In this Babel assembly the greatest interest for a successful termination of the negotiation between France and England seemed anxiously to prevail; and induced a stranger like myself to think that the interests of Holland were pretty closely interwoven with those of England. The arrival of English papers, and of couriers from Paris, never failed to excite a strong sensation from one end of the city to the other. Upon the exchange I saw several Englishmen transacting business; and such is the respect which the Dutch bear towards us, that we soon found the suspicion of our being English rather increased than damped the civilities we experienced. As Rotterdam may be considered, as Bonaparte has recently described the city of Hamburg, _une ville Anglaise_, in consequence of so many English families having settled there before the revolution, and also of the proximity of its port to England, it was with surprise I found that the new ruler and form of government were so popular as they are in this city. In the years 1794 and 1795 the progress of the French arms excited uncommon consternation in this city, in which a higher veneration for the stadtholderian government, as established under the influence of England and Prussia in 1787, existed, than in any other city in the United Provinces. As the French advanced, the principal English families fled with great precipitation, and were followed by many of the Dutch: their flight was in the most inclement part of a winter remarkably rigorous, and they were obliged to pass over frozen canals, rivers and deep snows, many by the most wretched open conveyances, in their way to Helvoetsluys, where they embarked for that country, which, since the time of the first Charles, has, thank Heaven! been neither the seat of war, nor of revolutionary phrenzy. A short time before we visited Rotterdam, we heard that the king and queen had visited that city, the only one which they had then honoured with their presence, except the seat of the royal residence at the Hague. Upon their arrival in the city, their majesties and the two princes, in their carriages, attended by their suite and an escort of horse, proceeded to the Exchange, where they were waited upon by the principal functionaries and a deputation of the most opulent merchants of the city. Their majesties appeared to be much affected by the very flattering manner in which they were received.