The court of Versailles began now to expoftulate feriously with the emperor upon the fubject. It was observed, in a memorial prefented upon this occafion, that the fincere friendship which attached the king to the emperor, combined with his wishes for the maintenance of the public tranquility, rendered it a duty on him to come to an explanation with respect to the prefent differences. That while, at the Tercitation of both parties, he had employed his good offices to bring about a reconciliation, he had carefully abstained from giving any opinion on the foundation of the em peror's fuft pretenfions; a filence, the observa tion of which he still prescribed to himself; but his concern for the glory of the emperor authorifed him to sobferve, that his fift preter.fions, and the demand for opening the Schelde, could not be confidered under the fame point of view. That the Dutch, in refufing à compliance with that demand, only fupported a right which was fecured to them by tolema treaty, and which they looked upon to be the basis of their profpe rity, and even existence. It seemed to be in ferred from this reatoning, without an abfolute decifion in terms, that the affair on the Schelde by no means warranted the breaking off the nego ciation, any more than the fubfequent proceed ings; and if the claim itself was not absolutely condemned, it was confidered as having nothing to do with the business at Eruffels; from all which a refumption of the negociations was ftrongly recommended, and even preffed.

The memorial then stated, that by pursuing an opposite conduct, it was to be apprehended, that the emperor would excite a general uneafinefs, and that other powers would think themselves obliged to take fuch precaution and measures as circumftances and events might require. That the king himself mutt, in that cafe, be under the neceffity of assembling troops on his frontiers. That he could not by any means be indifferent to the fate of the United Provinces, nor see them at tacked by open force in their rights and poffeffions, more especially at the present time, when he was on the point of concluding an alliance with the republic, the fundamental articles of which had been agreed on before thefe differences commenced. That if, moved by confiderations of fuch great importance, the emperor can be induced to fulpend all marks of hoftility, and liften to the voice of moderation and humanity, the king renews the offer of his med:ation to procure an equitable and fuitable accommodation, which he will the more zealously endeavour, as in to doing he fall obey the dictates of his perfonal fentiments with regard to the emperor, and he will thereby have the fatisfaction to concur in extinguishing, in its fi ft leed, a war, the confequenes of which cannot be calculated.

In the mean time, affairs teemed approaching falt to the last extremity op the borders of Hoiland and the Netherlands. Whether it proceeded from any motions made by the imperial troops, or from the discovery of fome intended surprise, we are not informed; but some time previous to the close of the year, the states thought it neceffary to have recourse to that fad meature of fecu-. rify, of laying part of the country under water.

A dyke was broken near Lillo in the
night, by which means the adjacent Nov. 7th,
mixed territories on both fides, to a 1784.
confiderable extent, were immedi-
ately overflowed. Much damage was unavoida-
bly done; and it was faid, that a number of per-
fons, to the amount of about 50, perifhed through
the fuddenness of the inundation. An attempt
was made to break another dyke, at fome dif-
tance, on the fame night, but was prevented
from taking place through the timely interven-
tion of the Auftrian troops. This measure spread
a general alarm through the Auftrian borders;
Oftend began hastily to throw up defences; all
commerce between the two states were flopped;
and nothing but attack and furprife was thought
of, and prepared for, in the advanced places on
both fides. All the troops in Auftrian Flanders
were in motion; every preparation for imme-
diate war making; engineers and other officers
continually arriving from Vienna at Bruffels; and
the emperor himself expected speedily. Other
flaices were, about the fame time, opened on the
fide of Utrecht, and a confiderable tract of coun-
try overflowed.

The expoftulations and reinenftrances of France were not capable of fubduing the inflexibility of the emperor on the fubject of the Schelde. He was willing to accept the mediation of that power upon all other points of difference, and accordingly to confent to the renewal of the negociations limited to those objects; but the free navigation of that river he confidered as so incontrovertible a right, that it was not to be subjected to any difcuffion whatever. In the mean time he was indefatigable in his preparations for war, and the Netherlands were gradually filling with troops, which arrived by quick marches and in fmall bodies, while the movements of the grand army were of neceffity flow, through the difficul ty of procuring fubfiftence on the way for fuck numbers, along with the numerous artillery, and various other incumbrances by which they were retarded. The extreme feverity of the winter was likewife a great impediment to the advance of the imperial armies, and confequently a circumftance very favourable to Holland. While military affairs were thus lufpended, the empe ror fhewed his unal diligence with respect to other matters. He particularly used his utmost endeavours to prevent the German princes from hiring troops to the Dutch, to prevent their recruiting in the empire, and their obtaining a paffage through the territories of the feveral flates for fuch forces or recruits as they might notwithstanding raife. It was faid that the language upon forme of these occafions was in a higher tone than was perfectly pleafing. It was likewile faid, that he applied to the court of London to know what part Great Britain would take in the war.

That fovereign feemed fo abfolutely and in flexibly fixed in all his determinations upon the fubject of the Schelde, that it carried the appeare ance even of approaching to obftinacy. It was reported, and we only give it as fuch, that a great majority of his generals having expreffed their opinions strongly against the war, on account

of

3

yearning for their permanent poffeffion. During the time that she had held the Netherlands, in the war of 1744, fhe had drawn, by taxes and contributions, from thofe provinces, above two millions fterling a year. It is not then to be wondered at that she should caft a wishful eye at fo fair and tempting an object, which was just within her grafpand which nature, fituation, and at this particulae a train of extraordinary and unexpected concurrent circumstances, feemed to detline to her poffeffion.

The refined policy of statesmen, as well as the schemes of private men, will fometimes produce effects directly contrary to the purposes of the framers. The union between the maritime powers, their profperity, ftrength, and alliance with the court of Vienna, afforded the only lafting and folid fecurities which the house of Auftria could have for retaining her poffeffions in the Netherlands. The rupture be ween Eng. land and Holland, the change of political system in the latter, the loffes fustained by both in the late ruinous war, and the confequent weakness which they produced, all tended in their feveral degrees to weaken thefe fecurities. By the advantage which the emperor took of the diftrefs and danger of Holland, in the deftruction of the barrier, they were totally diffolved and done away; by that act he irremediably cut off every fhadow of fecurity from his own tenure, which must ever after be held at the mercy of France; and he thereby likewife compelled the republic to throw herself entirely, and without referve, into the arms of that power, than which there could be nothing more directly contrary to his real interests. By his ftill pursuing the blow farther against the republic, and aiming it now at her very vitals, he was forcing and precipitating France into the execution of a defign, which he had ever at heart, but which the ties between the two fovereigns might probably have prevented during their refpective lives.For, notwithstanding the great power of the emperor, the vaftaels of his military force, and the undoubted excellency of his armies, they lay at too great a distance from the scene of action, and France lies too much in their way, to enable -him to carry on a war upon any degree of equality against that power in the Low Countries; even fuppofing Holland to be entirely out of the queftion, or to be confidered only as a cypher. His armies muft paf, in separate and far-divid ed columns, fatigued and worn down by the length and difficulties of their march, along 200 miles of the French frontier, and liable at every ftep to be cut off, before they reach the object of their destination; while the provinces in contention, being entirely defenceless, and embraced on every fide by France with the strongest holds in the world, would be over-run and possessed by her troops in a week.

Such was the doubtful and critical ftate of public affairs at the clofe of the year 1784.

fia writes to the Prince of Deux Ponts upon the fubje&t, who peremptorily refuses a compliance, and acquaints the court of Berlin with the propofal. King of Pruffia remenftrates with the court of Peterburgh on the fubject: Empre,s's anfaver. Conduct of the courts of Vienna and Munich. States of Bavaria alarmed. Satis faction given by the elector not deemed vfficiently explicit. Grand diffatisfaction excited in Hungary by the late fchemes of reform. Re bellion of the peasants in the mountainous bar. ders of Tran ylvania and Walachia. Sanage cruelties committed on the mobility. Peasants defeated, reduced, and Horiah, their mock king, publicly executed. Vigilance of the Pruffian monarch, and efficacious, meajure pursued by him, for preventing any innovation in the Ger manic conftitution and fyftem of policy. Treaty of union and confederation, for maintaining the indivifibility of the empire, and the rights of the Germanic body, in general and particular, figned at Berlin on the 23d of July 1785; the principal parties being the King of Pruffio, the elector of Brun, wick Lunenburgh, and the elector of Saxeny. Measures purjued by the court of Vienna to prevent or to counteract the new league prove ineffective. King of Pruffia's expofition of the causes and metives which led to the new German confederation, generally ap proved by the neighbouring powers. The appearances of immediate war in Germany seem to be fuper feded by a more moderate difpofition, and the questions upon the exchange of Bavaria are fuffered to die away without further explanation or difcuffion. The form of war being diverted from the Low Countries, by the great importance of the political queftions which unexpectedly aroje and were agitated in Germany, the republic of Holland thereby gained time to provide the more effectually for the worst that might happen, as well as for endeavouring to ward off the evil entirely by an accommodation, Negociations refumed at Paris, under the aufpices of M. de Vergennes. Dutch deputies received at Vienna by the emperor. Speech and answer. Definitive treaty of peace between the emperor and the republic of Holland concluded under the mediation and guarantee of France. Principal fipulations of the treaty. Treaty of alliance and friendship between France and Holland, finally ratified on the 25th of December 1785: Account of the Spanish expedition against Algiers in the year 1784; and the caufes which prevented its infertion in the bufiness of that year.

IT

T was in the height of the conteft about the Schelde, when the public attention was fully engroffed, and the emperor's mind fuppofed to be entirely occupied by that momentous fubjeft, that the world was astonished by the opening of a new fource of jealousy and difcord in Germany. What rendered this new business entirely unaccountable was, that it not only feemed in its nature, principle, and defign, to run directly counter to all the meatures which that prince had hitherto pursued, and was ftili, with no less apparent eagerness and determination purfing, with respect to Holland and the Schelde,

but

but at once shut out all the avowed and imputed view, from which the conteft was fuppofed to originate.

This new fubject of alarm and contention was no lefs, than the propofed or fuppofed exchange of an ancient and great electorate in the heart of Germany, for the Auftrian Netherlands; thofe very Netherlands upon whole account the emperor feemed at the time on the point of encountering all the hazards of a war, whofe confequences (as had been well obferved, and ftrongly urged by the court of Versailles) could not be calculated.

pacted body of power, as nothing afterwards in the empire, confidering the divifion and general weakness of its ftates, could be fuppofed able in any degree to counterpoife.

On the other hand it would feem, that nothing less than the paffion of filling a throne, for however fhort a time, and the empty gratification of leaving a naine enrolled in the mouldering catalogues of forgotten king, could have induced the elector, at his time of life, and without children, to enter into a measure fo difagreeable to his fubjects, fo dangerous to his co-eftates of the empire, and fo unjust to his apparent heirs and prefumptive fucceffors, as the dominion which he was to obtain bore no adequate proportion in the great objects of extent, number of inhabitants, importance, or fecurity, to the country which he was to give in exchange.

We have formerly given a full account of the immediate measures pursued by the court of Vienna upon the death of the late elector of Bavaria, to feize and annex to the Auftrian dominion a great part of that electorate; together with those loose and undefined claims then laid and No feafon, however, could well be chofen, kept open with respect to the remainder, which that was less favourable to the carrying of fuch feereed evidently calculated, when the proper a measure into execution, than the prelent.feafon arrived, to be extended to and to embrace The attention of Europe was already much roufthe whole of that extenfive dominion.The ed by the northern alliance, and by a fucceffion Pruffian monarch became, upon that grea and of measures or projects which were fuppofed to very critical occafion, the diftinguished and fuc- have arifen from it; fo that the more diftant as cessful guardian and protector of the rights of well as the nearer powers began now to enter. the German princes, and the liberties of the Ger- tain no fmall jealousy of the conduct and views manic body in general. The war which he then of these two great empires, whose union appear. undertook, though not illuminated by thofe daz-ed to be fo strictly cemented, that they were zling actions which captivate the imagination, yet confidered in its motives, with the difintereftedness which marked his whole conduct, thro' the progrefs and conclufion of the conteft, may poffibly ferve to crown him with more unfading laurel, than the moft fplendid acts, and the moft glarious victories of his youth. The peace concluded at Tefchen, on the 13th of May 1779, fo effe&tually annulled the claims and pretenfions of the Houfe of Auftria upon the dominions of Bavaria, that it might be supposed to have cut off the poffibility of any future difcuffion or conteft upon that subject.

But though the neceffity of apparently relinquifhing the defign was then predominant, yet the object prefented fo irrefift ble a temptation, that the defire of its acquifition could not be foregone. And as the fame great obftacles ftill remained to the obtaining of it by force, other means were to be tried, and measures of another nature pursued.

Ambition and vanity seldom grow old, and the lure of a crown was fuppofed to have been fuccessfully held out to the elector palatine, in order to induce him to an exchange of the Dut chy of Bavaria, including all thofe appendages which were left and confirmed to it by the treaty of Tefchen, for the Auftrian Netherlands, which were to be constituted a kingdom, under the revived denomination of Auftrafia. Nothing could certainly have been more advantageous to the Houle of Auftria, or more confonant to its views of fupreme greatness, than this exchange.For, exclufive of the precarious tenure by which the Low Countries were held, and which was now pertraps more fenfibly felt than at any for mer time, the acceffion of fo large and confiderably a country as Bavaria, rendered still more important by its peculiar fituation, befides rounding and completing the Auftrian dominions, would have confolidated fuch a great and come

fcarcely to be confidered in any other point of view than that of acting under the fame com. mon influence of defign, and under the impulse of the fame common intereft in every thing. In fuch a difpofition and state of circumstances, it was feareely reasonable to expect, that an inno vation in the conftitution of the Germanic body, as well as in the general fyftem of European poIcy, could by any means pafs unquestioned; or indeed that the attempt would not be attended with much difficulty and danger.

The negociation upon this intended barter was conducted with fuch extreme clofenefs and fecrecy, that no fufpicion of the design was entertained, even by thofe who were the most immediately interested in, and would be the moit deeply affected by the measure, until the treaty was fuppofed to be already far advanced, if not abfolutely concluded. This business was likewife attended with the peculiar circumftance of its existence having been in the first instance abfolutely denied, and never after fully acknowledged, by the contrading parties themfelves.A letter from the empress of Ruffia to the duke of Deuxponts, tending to induce him to an acquiefcence in, if not a confirmation of, the propofed fcheme of exchange or barter, was the first intelligence which that prince, the prefumptive heir and succeffor to the elector palatine in all his eftates, dominions, and titles, received, that any fuch defign wa in agitation. letter was probably received about the close of the year 1784, as the king of Pruffia was informed of the whole affair by the duke, who claimed his interference and protection as guarantee of the treaty of T.fchen, early in the fol lowing month of January.

This