It will ever hanker after a
French connection; and now that the internal government in France has
been assimilated in so considerable a degree to that which the
immoderate republicans began so very lately to introduce into Holland,
their connection, as still more natural, will be more desired. I do not
well understand the present exterior politics of the Stadtholder, nor
the treaty into which the newspapers say he has entered for the States
with the Emperor. But the Emperor's own politics with regard to the
Netherlands seem to me to be exactly calculated to answer the purpose of
the French Revolutionists. He endeavors to crush the aristocratic party,
and to nourish one in avowed connection with the most furious
democratists in France.
These Provinces in which the French game is so well played they consider
as part of the old French Empire: certainly they were amongst the oldest
parts of it. These they think very well situated, as their party is well
disposed to a reunion. As to the greater nations, they do not aim at
making a direct conquest of them, but, by disturbing them through a
propagation of their principles, they hope to weaken, as they will
weaken them, and to keep them in perpetual alarm and agitation, and thus
render all their efforts against them utterly impracticable, whilst they
extend the dominion of their sovereign anarchy on all sides.
Pages:
459
460
461
462
463
464
465
466
467
468
469
470
471
472
473
474
475
476
477
478
479
480
481
482
483