The National Register.
London, England, 1809-05-14 00:00:00

MAY 14.

which the events of war gave rise, hro!lght to your Majesty'_
knowledge the negociation of the Spanish Junta with the Aus-
trian ti:)vernment, and the promise of Austja to the J wit:L
with 100,000 men, a promise made, without doubt, with no in-
tention to fulfil it, and merely to feed thz courage of the insur-
gents with deceitful hopes ; finall
,y, as if Provideuce,which so vi-
sibly watches over your Majesty, or rather over France, w hich
has conducted you through so many danger:, and in so wonder-
ful a way every where attended you in your progres;, were it-
self desirous to unveil the disloyalty and treachery of those who
did not yet dare to avow themselves your enemie:, the declara-
tion of the King of England of the 16th of Decentser, fell into
your hands: in this your Majesty read these reniar!illile ex-
pressions—

" And if among the nations which groan under the tyranny of
French alliance, or among those which maintain a;-ainst France
a doubtful and precarious independence, there should he any
which even now are balancing between the certain ruin (If a
prolonged inactivity, and the contingent dangers of an ellort to
save themselves from that ruin ; to nation. so situated, the delu-
sive prospect of a peace between Great Britain and France
could not fail to be peculiarlyl injurious. Their preparation;
might be relaxed by the vain hope of returning trai ciaillity, or
their purpose shaken by the apprehension of being I to con-
tend alone."

" Thus it was England herself who warned your Majesty con-
cerning the preparations of Austria. These preparattons were
to frustrate what the two Eniverors had dune to elf:fct the mari-
time pence. Your Majesty could no longer doubt that you were
threatened with another war. The pledge given at Erfurth
was violated. Austria armed herself against her bettefaetor.
'Your Majesty had to reflect upon what you owed to your peo-
ple and your allies. With grief you abandoned the pursuit of
the English. May your Majesty's Minister, who is now the in-
terpretor of the common sentiment, and that mode of thinking
which is founded on the victories of 15 years, with which no-
thing can be compared, be permitted to adi, that however great
the success of your Majesty's lieutenants may have been, what-
ever abilities they may have displayed, your Majesty, had you
in person been able to head your armies, might have expected
still greater success---nor one Englishman should have returned
to England. 'Your 31ajosty made this sacrifice to the security
of your dominions ; you returned hack to Valadolid in order to
issue the comawnis which the i;:tfety of Spain required ;
wrote front thence to the Princes of the Co2federation of the
Rhine, in order that they might equip theinselses and furnish
their contingents ; a measure w hirlt the fear; thoy had already
expres,ed to your Majet,ty had long reudered necesLary ; and
your Majesty repaitett to Paris.

" Your Maje•stA made ti new endeavour to avoid this war,
whica you !lila not iv en rise to ;—you called fur the interfe-
retire of the itusiau Minister of Forci.gu Atlairs, who was at
that time in Pails.

This Minister, having been instructed by your Majesty, vi-
sited the Austrian Ambassador. lie proposes! an arrangement
by which the three Empires should be united by a triple gua-
rantee, and which secured to Austria the integrity of her terri-
tory by the guarantee of Russia against the enterprises of
France, and that of France against the enterprises of Russia ;
and in like manner the guarantee of Austria was accepted by (ht.
other two Powers. It is uapleasant to he obliged to declare
that these proposals by M. de Romanzoff haft no effect. But
your Majesty ever hoping in the good success of these your en-
deavours, and unable to conceive that the blind zeal which had
been excited by a party in Austria, sold to England, could stifle
the voice of wisdom in illustrious persons and trite friends to
that country, did not put your troops into motion, nor the divi-
sions of the troops of the Rhenish league. nor those which your
Majesty had in the interior of France, and which being intended
for naval objects or the maintenance of the Colonies, had partly
received orders to march to this destination.

" Austria no longer kept herself within bounds. She had
been piepariug the fencibles duringeight months; she had called
them forth and provided a new army. in the michlle (4. Fe-
bruary orders were issued to set, them in motion, and to brina
all the troops to the frontiers ; the whole monarchy was under
arms. Long before Austria hatl made war upon France at Con-
stantinople ; she had already effected a reconciliation between
England and Turkey she was about to declare herielf
cipenly. _ _ _

. .
" In rite mean while the Cabinet of Vienna maintained a pro-
found silmiee. Since the Treaty of Foutuinhtean, it had made
oeither rknnonstrance nor cqmplaint. Vour Majesty haki

311

cause for complaint, in the murder of your courier in Croatia;
in the lusuits oll'ered at frieste to French ()dicers ; in acts of vio-
lence comm:tted against some of your Italian subjects. You
patiently waited the re:kess of these grievances, w hen the Au.
strian Minister. on the t?.d of March, came and announced to
ine that the Emperor, his muster, had given orders that his
troops shotill he put upon the war establishment. He assigned,
as tne reasons for this measure, the report transmitted from Val-
ladolid to the Princes of the Confederation of the ft hive, and the
retort) of your Majesty to Vs.r6.
" Your Majesty charged me to amwer, in a note, in which
confined myself to the remnsk that there was, in fact, between
:he two Courts, no source of ditrerence, and merely asked what
it was that Austria required, and in case she was disposed to re-
cede, I annuunee'l azain the wish of your Majesty, that the na-
tion of Enrobpe 11.6-lit-Hoy ail the blessings of peace. M. Von
Th.iternich en:leavoored, in his answ...r of the lith, to make it
appear that it was the armament of your !lajesty, which hail
nude that of Austria noceFsary ; just as if your Majesty had
taken up armi against A th;tria ilt the moment you evacuated Si-
lesia the ljnehy of arsaw, and that ...'.et.),.riUjof your troops
had pr"ceedeil fro!" tier:ll:toy to SpAin.

" it was then that yilur Majesty renounced all eour prtjeets
a..4.aing the EnAlish,:ia:l the expedition agattist Sicily, for which
Ow King of Napik's aati pa'ol)7l:'e,l ; and the egularkations which
hid been made at Brest,. llookigne, Flushing. and Toulon, were
all laid wide. Evei'y thin,; was suspended and the troops of
our Majesty directed their tn:trch toward, C.L.‘rittany ; those too
of t±teConfederationof the It hire were set in motion.

No, it was by no means because France had taken up arms,
that Austria made her armaments; but on the contrary because
,he thought France was enfeebled by another weir, and deemed
this a favourable moment for regaining her ancient
.Anstria makes was, because, without at doubt, she cApects to
gain by it ; she makes war, without any ground of complaint,
it'aaut preceding it by any demand, :Lay proposal, rir leaving
any alternative; she mikes war at a :valeta when your .`da-
josty, far from yourself promoting it, has manifesied nothing
but good-will toward: tier, and ‘vishrs for her peace and wel-
fare ; at the very moment when your iilajesty hart offered to he
the guarantee of the integrity 1;1 her territory; at the very mo-
ment that the Emperor Alexander himseir, even While he de.
dared to the Anstrian Minister his di-apprnhation of the coe-
duct of the Cabinet at Vienna, renewed his (Airy--; to guarantee
that integrity against France. Austria makes war upon
France and Russia, upon the two empires w hich had offered her
their protection. It is therefore out for her own secitri:v that
she has had recourse to arms. The tieaties which tier ne-
cessities had estahlisheil, are no longer L•. ties fo her own efindufl.
She says they were made in nionhatts oi'do.:l!..ter, as if rennuci-
atian9 which yictary had enforced Were (Mt binding upon tumour
and gaod faith ; e‘ ea tvli.n the gent rosity of tho conqueror did
not excite gratitude. Every generous action has been disre-
garded, every duly yio;ated. cur 'Majesty has received the
tidings that the Austrian army has ern ;ell the Inn. They have
begun the war. A letter from the Au:Arian General announces
to the French Commander that he is advanciog. and that be
shall treat any one as an enemy who opposes his progre,s.
" Your Majesty knows, that in order to avert these Menu-
sidera te commencements of war, your. Majesty has dime all that
foresight and moderation could dictate. Your Majesty was de-
sirous to spare your people new disenietude, and humanity a
bloody conflict. But as the spirit with which Austria has at
all times been animated, has rendered it the political maxim of
that Power to interpose a lasting obstacle to the maritime pence,
it is perhaps by no mean: to be lamented that she herself has
produced the crisis which eau remove that obstacle. The mari-
time peace cannot be secured till the contniental peace be first
ilimoveably established, and until the I,snglish have utterly lost
all hopes of disturbing it by their gold and their intrigues. Be
this at lerot the result of this hew war! Your Majesty cannot
ht. jealous of the power of Austria. You do not desire her an-
'titillation, hut, Atice tio artier means are left, may you by your
arms reduce her substantially to the (erudition of a pacific Power.
Peace is the conquest of which your Majesty is most worthy, for
it is that you must ilesire.

" Sire! l our people will support von in this new cortlict.
The astonishing foresight of your Majesty, which enables von
to undertake a new war, w ith adding the leait to the hurthen;
of the State, is profoundly felt by a people 101 l ofgratitude and
pnsibility, who admire what is great, are the defenders of what
idu4, and who glow with military ardour.
Ilerhapr, new cvertions way be ucee-isary to secure the sus!,