervour,-the very passions by which Ireland has so long been desolated. XVI. 1795. CHAP. rational mode of carrying on the campaign, and despairing of making head against the greatly superior forces of the enemy, Walmoden resolved to abandon the United Provinces to their fate, and, with a view to secure his retreat to Hanover, concentrated the British forces behind the Linge, and covered them on the left by the Austrian contingents. Orders were at the same time given to abandon the line of the Waal, as soon as the enemy should present themselves in force for the passage of that river. But an unexpected panic having occurred in the division intrusted with the park of artillery near Tiel, it became evident that this position, in the dejected state of the army, was not tenable; and the troops, with the excepTh. vii. 191. tion of a small vanguard, were withdrawn behind the Rhine.1 1 Jom. vi. 189, 191. 97. Dutch sue for peace in vain, and French cross the Waal. Despairing of their situation after the departure of the British army, the States-General made proposals of peace to the French government, offering, as an inducement, to recognise the Republic, and pay down two hundred millions of francs. The overtures were in the highest degree desirable, as the success of the invasion depended entirely on the continuance of the frost, and an accommodation with Holland would disengage fifty thousand men for operations on the Rhine; but the Committee of Public Salvation, carried away by their extraordinary success, and desirous, at all hazards, of establishing a revolutionary government in Holland, haughtily rejected them, and ordered Pichegru instantly to invade that devoted country. The continuance of the frost, which had now set in with more severity than had been known for a hundred years, gave an unlooked-for success to this ambitious determinaJan. 8,1795. tion. On the 8th January the French army crossed the Waal, then almost completely frozen, at various points, which was facilitated by the capture of Tiel by General Toul. v. 171. Moreau.2 A successful battle alone could now save the Jom. vi. 192, Dutch republic; but the dejected state of the army, suffering under the extremity of cold and hardship, with *Th.vi. 191. 196. the thermometer at 17° below zero of Reaumur, rendered this a hopeless alternative. Walmoden, therefore, abandoned Holland altogether, and, retiring to the line of the Issel from Arnheim to Zutphen, left the United Provinces to their fate. CHAP. 1795. 98. holder em volution dam, which French The situation of the Stadtholder was now in the highest degree embarrassing. Abandoned by the army of General The StadtWalmoden, unable with his single forces to make head barks for England, against the torrent of the Republican forces, distracted by and a rethe divisions in all the great towns in his rear, and daily breaks out expecting a revolution at Amsterdam, the Prince of at Amster Orange resolved to abandon the republic altogether, and admits the embark for England. With this view he presented him- troops. self before the States-General, and, after declaring that he had done his utmost to save the country, but without success, avowed his resolution of retiring from the command, and recommended to them to make a separate peace with the enemy. On the following day he embarked at Scheveningen, and the States immediately issued an order to their soldiers to cease all resistance to the invaders, and despatched ambassadors to the headquarters of Pichegru to propose terms of peace. Meanwhile the French generals, anxious to avoid the appearance of subjugating the Dutch, were pausing in their career of success, in expectation of revolutionary movements manifesting themselves in the principal towns. General Daendels wrote to the leaders of the insurrection :-"The representatives of France are desirous that the Dutch people should enfranchise themselves: they will not subdue them as conquerors; they are only waiting till the inhabitants of Haarlem, Leyden, and Amsterdam, rise in a body, and unite themselves to their brethren who have taken the lead at Bois-le-Duc." The receipt of this offer raised to the utmost height the public effervescence at Amster- Jan. 18, dam. The popular party of 1787 assembled in great numbers, and besieged the burgomasters in the townhall; the advanced guard of the French army was 1795. |