On the 16th of February, 1795, upon the promulgation of the abolition of the stadtholderate, a general fraternization took place in Amsterdam, and a complete oblivion of all public animosities. This federation was celebrated, as I was informed, with all imaginable pomp. The carillons in the towers of the Stadt-house, and the principal churches, played the most enchanting patriotic airs, the tri-coloured flag waived upon their spires, and salutes from the bastions, artillery, and men of war, augmented the vivacity of this eventful day. Nothing could surpass the grotesque drollery exhibited in various parts of the city: the gaiety of the French character completely electrified the sobriety of the Batavian. Grave Dutch brokers, whose blood had long ceased to riot, who thought that the great purposes of life were answered when the duties of the bureau were discharged; who, could they have compared, would have preferred the brick of the exchange, to the “verd’rous wall of Paradise,” who had never moved but with a measured funeral pace, were seen in large full-bottomed wigs, and with great silver buckles, mingling in the national dance, with the gay ethereal young Parisian conscripts, so that it might be said of the Dutchman, “He rises on his toe: that spirit of his In aspiration lifts him from the earth.” _Troilus and Cressida_, Act IV. Scene 8. To such an elevation did the national spirit and ardour rise, that upon a requisition requiring every person to deliver up all the uncoined gold and silver, or plate (spoons and forks excepted) for the use of the state, there appeared to be no reluctance to obey it, and as these state offerings exceeded the estimate required, it is likely that none were concealed. When these contributions exceeded in value the amount of the taxes, to which the contributor was liable, a receipt was given for such excess, and carried to his credit, in the next payments; with these assistances, the government immediately directed its attention to the deplorable state of its marine, which under the last of the Stadtholders, had experienced the most ruinous and fatal neglect, in consequence of the influence of the British cabinet upon the imbecile mind of that unfortunate prince. When it is considered upon the breaking out of the last war with Holland, how numerous and valuable were the Dutch ships detained in British ports, what havoc our cruisers made on her commerce, by intercepting her rich merchant vessels, and blockading her ports, what a stagnation of internal trade must have followed, and what enormous sums were extorted by the French army and its generals, the reader may form some opinion of the prodigious opulence of this country, which, under the pressure of such calamities, is still enabled to raise her head with such few marks of suffering.