The National Register. — London, England, 1814-11-27 00:00:00

THE NATIONAL REGISTF,II. NOV. 27. THE ROUSE OF SAXON]: After considerable delays, the fate of Saxony appears to be finally determined. Frederic Augustus descends from the throne. His states are divided between Austria, Prussia, and the Duke of Saxe NVeymar. Numerous are the lamenta tions for this instability of human affairs. Some reflecting minds will meditate on the impenetrable decrees of that pro vidence, who, according to sctipture„ chasti , es, but ye , cherishes—destroys, but yet restores. Some, in the fall of a reigning House, only behold a revolution ; others contetu p!ate, in this event, a return to good order. For the former of these persons, a coup clic& on the origin and divisions of this illustrious family, will not he without its use. The second Elector, Frederic, the effrable or pacific, who died in 1464, left two sons, the eldest of whom, Ernest, was of the Ernestine Branch, and the youngest, Albert, of the Albertine Branch. In virtue of the acknowledged right of primogeniture, John Frederic, the sixth Elector, reigned without dispute, when the empire was disturbed by the trou bles excited by the celebrated league of Smal Calde. Charles the Fifth, at the head of a numerous army com manded by the celebrated Duke of Alba, marched against the confederates. The battle at Mulliberg,. in 1547, was eleci sive. John Frederic, the soul of the league, fell into the power of the Emperor. This Prince made a cruel use of his victory. A military commission, of which the inflexible Spanish General was chief, dared to condemn the Elector of Saxony to death as a rebel to the imperial authority. This was an attempt to introduce an entirely new regulation in the German empire. The illustrious prisoner, after having listened to the reading of the decree for his arrest, quietly continued playing at drafts with Prince Ernest of Brunswick. It is rattler my Electorate than tnv bead that they want," said he. The event proved that he was not deceived. Charles the Fifth granted him his life ; but, in the Diet of Augsburg, in 1548, he stripped him of the Electoral dig nity, in order to confer it on Duke Maurice of Saxe, chief of the younger. or Albertine Branch. There was only left to the unfortunate John Ft ederic the little town of Gotha, where he was narrowly watched. Ilk son had still more reason than himself to complain : be was accused of having attempted to enter into the palace of his father at Dresden, arid was conducted to Vienna as a criminal. Though indebted for his new political existence to the protection of Charles the Fifth, the usurper Maui ice greedily seized the opportunity to chew his zeal in favour of Lu theranism, which had saved as a pretext for the spoliation of the legitimate Elector. Ile assisted the Protestants— concluded a secret treaty with Henry 111. of France—attacked the Emperor, and was on the point of getting possession of his person in the passes of the Tyrol. The treaty of Passau in 1552 stopped I►is progress. From this period the Albertine Branch preserved the Electorate, while the elder, or Etnestine, was possessed of very circumscribed territories, and divided into a number of branches. Of fourteen we can now only reckon six. The first is that of Weymar. The Puke of that name is the di • p•i S g rect and natural heir of the Elect-r ,lohn Frederic, violently and unjustly deposed by Chitties the Fifth Notwithstanding the lapse of time, the claims of his des cendants have not been f,reotten. In the short visit that he made to the Congress of Ra•tadt, 13 uonarai te cad once to the Minister of the Elector of Sax , ny, with his peculiar im petuosity, " What then ! does vour laser lerkon upc restoring the Electorate to the Ernestine branch ;" This was the man who afterwa!ds wished that this veil) , Prince should take the title of King. From this period are to be dated the m!sfortunes of Fre deric Augustus. Surrounded, imptisonea, hews compelle4 to forget that he was a German, and to make a common cause with the oppressors of Cermany. The foolish expe dition to Moscow exhibited both to Princfs and people an opportunity for deliverance. The King of Saxony withdrew to Bohemia—the-e in a neutral territory he at last enjoyed his liberty, and, it is said, solemnly .promi ed to unite his. efforts to those of the deliverers of Europe. Motives which we cannot here discuss, induced him to alter this resolution. The flying , Napoleon abanelone•d him without resource to 'he vengeance of the allies, and Frederic Augustus asked to see them. If we are to believe the accounts generally re ceived, this wish was not gratified. Public opinion, which is unanimous relative to the ptivate virtues of this Prince, is, on the contrary, singularly divided on the subject of his political conduct. Some behold an uripardonable crime in - his pe vering alliinee with the enemy of the human race. Others are tempted to regard him as one of the instruments made use- of by P ot.idence to continue the blindness of :` , lapoloon ; for, in fret, bi placing his troops and fortresses at his disposal, the King of Saxony inspired him with the ridiculous _hope of pi esf•tviug the line of the Elbe. While he gratified himself with the ab surd possession of ll:esden ; while he was sacrificing armies for a long time deemed invincible, every thing w; s preparing for the fall of this infatuated Conqueror. If he had not been in po session of the Elbe, be would have been oblig<cl • to have taken a position behind the Rhine, and there/Alp ported by his numerous fortresses, and uniformly assured of his communications with France, there would sti'l have re mained to him means of treating honourab!y with his con querors. Thus, an invisible and all-powerful hand degrades the elevated and elevates the degraded: thus, after three ages, the Albertine Branch descends flour the Thione it Arsd usurped, and the Ernestine Blanch recovers a portion of the heritage that had hoen wrested from it The French in regretting the fate of Frederic Augustus, regard him as the relative of the Princess to whom she is indebted for her well beloved Sovereigns Louis XVI. at:d dc France). Extract from Lord Wm. Bontinck's Official Note to the Duke de Gallo, the Neapolitan Minister , " 801.00 NA, APait 1.-1 , 1 case of the Neapolitan Glvlenment cx acting a writttn confirmation 01 - the sentiment, w i, i cl i Lord CAsileri Me, v e rbally declared, a Ctillfiralation which hiss nut bcen called for. not thinking it necessary, the undersigned is Hutton ist it to declare ofTlcia ;Iy, that the Enlist. Gi.vei inn( tit entirely iipprove..s of the Treily eo n ehint d between the Austrian and N p':l it a n (i"vernment' t in° it " Ilstitt ` 1 ` ) the addition of the territory there specified, under the • - :me coominio. made by Austria, of an active and home:tone co Opt•rptitm of the Ne;.. noqtaii nrillc ; and that if the E• glish Gt veroment refuse. , to sitni Definitive Treaty, it is caused by sciniinciits of 11 , .nour aid delicacy. which make it unwilling that the-hereditary estate of an anciviit Al:y should be giver. up without aii indemnity ; mid the imitersignuil has in eonsetquence orders to invite the Neapolitan Government to wake the greatest efforts in order to obtain the unlit °Nu:4" 1 t