The Virginia Gazette

An expostulatory Memorial of the Provinces of Groningen and Friesland, presented by their Deputies to the Generality.

"The Enemy, whose Army have made continual Progress, threaten at present, even our Habitations, and seem disposed, if we may so speak, in the very Bosom of our Country, to clap the Knife to our Throats. At a Time when we thought and when we believed we had nothing to fear from their Enterprizes, we have seen Brussels set on Flames by red hot Bullets, Bombs and Grenades: On one Side there is a powerful French Army on the Frontiers of our desolate Country; on the other Side we see the Hands tied of our best Corps of Troops, by most Scandalous Capitulations made in the utmost Confusion. The best Allies of our State find themselves likewise weakened, partly through the Intrigues of their Enemies, partly by Measures rashly entered into, or badly executed, and other Courts too very resolute from the Influence of the Emissaries of the common Enemy, that we dare scarce flatter ourselves with the Hopes of being succoured in Time. Thus we see our total Ruin coming upon us, and ourselves reduced to the Necessity of fighting for our Property and Religion, with the few Troops that we have left, if the Almighty does not miraculously extend his Arm for our Deliverance. Perhaps we may very soon hear, in our Habitations, the Enemy's Cannon thundering upon our Ramparts and our Walls; yet in the midst of such miserable Circumstances, and when the sole Point under Consideration is, how we may ward off so great and so eminent a Danger, it is again resolved to confide to Strangers, all that is dear and precious to us, and the Command of all the Troops that are left us for the Defence of our dear Country, is given to a Foreign Prince, who has never been so much as acknowledged in the Quality of General by the principal Deputies, and this Step has been taken without at all consulting these Deputies, which however ought not to have been neglected, in order to put an End to those Differences which have reigned among the Confederates, in regard to the Prince of Orange's being raised to the Generalship of this State. In fine, to the End, that in Case of any Accident, there may not be wanting foreign Generals, they have done a new Piece of Injustice to our Countryman, and other valiant Officers in our Service, by giving to that Prince another strange General to act as second in Command, who but a Year ago acted as a Lieutenant General in Germany, in the Service of the Queen of Hungary, and was even raised to that Rank in the Month of June 1743. This very Person served then under our own General Smaert, and at present in Consequence of his Title, will command Lieutenant General Coenders and all the rest of the Lieutenant Generals. All this cannot but prove the Source of endless Jealousies, Disorders, and other Inconveniences in the Army, and thus it seems, if out of pure Wantonness, when our Liberty, our Religion, our Wives, our Children, our Lives, our Prosperity are all in the utmost Danger, we confide these important Pledges to the Care of People who have no Stake in them, and who if we should lose all, have themselves nothing to lose."