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kingdom of Bohemia an enemy like the prefent, who, from day to day, arms the major part of their nation, and leads them against us;-we caused several plans to be laid before us, having for their tendency the particular fecurity of the faid kingdom of Bohemia; and though we difcover in every part of them patriotic benevolence-yet we thought proper to give the preference and our approbation to the ettablishment of a national militia, particularly from the confideration of its combining with the defence of the country, effectual and ready for every emergency, all poffible indulgence to the inhabitants. We do hereby ordain ;

I. That the measure of a national militia, for the particular defence of the kingdom of Bohemia, be immediately put in force, and that for this purpofe every 20th head be enrolled out of the population of the whole country.

2. That the men thus enrolled be immediately trained in the ufe of arms, and in every branch of the fervice for which they are deftined, and to which end the ftaff of the Bohemian general officers fhall appoint the commiffioned and noncommiffioned officers...

3. In order that the men, during fuch exercife,may be kept as near as be kept as near as poffible to their places of refidence, the places of rendezvous fhall be marked out in fuch a manner, in the different circles, that each perfon enlisted shall only have to repair to fome place little diftant from his own abode.

4. The men enlifted fhall, during their abfence from home on account of their being exercised, receive the fame treatment as the foldiers actually ferving in the field.

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5. Should there be any occafion for calling any of the men thus kept in readiness into active service, they are to repair to the rendezvous pointed out to them, there to wait the farther orders of their commanders.

6. Their fole deftination is to cover the frontiers of the country, or to be employed within its limits; but they are by no means to ferve against the enemy abroad.

7. We will not only grant to thofe men, as long as they fhall continue under arms, full pay and provifions in the fame manner as the troops ferving in the field, but we alfo order,

8. That to thofe who fhall diftinguifh themselves by their valour on proper occafions, filver and gold medals thall be granted, in the fame manner as to the real foldiers, and they fhall every where wear them, as honourable marks of fervices rendered to their country, and enjoy at the fame time the annual penfion during life.

9. All thofe who fhall ferve in this militia, fhall be for ever after confidered as peculiarly meritorious, and where equity will permit, all due preference fhall be given, and every poffible indulgence fhewn to them.

We rely, therefore, on the tried fidelity of all our Bohemian fubjects, and on that love of their country fo particularly their own, that they will voluntarily and readi ly fubmit to these our orders, and that every individual, whether high or low, will ufe his utmoft exertions, in conjunction with those of his king, to defend the kingdom from every hoftile invafion; the more fo, as the prefent moment is moft dangerous to the religion and

property

property of every citizen in this kingdom; and as the welfare of every one of them requires that he fhould help, with all his ftrength, to defend his family and the country, we also place the greateft dependence on the patriotic zeal and readiness of our Bohemian fubjects in this measure of defence, fince, as it has been ftated already, the term of service is but of fhort duration, and only neceffary in the prefent emergency, both to defend the country, and to protect their own property, wives, and children, and fince by fo doing, they will not only have the promised reward, but likewife render themselves worthy of the reputation of faithful fubjects and real friends to their country, befides gaining, in addition, the efteem, the love, and grace of their king for ever.

Done at Vienna, August 21, 1796.

Proclamation of the Emperor. BY the encreafing and urgent neceffity of profecuting this expenfive war with vigour, his majefty the emperor fees himself constrained to demand extraordinary fupport from his fubjects, in order not only to keep off an all-defolating enemy from his frontiers, but also to obtain by force a peace fo long de fired in vain. But his Imperial majefty conftantly directing his thoughts towards treating his beloved fubjects with all poffible lenity, and choofing always fuch means as are the leaft burdenfome, expects that every good fubject, equally convinced of his duty, and of the preffing exigencies of the ftate, will five to alleviate thofe wants by contributions, vo luntary and proportionate to their means, in money, grain, horfes,

oxen, common clothes, linen, leather, iron, teel, lead, and arms. Vienna, 18th September.

Refeript addressed to the Duke of Wir temberg, on the 10th of July, by the Imperial Court, on the Subject of

Peace.

WE received the letter you wrote us upon the 23d of laft month. You there prefent your good advice with a refpectful frankness. You obferve that it only depends upon us to fecure the happinsis and the fafety of Germany; that a fpeedy peace can alone diffipate the violent ftorm which impends over the country; that this alone can remove the dangers which in fo many ways threaten the Germanic conftitution; in fine, that this alone can put a period to thofe unparalleled miferies under which humanity fo long has groaned. At the fame time you acquaint us, that if in these difficult circumftances the danger approaches fiill nearer your ftates, you will have no refource but to fubmit to the law of neceffity, and to make a separate peace with France.

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The empire, in truth, defires with ardour, and has long entertained this with, the return of peace, but connected with the juft feeling of its honour, its dignity, its independence. In this with it only comprehends a peace, equitable, juft, fuitable, and worthy to be accepted, which retts upon the folid bafis' of the perfect fupport of its integrity and its conftitution, agreeable to ancient treaties. At the fame time, by a proper refpect for these fundamental laws, it has never ceafed to render its wishes and its refolutions upon this fubject fubordinate to the rigorous condi

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tion, that peace fo ardently defired hould not be concluded, but agreeably to the constitution, in a mott perfect and invar able concert between the emperor and the ftates.

The refolutions of the diet of the 22d of December, 1794, and of July last year, become laws of the empire in virtue of our Imperial functions, very pointedly atteft this reserve; and the same spirit ferves as a foundation to the full powers and authorities for peace, which have been submitted for our acceptance, in virtue of the refolu. tion of the diet of the 7th of October, 1795, as well as for the annexed inftructions to the deputies of the empire at the congrefs for peace; inftructions which effentially proceed upon the re-eftablishment of peace, juft, honourable, ftable, permanent, and common to the whole empire, and which have pointedly and exprefsly as their object the maintenance of the empire upon the footing on which it flood before the misunderstandings which arose with France, under the fpecial recommendation to observe ancient treaties.

After having thus expreffed, in a manner equally conftitutional and agreeable to the interefts of the Germanic empire, its fentiments with regard to the re-eftablishment of peace, the general diet, full of respectful confidence in our paternal folicitude for the common advantage of Germany, entreated us to negotiate, as well in our own name as in that of the Germanic body, the preliminaries of peace. We were very well difpofed to act agreeably to these defire; but the fequel proved that the foi difant committee of public fafety, by which

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All Germany has feen the anfwer of the committee of public fafety, the contents of which were ordered to be publifhed by our decree of the 19th of November lalt. This piece contains the most manifeft proofs of the decided repugnance of France to liften to the pacific overtures defired by the em pire, and of the clear determination of this power not to engage in im mediate negotiations, till finding herself in a fituation imperiously to dictate the conditions of peace to the empire, fhe could, to the eternal hame of the German name, leave her no other part in this meafure but a paffive fubfcription of the treaty. The empire being thus convinced of the refufal of the French government to make a fuitable return to the overtures which had been made, it had no other refource left but that foreseen by the refolution of the 22d of Dec. 1794, to affume an attitude which fhould oblige the enemy to grant that peace defired by the head and by the members of the Germanic body under the conditions announced in the refolutions of the diet.

The directory, however, which has fucceeded the committee of public safety in the management of foreign affairs, has not adopted more moderate fentiments. We find, on the contrary, in all their actions,

actions, and all the public papers which they have iffued, the marks of the inflexible obftinacy of a conqueror inflamed with pride by the fortune of his arms. Upon this point we refer to the note addreffed by the French ambaffador to the plenipotentiary of his Britannic, majefty, upon the 26th of May, this year. We remark, with regret, in this note, how much the fpirit in which it is drawn up, the nature and extent of the demands which it contains, and the manner in which they are announced, are remote from a reciprocal defire of peace. We are not mistaken even in confidering this very note as a new proof of the averfion of the French government to enter into negociations with the empire united under its conftitutional head, fince, in effect, if we compare that note with the above-mentioned anfwer of the committee of public fafety, we find that both abfolutely announce the fame political maxims; to which we must likewife add, that the note of the directory demands, as an invariable preliminary of peace, a flatus quo relatively to the countries conquered by the enemy, and united in virtue of its decree, which cannot in any way be reconciled with the basis of peace laid down by the diet.

To divide, to conquer, and to rule, is the spirit of the egotist policy of France. But every divifion infers a diminution of ftrength in the measures of refiftance of the whole, and which muft neceffarily lead to the difmemberment, to the devastation, to the dependance, to the fubjection, and, in fine, more or lefs rapidly, to the decompofition of our refpectable conftitution. Concord, on the contrary, firm

nefs, the love of our country, and the faithful obfervance of the laws, are the firft duties of fociety; the dearest and more facred duties of every vaffal of the empire, when our common country is menaced, is the most eminent and- essential object of all political focieties, its fafety and preferyation. Such is the object of the fundamental conftitution of the German empire, which renders all the individual means of refiftance poffeffed by the ftates of the empire fubordinate to the direction of one fupreme authority, and prohibits in the most forcible manner the conclufion of a feparate peace during a general war of the empire. But, independently of this confideration, it is not lefs certain that it is to act against all experience to reckon upon the very rare inftance of the generosity of the enemy, and to expect only, from the magnanimity and love of juftice, a peace that can be accepted, instead of conftraining them to grant it by force of arms. In fine, we find a manifeft contradiction in not ceafing to defire an object, and yet failing to proportion the means by which it is to be attained to the magnitude of the dangers interpofed. The example of the invincible conftancy and vigour with which the enemy exert themselves to execute their plans, ought to afford to the citizens of Germany a fufficient motive of emulation to excite them to the most obftinate refiftance, and to the defence of their political and religious conftitution.

After this faithful difclofure of circumftances we put it to your judgment to decide, whether, however much we are disposed to reftore peace to the empire, as foon as it can be eftablished on an ho

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nourable and folid bafis, it depends entirely upon us to grant this bleffing to Germany; whether it confifts with our authority as chief of the empires to fanctión a peace, upon whatever terms feparately concluded with the enemy of the empire? In fine, whether at a moment when we have to choose between the difmemberment and the union of the empire, between the diffolution and the establishment of the conftitution, between honour and shame, whether, in this critical fi tuation, we are not rather warranted to require, in the name of the country and the conftitution, in the name of all the ftates which have beenis pillaged and laid wafte, in virtue of oaths ftill fubfifting, and promiles frequently and folemnly renewed by the electors, princes, and states of the empire; in fine, by our own example and the facrifices which we have made for the public intereft, whether, we fay, we are not warranted juftly to require the undivided co-operation of all and every of the states of the empire in the defence of a caufe fo juft, and for accelerating that peace which is fo earnestly defired by the Germanic states?

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If a difference of fentiment manifefted in your letter of the end of last month was the cause to us of confiderable anxiety, it was not long before our tranquillity was reftored, by the news that when the dangers of war approached your tates, you did not allow yourfelf to be betrayed by fear, nor by the diestates of a deceitful policy, into any unconftitutional measures; but that, on the contrary, animated by fentiments of honour, and by a courage worthy of a German prince, you oppofed the danger with which you

were threatened with the most offectual means of refiftance, both by fending against the common ene my a great part of the garrison of Stutgard and Louifburg, and by giving inftant orders to put the militia of Wirtemberg immediately in motion, who made a body of 12,000 men, in general, well disciplined.. Accept, upon this fubje&t the affurances of our Imperial fatisfaction and fincere regard. Thefe difpofitions, fo worthy of you, infpire us with the confidence that no confideration will thake your fentiments, and that weighing confcientionfly the duties which, as a ftate of the empire, you have to discharge to us and to the law, you will perfift in your patriotic refolution to continue, till the re-establishment of a general peace for the empire, to support the common caufe with all your force. By these means you will not only render effential fervice to Germany, but to the immortal honour of your house: you will deferve to have your name enrolled in the annals of Germany among thofe princes who have moft contributed to its luftre.

Refolution prefented to the Emperor by the States of Hungary, in Anfier to his Majesty's Propofitions.

THE propofitions addreffed on the part of his Apoftolic majesty to the ftates furnishes them a fresh proof of the confidence which his majefty always repofed in the unfhaken fidelity of his faithful Hungarian nation, in deigning to recollect and confirm the bravery which their ancestors have always difplayed in fupport of the auguft houfe of Auftria: his majefly has given a farther teftimony of his paternal confidence, in reprefent

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