“I have consented to all this, and, gentlemen, had I not done so, I would nevertheless yet act the same part, now that by the ardour, joy, and confidence of the people through whose country I have passed, they have proved to me, that you were the true interpreters of the nation, now especially, when I am convinced, that I may rely on your zeal, your attachment to the interests of your native land, and on your confidence in, and fidelity, towards me. “Gentlemen, this is the first day of the real independence of the United Provinces. A transient glance at past ages is sufficient to convince us, that they never had a stable government, a fixed destiny, a real independence. Under that famous people, whom they fought and served by turns, as under the Franks and the Empire of the West, they were neither free nor tranquil. “Neither were they so afterwards, when subjected to Spain. “Their wars, and their repeated quarrels until the union, added to the glory of the nation, confirmed its qualities in point of frankness, intrepidity, and honor, for which, indeed, it had been always celebrated; but its efforts procured it neither tranquillity nor independence, even under the Princes of Orange, who, though they were useful to their country, as soldiers and statesmen, were always disturbing it, by pretending, or endeavouring to obtain a power which the nation denied them. “Nor could Holland be considered in that state in later times, when the elevation of ideas, and the general agitation of Europe, so long suspended the repose of nations. “After so many vicissitudes, so much agitation, so many calamities; and at a time when the great states were enlarging themselves, ameliorating and concentrating their governments and their forces, this country could enjoy no real safety nor independence, but in a moderate monarchical state; a form which had been acknowledged during a long period, and by each nation, in its turn, as the most perfect, and if not absolutely so, yet as much so as the nature of man will admit. But, doubtless, if perfection were the lot of humanity, we might then dispense with a government of this kind. Laws would then be founded in wisdom, and obeyed without reluctance or obstacle; virtue would reign triumphant, and insure its own reward; vice would be banished, and wickedness rendered impotent; but illusions which favour such romantic ideas of human nature, are transient; and experience soon brings us back to positive facts. “However, even monarchy itself is not sufficient for a country, which, though powerful and important, is not sufficiently so for its position, which requires forces of the first rank both by land and sea. It will, therefore, be necessary for it to form a connexion with one of the great powers of Europe, with which its amity may be eternally assured, without any alteration of its independence.