"That the venerable Regency having seen, by the Memorial of the gentlemen, the committees of the Admiralty of this Province, annexed to the said report, the serious difficulties which appear to oppose themselves to the resolution of building a larger number of vessels of war and frigates, has thought itself obliged to declare, that it is greatly afflicted at the dangerous situation in which the Republic and this Province are at present, being involved in a ruinous war, and almost entirely destitute of all convenient means, which could be employed for the safety and defence of the country; that this great distress might furnish to the venerable Regency, one of the best occasions to enlarge in reflections, how, by prompt directions and active foresight, in case that the re-establishment of our marine had really been taken to heart, the greatest obstacles alleged in the Memorial in question might have been prevented in time; but, that a repetition of what ought to have been executed in time, would in no degree ameliorate the present situation of affairs; and so much the more, as it is indispensably necessary that the deliberations concerning the further building of ships, should be at length terminated; the venerable Regency, then, for the present, would abstain from making even well founded observations, which, nevertheless, they might allege, both with regard to the contents of the Memorial in question, and to the means of advancing with greater vigor the construction, or to put the marine upon a more respectable footing by another way; they content themselves then, with declaring simply, that they are ready to concur in the completion of the aforesaid point of construction, either by conforming to the disposition of this report, or in any other manner whatsoever, that a general deliberation of all the members of the State may find the most convenient. "That, nevertheless, the venerable Regency cannot abstain from remarking further here, that at the beginning of this war, they had always been persuaded that the other confederates, whose sentiments concerning the first causes of this war have continually influenced those of Zealand, had taken the precautions necessary to be able to oppose the enemy conveniently, either by the national forces, or by the efficacious assistance of their allies, but that the issue of affairs already shows visibly with how much lukewarmness and levity, notwithstanding the serious exhortations and informations repeatedly made by this Province, we have conducted ourselves both with regard to the one and the other. The venerable Regency now sees the Republic at this moment deprived of all foreign succor, and abandoned to herself against a formidable enemy.