A resolution has been taken by the French Government, and declared by the King in his council, which occasions a good deal of speculation. It is no less than the calling an Assemblée generale, who are to consist of archbishops, bishops, nobles, and deputies from the different parliaments, &c., to the number of one hundred and fifty-nine. They are to meet at Versailles, I think in the course of next month. It is not yet declared what is to be proposed to them. But I think it probable that they will be to deliberate on two great plans which the Government have in contemplation; one for abolishing all the internal custom-houses, and the other for reducing all the import duties universally to duties from 12 per cent to 1/4 per cent, ad valorem according to certain classes. Besides this, it is probable that the state of their finances is such as to require very strong measures, both to provide for the existing debt, and to make up any deficiencies arising from either of these plans, and that Calonne thinks that he will be safer in obtaining the sanction of such an Assembly as this. His friends give out, that it is at his earnest entreaty that this measure is adopted. You will probably agree with me in thinking it a hazardous one.
Mr. Grenville's prediction was abundantly verified by the event. The issue of the project is one of the familiar incidents of French history. The Assembly of Notables took place on the 22nd of February, when M. de Calonne had the opportunity he desired of explaining his magnificent plans. On the 5th of April, the Assembly was adjourned to the 12th; and in the interval the Minister was dismissed and exiled. France became involved in inextricable confusion, and the Notables were finally dissolved at the close of the ensuing year.
The affairs of Holland now began to engage the serious attention of the English Government, and Mr. Grenville was sent on a special mission to the Hague, to ascertain the actual state of things, which, through a series of complicated events, had at last assumed an aspect of hostilities that appeared to threaten extensive consequences to the peace of Europe.
Without entering into the conflict of diplomacies in which Holland was embroiled with Prussia and Austria, the immediate point to which these entangled transactions were narrowed at the moment of Mr. Grenville's mediation, was the attitude taken by the Prince of Orange for the restitution of his office of hereditary Captain-General, which had been vested in him by the unanimous vote of all the members of the State, but which had been recently transferred to the Deputies of Haerlem by a formal resolution of the States of Holland. In consequence of that resolution, the Prince had withdrawn from the Hague; and an application which was made by the King of Prussia (to whose sister he was married) to reinstate him in his rights, and a somewhat similar remonstrance on the part of England, having produced no effect, the Prince, removing his Court to Nimeguen, encamped near Utrecht, apparently with hostile intentions. He had in vain addressed himself to the States, the resistance to his authority increasing with each fresh attempt at negotiation; and at length, desirous, perhaps, of averting extremities as long as he could, he permitted his consort, the Princess, to adopt the singular expedient of proceeding in person to the Hague, where the States-General were assembled. This was in the month of June. It could hardly have been anticipated that the States would consent to receive so unusual an ambassador, or that they would even allow her to proceed on her journey; and, accordingly, they took measures to arrest her before she reached the Hague, sending her back under escort to Nimeguen. This very decided step simplified the matter at once. There was no longer a pretext for hesitation or compromise; and the King of Prussia, affecting to regard the indignity offered to his sister as a personal insult to himself, immediately set about organizing an army for the purpose of invading Holland. The greatest consternation prevailed throughout the country; and it was at this crisis, while the Prussian force was gathering in the Duchy of Cleves, that Mr. Grenville was sent to the Hague. On the 3rd of August, immediately after his arrival, he writes to his brother:
Nothing new has occurred here. All eyes are turned towards the King of Prussia, whose conduct still appears contradictory. I trust that by to-morrow we shall know something decisive. In the meantime his army is certainly collecting, and the Duke of Brunswick has accepted the command. Yet his other measures indicate much leaning towards France. I am rather in better spirits about my own particular task here, though by no means satisfied with what I have undertaken, and which I now think I must have had the vanity of a French Abbé to expect to perform in four or five days.
A hurried note of the same date, made up just at the departure of the packet, adds that the writer intends to go to Nimeguen, and hopes to be in England at the end of the week. On the 6th, he writes again from the Hague, stating his intention to set out the next morning for Nimeguen, where he should see the Princess, and expected to find the Prince and the Duke of Brunswick, to whom it was understood the King of Prussia had committed the charge, not only of the military, but also of the political part of the business. A few days afterwards, a note from Whitehall announces his return to England, adding: "There is every reason to believe that we shall disarm without subsequent negotiation, as you must be satisfied at last."
The course of events, however, rendered subsequent negotiations unavoidable. On the 8th of September, Mr. Grenville writes: "Everything is going on much as it was. The Duke of Brunswick's army is collected, and was to act in about a day or two from this date, if satisfaction was not previously given, which seemed not impossible." On the 11th, he says: "If nothing has since occurred to alter the plan—which, however, is by no means improbable—the Prussian troops were to begin their march on this day."
It soon became obvious that the expectations founded on the likelihood of the submission of Holland were not to be realised. In a letter of the 13th, Mr. Grenville states that "the business is drawing fast to its crisis, whatever that may be." The Prussian Ambassador had given in demands requiring satisfaction, including the punishment of the offenders, within four days; in failure of which, the troops were to act. "I doubt," he adds, "whether the State of Holland can give this, even if they were so disposed, which is not clear. In the meantime, not a man has moved in France, and the confusion seems by every account to be increasing."
On the very day on which this letter was written, the Duke of Brunswick, at the head of twenty thousand men, had entered Holland.
How nearly these events had involved Europe in a war, may be gleaned from the next letter, which is marked "private."