Letter from the King to the National Assembly, brought by a Gentlemen, HAVE charged the Minifter for Foreign Affairs to commu nicate to you the official note which the Emperor has caufed to be delivered to the Ambaffador from France at Vienna. This notice, I muft fay, has caufed me the greatest astonishment. I had a right to reckon on the fentiments of the Emperor, and of his defire of preferving with France the good intelligence and all the connexions that ought to fubfift between two allies. I cannot yet think that his difpofitions are changed: I wish to perfuade myfelf that he has been deceived refpecting the true state of facts; that he has fuppofed, that the Elector of Treves had fulfilled the duties of juftice and good neighbourhood; and that, nevertheless, this Prince had caufe to fear that his states might be expofed to violences, or particular incurfions. In the answer which I have given to the Emperor, I repeat to him, that I have demanded nothing but what is just from the Elector of Treves, and nothing but what the Emperor himself had given an example of. I remind him of the care the French nation took immediately to prevent the affembling of the Brabanters, when they attempted it in the neighbourhood of the Auftrian Pays Bas; Finally, I renew to him the wish of France for the preservation of peace; but at the fame time I declare, that if, after the epoch which I have fixed, the Elector of Treves has not really and effectually difperfed the affemblages which exift in his ftates, nothing fhall prevent me from propofing to the National Affembly, as I have already announced, to employ force of arms to constrain it. If this declaration does not produce the effect which I have a right to hope; if the deftiny of France is, to have to fight with her children and her allies, I fhall make known to Europe the juftness of our caufe, The French people will fupport it by their courage; and the nation will fee that I have no intereft but hers; and that I fhall ever maintain her dignity and her fafety, as the most effential of my duties, 1 Letter Letter of M. Louis de Narbonne, Minifter at War of France, to the Duke of Brunswick. My Lord, H have been to Paris, Jan. 9, 1792. AD I followed the rules of ordinary policy, I should not have been induced to make the bold demand which I addrefs to you in the name of the King, and which I fhould have addreffed to you alfo in the name of the nation, had the fecrecy which this ftep requires permitted me to confult its wishes. Come and affume the command of the French army- -I know not what the Duke of Brunswick, as a prince of the German empire, as a member of the Germanic body, may have to offer in answer to this propofal, but I address myself to an hereditary prince, to one who has courted fuccefs in war, and who has been fo often gratified in that high ambition: I can fay to him, among us you will acquire a glory worthy of your character.' Is not this fufficient to engage you? Should you fay, my Lord, that you are going to command an undisciplined army, I will anfwer, that political quarrels have divided it; but that it will rally under the standards of a man who depends only on his own genius, and who, in the cause of equality, finds himself previoufly difintered by all the gifts of nature. You will perhaps fay alfo, that it is against the caufe of Kings that you are going to take up arms; but our principles have confecrated monarchical government; and, without defending them in every point, I will remind you, that the Duke of Brunswick has practifed in all his ftates feveral of our maxims; that the greatest general of Europe has not endeavoured by force to render his country more military than the extent of it would allow; that he has done nothing but what is worthy of a great character; and that the glory, even the moft fuited to his genius, has not made him purfue measures contrary to the happiness of his people. Whatever our principles may have exaggerated; whatever violence, above all, may be in our Conftitution, time already begins to apply a remedy; but nothing can equal the effect which will be produced by the prefence of the Duke of Brunswick. In taking an oath to defend liberty, you would give caufe of exultation to the French people; that mistrust which has ruined us would not approach the Duke of Brunswick.-Who would dare to doubt his word? Is not courage the fureft pledge of loyalty? The fcourge of war might perhaps be averted from France. The name of the Duke of Brunfwick will perhaps be fufficient to preferve us from it; but, even in the midft of peace, the glory of creating a power, and of re-establishing an army, would belong to him. The The faults and enemies of France may, perhaps, have made it be confidered by Europe as a kingdom almost annihilated. Twenty-four millions of people, diftant poffeffions, arts, all have been in danger of being forgotten; but all thefe ftill exift, all wait for the genius of good order. The French nation is fufceptible of enthufiafm-the glory and example of your Serene Highnefs would excite it. By this fentiment you would rally a nation which is ruined only by being divided. In a word, your prefence, by depriving our enemies of hope, will deprive those factions, by which we are torn, of all the ftrength they derive from terror. This word will no longer be pronounced in a country, the defence of which you undertake; and you will acquire every kind of glory by restoring to France that tranquillity which is neceffary for framing good laws, and by fecuring to the King the eternal gratitude of a people to whom he fhall have given the Duke of Brunswick as a defender. You may be told that the French Conftitution, which you might think proper to fupport, abounds with faults; but fuch as it is, it is a grand epoch in the human mind, and no judgment ought to be paffed on it while it is feen furrounded only by all the troubles of a civil war, really existing, though that expreffion has never openly been pronounced. In fhort, the French people with to bury themfelves under the ruins of this Conftitution; and in their devoting themfelves there will be fomething heroic, which will oblige the Duke of Brunfwick, fhould he become their enemy, to confefs, that that nation, in its defeat, knows how to fnatch from the conqueror the prize of his glory. I could alfo, in coolly difcuffing the interefts of Europe, prove to your Serene Highnefs the utility of the ftep which I propofe; but I place my hopes only in that love of glory which we ought to believe to be the characteristic of your Highness. To this fentiment I wished to addrefs myfelf: it is the language of antiquity, a language fuch as the Romans would not have refifted, that I have thought proper to employ. The glory of the Duke of Brunfwick feems to be cotemporary with thefe ages of heroism. Should I fave my country by perfuading your Serene Highness to pursue the courageous courfe which I requeft you to follow, you cannot doubt that my whole attention, in the office I occupy, fhall be to unite all the means which prudence can fuggeft to fecond your views; and you will find the fame enthusiasm which has dictated this letter, in the ardent care I fhall employ to make you enjoy fuccefs in the noble ftep which I may prevail upon you to purfue, M. de Cuftine will give account to your Royal Highness, with as much exactnefs as ability, of the prefent fituation of the affairs of of France. When you have heard him, and read this letter, you will pronounce an anfwer which will weigh much in the ba lance of the fate of the Empire. But if, my Lord, you deceive my hopes, if you refift the impulse of your heart, all will not be terminated between you and the French nation. We shall still have the ambition of acquiring fufficient glory, to make the Duke of Brunswick regret having refused to gratify a wish which I have expreffed to him in the name of the People and the King. I am, with respect, my Lord, yours, &c. Anfwer of the Duke of Brunswick to M. Louis de Narbonne, SIR, January 22. THE HE letter which you have done me the honour to write to me could not fail to excite my most respectful gratitude to the King, and the livelieft fenfibility on account of the very polite manner in which you excuted the orders of his Ma jefty. I will not detain you with detailing the impreffion I have felt from the offer you have made to me, in terms proper to determine my sentiments. The imagination is flattered by repre fenting the fituation of a military officer, employed in the army of a nation to which no kind of glory is a ftranger, and which, in that career, has produced men whom it is easier to admire than to imitate. But, notwithstanding all the fplendor of the sphere to which you invite me, I think myself obliged to request, that you will immediately communicate to his Majefty the motives that compel me to deprive myself of the advantages of a fitua tion, which would enable me to execute the orders of a great and juft Monarch, who attaches his felicity to that of the nation. My relations, as members of the Germanic body, are not unknown to the King; those which attach me to the King of Pruffia and his auguft family, to his monarchy and army, are known alfo to you, Sir. Permit me to add an acknowledgement of my incapacity to fill a place which requires talents that I am far from having a right to fuppofe I poffefs, though I am fully convinced, that a minifter, fo enlightened as you, Sir, is one of the most capable, by the aid of your talents, to diffipate thofe fears which a well-grounded miftruft might excite in my mind. I must not neglect alfo to direct your attention to a secondary circumftance-I allude to my health, which has experienced a violent fhock by an obftinate malady, the effects of which are not entirely difpelled. Be, Sir, the interpreter of my moft refpectful fentiments to the King, of whofe kindness I am highly fenfible, and present to to him the ardent vows which I inceffantly form for the glory and happiness of that auguft Monarch. It has given me great pleasure to receive M. de Cuftine: his talents and prudence announce him to be a man who does honour to his nation, and who is highly worthy of belonging to it. C. U. F. Duke of BRUNSWICK LUNENBURG. (Signed) The Inftructions of M. Delaffert Minifter for Foreign Affairs at Paris, to M. Noailles, Ambassador from France to the Court of Vienna. Sir, Paris, January 21st, 1793. HAVE already spoken to you concerning the official note the 21st of December. I fhall again fpeak to you concerning it. This unexpected declaration produced at firft the greatest agitation, for it was conceived that the language of the court of Vienna conveyed a degree of menace in its tone. In order to justify this opinion, it will be neceffary to enter into fome details. It was in the month of November that you acquainted the Auftrian Minifter with the formal invitation which the King had just renewed to the Elector of Treves, for the purpose of procuring a difperfion of those bodies which were collected in his dominions, and at the fame time you demanded in the name of the King" the interpofition of the good offices and authority "of the Emperor, to induce the Elector to comply with this "act of justice." These bodies, the hoftile preparations, the collection of military corps, were inconteftibly notorious to every one. The measures of the emigrants to excite every where enemies against France, were not lefs notorious. The court of Vienna more than any other court, perhaps, was furnished with proof. Nevertheless, inftead of attempting to induce the Elector of Treves to put a period to this caufe of fermentation and inquietude, the court of Vienna appeared indifferent to all these movements, and thereby added to them a greater degree of power and importance. It was impoffible for the nation to view with the fame indifference the aggreffion with which it was menaced. The National Affembly addreffed itself to the King, difclofing to him a wifh which had manifested itself in all parts of the kingdom, for the purpose of inviting him to take the neceffary precautions which the fafety of the ftate required. It was then that the Elector of Treves, terrified by this meafure, requested the protection of the Emperor; and that, without any communication, or any prepa ratory |