Address of the Merchants, &c. to their Regency.

Noble, great, and venerable Lords!

It is for us a particular satisfaction to be able to offer to your noble and great lordships, as heads of the regency of this city, this well intentioned address that a multitude of our most respectable fellow-citizens have signed. It was already prepared and signed by many, when we learned, as well by the public papers as otherwise, the propositions of a particular peace, with an offer of an immediate suspension of hostilities on the part of Great-Britain, made to this state by the mediation of the Russian ambassador. This is the only reason why no immediate mention was made of it in the address itself. It is by no means the idea, that these offers would have made any impression upon the merchants; since we can, on the contrary, in truth assure your noble and great Lordships, that the unanimous sentiment nearly of the Exchange of Amsterdam, as much as that is interested in it, is entirely conformable to that which the merchants of Rotterdam have made known in so energetic a manner: that consequently we have the greatest aversion to like offers, as artful as dangerous, which, being adopted, would very probably throw this Republic into other situations very embarrassing, the immediate consequences of which would be, to ruin it totally: whereas, on the other hand, these offers shew that we have only to deal with an enemy exhausted; whom we could force to a general and durable peace in the end, by following only the example of France, Spain, and North America; and by using the means which are in our hands.

It is improper for us, however, to enlarge farther upon this project, important as it may be, being well assured, that your noble and great Lordships see those grievous consequences more clearly than we can trace them.

The merchants continue to recommend their commerce and navigation to the constant care and protection of your noble and great Lordships, and to insist only, that in case these offers of the court of England should be, at any time, the cause that the affair of the admission of Mr. Adams, in quality of Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States of America, should meet with any difficulty or delay on the part of the other confederates, that your noble and great lordships, conformably to the second article of our requisition, inserted in this request, would have the goodness to think upon measures which would secure this province from the ruinous consequences of such a proceeding.

To the foregoing was joined the Address presented to the Burgomasters and the Council, which is of the following tenor.

Noble, great, venerable, and noble and venerable Lords!

The undersigned merchants, citizens, and inhabitants of the city of Amsterdam, have learned with an inexpressible joy, the news of the resolution taken the 28th of March last by their noble and grand Mightinesses, the lords the States of Holland and West-Friesland. Their noble and grand Mightinesses have thereby not only satisfied the general wishes of the greatest and best part of the inhabitants of this province, but they have laid the foundations of ulteriour alliances and correspondencies of friendship and of good understanding with the United States of America, which promise new life to the languishing state of our commerce, navigation, and manufactures. The unanimity with which that resolution was decided in the assembly of Holland, gives us grounds to hope that the States of the other provinces will not delay to take a similar resolution; whilst the same unanimity fills with the most lively satisfaction the well intentioned inhabitants of this city, and without doubt those of the whole country, in convincing them fully that the union among the sage and venerable fathers of the country increases more and more; whilst that the promptness and activity with which it hath been concluded, make us hope, with reason, that we shall reap, in time, from a step so important and so necessary for this Republic, the desired fruits. Who then can call in question, or disavow that the moment seems to approach nearer and nearer, when this Republic shall enter into new relations with a people, who find themselves in circumstances which differ but little from those in which our ancestors found themselves two centuries ago, with a people which conciliates more and more the general affection and esteem.

The conformity of religion and government, which is found between us and America, joined to the indubitable marks that she hath already long since given of the preference that she feels for our friendship, makes the undersigned not only suppose, but inspires them with a confidence that our connections with her will be equally solid, advantageous, and salutary to the interests of the two nations. The well-being and prosperity which will very probably result from them; the part which you noble, great, venerable, and noble and venerable lords, have had in the conclusion of a resolution so remarkable; the conviction that the venerable council of this city had of it, upon the proposition of the noble, great, and venerable Lords, almost consented to, before the request relative to this project presented not long since to you, noble, great, and venerable Lords, had come to the knowledge of the council; finally the remembrance of that which was done upon this matter in the year 1778, with the best intentions and the most laudable views, finding itself at present crowned with an approbation as public as it is general, indispensibly oblige the undersigned to approach you with this address; not only to congratulate you upon so remarkable an event, but to thank you at the same time with as much zeal as solemnity, for all those well intentioned cares, and those well concerted measures, for that inflexible attachment, and that faithful adherence to the true interests of the country in general, and of this city in particular, which manifest themselves in so striking a manner, in all the proceedings and resolutions of your noble, great, and venerable Lordships, and of the venerable council of this city, and which certainly will attract the esteem and veneration of the latest posterity, when comparing the annals and events of the present with those of former times, it shall discover that Amsterdam might still boast itself of possessing patriots who dared sacrifice generously all views of private interests, of grandeur and consideration to the sacred obligations that their country requires of them.

We flatter ourselves, noble, great, venerable, noble and venerable Lords, that the present public demonstration of our esteem and attachment will be so much the more agreeable, as it is more rare in our republic, and perhaps even it is without example; and as it is more proper to efface all the odious impressions that the calumny and malignity of the English ministry, not long ago so servilely adored by many, but whose downfal is at present consummated, had endeavoured to spread, particularly a little before and at the beginning of this war, insinuations, which have since found partisans in the United Provinces, among those who have not been ashamed to paint the Exchange of Amsterdam (that is to say the most respectable and the most useful part of the citizens of this city, and at the same time the principal support of the well-being of the United Provinces) as if it consisted in a great part of a contemptible herd of vile interested souls, having no other object than to give loose to their avidity, and to their desire of amassing treasures, in defrauding the public revenues, and in transporting articles, against the faith of treaties; calumniators, who have had at the same time, and have still the audacity to affront the most upright regency of the most considerable city of the Republic, and to expose it to public contempt, as if it participated by connivance, and otherwise, in so shameful a commerce; insinuations and accusations which have been spread with as much falshood as wickedness, and which ought to excite so much the more the indignation of every sensible heart, when it is considered that not only the merchants of this city, but also those of the whole Republic have so inviolably respected the faith of treaties that, to the astonishment of every impartial man, one cannot produce any proofs, at least no sufficient proofs; that there hath ever been transported from this country contraband merchandizes; whilst that the conjuncture in which imputations of this kind have been spread rendered the proceeding still more odious, seeing it has been done at an epoch when the commerce and navigation of Amsterdam, and of the whole Republic, would have experienced the first and almost the only attack of an unjust and perfidious ally, for want of necessary protection, upon which you, noble, great, venerable, and noble and venerable Lords, have so often and so seriously insisted, even before the commencement of the troubles between Great Britain and the United States of America; at an epoch, when the merchant, formed for enterprises, was obliged to see the fruit of his labour, and of his cares, the recompence of his indefatigable industry, and the patrimony destined to his posterity, ravished from his hands by foreign violence and an unbounded rapacity; at an epoch finally, when the wise and prudent politicians, who had exhausted themselves and spared no pains for the public good, saw their patriotic views dissipated, and their projects vanish.

Receive then, noble, great, venerable, and noble and venerable Lords, this solemn testimony of our lively gratitude, as graciously as it is given sincerely on our part. Receive it as a proof of our attachment to your persons; an attachment which is not founded upon fear, nor an exteriour representation of authority and grandeur, but which is founded on more noble and immoveable principles, those of esteem and respect, arising from a sentiment of true greatness and of generosity. Be assured that when contemptible discord, with its odious attendants, artifice and imposture, could effectuate nothing, absolutely nothing, at the moment when the present war broke out, to prejudice in the least the fidelity of the Citizens of the Amstel, or to shake them in the observance of their duties; the inconveniencies and the evils that a war naturally and necessarily draws after it will not produce the effect neither. Yes, we will submit more willingly to them, according as we shall perceive that the means that God and Nature have put into our hands are more and more employed to reduce and humble an haughty enemy. Continue then, noble, great, venerable, noble and venerable Lords, to proceed with safety in the road that you follow, the only one, which in our opinion can, under the divine benediction, tend to save the country from its present situation. Let nothing divert or intimidate you from it. You have already surmounted the greatest difficulties, and the most pointed cares. A more pleasing perspective already opens. Great Britain, not long since so proud of her forces, that she feared not to declare war against an ancient and faithful Ally, already repents of that unjust and rash proceeding; and, succumbing under the weight of a war, which becomes more and more burthensome, she sighs after peace; whilst that the harmony among the members of the supreme Government of this country increases with our arms, according as your political system, whose necessity and salutary influence were heretofore less acknowledged, gains every day more numerous imitators. The resolution lately taken by the States of Friesland, and so unanimously adopted by our Province, furnishes, among many others, one incontestible proof of it; whilst the naval combat fought the last year on Doggersbank, hath shewn to astonished Europe, that so long a peace hath not made the Republic forget the management of arms, but that, on the contrary, it nourishes in its bosom warriors who tread in the footsteps of the Tromps and Ruiters, from whose prudence and intrepidity, after a beginning so glorious, we may promise ourselves the most heroic actions; that their invincible courage, little affected with an evident superiority, will procure, one day, to our country an honourable and permanent peace, which, in eternizing their military glory, will cause the wise policy of your noble, great, venerable, and noble and venerable Lordships, to be blessed by the latest posterity.