250] ANNUAL RE 
Burcuers Representatives 
The undersigned minister ple- 
nipotentiary of the French Repub- 
lic has the honour to intimate, that 
occasions do not offer so frequently 
as he could wish of giving you 
publicly a repetition of those as- 
surances of esteem and _ regard 
which he daily receives from the 
executive directory, as well to. 
wards your assembly as the peo. 
ple which you represent. This 
‘esteem is not limited to those pub- 
lic atiestations which France has 
given to all Europe; nor to those 
less generaliy known, to which 
your commission for the manage. 
ment of foreign affairs can also 
testify. 
The executive airecioty § is sfea- 
dily vigilant, is unceasingly busy; 
and the maxim applied to great 
undertakings—that all which is 
done must be estcemed trivial, 
while any thing remains to be ac- 
complished, secms to kave been 
adepred by the French government 
in the ratification of her engagé. 
ments with the Batavian Republic. 
In that moment, when, icles the 
winter, it maturely and wisely re- 
gulated the operations of war, and 
emoved hostilities far from yourdo- 
minions, it negle¢ted in no manner 
to do away your slightest anprehen- 
sions; and the powertul interven- 
tion of the French government 
banished a remaining but insigni- 
ficant shadow of counter-revolu- 
tionary designs, which being fan- 
ned in your vicinity, afforded some 
cause of disquictude. ‘That go- 
vernment now directs its most ar- 
dent and zealous endeavours to se- 
cure the politica! existence of Ba- 
tavia, and to procure it again a 
place among potentates, with .the 
. 
. 
~ 
GISTER, 1796. 
rank to which it can with justice 
aspire. 
But it views a government wisely 
and solidly formed, as one of the 
most’ certain means of attaining 
speedily this desired end ; and the 
executive dire&ory cannot conceal 
its opinion, that it is time by a 
powerful and lasting band, to 
fasten together again the bundle 
which runs the risk of being dis- 
persed, and lost for want of these 
properties. Such would quickly 
be the inevitable consequence of an 
order of things, which should per- 
mit the burgher to adore exclu- 
sively his city or his province, 
looking on the country at large as 
a step- -mother for whom'he has 
no Jove, to whom he owes no al. 
Jegiance, and whose lawful rights 
he misconceives. 
‘* Tt is time’?—these are are the 
words of the executive direétory,— 
‘< it is*time, for the interests of the 
Batavian Republic, and for our 
contraét with her, that the new 
order of things, expected by all 
the friends and lovers of liberty, 
should take place ; and that all op- 
posite pretensions should give way 
and disappear before a constitution 
triumphing over federalism and 
aristocracy. And it falls within 
the pale of our department to Ja- 
bour, in concert with the Batavian 
people, to establish their indepen- 
dency, by hastening the approaches 
of their revolution to the object 
which is its ultimate aim. These 
sentiments of the executive directory 
might be easily explained by ex- 
amples which the national his- 
tory affords—yes, by what has hap. 
pened under our own ‘eyes—were 
it not likely to produce the most 
painful recellettions, They afford 
bal yous 
