The National Register.
London, England, 1814-01-16 00:00:00

THE NATIONAL nEmsTrin.

OBEIGN I.IIELLIGENCE.

FRENCH PAPER*.

JAN. 16.

PARIS, :lAN. 4.--For some time past, !noel' has been said of' the
Derlaration of the Allied Powers, ibited Dec. I, and inserts:if in
the Franhfort Gazette, of the tith. The enemy have thrown some
copies of it on our frontiers, end oar eiyi•t.; tlit.y have eveu sAlit it
by the post office at n ask, to a great ninny persons. Mr,..;.• 'ft.:
Orator of the Senate has quOted sonic passages from it, vvhielt he
ham refuted with equal .ticogth and soniolness Offliginlient ; hilt ‘‘e
thick it our duty to make some reticet;ons on this strange paper,
calculated to Alike every apprehension.
If, at er havin.:, made to his Attics:v. the rinpi.rot of the French,
just, goorous, and liken! proposals, the A ha,l int..l wiL.l .1 tp.
fli•;1I, 01 had even receive:! only an evasive answer, it cann.o be
denied that their declaratioo ..‘ wild he calonlatc.l to wake s. toe inl•
presSioll on people but little avqnaitzted with the i:iiiire.-t proceed-
jugs of diplomacy ; but. if, on the contrary, the proposal, of ti:e
Allies have been formally aerepted hy his Majesty for I..,s.pri-,,r(ai
the report of the. (o:railittre ut the !•;enate proves;': if it w not
till after they had 'Trek ed ibi.• acceptance of liis Majusty. t. • i :he
I Allied So% ereigns publiilied thin declaration, it imist be owtie•.,•:: tt
their sentiments are not so noble, !Mr t1;•11' views SO disinteresie ',
as they affect t . proclaim ; that heir manifrstrehas no other ohjert
than that of paraiysing the enerhyy of the Freneii nation, by at-
tempiing to persuade them that tiseirgoct.v invent has rejected juxt.
Kin/Tr:us, and liberal prolesais; that thi* declaration, appdrent!y so
moderate, may be a cloak for a:1 ambition which dares not to show
itself openly ; in short, that it is d.scord itself, whicii ie,suming the
garb apt:lee, has IL; own into France a declaration, which is but
a deceitful ;are.
-Molt we !Mu just said is not a mere supposition. It was on time
:ith of Dec. in the evening, that the Allies reriveil the acceptance
of t!‘ Emrever of the French : it wit, on the tit%, that they publish
in the G acetic of Fraidaurt, which c:tv was at that time their head-
quart! r.!,, the finnan. declaration which they have dated oil the Ist.
Chi. is a cer;ain lam, the bare relat.on ot. which is .;it,'ieicot to
overturn all this show of generosity and Love of pence. Truly se*
iiiig%t eisdense, after this, with replying to au act, %%hick ,•:e• are
tit no loss how to appreciate; we will, however, cx.mine it in de-
tail; refe.:c it, as it' it had been made its the spirit of good faith ;
and wlttu it is stripped of all the deceitful forms whi,:h conceal its
real character, it will be easily perceived' that it eon deceive no-
, body. and that all the I.-lynch must answer it only by their unani-
mity, tle..r courage, slid the most generous efforts.
'Ha Allies do not make war on France, they say, but against tht:
ropoutersusee which the Emperor Napoleon has exercised beyond
the bunintaries ut his empire.
We shall not repeat here, the reflections, fall of wisdom, Vlllith
M. de Fontaucs has• opposed to these forms, so new in the social
and political order of Europe ; but we will ask the Allies, if it is
not to their imnrudent attacks that France is indebted fur this
preponderance? Since the famous treaty of Pilnitz, have not they
• alternately compelled us to cOmba; and to vanquish them ? In
1796, France, mistress of the Rhine and the Alps, ruling over
Holland and the Milanese, was already a preponderating .power oft
the Continent; and this plepondcranee, the rel•nli of the tirit Coali-
tion, was recognised and sanctioned by the treaties of 1;:isle and
Cam
po Formic). The Emperor of the French has undoubtedly ear-
'
4 tied it farther, and every new war has strengthened it ; but who
provoked those %vats? Those who in 11105, .1606, Iho9, violibted
their treaties, and attacked France, who was engaged in combating
the prepondsrance of England. •
Let the Allied Powers be sincere : always aggie sors, always
conquered, they nevertheless formally concurred in the general
measures which they now seek to represent as the
.unhappy result
of Freneli proponderotee. ...
is Germat y the point in question? At Ratislion, at Ltineville,
in the fixing ut the indemnities, or, to speak more plainly, .in the
partitiou of the German Empire, did we not see Austria and Prits,iu
co-operate in the most active nimmer 1 Did not Russia conthwt
the ncgociations in concert with France ? ihd not she goo:mice
the result ; amid did not the Russian Ambassador proclaim thes:, that
the distribution of the indemnities was made for the peace and hopl,ig,:t3
,!,.• the Continent 1
Is the continental system in question ? Was not Russia herself
the first to give, during the Ante' ican war, th:.. signal tor the mea-
sures which were taken by the maritime Pt., ers of the North to
stop the preponderance of tire. English, which is now become, it eve
418 y ihae the expreagoui a real onsnipAcuce on all the seas -ei' the