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126 government; therefore the directors wisely withdraw themselves, as much as their functions will permit, from public observation, and the envy concomitant on exalted rank.

It is the opinion here, both of his friends and enemies, that the stadtholder will never be restored to the government of the United Provinces; but the former confidently expect that some indemnification will be given him for the loss of his hereditary offices, and the confiscation of his estates. The pensioners of the house of Orange, whose yearly allowance was earned by the merit of actual services, now receive with regularity their salaries from the landed or other possessions of the prince. This humane and benevolent grant of support, which rescued a number of deserving individuals from the severe gripe of poverty, did not take place till two or three years after the settlement of the new government; but to render this act of magnanimous justice complete, each pensioner was paid with interest the arrears of his salary, and he was not, like other persons who tasted the bounty of the republic, obliged to