De patriottentijd. Deel 1: 1776-1784

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Bijlage XII.
Instructie van Generaal O'Hara. (Public record office, Londen).

Charles Fox to the greffier Fagel. Londen, Sept. 28^th, 1783.

- Sir. Major General O'Hara who will have the Honor of delivering this Letter is an Officer of much Distinction in H.M.'s Service and my particular friend. He is a person in whom entire Confidence is reposed by H.M. and His Ministers, in the Business which he will have the Honor of communicating to you.

May I venture to hope, Sir, that the regard which you have always professed for H.M., and your known goodwill to the English Nation, will induce you both to give General O'Hara the best advice with regard to the Delivery of the Letters he is charged with, and to talk with him confidentially upon the present State of affairs. It is not necessary for me to explain to you, Sir, that this Gentleman does not come to you in your public capacity but as to a Friend to H.M. and to the House of Orange.

Charles Fox to Major general O'Hara. St. James's, Sept. 28^th, 1783.

-.... The direct object of your Commission is to deliver the two inclosed letters from H.M. to the Prince of Orange and Prince Lewis of Brunswick¹⁾ and to receive their answers in as secret a manner as possible, but much more may be got by confidential Conversations. I have inclosed you a Paper containing a kind of summary of the Business and directing your attention to those points upon which it is most necessary that we should be immediately informed. It is infinitely desirable that nothing should transpire, and therefore you will avoid writing one word from Holland.

If the King of Prussia's name is mentioned, you are authorized to say that H.M. has no objection to acting in concert with the Court of Berlin with respect to the Prince of Orange's affairs, and you may add that I have written to Berlin, by His Majesty's command, to ask the King of Prussia's advice upon the Business.

Dit is het bijgevoegde stuk:

It is but too evident that the present violence of party rage in Holland is pointed full as much against the Stadtholder as against this Country, and that the situation of that Prince, whose welfare ought to be and is dear both to His Majesty and the English Nation, becomes every day more critical and alarming. It is no small addition te the difficulty of the

1) Deze twee brieven ontbreken.

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present situation, that the King's servants here, not acting in concert with the Prince of Orange, nor indeed knowing but from uncertain accounts the real state of affairs in Holland, are afraid lest any step which they may take with a view of befriending the Stadtholder, may be more prejudicial than advantageous to his interests. It is therefore for the purpose of remedying at least this inconvenience that general O'Hara is now sent to the Hague, where, if the Prince of Orange treats him with that confidence to which His Majesty's letter will undoubtedly entitle him, he may concert with that Prince some future plan of measures and especially with respect to the following important Points:

1^o.	If M. Lynden is appointed minister to this Court and the appointment is considered as meant hostilely to the Stadtholder, would the positive refusal of him from hence be useful or hurtful to the Stadtholder's interests?
2^o.	Would the early appointment of a minister from hence be a desirable thing? if so, as Sir James Harris who is destined for that employment can hardly be at the Hague till Christmas, is it an object that we should send some other authorized Person thither in the mean time?
3^o.	What conduct it will be adviseable for the English Minister at the Hague to hold upon his first arrival? It has been suggested that it would be the best that he should seem rather to pay court to the present prevailing Party than to appear attached to the Stadtholder. Upon this supposition however it is exceedingly material that such a line of conduct should not be pursued without the knowledge and approbation of that Prince.
4^o.	Is it desirable that the definitive Treaty should be immediately concluded upon the footing of the Preliminaries, or is there any advantage in leaving the business open with a view to some future discussion respecting Negapatnam?

Though the four points abovementioned are those upon which immediate information is necessary, yet there are many others in which much advantage may be expected from Concert. It is necessary that the Stadtholder should now adopt some fixed and steady plan of conduct, and the more the scheme of this plan is explained to us, the better shall we be able to second his views.