refusing to fulfil the engagements of it-there would arise from this resolution a new order of things. The King would perceive such an alteration with a sensible regret; but the consequences which would follow from it would be necessary and unavoidable. If by an act of your High Mightinesses the Republic should cease to be the ally of Great Britain, the relations between the two nations will be totally changed, and they will no longer have any other ties or relation than those which subsist between nations neutral and friendly. Every treaty being reciprocal, if your High Mightinesses will not fulfil your engagements, the consequence will be that those of his Majesty will cease to be obligatory. It is in pursuance of these incontestable principles that his Majesty has ordered the subscriber to declare to your High Mightinesses, in a manner the most friendly, but at the same time the most serious, that if, contrary to his just expectations, your High Mightinesses do not give him, within the term of three weeks, to be computed from the day of presentation of this memorial, a satisfactory answer touching the succors demanded eight months ago, his Majesty, considering this conduct as a departure from the alliance on the part of your High Mightinesses, will no longer consider the United Provinces in any other light than that of other neutral Powers not privileged by treaties; and consequently will, without further delay, suspend conditionally, and until further orders, in regard to their subjects, all the particular stipulations of the treaties between the two nations, particularly those of the treaty of 1674, and will hold himself simply bound by the general principles of the law of nations, which ought to serve as rules between Powers neutral, and not privileged. JOSEPH YORKE."

On the 24th of March the States-General made the following answer to Sir Joseph Yorke :

"That their High Mightinesses had resolved to represent to his Britannic Majesty, by the Count deWelderen, their Envoy Extraordinary, that having seen by the memorial of the Ambassador, dated the 21st of March, that his Majesty fixed a term of three weeks to have a satisfactory answer touching the succors demanded, their High Mightinesses wished to satisfy, as soon as possible, the desires of his Britannic Majesty, by giving him a positive answer; but they foresaw that the form of government inherent in the Constitution of the Republic would not permit them to complete their answer in the

time specified, as the memorial of the Ambassador having become an object of the deliberations of the representative Provinces, it was necessary to wait the resolution of the several States, the Assemblies. of which were now sitting, or about to sit; that their High Mighti nesses assured themselves that his Majesty, considering these reasons, would not persist rigorously in the time fixed, to the end that their High Mightinesses might have that of forming, in a manner conformable to the Constitution of the Republic, (in which their High Mightinesses had not a right to make any alteration,) an answer to the memorial of the Ambassador, their High Mightinesses promising to neglect nothing for accelerating, as much as possible, the deliberations upon the subject, and they pray the Ambassador to support these representations with his good offices with the King, his master."

Sir Joseph Yorke, after reading this answer, replied, that whatever might be his desire to satisfy the inclinations of their High Mighti nesses, the orders of the King, his master, would not permit him upon this occasion; that, however, he doubted not that they would be equally satisfied by the representations with which their High Mightinesses had charged the Count de Welderen at the Court of London.

I have the honor to be, with great respect, &c.,

JOHN ADAMS.

TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.

Paris, April 3d, 1780.

Sir,

The fermentation in England has already distressed the Administration and overawed some of the members of the House of Commons, but there is room to suspect that this is chiefly to be attributed to the approach of an election. The petitions are very far from being universal, and the congress of the sub-committees is not yet

numerous.

At a meeting of these from York, Surry, Middlesex, Sussex, Gloucester, Hertford, Kent, Huntington, Dorset, Bucks, Chester, Devon, and Essex, from the cities of London, Westminster, Gloucester, and the towns of Newcastle and Nottingham, holden at the St. Albans tavern, and afterwards by adjournment at the great room in

King street, St. James, on the 11th, 14th, 15th, 17th, 18th, and 20th days of March, 1780, the Reverend Christopher Wyvill in the chair, a memorial was agreed on, containing reasons for a plan of association.

They affirm that there is a despotic system, and they date the commencement of it nearly from the beginning of the present reign, and they say that they have arrived at the crisis which the wisest of the political writers marked for the downfall of British liberty, when the legislative body shall become as corrupt as the executive. They should have said more corrupt, because that is undoubtedly the fact at present, as well as the case stated by Montesquieu.

They say that by the unhappy war with America, begotten in the first instance of this despotic system, and nursed with a view of giving completion to it, the fatal influence of the Crown has been armed with more ample means for enslaving Parliament, while the nation has visibly sunk almost into beggary. Never did any country experience so sudden a reverse from prosperity to depression. They state the fall of rents, the accumulation of taxes, and the stagnation of all credit. They then run a long course of reasoning to show the utility, importance, and necessity of the several things they recommended to the people of England, which are all comprehended in a few propositions.

1st. They recommend perseverance in the petitions, and an association in support of them.

2dly. A new law for taking the suffrages of the people at elections to prevent expense and influence.

3dly. To adopt, as part of their general associations, the following propositions :

I. That an examination be made into all the branches of the receipt, expenditure, and mode of keeping and passing accounts of public money.

II. One hundred, at least, of additional members of counties in the House of Commons.

III. That the members of the House of Commons be annually elected.

IV. That it is recommended to all voters to support, at the next election, such candidates as shall, by signing the association or otherwise, satisfy them that they will support these regulations in Parliament.

In the Middlesex committee, at the Masons' tavern, March 24th, this circular letter and the memorial it contained were unanimously approved, and their members in the general congress thanked. In the Westminster committee, King's Arms tavern, Palace yard, March 15th, 1780, it was resolved, "that by the resolution of the general meeting, directing this committee to prepare a plan of association on legal and constitutional grounds, to support the laudable reform, and such other measures as may conduce to restore the freedom of Parliament, this committee conceive themselves bound to enter into the consideration of every question tending to establish the independency of Parliament on a solid and durable basis. That the duration of Parliament and the state of the representatives of the people are questions immediately under this description; that a sub-committee, consisting of seven persons, be appointed to inquire into the state of the representation of the nation and make a report." On the 20th of March the sub-committee reported. The report is dated the 19th.

"That new Parliaments, to be holden once in every year, were the ancient usage, and declared to be the hereditary and indefeasible right of the people of England; that the 6th of William and Mary is the first which attempts to appoint the time of the continuance of Parliament to be for the term of three years, though the same act recognizes the ancient laws and statutes of this kingdom, by which annual Parliaments were confirmed, and declares that frequent and new Parliaments tend very much to the happy union and good agreement of the King and people; that by the 1st of George I. the Parliament then chosen for three years, (by acquiescence of the people to the act of William and Mary, on the faith of its declaring that from henceforth no Parliament whatsoever that shall at any time hereafter be called, assembled, or held, shall have any continuance for longer than three years only at the furthest,) did pass an act to prolong its continuance to seven years; that temporary considerations are stated in the preamble to the act as the principal motives for the act itself; that the 6th of William and Mary is worded as if declaratory of what was conceived, however falsely, to have been the constitution of the country, but that the septennial act assumes a power of altering the duration of Parliament at pleasure; that these alterations in the constitution of Parliament were made without communication with the constituent body of the people, and have

been continued without the sanction of their approbation; that the septennial bill was strongly opposed in Parliament, and a direct infringement on the constitution, and a flagrant breach of trust towards the constituent body; that it was supported almost entirely on the principle of expediency; that the voice of the people appeared strongly against it, in many respectable petitions to Parliament on the occasion, and that a constitutional protest was entered by the Peers, stating that frequent Parliaments were the fundamental constitution of the kingdom; that the House of Commons ought to be chosen by the people, and when continued for a longer time than they were chosen for, they were then chosen by the Parliament, and not by the people; that they conceived the bill, so far from preventing corruption, would rather increase it, for the longer a Parliament was to last the more valuable to corrupt ones would be the purchase, and that all the reasons which had been given for long Parliaments might be given for making them perpetual, which would be an absolute subversion of the third estate; that various motions were afterwards made, and strongly supported, for a repeal of the septennial act, particularly a motion for annual Parliaments in 1774, which was lost only by a majority of thirty-two; that the city of London, and other respectable bodies, continued to instruct their representatives to prosecute this object in the most vigorous manner, as essentially necessary to the independency and integrity of Parliament, the rights of the people, and the prosperity of their country; that by the 8th of Henry the Sixth, the Parliament, then elected by the commonalty at large, passed an act to disfranchise the greater part of their constituents, by limiting the right of election of Knights of the Shire to persons having free lands, or tenants, to the value of forty shillings by the year, at the least, which restriction has ever since continued ; that many towns and boroughs, formerly entitled for their repute and reputation to send members to Parliament, have since fallen into decay, yet continue to have a representation equal to the most opulent counties and cities, while other towns and places, which have risen into consideration, and become populous and wealthy, have no representatives in Parliament; that the number of the inhabitants of England and Wales is above five millions; that of these twelve hundred thousand are supposed capable of voting, as the constitution stood before the restrictive act above quoted; that not more than two hundred and fourteen thousand are at present permitted to vote;