thus his majesty fell into an absolute impossibility of taking any longer that active part from his own means, without utterly ruining his own dominions, and entirely exhausting the property of his subjects.

His majesty, however, still remained deeply impressed with a patriotic hope of being able still to lend help and protection, and that with increased force, to the German empire; and to be enabled to do this, he entered into a negotiation with the confederate powers, proposing certain arrangements to them, the principal points of which were, besides the payment of a subsidy to him, a stipulation that the subsistence of the greatest part of the Prussian army should be provided for by the empire in general; and that, until a final plan should be concluded to this effect, that the six anterior circles of the empire, who lay most exposed to danger, and who reaped immediate benefit from the defence, should be charged provisionally with the furnishing of the same; and it was also declared to the diet of the empire, and the circles above-mentioned, that in case these frank and free proposals were not acceded to by the emperor, his majesty would be compelled to withdraw the greatest part of his troops, and to leave the empire to its fate.

Several states have made declarations suitable to the pressing circumstances in which they, and the whole empire, were placed; in particular, his electoral highness of Mentz, full of exalted and patriotic sentiments towards the empire, complied with every requisition relative to the subsistence of the Prussian troops which depended up

on him, and summoned an immediate congress of the six circles. His majesty entertained a just expectation, that similar good consequences would every where have flowed from his patriotic intentions,

and his hard-earned merits in his former defence of the whole em

pire. Every retrospect seemed to confirm these hopes: on one side, the past afforded the admonishing picture of the dreadful torrent of an all-subverting enemy; on the other, the noble and heroic stand of the Prussian army, and the immense sacrifices of the blood of his warriors, and the treasures of his dominions, made by the magnanimity of his Prussian majesty. Even then, that army was standing on the banks of the Rhine, the bulwark of the whole empire, and to which the enemy did not dare to penetrate; but the subsistence of that army, undertaken by the whole empire, was the sole condition under which it could any longer be effective, and which the physical impossibility of Prussia alone bearing the burden, did absolutely oblige Prussiato insist upon. Was it acceded to, then the future afforded the consolatory prospect of his majesty acting with that known alacrity-that well proved fidelity, in the defence of the empire, and the protection of its constitution, to the utmost of his power? But every impartial observer might have easily anticipated the consequences of the refusal of the required subsistence, and the return of the Prussian troops into his majesty's own states. Then might the over-powerful and delirious enemy ravage, uncontroled, throughout the empire, and with plundering and murderous harde, unbridled and unlimited, bear downi

the Germans, their husbandry, all law, order, and property, subvert with anarchic abominations, the cons itutions of more imperial states, annihilate princes and nobles, erase the temples of religion, and drive from the hearts of Germans their natural love of virtue and order, by the aids of the seductive allurements of licentiousness, and the precepts of an unfeeling immorality.

All these, and similar observations, so simple and so obvious as they were, did, nevertheless, not succeed in bringing the arrangement for the subsistence of the army to a just conclusion. This proposal was, besides this, sufficiently connected with another arrangement, which his majesty had designed to offer the confederate powers, but which it did not seem good to his imperial majesty to comply with, and which also the other states did not approve. Moreover, this proposal gave rise to an exception, which, after so many and meritor: us actions, such unparalleled sacrifices which his majesty had already made, he, in truth, had no reason to expect, and on which his majesty, not without much sorrow, finds it his duty to make some remarks.

The summoning of the six circles, by the elector of Mentz, has been represented as irregular, though in fact it is strictly constitutional, Measures there were proposed precisely contradictory to the negotiations for the subsistence, and the universal arming of the peasants was resolved on, though it is plain, that such a measure is as inefficient as dangerous, and completely adverse to the object proposed-inefficient against an enemy who presses forward in a mass with an insanity of fury, approved tactics, and a

numerous artillery-dangerous, be cause, when the peasant is armer. and brought away from his ordinary mode of life, the enemy may easily become his most dangerous seducer, and finally adverse to the object proposed, because such an armament is wholly incompatible with the oper ations and subsistence of disciplined armies. These reasons, which flowed from the most sincere conviction of his majesty, have been represented in the most odious colours; and the most false and scandalous motives have been attrbuted to him for his dissent to this measure; and, in order to prevent the arrangement of the subsistence, projects of extending his dominions, of secularizing ecclesiastical territo ries, and of oppressing the empire, have been rumoured to have been by him in contemplation; and of which his majesty's known patriotism, and acknowledged virtues, will form the best contradiction.

After what is past, every hope of the subsistence being acceded to being now vanished, his majesty does now renounce the same, and also every resolution of the empire, and of the circles relative thereto : --his majesty has therefore taken the resolution no longer to grant his protection to the German empire; but to order his army (excepting twenty thousand auxiliaries, according to different treaties) instantly to return to his own dominions.

At the same time that his majesty finds himself compelled to withdraw a portion of his troops from the defence of those states, for which they have already combated with so much glory, he expresses the most earnest wishes, that those consequences he has above alluded to may not take place, but that the exertions of his

imperial

İmperial majesty, and of the empire, may eventually insure to both a full indemnity, and a general and honourable peace. To his majesty remains the just consolation, and permanent glory, of having, on his part, made such sacrifices to the defence and safety of the emperor, in the present awful crisis, as certainly few states in Europe, or members of the Germanic body, could, without much hesitation, have resolved upon.

Berlin, March 13, 1794.

Declaration made by Count Goliz, the Prussian ambassador at the

diet of the German empire, on the 7th of April, 1794, in the name of his master.

HIS IS Prussian majesty, in consequence of the repeated wishes of the states of the empire, and the negotiations which are going forward between him and the court of Great Britain, has at last yielded to continue his troops in their present position for the protection of the empire, and this only in the confidential expectation, that the estates will speedily proceed to deliberations, upon the measures for procuring to his majesty the means of maintaining those troops, for the future, for the protection of the empire, against a powerful enemy.

Declaration of the Prussian minister, taron Hochstetter, to the circles of the Upper Rhine, dated April 5th, 1794, respecting the Prussian contingent.

IN N answer to the claim made by the compt de Lechrbach, in the VOL. XXXVI.

name of his majesty the emperor, as chief of the Germanic corps, the court of Berlin has resolved to declare, that the king would never refuse doing his duty as a member of the empire: but that in the case in which he now is effectively called on, he will conduct himself after the example of the other electors and illustrious co-estates, proportionably to his obligations, according to the Germanic constitution and the ancient usage.

To the above declaration the baron Hochstetter verbally added.

1. The greater part of the army, under command of field-marshal

Mollendorff, will defer their march into the Prussian dominions, and remain in the places of the Lower Rhine, until farther orders.

2. This delay of the return of the Prussian troops to his majesty's dominions, however, is eventual, and will certainly cease as soon as the hopes of his majesty vanish with respect to the subsidies which he claims from the six anterior circles.

3. His majesty wishes that the states of the six anterior circles might assemble and deliberate provisionally upon the question, whether measures were to be taken for the purpose of providing for, and maintaining, the army of his Prussian majesty, for the protection of the empire.

4. There is no time to be lost; if his majesty once should give de cisive orders for the army to return to his dominions, no remonstrances upon that subject would any longer be listened to.

5. His majesty has to add, to the demands already specified in his declaration to the directors of the P

treasury

treasury of the empire, the just claim of 1,800,000 rix-dollars, the expences for the siege of the for-tress of Mentz.

Proclamation published by the Emperor at Brussels, April 17, 1794.

UROPE has, during five years,

of the wretched kingdom of France; the evils of which increasing daily, do not as yet hold out a prospect of their termination. The impious faction which tyrannizes over that kingdom, to maintain its monstrous system, has at once attacked, under the specious pretext of reform, religion, the constitution of the state, and all the bases of social order, which this faction has hastened to destroy, substituting in its place a pretended equality, absolutely chimerical.

Resolved invariably to maintain the religion and the constitution which have for ages constituted the happiness of the Belgic provinces, we are desirous, by a rigid law, to support the public wishes, strongly and generally pronounced by the horror the whole country has displayed at the French revolutionary systems.

The undermentioned articles follow the preamble in the usual form :

of such a system shall be punished by imprisonment.

3. The associations, known under the titles of clubs and literary societies, as well as every other similar assemblage of men, whatever its denominations may be, shall be bound to inform the fiscal counsellors of the object of their society, and the names of those who compose it, for the purpose of obtaining

fiscal counsellors, which shall, however, be merely provisional. Every act of disobedience to be punished by a fine of one hundred crowns. This clause to extend to all the cities, towns, and villages, of the Imperial Netherlands.

4. Those who shall lodge infor mations against such as are guilty of the above-named crimes and excesses shall have a recompence, proportioned to the magnitude of the discoveries they shall make. For the crimes mentioned in the first article, this recompense shall not be less than 1000 crowns. And,

5. Informing accomplices shall have the same recompense, with forgiveness, unless they shall have been the chief and principal abettors.

Address from the Emperor to the inhabitants of the Netherlands.

The emperor and king,

EVEREND fathers in God,

dear and well-beloved: by our royal dispatch, of the 20th of April last, we announced to you the motives which induced us to have recourse to your zeal; the motives which our commissioners have since disclosed to you, concern yourselves as much as

they

they concern us. Since that period the mass of the enemy, which has precipitated itself on Belgium, rendering your danger more pressing, it becomes more necessary to employ all the means in your power, and to check the operation of that mass by all the force which it is possible to collect and combine.

Our armies have suffered, and stand in need of a large number of recruits; and although we have seen with as much satisfaction as gratitude, the sacrifices which you have evinced a wish to make, in order to excite our subjects to enter into voluntary engagements, we cannot conceal from you that, as this reCource has been hitherto unproductive and unavailing, our army will perhaps be no longer in a condition to employ, against an enemy who makes such efforts to invade these provinces, that resistance and those offensive measures which have hitherto preserved them.

It would be superfluous to recal to your recollection, that hitherto our hereditary states have furnished the major part of those who have defended you, and undoubtedly our Belgic provinces, so flourishing, so populous, and so interested in the success of the war, which unhappily may be attended with their annihilation and total ruin, will not be backward in furnishing men to assist in the defence of those provin

ces.

It is at the present moment, while the period is not yet elapsed, that we address ourselves to you for an object more important even than that contained in our dispatch of the 30th April; we demand for our army, from all the provinces, a levy of men, and we are persuaded that, penetrated with the necessity of sa

tisfying so just a demand, you will only pause on the mode of carrying it into execution. We do not hesi tate to propose to you, that which is most conformable to reason, to justice, and to the general interests and exigencies of the moment, viz. An equitable assessment on all the districts, each of which shall be directed to furnish one man in every hundred, as far as regards its general population, and five men in every hundred capable of bearing arms.

It is to this demand that we immediately expect your consent, and your most efficacious concurrence, leaving, however, to your choice the best means of satisfying it, at` the same time informing you, that this extraordinary levy is so necessary, and so pressing, that if in the execution of it you stand in need of our sovereign authority, we are disposed to grant it to you in the most extensive manner.

You have, it is true, offered several times to raise some new corps, but we have considered that it would take too much time to organize them, and to train them to the mili tary exercise and evolutions; while, on the other hand, men, mingled among soldiers, will immediately render us that service which we expect from them.

You cannot dissemble-your fu. ture existence depends perhaps on the speedy execution of such an increase of force-you see your enemies multiply at all points of your frontiers, while our armies moulder away by our victories, and by those glorious contests which they are forced so frequently to maintain.-Besides, the efforts that you will make in this respect, cannot be a grievous burthen on s P 2 country