Star.
London, England, 1813-04-10 00:00:00

SITTING OF THE IST OF APRIL.

The Sitting wAs opened at three o'clock in the af-
! temo,n, umier the Presidency of his Seiene High.;
iiess.the Prince Arch-Chancellor of the Empire-.• His
Excellency the Minister t Foreign Atians was pre-
;pent at the Sitting.
11'. His Serene Highness the Prince Arch-Chancellor
Own spoke a; foll,,ws: • . •
• " GENTLEMEN--His Majesty the Emperor and
rittg- will put himself at the head of hi; armks.
The Empero,v wishes to give his augnst partner
a double proof of his confrdence.% It it for these mo-
that he has caused the letters patent to be tape.:

nine re* ndemen, t e Empress will assist at the
Couocils where the greatest interests of the State-will
be discussed. She will have the Regency of the
Empire until the moment *hen victory will return
the Emperor to our wishes.
" Ills Majesty could net make a dispwition more
Consistent with the public good, nor which wobl.l he
more agreeable to his People. The Senate will
give-their applause to it, and preserve in their records
this act of the Sovereign will,
44 Other objects of high importance ought, like-
wise, Gentlemen, to fix your attention.
46 A Report from the Minister of Foreign Affairs
will inform you of the alteration that has taken place
in osr political relations by the defect;on of one of
the Northern Powers. The part she has embraced is
a sad consequence of the character which the steps of
that Cabinet has taken for a long time past. This
circumstance imposes On the Nation the obligation
of making a grand effort, the means whereto will be
found in the firyiet: which are going to be proposed
for your deliberation.
64 At a moment of such interest, the Senate well
perceives of what gre.:t importance it is to develope
the resources of France, to cause the enemy to feel
its full weight to convince him of the inutility of his
• projects ; and, finally, to reduce him to desire sin-
! cerely that peace which the Emperor's triumphant
hand has so frequently offered him, but which
would not be worthy of his Majesty, unless it in-
sured the repose of Europe, and the free commerce
of all Nations."

One of the Secretaries read the letters patent, by
which the title of Regent is conferred on the Empress
and Queen, bard Louisa. They are conceived in
the following terms :

" rotroN by the grace of Con Emperor of the French;
King of Italy, Protector of the Confederation of the
Rhine, Mediator of the Helvetic Confederation, &c.

" To whomsoever these Presents may come greeting.
" Being willing to give to our well-beloved spouse
the Empress and Queen, Maria Louisa, some marks
of the high confidence that we repose in her, we have
resolved to invest her, and we do by these presents
accordingly invest her, with the right of assisting at
the Cabinet Councils, wherever such shall be con-
voked during our reign, for consideration of the most
important affairs of the State ; and considering that
it is our intention immediately to place ourself at the
head of our armies, to liberate the territories of our
Allies, we have likewise resolved to confer, and we
accordingly do by these presents, confer on our well-
beloved spouse the Empress and Queen, the tide of Re-
gent, to exercise the functions thereof, in conformity
with our orders and instructions, such as wehavecaused
to be inserted in our Book of State, intending that in-
formation of the said orders and instructions shall be
given to the Princes Grand Dignitaries and to our
Ministers, and that the Empress shall in no case
whatsoever depart from their tenor in the exercise of
her function as Regent.
gc We will, that the Empress Regent shall, in our
name, preside in the Senate, the Council of State,
the Council of Ministers, and the Privy COuncil,
especially for the examination of Addresses for par-
dons, on which we authorize her to give sentence,
after having heard the Members of the Privy Coun-
cil. But in all .cases it is not our intention that,
by reason of the Presidency conferred on the Em-
press Regent, she should either authr rise by her sig-
nature, the presentation of any Senatus Consultum,
or proclaim any law of the State ; in this respect
we refer to the orders and instructions above men-
tioned.

" We direct our cousin, the Prince Arch-Chan-
cellor of the Empire, to communicate these present
letters patent to the Senate, which• will cause ;hem
to be entered in their registers, and to our Grand
Judge, the Minister of Jastice, who will cause them
to be published in the Bulletin of the Laws, and
send them to our Imperial Courts of Law, to be
there read, published, and transcribed into their
Registers.
Given at our Elysian Palace, on the 30th day of
March, 1813, and the 9th year of our reign.
(Signed) " NAPOLEON.
" By order of the Emperor, the Minister Secretary
of State, (Signed) " The COUNT
" Seen by us, the Arch-Chancellor of the Empire,
(Signed) " CAMBACEitgSe"

His Excellency the Duke of Bassano, Minister of
Foreign Affairs, communicated the following Report:
REPORT or TILE MINISTER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS, TO

HIS MAJESTY THE EMPEROR AND KING.

" Stan—The days of Jena and Friedland had laid
the whole of the extent of the Prussian monarchy at
the disposal of your Majesty. Powerful considerations
rendertd it adviscable either to keep the fruits of
those victories, or to place cn the throne of Prussia a
Prince who woLld have no interest contrary to that
of France, who would have nothing to reclaim from
her, and who; above every thing, would not suffer
himself to be led away by that versatile spirit which
has for a hundred years past, characterised.the policy
of the House of Brandenburgh.
" But the Emperor of Russia offered at Tilsit to
declare war against England,' to concur in shutting
the Continent against her commerce, in order to con-
strain her to wish for peace, if the King of Prussia
was replaced among the rank of Sovereigns.
" This perspective operated on your Majesty as a
seduction to which you could not resist, you indulged
the hopes of seeing the tranquillity of the world re-
establithed, and theconimerce of Fl-anee at length en-
joy-that splendour, to which it is insured by the rich-
ness of heti. -soil, and the industry of her people. You
sacrificed to such great interests the calculations of
suspicious policy, and at your second interview with
the. Emperor Alexander, you consented to receive
the King of Prussia, whose presence, instigated by
a just resentment, you would have avoided. it had
been formerly the general opiniOn that the icing of
Prussia had been drawn to take part in the war'against
her own will.

• 44 Your Majesty was pleased to think that the ex.
perience he 1;:a' lately atade, ivotild for ever put him
on his guard a:;ainst dangerous seductions and dark
illusions.- In short, your Majesty, to whom genero-
sity is habitual, easily persuaded yourself that you
Were going to uce what would never-be forgotten. The
Prussian monarchy was restored, and the House of
Brandenburg continued to reign. Your Majesty
ought to have put. him from the frontiers ot. the
Rhine, and takch from him the protection of the
coasts. You created die kingdom ot Westphalia, and

thi, shoal remain is your
concluded with England.
" You wished that the restoration of those impor-
tant places should be made an object of compensa-
tion in the negotiations with England for our mari-
time possessions. The King of Prussia had no right
to discuss the gifts which he received from your Ma-
jesty's geneiosii y, the importance of which elevated
him above his hopes. The contributions of war laid
on the Prussian territories were reserved as equitable
and necessary indemnit;es for the expences of the un-
just war which Prussia had kept up. Your Majesty's
armies were not to evacuate the territory ceded to the
King of Prussia, until after the entire payment of the
contributions.

until peace was

" Nevertheless, Sire, by the Convention concluded
at Berlin on the .sth of November, 1808, in conse-
quence of the conferences at Erfurth, your Majesty
consented to remit Prussia a part of her debt, and
withdraw the French troops from her territory before
the payment had been made.
" The alliance of France with Russia appeared to
have guaranteed the fidelity of Prussia ; your Ma-
jesty wished to rely upon it ; but the weakness and
habitual indecision of that Cabinet might every mo-
ment deserve that confidence. The conduct of Prus-
sia during the first years which followed the peace of
Tilsit, was guided by sentiments very different from
those of gratitude. Far from fulfilling her engage-
ments, she appeared to watch for occasions, and wait
opportunities which might permit her to avoid them.
In 1809, regiments were seen, aiding the influence
that secret and seditious societies exercised, ranging
themselves under the standards of your Majesty's
enemies ; a scandal unparalleled in the annals of Go-
vernment.

64 In 1811, when a visible change 'an the dispositions
of Russsia gave reason for fearing that war was again
about to be kindled in the North, Prussia understood
that her fall depended entirely up n her foresight,
that it the allowed events to take place, she could no
longer be mistress of choosing a part, and that it was
requisite to adopt one whilst she was at liberty to
make a choice, she requested the favour of your Ma-
jesty of being admitted to your agiance. This ques-
tion presented itself in its full importance. It ap-
peared prudent and right policy to profit by the grie-
vances which Prussia had given you by the conti-
nual incertitude of her conduct, and it war should
take place with Russia, to declare it against her at
the same time, in order not to leave a dubious power
in your rear.

Prussia did not spare her solicitations and ntreaties.
The steps which he took at St. Petersburgh, to en.
deavour to influence the determinations of Russia,
whilst it was yet time, bore such a character of
frankness, and• wee so evidently diretted with a
sense to the interests of France, that it struck your
Majesty. You no longer balanced, you again saved
Prussia, by admitting to an alliance with you. •
" When your ',Majesty went to Dresden, the King
came there to meet you, and there, by word of
mouth; reiterated the assurances of an inviolable at-
tachment to the system you had eribtaced.
" As soon as your Majesty was become master of
events, and that was as soon as it could be effeited by
genius and 'courage, Prussia iernained faithful; and
the Prussian corps did its duty ; but when the French
army in its turn experienced the chance of war, the
Cabinet of Berlin kept no longer any measures. The
defection of General d'York • called the enemy into
the States of the King of Prussia, and obliged our
armies to evacuate the Vistula, and fall back on the
Oder. Prussia, to dissimulate her intentions, ..ffered
to furnish a new contingent... She had a sufficieut
number of troops, all formed, and of cavalry in Si-
lesia, and from thence to the Oder, which would then
have been so useful in opposing the incursions of the
enemy's light troops. But she was resolved not -to
keep her promises.
li " The King unexpectedly left Potsdam, he aban-
doned a residence, in which he was covered by the
Oder, to throw himself into an open city, al. ' go
into the enemy's presence. Scarcely had lie arrived
at Breslau, when General Bulow, who commanded
some thousands of men on the Lower Oder, imita-
ting the treason of General d'York, lie opened his
cantonments to the Russian light troops, and fscilita-
ted the passage of the Oder to them. It was under
the guidance of newly• enrolled Prussians that these
troops came to make little skirmishes at the gates of
Berlin. The Prussian Cabinet had thrown off the
mask. The King, by three successive ordonances,
immediately called to arms all such young men of
family as • were rich enough to equip and mount
themselves ; then all the youths from 17 to 21 years
of age ; and, lastly, the men above that ago. It was
an appeal made to the passions, which Prussia had
felt the necessity of reprimanding, whilst she was de-
sirous of our alliance, and whilst she remained I aithful.
The Chancellor of State called around him the heads
of those sectaries, who, in their seditious fanaticism,
preach up the overthrow of all social order, and the
destruction of the Throne. Prussian officers were
sent with eclat to the Russian headquarters. Russia*
agents succeeded to each other at Bt eslau ; at length,
on the Ist of March, the th ussian Government con-
summated, by a treaty
.with Russia, what General
d'York had commenced. It was on the 17th of
March, at Breslau, and on the 27th, at Paris, that the
Ministers of the King of Prussia officially announced
their masters having made common cause with the
enemy.

66 Thus Russia declared war against your Majesty,
in return for the Treaty of Tilsit, which replaced the
King on the throne, and for the Treaty of Paris,
which admitted him to an alliance.

" I add to this Report the pieces presented to your
Majesty when Prussia solicited your alliance, with an
extract of the letters of Monsieur the Count de Saint
Masan, on the same subject, (under letter A.) .
▪ The Treaty and Conventions concluded at Paris►
for establishing the all.iance, (under letter 13 )
" The Convention concluded by General d'Verk
with the Russians, and his Proclamations, (under
letter C.)
" The Papers relative to the dispositions made by
Prussia on the subject of the detection of General
d'York, (under letter 1).)
• The Papers relative •to the Mission of General
Hatzfeldt at Paris, (u Eder letter L.)
" The extract of a Report en the connivance of
General Bulow witl► the enemy, (under letter F.)
4 4 The three Edicts for the extraordinary levie,
(under letter G.) The King's Orduruiance, ac.

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