Page:A Tour Through the Batavian Republic.djvu/290

278 looked to the French government, whether monarchical or republican, for support against the encroachments of the stadtholder, and the malign influence which the cabinet of Great Britain possessed in the councils of the United Provinces. A firm and intimate alliance with Fiance was considered by that party as the only means by which the honour of the republic could be retrieved, and its affairs extricated from the pernicious administration of an individual, under the immediate control and direction of a rival government.

On the other hand, the stadtholder, who had invariably been averse to any connection with France, beheld with increased sentiments of aversion the old government of that country abolished, and a system from which he had more to apprehend established in its place. The states-general, the sovereigns of the republic, though much at the devotion of the Prince of Orange, did not entirely enter into his views on this subject, and cautiously avoided a war with France, until the arrogance and imprudence of the