without delay, take into their serious consideration, and will carry into immediate effect, the means to obtain this end."

For this sum, amounting to upwards of nine millions of florins, the proper investments had been made, but of the deposits, which ought to have been permanent, in consequence of the expiration of the receipts, not a florin remained in the caves of the bank. It appeared that the directors, like the magistrate who presided at the execution of the murderer, beneficially for the state, no doubt had departed from the strict letter of the law, and instead of suffering so much wealth to remain in a state of unproductive inertion, they had duplicated the energies of credit by judicious and advantageous loans of it to a variety of merchants and tradesmen. This statement excited the highest indignation against the directors, who were, in the violence of that party-spirit which then raged in Holland, branded with every epithet which appertains to the real national defaulter. The deficiency thus explained could have no injurious influence upon the bank, with regard to the cash receipts which were unexpired, unless the debts due to the bank, upon such accommodations, should. not be regularly discharged.. But no explanation could appease the popular fury, which connected this politic deviation from the strict letter of an unwise law into high treason against the state, and loudly demanded, that all

270

EFFECTS OF DIFFUSIVE EDUCATION.

the directors of the bank, and persons entrusted with the management of any other public fund, should be put under arrest: to such a height was this spirit carried, that many of the members of the old government would have been sacrificed to the animosity of faction, and revolutionary vengeance, had not the French general interfered, and by a humane proclamation addressed to people enlightened by the benign effects of public education, averted their anger.

On the 16th of February, 1795, upon the promulgation of the abolition of the stadtholderate, a general fraternization took place in Amsterdam, and a complete oblivion of all public animosities. This federation was celebrated, as I was informed, with all imaginable pomp. The carillons in the towers of the Stadt-house, and the principal churches, played the most enchanting patriotic airs, the tri-coloured flag waved upon their spires, and salutes from the bastions, artillery, and men of war, augmented the vivacity of this eventful day. Nothing could surpass the grotesque drollery exhibited in various parts of the city: the gaity of the French character, completely electrified the sobriety of the Batavian. Grave Dutch brokers, whose blood had long ceased to riot, who thought that the great purposes of life were answered when the duties of the bureau were discharged, who, could

they have compared, would have preferred the brick of exchange, to the "verd'rous wall of Paradise," who had never moved but with a measured funeral pace, were seen in large full-bottomed wigs, and with great silver buckles, mingling in the national dance, with the gay ethereal young Parisian conscripts, so that it might be said of the Dutchman

He rises on his toe: that spirit of his

In aspiration lifts him from the earth."

Troilus and Cressida, Act IV. Scene 3.

To such an elevation did the national spirit and ardour rise, that upon a requisition requiring every person to deliver up all the uncoined gold and silver, or plate (spoons and forks excepted) for the use of the state, there appeared to be no reluctance to obey it, and as these state offerings exceeded the estimate required, it is likely that none were concealed. When these contributions exceeded in value the amount of the taxes, to which the contributor was liable, a receipt was given for such excess, and carried to his credit, in the next payments; with these assistances, the government immediately directed its attention to the deplorable state of its marine, which under the last of the Stadtholders, had experienced the most ruinous and fatal neglect, in consequence of the influence of the British Cabinet, upon the imbecile mind of that unfortunate prince. When it is considered upon the breaking out of the last war with Holland, how numer

272

OPULENCE OF HOLLAND.

ous and valuable were the Dutch ships detained in British ports, what havoc our cruisers made on her commerce, by intercepting her rich merchant vessels, and blockading her ports, what a stagnation of internal trade must have followed, and what enormous sums extorted by the French army and its generals, the reader may form some opinion of the prodigious opulence of this country, which, under the pressure of such calamities, is still enabled to raise her head with such few marks of suffering.

Amsterdam has no noble squares, which add so much to the splendour of London, nor is there any bridge worthy of being noticed, except that which crosses the river Amstel, which is built of brick, has thirteen arches, and is tolerably handsome: on the river looking towards this bridge, there is a fine view of the city, which I preferred sketching, to a more expanded one on the coast immediately opposite to the city, in the north of Holland, The only association throughout Holland, which resembles a monastic one, is that of the Berguines, who reside in a large house appropriated to their order, which is surrounded with a wall and ditch, has a church within, and resembles a little town; this sisterhood is perfectly secular, the members of which wear no particular dress, mingle with the inhabitants of the city, quit the convent, and marry when they please: but they are obliged,