The Virginia Gazette

Extract of a Letter from Utrecht, dated May 25.

"The Affairs of the Republick, it must be confessed, are at present in a very Critical Situation, yet not quite so bad, in the Opinion of intelligent People, as they were in 1672, when Lewis XIV. carried his Conquests so far as to keep his Court in this City. People of gloomy Imaginations frighten themselves that Lewis XV. may soon do the same; but for my Part, I think myself pretty safe, with a good Army, and 2 or 3 large Rivers betwixt us. I call it a good Army, tho' at present it be but small, because most of the Troops that compose it may now be esteem'd Veterans, that want only Numbers to enable them to make Head against any Forces in Europe. In 1672 the Case was widely different: We were not then at all upon our Guard, nor had we any Troops that might be depended upon, either for Officers or Men: We had not the Friendship of Great Britain as at present, nor did we in Truth know where to look for Assistance. It was the Genius of our young Heroe the Prince of Orange, raised by the Voice of the People at the Head of our Affairs that alone restored them, or at least made a Stand against the Power of France, till we had Time to make Interest among our Friends. But in 1746, we have both Troops, Officers, and Allies, and all Appearances promise us soon the Protection of an Army near as numerous as that of the Enemy. This makes a wide Difference between the Circumstances of the two Conjunctures."