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326 their countenance and approbation. A similar act of outrage had, a short period before, been committed against the legislatures of France, by a part of the executive power of that republic.

Though by the treaty of peace a stipulated sum was required from the Dutch nation, as an indemnification to the French republic for the expences of the war, this price of redemption, exorbitant and immoderate as it was, served rather to excite than to allay the rapacity of the French; and new demands were made on the Batavian republic, under the various forms of loans, requisitions of clothing and provisions, voluntary contributions, subsidies, and the forced circulation of assignats.

The treatment of the Batavian troops, in the service of France, was complained of as peculiarly severe and unjust. In battle they were almost constantly placed in situations of the greatest danger; and in the exchange of prisoners their interest was invariably neglected. Thus treated by the confederate army, desertion was frequent among the Batavian