whom he is otherwife an utter baffador of Sweden, dated Auguft ftranger. 2, 1796, old ftyle, It is for thefe reafons, citizen minifter, that I am unable to attribute to the perfon of M. de Rehaufen the refufal of the Directory to acknowledge him in his public character. This refufal appears evidently to announce the intention of difobliging, in the face of Europe, the most ancient friend of France. I hesitate to pronounce a more decifive fuppofition; it is too repugnant to the known wishes of the Swedes and the French themselves, as likewife to their refpective interefts; and at the fame time, it would be difficult for the énemies of both countries, not to find great fatisfaction in the difunion of which the French republic may have given the fignal. It is prefcribed to me to declare, that if M. de Rchaufen be not acknowledged, his majefty will be obliged, in fupport of his dignity, to use reciprocity with regard to citizen Perrochel. This neceflity will otherwise have no influence on the defire which his majefty will always have to ftrengthen the bands of friendship and good understanding which ought ever to fubfift between the two powers. Please, citizen minifter, to accept the asfurance of my moft fincere attach Refolves, Official Note from the Minifler for Foreign Affairs to the Ambasador (Barthelemy) in Switzerland. THE French government is informed that the English, after having ftopped, during the war, under the moft frivolous pretexts, every neutral veffel, have juft given the moft pofitive orders to the commanders of their thips of war, to feize, indifcriminately, all the cargoes which they may fuppofe to be deftined for the French. Whatever injury France may have fuftained from this conduct, he has, nevertheless, continued to to give the only example of the moft inviolable refpect for the law of nations, which conftitutes the pledge and fecurity of their civilization. But after having long tolerated the offence of this Machiavelian fyftem of policy, the at length finds herself compelled, by the most urgent motives, to have recourse to reprif ls against Eng land. The executive directory, therefore, orders all the political agents of the French republic to inform the different governments, that the fquadrons and privateers of the republic will act against the thips of every country, in the fame manner in which thofe governments fuffer the English to act against them." This measure ought not to furprife them, fince it would be very easy to demonftrate that it is imperiously prefcribed by neceflity, and is only the effect of a lawful defence. If thefe powers had known how to make their commerce refpected by the English, we should have had no occafion to have recourse to this afflicting extremity. They will recollect, that the French republic, ever generous, propofed to all the belligerent powers to refpect commerce; but that this propofition, honourable to the government which made it, and dictated by a most perfect philanthropy, was rejected with pride, by a government accustomed to treat with contempt the moft facred laws of humanity, &c. 20th 1 hermidor, (Auguft 7,). Proclamation of the General in Chief of the Army of Italy. Head-quarters at Caftigliona, Thermidor, (Auguft 6,) forth Year. 19 SOLDIERS, YOU have conquered Italy a fecond time! In five days you have gained two pitched battles, and five inferior actions; you have taken fifteen thousand prifoners, three generals, eighty pieces of cannon, two hundred waggons, and fix ftand of colours. Thofe fierce Hungarians, triumphant last year on the Rhine, are now in your chains, or fly before you. You have crushed in an inftant the principal enemy of the republic. So many high exploits ought not to make you proud, but to inspire you with confidence; they ought to teach you never to count your enemies, however numerous they may be. The conquerors of Lodi, of Lonado, of Caftigliona, ought to attack and deftroy them. You renew the boafted examples of Marathon and Platea: like the brave Greek phalanxes, the brigades of the army of Italy thall be immortal. Receive then, foldiers, the mark of the fatisfaction of your general; it only precedes that of the whole country, and of rifing pofterity. Brave foldiers, be always impetuous in combats, and vigilant on your pofts. Death fhrinks trembling from the agile and refolutely brave: how often have you marched to meet it, how often have you feen it fly before you and enter the hoftile ranks? It often overtakes the daftard, but never ftrikes the brave till his hour is come. (Signed) BUONAPARTE. Address tranfmitted by the French Ambaffador at the Hague to the Dutch Convention, the 20th Thermidore, (7th Auguft). BURGHERS REPRESENTATIVES! THE underfigned minifier plenipotentiary of the French Republic has the honour to intimate, that occafions do not offer fo frequently as he could with of giving you publicly a repetition of thofe affurances of efteem and regard which he daily receives from the executive directory, as well towards your affen.bly as the people which you reprefent. This efteem is not limited to thofe public atteftations which France has given to all Europe; nor to thofe lefs generally nown, to which your commillion for the manage ment of foreign affairs can alfo teflify. The executive directory is fteadily vigilant, is unceasingly buty; and the maxim applied to great undertakings-that all which is den mult be effeemed trivial, while any thing remains to be accomplished, feems to have been ed by the French government in the ratification of her engagemats with the Batavian Republic. In that moment, when, during the winter, it maturely and wifely regulated the operations of war, and removed hoftilities far from your dominions, it neglected in no manner to do away your flighteft apprehenfions; and the powerful intervention of the French government banifhed a remaining, but infignificant fhadow of counter-revolulionary defigns, which being fanned in your vicinity, afforded fome caufe of difquietude. That government now directs its moft ardent and zealous endeavours to fecure the political exiftence of Batavia, and to procure it again a place among potentates, with the rank to which it can with juftice afpire. But it views a government wifely and folidly formed, as one of the moft certain means of attaining speedily this defired end; and the executive directory cannot conceal its opinion, that it is time, by a powerful and lafting band, to faften together again the bundle which runs the risk of being difperfed, and loft for want of these properties. Such would quickly be the inevitable confequence of an order of things, which thould permit the burgher to adore exclufively his city or his province, looking on the country at large as a ftep-mother, for whom he has no love, to whom he owes no allegiance, and whofe lawful rights he mifconceives. "It is time"-thefe are the words of the executive directory,-"it is time, for the interefts of the Batavian Republic, and for our contract with her, that the new order of things, expected by all the friends and lovers of liberty, fhould take place; and that all oppofite pretenfions fhould give way and difappear before a conftitution triumphing over federalism and ariftocracy. And it falls within the pale of our department to labour, in concert with the Batavian people, to establish their independency, by haftening the approaches of their revolution to the object which is its ultimate aim. Thefe fentiments of the executive directory might be eafily explained by examples which the national hif tory affords-yes, by what has happened under our own eyes-were it not likely to produce the noft painful recollections. They afford you, you, burghers reprefentatives, the too certain proof that an unequal combination of particular powers never form a bulwark of national ftrength. Let the burghers, then, who are animated by a fincere with to fee the cause of liberty triumph, receive this moft pofitive affurance, that the French government will applaud and encourage their endeavours; and will contider itfelf indebted to them, as it were, for a new ally, whenever it fhall feel the auxiliary aid of a fiate conftituted on the immoveable bafis of harmony and indivifibility --of a ftate, which the can, with more confidence, prefent to her friends and her enemies; particularly to the treacherous English, with whom we must quickly contend; who, viewing with indifference the miferies of Europe, un 'er fhelter of the advantages of their commerce, for thefe last four years, have, by their dealings with rage-blinded Auftria, rather confpired their own deftruction than our's. Place yourselves, then, in a con.dition, burghers reprefentatives, from this time henceforward, to defeat the chance-computations of their infamous politics; and introduce a conftitution which will develope your national ftrength, and fucceed federal anarchy, which deftroys power by dividing it: a form of government the moft defective and calamitous which your greatest enemy could with to impofe on you. E. NOEL. Miffage from the Executive Directory to the Council of Five Hundred, on the 6th Fuclider, (August 23d.) Read in a Secret Committee. CITIZENS LEGISLATORS, THE Directory can no longer leave you ignorant of the afflicting details which they receive from all parts relative to the fituation of the troops ftationed in the interior of the republic. For feveral months has their conftancy been put to the teft by the moft painful privations; and bewailing their diftrefs, the dire&tory have admitted more than once that refignation with which French foldiers forget their wants, when thofe of their country are put before their eyes. As long as the directory could flatter themselves with feeing the end of fo critical a fituation in the amelioration of the finances, they propped up the courage of the troops by hopes, and fhut up in their own bofom all uneafinefs; but the evils are too great to be any longer concealed; and however painful fuch a difclofure may be, it is impofible any longer to deny it to the alarming circumftances by which it is exacted. Pay, that facred debt of the republic to thofe who devote themfelves for her, has not been made for feveral months regardless of the urgent requests of government: the treasury could not fecure that part fo interefting to its fervice, and the penury of its means ought alone to be reproached. All the bargains are fufpended by the impoffibility under which the treafury labours to fulfil the engagements made with contractors: provifions begin to be exhaufted, and there remains no hope of renewing them: every where almoft it has been forced to have recourse to requifitions; but this measure, the ufe of which is fatal, furnifhed but infufficient refources, and to execute them is dangerous above all in thofe depart ments, ments, where civil war has only the confumption and the wants, REVELLIERE LEPAUX, prefi, Proclamation of the Executive Direc (12 Fructidor, August 29). LET true patriots, let the friends of order rejoice! It is in vain that anarchy and royalifin unite their efforts to fhake the firebrands of difcord, and to diffolve the republican government. Their endeavours fhall be fruitless. Some hundred villains, tranfported with rage at being prevented from exercifing their robbery and their domination, no longer hoping to excite the people to infurrection, but by alarming them for liberty, have last night spread through the ftreets badges of aristocracy, and ftuck up royalift proclanations. Armed with fabres, guns, and piftols, they meanwhile fcoured the various parts of this great commune. They attempted to excite alarms by the found of fire-arms. They every where exclaimed that the royalifts had rallied to maffacre all the patriots. They invited the people to their affiftance. They imagined that, in the midft of this diforder, they fhould |