"In those pieces, which I have just now literally related, your High Mightinesses will perceive, and probably not without indignation, that after a train of reflections, each more injurious than the other, in which there is no accusation against me as Field Maréchal, and which, moreover, are only grounded upon pretended public sentiments and reports artfully circulated, that nevertheless the gentlemen, the Burgomasters, have judged it necessary to insist that his Highness would remove me from his person and Court, in a manner the most disgraceful, and condemn me without further examination, as a criminal attainted and convicted to dishonorable exile.
"I cannot then but consider a proceeding, accompanied with so many odious and humiliating expressions, which is not made by simple individuals, but a deputation of two reigning Burgomasters, with the Pensionary of one of the most considerable cities of Holland, in the name and by the order of the Regency of that city, (according to the terms of the memorial, although according to the letter whereof I have spoken of the Burgomaster Rendorp, it was only in the name of the gentlemen, the Burgomasters of that city) and that in a formal manner, after mature deliberation, and after having confirmed this action in the most injurious manner, by taking back the memorial, and causing it to be sent to his Highness, I cannot, I say, but consider this proceeding as wounding, in the most violent manner, my character and my person; and in this same writing, where they dare not specify any crime to my charge, and where they are obliged to acknowledge the falsity of the reports which have circulated against me, and of the suspicions of an excessive and illicit attachment to the English Court, of bad faith and of corruption, they appear, notwithstanding, to give credit to these calumnies, and to be willing to cast upon me the blame of the evils of the times, to the end, to exculpate those who are the true causes of it. I should think myself unworthy of bearing any longer the character that your High Mightinesses have confided to me, if I testified upon this article an indifference or an insensibility.
"I dare also assure myself, that your High Mightinesses will consider my proceeding in the same point of light, and that they will agree with me, that it is of the highest importance to know, if he, whom your High Mightinesses have clothed with the dignity of Field Maréchal, whom they have engaged and continued in their service in the manner abovementioned, is in fact the true cause of the deplorable state of the weakness of the Republic, of all the negligence they suppose to have taken place, of all the false steps, that they say have been taken, and of all the unhappy consequences, that have resulted from them. Your High Mightinesses are to examine in the most exact manner, things so interesting, and to see if this person is the source of the distrust and disunion; for what reasons he would be totally unuseful and prejudicial to the service of the State and of his Highness; what are the proofs of his want of affection to the country; in one word, for what reason he should be hereafter unworthy of the confidence of the Prince, who is placed at the head of this Republic, to whose testimony I here take the liberty of appealing; finally, for what reason he hath merited to be removed from the person of his Highness, and of his Court, as a perpetual obstacle to the good intelligence between his Highness and the Court.
"And as my honor is more dear to me than life, and as I am attacked in a part so sensible, it is also for this reason, and in consideration of that, which I owe to myself even, and to the relations, which I have as well with this State and to your High Mightinesses, as to those which I still have with his Imperial and Royal Majesty, to which otherwise I should be too much wanting, that I see myself obliged to address myself to your High Mightinesses, and by them to all the confederates, to supplicate them respectfully, and to insist in the most express manner, that your High Mightinesses would deign, after the most severe and scrupulous examination, to take such measures in protecting efficaciously the character, which your High Mightinesses have confided to me, that I may be justified in a proper manner from the blame, that the abovementioned proceeding hath cast upon me, and that so sensible an affront as hath been offered me by it, may be suitably repaired; that to this end it may please your High Mightinesses to direct things in such a manner, that the four reigning Burgomasters of Amsterdam, who have caused to be delivered in their name the said Memorial, according to the letter of Burgomaster Rendorp, be obliged, as well as the Pensionary Vischer, to allege the reasons they have had of injuring me so grievously as they have done by the said proceeding, and by the accusation, therein contained, and to verify the whole in a suitable manner, which I cannot but consider all that, which is there said as calumnies, and that they may be obliged, moreover, to specify more precisely the other heads of accusation, that they pretend to allege to my charge, and to bring the requisite judiciary proofs of them; and in case that they can specify nothing, or that they cannot prove sufficiently their allegations, that the authors of the infamous reports circulated against me may be sought out, to the end, that they may be punished as calumniators, according to their deserts; finally, that your High Mightinesses will then, conjointly with all the confederates, take such justificatory resolutions, as will save my honor and my reputation in the nation, and in the eyes of all Europe; that thus I may be placed in a situation to support with proper dignity the character, which your High Mightinesses have given me, and that I may obtain the satisfaction, that your High Mightinesses, according to their profound wisdom and known equity, shall judge equivalent to the affront offered to my character and my relations.
"I have the honor to be, with the most sincere and respectful attachment, High and Mighty Lords, your High Mightinesses' most humble, most obedient, and faithful servant,
L. DUC DE BRUNSVIC."
I have the honor to be, &c.
JOHN ADAMS.