Page:A Tour Through the Batavian Republic.djvu/300

288 and ordering them to treat the Dutch soldiers no longer as enemies, but as allies and brethren. The officers of the army were commanded to maintain the strictest discipline in their corps, and redress was freely promised to all individuals who should think themselves aggrieved by the republican troops. The French soldiers were impartially quartered on the inhabitants of Amsterdam: but it was permitted to those who did not choose to have the military in their own houses, to furnish them with lodgings elsewhere, provided (a most salutary regulation!) the soldiers, so disposed of, were not quartered in taverns or public houses.

In a few days, the provisional representatives of Holland commenced their sittings at the Hague. Peter Paulus, a man of great abilities and distinguished patriotism, who had rendered himself, in 1787, highly obnoxious to the stadtholderian party, was chosen president of the assembly, and commenced the meeting with a speech, replete with rational piety, candour, and moderation