By an unfortunate coincidence, the political situation in Holland was undergoing a disquieting change at the moment of Cormier’s arrival. Until then England had exercised a decisive influence there, both by reason of the presence of her army and through counsels of the Stadtholder. But in the autumn of 1794 a popular feeling in favour of the Revolution began to make itself felt, fanned by the hostility aroused against the undisciplined English troops, with their looting and pillaging, and intensified by an unlooked-for piece of news: the French, led by Pichegru, had crossed the frontier and were advancing by long marches, and seizing all the places they passed through on their way. In a few weeks the power of the Stadtholder would have gone! Though clothed in rags, the soldiers of the National Convention were welcomed with transports of delight. Never did troops show such discipline, it should be added. But Pichegru was not alone. Beside him marched representatives of the Convention, eager to institute in the United Provinces the principles of the Revolution and to establish the guarantees of order and security inseparable therefrom. Therein lay the danger for those who, like Cormier, were to be found in _flagrante delicto_ of emigration. On November 8, 1794, an order came from the Committee of Public Safety to the representatives with the army, commanding them to seize the Stadtholder, together with his wife and children, as well as to arrest immediately all _émigrés_ who might fall into their hands. Knowledge of this important decree had not come to London on December 15, for on this date we find d’Auerweck writing to Lady Atkyns that he has had news of Cormier, “who is now at La Haye in good health and spirits.” The extreme cold which prevailed this year contributed in a remarkable degree, as is well known, to the success of Pichegru’s operations in Holland. Shut in by the ice, the powerless fleet was obliged to surrender to the French cavalry--a memorable incident in the military annals of the Republic. The famous dams, which were to be opened and to flood the country and submerge the French, became useless by reason of the frost. In short, Pichegru triumphed throughout. He made his entry into Amsterdam on January 10, 1795, and eight days later the Stadtholder embarked for England. The Dutch Republic had come into being. Cormier’s fate throughout this period must have been a matter for anxiety to Lady Atkyns, but the absence of anything in the shape of definite news from Paris as to the state of things at the Temple continued to be to her a source of far greater disquietude. The vague assurance as to the Dauphin’s well-being, which d’Auerweck transmitted to her from time to time, counted for nothing, as she knew herself to be better informed as to what had been under way. What had been happening? A third letter, addressed by Laurent to his correspondent, under date of March 3, 1795, enlightens us a little:--