"It is therefore with all the respect that they owe to your Serene Highness, but at the same time with the candor and honest freedom that the importance of the affair requires, that they represent to your Serene Highness, and declare to him expressly, that, according to the general opinion, the Lord the Duke is regarded as the principal cause of the deplorable state of weakness in which the Republic finds itself at this day, of all the negligence which hath had place, of all the false measures that have been taken for a long time, and of all the fatal consequences that have resulted from them; that your Serene Highness may be assured that the aversion and hatred of the nation against the person and administration of the Duke, are arisen to such a degree that one ought to dread an event the most grievous and the most disagreeable for the public tranquillity. "That without doubt your Serene Highness has been already informed by others of all these things; but in case your Serene Highness is still ignorant of them, it is necessary to attribute it solely to a fear of the effects of the resentment of the Duke. We dare, nevertheless, to appeal with confidence upon everything now advanced, to the testimony of all the honest and sincere members of the Regency, that your Serene Highness shall deign to interrogate, after granting them full liberty of speech, and summoning them to answer according to their duty and their conscience. "That they had heard many times with much regret, M. the Counsellor Pensionary, complain, in presence of divers members of the Province of Holland, of the misunderstanding which existed between him and the Lord the Duke, as well as of the ascendancy that the said Lord has over the mind of your Serene Highness, whereby all his effects for the good of the country were rendered fruitless. "That this disunion and this diversity of sentiments and views between the principal Counsellor of your Serene Highness and the first Minister of this Province must have not only consequences the most fatal, but furnished also a sufficient motive to make the strongest instances to remove the source of that distrust and of that discord; seeing it is only a previous re-establishment of confidence and concord that can save the Republic; that nothing is also more necessary for the happiness of your Most Serene House, for the support of your authority, the preservation of the esteem and confidence of the nation, and of your consideration among the neighboring powers; for we can assure your Serene Highness, and we are obliged to apprise him, that he might indeed lose one day the esteem and confidence of the people, instead of being and continuing the worthy object of the love and the veneration of this people, and of its Regents; which we pray and wish ardently that your Serene Highness may ever experience, seeing upon that depends, in a great measure, the preservation and the happiness of our dear country and of the House of Orange.