160] ANNUAL REGISTER, 1813. 



will say, tliat if great and critical cir- 

 cumstances presented themselves, 

 they were not superior to France 

 and Me." To meet the exigencies 

 of the time, an imperial decree 

 was issued imposing 30 additional 

 centimes to the duty for the cur- 

 rent year on doors, windows, and 

 patents, a double personal contri- 

 bution or property tax, and an ad- 

 ditional tax on salt. And a decree 

 of the senate passed for the levy 

 of 300,000 conscripts, with the 

 preamble " Considering that the 

 enemy has invaded the frontiers of 

 the empire on the side of the Py- 

 renees and the North, and that 

 those of the Rhine and beyond the 

 Alps are threatened.'' By the other 

 decrees of the senate, the powers 

 of the deputies of the legislative 

 body, of the fourth series, were 

 prolonged during the whole of the 

 approaching session ; and the di- 

 rect nomination of the president of 

 that body was invested in the em- 

 peror, who before only chose one 

 of five candidates presented to him 

 by it ; manifest proofs of the ap- 

 prehensions he began to entertain 

 of any thing like an appeal to the 

 people ! 



An event more ominous to the 

 French domination in Europe, and 

 more auspicious to the cause of 

 political freedom, than any which 

 had hitherto occurred, was the Re- 

 volution in Holland, declared about 

 this time. Nothing could be more 

 repugnant to the manners and sen- 

 timents of the peoole of the United 

 Provinces, or more fatal to their 

 interests as a trading nation, than 

 their annexation to the French em- 

 pire ; and though inability to re- 

 sist had awed them into submis- 

 sion, it cannot be doubted that a 

 rooted abhorrence of the yoke im- 



posed upon them was the prevalent 

 sentiment of the Batavian commu- 

 nity. In the month of February a 

 conspiracy had been discovered at 

 Amsterdam, for the purpose of 

 subverting the existing govern- I 

 ment, in which a iewf obscure 

 persons attached to the House of 

 Orange were engaged ; but the 

 punishment of the conspirators had 

 suppressed the project in its in- 

 fancy. At length, apparently from 

 no previous concert, but as the re- 

 sult of a sudden burst of public 

 feeling, roused to action by the ar- 

 rival of the allied troops on the 

 Dutch frontier, on the 15th of J 

 November, the people of Amster- * 

 dam rose in a body, and with the 

 old cry of Orange boven, univer- 

 sally put up the Orange colours, 

 and proclaimed the sovereignty of 

 that illustrious House. The popu- 

 lace displayed their hatred of the 

 French by burning the watch- 

 houses of the custom-house offi- 

 cers, and three of their vessels ; 

 and one of the officers was killed 

 in the scuffle, but this was the 

 only life lost on the occasion. The 

 example of Amsterdam was fol- 

 lowed by the other principal towns 

 of the provinces of Holland and 

 Utrecht. The French authorities 

 were dismissed without injury, and 

 a temporary government was pro- 

 claimed in the name of the prince 

 of Orange, composed of the most 

 respectable members of the old 

 government, especially of those 

 who were not employed by the 

 French, On the 16th an adminis- 

 tration was organized for Amster- 

 dam under the direction of the 

 armed burghers, and many of the 

 leading citizens took upon them- 

 selves the care of preserving good . 

 order. Similar measures were a- 



