The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1803-07-06 00:00:00

•

,r.. -

. THE CONDUCT'
or
REVOLUTIONARY FRAN 4 TOWARDS THE KINGS
SARI INI‘.

Since the French Revolution, one King of Sardi-
nia has die.! the viaim of French cruelties ; another
has abdicated his throne, disgusted with French op-
pression ; and a third endures yet the repeated in-
sults, ant the cruel treachery of Corsican France.
The royal Sardinian family Has honoured early
in the Revolution with the hatred of the French Re-
14els ; when, in 1789, Mirabean, La Fayette, Talley-
rand, and their accomplices, instkuted a revolntion-
ary prfipaganda. The dominions of his Sardinian
7Nlajesty were the first countries recommended to
the pair ctic mi,sion of their emissaries.
This honourable preference was drx to t...e lin-
;mumble and generous conduct of the Corp-t at
Turin ; neither the threats or intriglres of the
French Jacobins could intimidate it, or dr..: ze its
loyalty and hospitality tow:iris the pmscribe,l 1.- nch
Princes, and their followers, the persecuted French

Emigrants.
This may, by some philosophical Sovereigns, aid
their atheistical r*lit:isters, be called imprudence ;
but in 1789, I,cobinism was nehhcr seatei on the
throne, nor in the councils of princes, except in these
f the King of France ; and rebels were treated with
a contempt, which, for the welfare of mankind, it is
to be wished, neither success would have dimi-
nished, nor power discouraged.
To the standard of revolt and atheism ereCted in
France, flocked the dissatisfied, disaffeael, and irre-
ligious persons cf all countries. Sard'nia, Piedmont.
and Savoy, have many proscribed criminals and
condemned out/avq, who in a short time become the
most aaive french patriot: ; but as long as Louis
XVI. reigned, they satisfied themselves with propa-
gating revolutionary principles, and distributing re-
volutionary writings amongst their country men ;
much discontent and some partial insurrections were
the consequences, but until rebellion was organized
in France, it could have no consistency any where
el-c.
The French newspapers, under the direction of
the constitutional faaion, continued, during the years
1790 and 1791, to libel the King of Sardinia and
kis family, by the most absurd falsehoods and vul-
ger abuse ; and to the repeated complaints of the
Sardinian Ambassador, the unfortunate Louis XVI.
had no other redress to give, or answer to make,
than that he was himself the most calumniated and
insulted of all Kings.
In 1792, when the Brissotine ftaion was (as Bris-
sot expressed himself) determined to put ire to the four
corner: of the world, accusations and threats suc-
ceeded abuse and calumnies, and the King of Sar-
dinia was reproached as one of the contracting par-
ties in the fabricated and imaginary treaty of Pil-
nitz, regulating an imaginary partition of France ;
the menaces of the Jacobins, aad the war declared
by them against Austria, caused some alarm at
Turin, and the King ordered his militia to be em-
bodied and his army augmented. To suspend those
measures of self-defence, Dumourier, then a Minis-
ter, wrote in May 1792 a letter to the King of Sar-
dinia, in the name of Louis XVI. stating, that France
was determined to continue and respect all its Treaties with
hi: Sardinian Majesty.
It has been, and is yet an incomprehensible error,
into which many princes and states have fallen, to
depend upon the assurances of friendship, and the
promises of peace of the French revclutiona.ry Go-
vernment, in the same manner as if made by legal
Sovereigns ; notwithstanding that, when they could
gain any advantage, no more regard has been shewn
to the sacredness of Treaties, than to the respect of
acknowledged laws of nations, or established eti.
queues cf Courts. Thus depending upon the as-
surances of France, the King of Sardinia reduced his
army ; and whea, in September 1792, the French
General Montesquicu invaded, without any trevicus
declaration ,i wAr, the .Duchy of Savoy, and some-
time after Anseline, another Jacobin General, sur-
prised the county of Nice, little or no resistance was
n.ace to the French armies.
ft is true, that both in Savoy and in the city of
Nice, there were troops enough to resist for some
time the French invaders ; but treason has, during
the last war, gained for the French more battles, and
eonquered them more countries than valour; and the
Sar.tin'an troops, commanded by cowards or trai-
tors, capitulated nearly without fighting. In this
brave and loyal manner did France get possession
of the dominions of his Sardinian Majesty, on this
ai the Alps.
In the winter of 1792, a French fleet attacked the
Island of Sardinia, but was repulsed with great loss;
and England soon after, by a powerful fleet in the
Mediterranean, prevented the Frenchfrom executing
anf.ther attack, not only meditated but menaced.
Having lost, without a declaration of war, two of
his most valuable provinces, the King of Sardinia
was obliged to join the coalition in war against
France, as the only means to preserve the remainder
of his kingdom. He entered, therefore, in 1793,
iato a Treaty with England, and received an annual
absidy of 200,000 pounds sterling; this subsidy re-
trued. fur three years, the rain of the Sardinian