their patriotic views dissipate, and their projects vanish. "Receive, then, Noble, Great, and Venerable, Noble and Venerable Lords, this solemn testimony of our lively gratitude, as graciously as it is sincere on our part; receive it as a proof of our attachment to your persons; an attachment which is not founded upon fear, nor an exterior representation of authority and grandeur, but which is founded upon more noble and immovable principles, those of esteem and respect, arising from a sentiment of true greatness and of generosity. Be assured, that when contemptible discord, with its odious attendants, artifice and imposture, could effectuate nothing, absolutely nothing, at the moment when the present war broke out, to prejudice in the least the fidelity of the citizens of the Amstel, or to shake them in the observation of their duties, the inconveniences and the evils that a war naturally and necessarily draws after it, will not produce the effect neither; yes, we will submit more willingly to them, according as we shall perceive, that the means that God and nature have put into our hands, are more and more employed to reduce and humble a haughty enemy. Continue, then, Noble, Great, and Venerable, Noble and Venerable Lords, to proceed with safety in the road you follow, the only one, which in our opinion, can, under divine benediction, tend to save the country from its present situation. Let nothing divert or intimidate you from it; you have already surmounted the greatest difficulties and most poignant cares. A more pleasing perspective already opens.