"That this proposition, (founded perhaps upon former examples,) proceeded not from any motive of distrust of the good intentions and designs of your Serene Highness, of which there is no reason to suspect their purity, although according to the information of the Regency of that city, some evil minded persons have endeavored to insinuate the contrary to your Serene Highness.
"That such a distrust fell only upon him, whose influence over the mind of your Serene Highness is regarded as the first cause of the slowness and indolence in the administration of affairs, and as that cannot but be very prejudicial to the general good, one had in vain expected for a long time, that the dangerous circumstances in which the Republic finds itself at present, would at length have given rise to serious deliberations upon the measures necessary to be employed in future, and with more vigor than the past; but that this expectation having been vain to the present moment, and as the question in agitation was concerning the preservation of the country, of its dear bought liberty, of your Serene Highness, of his illustrious House, in one word, of everything dear and precious to the inhabitants of the Republic, it is for these reasons that the Regency of Amsterdam have judged that they could no longer by silence be wanting in their duty, but saw themselves forced, although with regret, to the present measure.
"It is therefore with all the respect that they owe to your Serene Highness, but at the same time with the candor and honest freedom that the importance of the affair requires, that they represent to your Serene Highness, and declare to him expressly, that, according to the general opinion, the Lord the Duke is regarded as the principal cause of the deplorable state of weakness in which the Republic finds itself at this day, of all the negligence which hath had place, of all the false measures that have been taken for a long time, and of all the fatal consequences that have resulted from them; that your Serene Highness may be assured that the aversion and hatred of the nation against the person and administration of the Duke, are arisen to such a degree that one ought to dread an event the most grievous and the most disagreeable for the public tranquillity.
"That without doubt your Serene Highness has been already informed by others of all these things; but in case your Serene Highness is still ignorant of them, it is necessary to attribute it solely to a fear of the effects of the resentment of the Duke. We dare, nevertheless, to appeal with confidence upon everything now advanced, to the testimony of all the honest and sincere members of the Regency, that your Serene Highness shall deign to interrogate, after granting them full liberty of speech, and summoning them to answer according to their duty and their conscience.
"That they had heard many times with much regret, M. the Counsellor Pensionary, complain, in presence of divers members of the Province of Holland, of the misunderstanding which existed between him and the Lord the Duke, as well as of the ascendancy that the said Lord has over the mind of your Serene Highness, whereby all his effects for the good of the country were rendered fruitless.
"That this disunion and this diversity of sentiments and views between the principal Counsellor of your Serene Highness and the first Minister of this Province must have not only consequences the most fatal, but furnished also a sufficient motive to make the strongest instances to remove the source of that distrust and of that discord; seeing it is only a previous re-establishment of confidence and concord that can save the Republic; that nothing is also more necessary for the happiness of your Most Serene House, for the support of your authority, the preservation of the esteem and confidence of the nation, and of your consideration among the neighboring powers; for we can assure your Serene Highness, and we are obliged to apprise him, that he might indeed lose one day the esteem and confidence of the people, instead of being and continuing the worthy object of the love and the veneration of this people, and of its Regents; which we pray and wish ardently that your Serene Highness may ever experience, seeing upon that depends, in a great measure, the preservation and the happiness of our dear country and of the House of Orange.
"That as well persuaded as we may be, that the members of the sovereignty have always the liberty, and that it is sometimes even their duty to communicate to your Serene Highness and to the other members, their sentiments upon the state and administration of public affairs, we should have preferred, nevertheless, to have abstained from the present measure, if we had been able to conceive any hope, amelioration, and change; but since we can no longer flatter ourselves with that, for the reasons above alleged, and the danger has arisen to its highest degree, there remains no other part to take than that of laying before your Serene Highness the true state of things, of praying him, in the most solemn manner, to reflect seriously upon them, and of no longer listening to the councils and insinuations of a man loaded as he is with the hatred of the great and the small, regarded as a stranger destitute of a sufficient knowledge of the form of our government, and not possessed of a true affection to our country.
"That we are very far from wishing to accuse this Lord of what he is but too openly charged, or of considering as founded, the suspicions circulated against him of an excessive and illicit attachment to the Court of England, or of bad faith and corruption; that we believe, that a Lord of so high a birth and so distinguished a rank, is incapable of such baseness, but that we think, that the unhappy ideas that have been unfortunately entertained of him, and which have caused a general distrust, render him totally unuseful and pernicious, even to the service of the State and of your Serene Highness, that he consequently be removed from the direction of affairs, and from the Court of your Serene Highness, as being a perpetual obstacle to the re-establishment of the good intelligence so necessary between your Serene Highness and the principal members of the State; seeing that on the contrary, his presence cannot but for the future, occasion the distrust conceived, whether with or without reason, of his counsels to fall upon your Serene Highness.
"That these representations do not spring from a principle of hatred or of ill will against the Lord, the Duke, who has formerly had occasion to be well satisfied, even with the benevolence and the real marks of affection of the Regency of Amsterdam, but that we protest before God and the whole world, that the only motives which have dictated them to us, are the preservation of the country and of the illustrious House of your Most Serene Highness, and to prevent their approaching total ruin; that the Regency of our city have seen themselves obliged to take this measure, both in quality of inhabitants of this country, and as a member of its sovereign Assembly; to the end to make by this means the last effort, and to point out, perhaps, yet in time, a means of saving, with the blessing of the Almighty, the vessel of State from the most imminent danger, and of conducting it into a safe port, or of acquitting themselves at least in every case of their duty, and of exculpating themselves in the eyes of their fellow citizens and posterity.
"That, in truth, it is not necessary to despair of the safety of the country; but that, nevertheless, affairs appear to have arrived to such an extremity, that it cannot be saved without the use of extraordinary means, and that for this reason, we ought still, with the approbation of your Serene Highness, to take the liberty to submit to his consideration, if the best means of managing hereafter affairs with success would not be, that your Serene Highness should associate to himself a small number of persons, chosen from among the most distinguished and the most experienced citizens born in the country, to concert assiduously with them everything which should be the most necessary or the most useful for the preservation and the service of the country during the present war, with such powers and such restrictions, as should be judged requisite to fulfil effectually the object of this commission; that we expect therefrom the two following effects, as important as useful.