diet in the following declaration, which is conformable to the constitution of the empire, to the paternal sentiments of its chief, and which displays, at the same time, the cha racteristics of the most perfect frankness.

His imperial majesty may admit, that the negotiation which he has been charged to prepare, relates to the French government, although there is nothing said of it in the conclusum, and though many votes which have been counted with the majority appear to have a different meaning on the subject of this com

mencement.

His imperial majesty asserts,therefore, applying to the name of the things the proper and literal meaning, and the accustomed terms of the public law and of negotiations, that the preparation to be made with the French government, taken in its widest extent, does not contain powers for negotiating, still less for concluding and signing.

His imperial majesty was confirmed in this opinion by the consideration that the plenipotentiaries of the states of the diet, to whom the terms of public law and of diplomacy are so familiar, would certainly have made use of the terms usual in affairs of this kind, if the majority of the votes of the states of the empire wished to charge him with more than the preparation.

These considerations suggest the following questions:

Will the French government be disposed to take part in this preparation, when the powers granted for this purpose are so limited? and, if this participation is not declined immediately on the first proposition, will it consent to enter into the material points of such a negotiation,

so far as that the result of it may be regarded as a solid basis for a new deliberation of the diet, which may serve to direct the formation of the conclusum which shall be submitted to his imperial majesty?

The example of the congress for peace, held some years since at Rastadt, contradicts the supposition, the government at that time having declined to treat till the deputation of the empire should have received unlimited powers; and what has recently occurred, should, when it is compared with the contents of the conclusum, give such indications of the intentions of the French government, if not amounting to certainty, at least highly probable, that there is no ground to expect, much less to promise, a satisfactory result, conformable to the wishes expressed in the said conclusum. these reasons, to say nothing of others, which arise from the nature of a commission so limited, and from the events which have taken place, that his imperial majesty founds the conviction of which he here declares with the fullest frankness, "That the end which the general diet of the empire proposes, in entreating his imperial majesty to take charge of the preparatory arrangements, will not be attained."

It is for

In many of the votes it has been foreseen, that his imperial majesty might have motives sufficiently important to render him scrupulous of accepting such a commission. Actuated solely by the alleged reasons, and to avoid exposing the dignity of the supreme chief to be compromised by an attempt which may be without success, his imperial majesty cannot consent to accept the commission of the general diet, and to give his approbation in the charac

ter

ter of supreme chief, to this part of the conclusum. His imperial majesty, accustomed, and ever anxious not to depart from the line marked by the constitution, gives his consent to the cooperation of the empire in the usual form of deliberation of the diet; inasmuch as the majority of the states of the empire having pronounced their opinions on the different modes of the cooperation of the empire, to wit, in the first place, plenipotentiaries, to give it to his majesty; secondly, an extraordinary deputation of the empire; thirdly, by deliberation in general diet, even laying aside the first modes proposed by many states of the empire (and among them his imperial majesty, also, in the character of a state of the empire) in favour of the cooperation of the diet assembled under its supreme chief: it is therefore no longer within the powers of the supreme chief of the empire, to approve of the first modes of cooperation, which might yet be proper to accelerate the work of peace, which is still to be brought to a termination. The principal objects which are yet to be regulated by a particular convention to terminate the work of peace, are besides known by the treaty of peace of Luneville, reciprocally ratified; and after the knowledge that his imperial majesty has of the negotiations for peace at Luneville, nothing is wanting to examine and judge of these objects but some historical information concerning public law, and some statistical researches equally accessible to all persons, and which may be rectified in the most certain manner by all who have a particular interest in the discussion.

In this state of things, when the diet of the empire has given the pre

ference to the cooperation of the states in diet, by the empire, assembled under its chief, the relations which subsist between the states of the empire and its chief, and the manner of conducting the affairs of the empire, require, (and it will be one of the first operations of the diet of the empire,) that a complete conclusum on the objects to be regulated, in order to perfect the peace by a particular convention, should, as soon as the necessary discussion of the objects will permit, be laid before the emperor to be ratified. His majesty awaits with paternal solicitude the presentation of this conclusum, which will satisfy his expectation, if the general diet, in forming it, will conduct itself according to the general rules which it has already established with much wisdom in the last conclusum.

His imperial majesty is moreover, &c.-(Then comes the protocol usual at the end of the imperial decrees.)

Signed at Vienna, and sanctioned by the secret seal of his imperial majesty, 26th June, 1801. (Signed) The prince of Colloredo, Mansfield.

Official Note from M. Von Dohm to the Chapter of the Bishopric of Munster.

THE undersigned minister pleni

potentiary of his majesty the king of Prussia, at the electoral court of Cologne, privy counsellor, and ambassador to the circles of the lower Rhine and of Westphalia, is charged by his most gracious master to make the following declaration,

in his majesty's name, to the reverend chapter of the bishopric of Munster:

By the premature death of his highness the elector of Cologne, sincerely lamented by his majesty, the bishopric of Munster has become vacant, at the very moment when the empire, assembled under its supreme chief, is on the point of entering into considerations and resolutions, in what manner and to what extent the 7th article of the treaty of peace at Luneville is to be carried into execution. According to this article, and the result of the negotiations of the congress at Rastadt, on which it is founded, it is already settled, that those secular states which have suffered by ceding the left banks of the Rhine, shall receive indemnifications, which are to be effected by secularizations. The confiscation of our higher and lower ecclesiastical foundations is therefore unavoidaable; a change which, probably, may be the fate of every individual of them, and only the termination of the business of the peace of the empire will decide which of the ecclesiastical countries will retain their present constitution, and which will receive another. From this situation of affairs it naturally follows, that on ecclesiastical foundations becoming vacant during this state of uncertainty, the elections must provisorily be suspended, lest they might impede the indemnifications stipulated in the treaty of peace, and prevent the final tranquillization of the distracted German empire. A suspension, grounded on such momentous reasons, cannot prejudice the election, if it should afterwards take place, and will evidently promote the welfare of the country, as the election of a regent, probably for a short pe

riod only, could not produce any alteration in the decision of a higher authority, and would cause an unnecessary burden to the country. HisPrussianmajesty has already communicated to the supreme chief of the empire hissentiments on this business,agreeably to the harmonysubsisting between them, and rests firmly assured, from some previous intimations of his imperial majesty, and from his wisdom and his care for the welfare of the empire in general, that he will consider this object in the same point of view, which his majesty the king likewise expects from his high coestates, to whom he has also declared himself on that subject, with patriotic frankness, at the diet. His majesty entertains no doubt that the same considerations will not have escaped the enlightened wisdom of the reverend chapter; and from this conviction he declares, by means of the undersigned, his most gracious expectation and desire that the election of a new regent of the bishopric of Munster may be suspended for the present till its future fate shall have been decided agreeably to the treaty of peace. His majesty's sole object in so doing is, to remove all obstacles to a final and general tranquillization of Germany, and to promote the real good of a country for which he is sincerely interested, from neighbourly and other respects, and to which he will farther grant that protection by which it has so happily escaped all the calamities of the late destructive war. His majesty has likewise particularly charged the undersigned to assure the reverend chapter, and all individual members thereof, of his most gracious sentiments under all circumstances. But in return, his majesty expects with confidence,that

published in the Berlin Gazette, 26th September, 1801.

A

FTER the decease of his royal highness the elector of Cologne and bishop of Munster, his majesty the king, in consequence of the principles adopted in the treaty of peace of Luneville, signified to the diet of Ratisbon, and likewise to the two chapters of the electorate and bishopric, that, during the present negotiations, no new elections ought to take place to any dignities of the empire that might become vacant. But as the chapter of Munster has, notwithstanding, proceeded to the election of a new bishop, his majesty has judged it proper to transmit the following protest directly to the assembled states of the empire, and to the two chapters, Munster and Ahrensberg:

"His majesty the king of Prussia has explicitly declared, both to the general assembly of the empire, and in other places, that he considered it as a rational, necessary, and undeniable consequence of the principle of secularization, established by the treaty of Luneville, that during the negotiations relative to the application and carrying into effect of this principle, no new election should take place to any of the superior or inferior dignities of the empire, in case of the decease of the present possessors. Many of the most considerable of the states of the empire, and particularly the powers with which the empire is concluding peace, have publicly approved this consequence. The justice of this measure was equally evident with the important influence which it must have on the regulation of the indemnities; and the more necessary was it to preserve the latter from all

new difficulties and perplexities, in order, happily, to restore peace to Germany, and fulfil the wish of every true patriot in the empire. It was, therefore, to have been expected, with confidence, that the two chapters of the electorate of Cologne and bishopric of Munster, lately vacated by a much lamented death, would, with a view to the general good, have deferred proceeding to any new election; as they must have foreseen, that by such election they could in no manner avert their impending fate, but only contribute to clog with difficulties the final settlement of the peace of the empire. His majesty, with great regret, sees that these two chapters have, notwithstanding, proceeded to a new election, and finds himself compelled to renew the declaration which, on the 31st of last month, he made to the diet of the empire in the electoral college, and which he signified to the members of the said two chapters, by his privy directorial counsellor and minister plenipotentiary, Von Dohm, in which he explicitly protests against any new election of an archbishop of Cologne, and bishop of Munster; and declares that he will consider such election as void, and will not acknowledge, or in any manner take cognizance of any pretended new archbishop and bishop, until the affair of the secularizations shall be finally settled."