STA E oP A PERS 
be to make for an English port. 
The prince, before he quitted the 
road of Scheveling, wrote to M. 
Van Spiegel, counsellor pensionary 
of the province of Holland, with 
the opinion of the marine officers 
and pilot of the above-mentioned 
vessel, signed by them. The coun- 
sellor pensionary having commu- 
nicated the same to their high 
mightinesses, they, by their reso- 
lution of the rgth of January, ap- 
proved of the prince of Orange’s de- 
parture, as a measure of absolute 
necessity ; declaring, moreover, that 
they were desirous of hearing of 
that prince’s safe arrival in one of 
the ports of the kingdom of Great 
Britain on board a ship of war be- 
longing to the states, and that he 
might shortly be able to return to 
the republic, in order to continue 
assisting them with his counsel and 
presence for the maintenance of the 
independence and constitution of the 
republic, The prince’s intention, 
of which he had already informed 
M. Van de Spiegel, pensionary 
counsellor, in his letter, was to in- 
form himself, during his stay in’ 
England, of the sirvaticn of affairs, 
as well in the provinces of Zeeland 
as in the provinces of Friezland 
and Greningen, and to embark on 
board a ship of war of the states for 
either of those provinces in which 
it should appear his presence might 
be most useful. It 1s right to ob- 
serve, that all correspondence be- 
tween those provinces and the 
Hague was at that time intercepted, 
not only by the enemy but by the 
frost. 
As soon as the states of Holland 
had resolved to admit forces ini- 
mical to the republic of the United 
Provinces into the place where the 
States General were assembled, and 
had given orders to their different 
¥ 
219 
garrisons no longer to oppose the 
progress of the French, the prince 
of Orange was desirous that the 
States General, to whom this reso- 
lution had been communicated, 
should determine to dissolve their 
assembly, and to call it together 
again in oneof the provinces which 
had not submitted to the yoke of 
the conqueror, 
The States General thought pro- 
per to remain assembled in a place 
where, the eremy’s troops, joined 
by a number of malcontents, de- 
prived them of the liberty of de- 
liberating and doing what the 
public good required. 
The French troops having ar- 
rived at the Hague, the States 
General were compelled to do every 
thing that was exa¢ted from them. 
The deputies lawfully named by 
the provinces of Holland were 
obliged to quit that assembly, and 
have been replaced by deputies 
named by those who havs- taken 
upon themselves the supreme power 
of that province, under the name 
of provisional representatives of the 
people. These latter being ad- 
mitted into the assembly of the 
States General, that assembly ceases 
to be legal, and the resolutions 
taken since that time cannot be 
considered as resolutions diated 
by the real States General. 
The prince of Orange’s design 
was, as has already been observed, 
to go into Zeeland, as soon as he 
should have received information 
relative to the situation of affairs 
in that province, hopirg that his 
presence there might be useful. 
But the States General having given 
orders soon after the prince’s de. 
parture, and nearly at.the time of 
the arrival of the French troops at 
the Hague, to the commanding 
officers of Bergen-op. Zoom, — 
ill 
