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Amsterdam, 1800. ITHERTO the revolution of Holland had been happily conducted, and the world saw with astonishment a nation, under the eyes of its conquerors, tranquilly proceeding to reform the abuses of its government. This spectacle was the more grand and delightful, as it occurred at a period when Europe was shaken to its centre, by civil contentions, and almost universal hostilities. Hostilities not grounded on the ordinary causes of war, but growing out of opposite principles, which imbittered the animosities of nations beyond the example of all former times. It occurred at a period when the term revolution seemed designated to express scenes of atrocity and horror, outrageous