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334 Amsterdam. It formed a striking contrast with the proclamations published by the representatives of the French people four years before. But where power is unlimited, moderation is more frequently to be found, than where weakness predominates, unless power is lodged in the hands of Alvas or Philips.

After a series of bloody and well-contested actions, the British and Russian forces obtained possession of Alkmaer, and the hopes of the friends of the house of Orange, which the tardy movements of the army had dampt, began to revive. The citizens of Amsterdam, attached to the new order of things, again trembled for the security of the capital, and, throughout the republic, the partisans of the stadtholder were filled with the most extravagant joy.

But these sentiments of depression on the one hand, and of exultation on the other, were of no long duration. After a desperate engagement, in which the British forces were victorious, but with great loss, it was judged necessary by the commander-in-chief for the army to retreat.