deavours to give them every facility for this purpose. You will be very particular in informing me of the numbers and situation of any Austrian corps in the neighbourhood of Switzerland, and of the probability of their advancing in any event into the Swiss territory.

As it is of great importance that his majesty's government should be regularly informed of the events which may be passing in Switzerland, and of the dispositions that may prevail there, you will endeavour to ascertain the most safe and expeditious mode of conveying your letters which will avoid their passing through any part of the French republic.

As it is possible that previous to your arrival in Switzerland the present state of affairs may have undergone a decided alteration, either in consequence of the submission of the Swiss cantons, or of any compromise having taken place as to their internal concerns, it will be proper that, in that case, you should take up your residence in such a situation as you may think most convenient in the neighbourhood of Switzerland, of which you will give me the earliest intelligence, and there wait his majesty's further orders. I am,

With great truth and regard,
Sir,

Your most obedient

humble servant, Hawkesbury.

(Signed) To Francis Moore, esq.

Proclamation of the Council of War of the Swiss League to their Bro

protects us," gave you force to brave all the dangers, and to despise the fatigues of war. You quitted with songs your mountains and your valleys, to enter into the field and defend the cause of liberty and your country. The Almighty blessed your arms, and heard the just wishes of a nation known only by its rectitude, and which had armed for its liberty and independence. enemies, our oppressors, the soidisant Helvetic government, with its feeble party, have been chased almost to the frontiers of the confederate cantons.

Our

But brothers and friends, we have received a notification, that if we did not by our conduct give proofs of an entire confidence in the first consul of the powerful nation of France, who has caused a declaration to be made by his envoy, general Rapp, to our fathers assembled at Schwitz, that he wishes to interpose as mediator in the war which we are carrying on against the odious Helvetic government, we should be compelled to it by the victorious arms of the French warriors. Brothers, friends, confederates, who among us could conceive the thought of menacing ourselves with the numerous and experienced armies of France? No, friends, no; we wish to await X x 3 peace

peaceably the determination of the first consul; and with that order, that moderation, and that discipline, which have hitherto guided your steps, you will receive, we are convinced, the orders of your superiors, of your general; and even, if it should be necessary, you will return to your residences, in or der that our country may not be exhausted by the entrance of foreign troops; that we may not be deprived of the scanty harvest of this year, which we hoped to consume with our children; and that we may not be plunged into indigence and misery. It is only the Helvetic government, directed by its passions and its private interest, that could call in the aid of foreign troops; we, who took up arms only for our country and tranquillity, have no need of troops to attain our object. But, relying on our conduct, we dare to hope, that the first consul of France, who has guarantied our independence, and who has been deceived by false reports, will, as soon as he shall have been informed of the true state of things, take measures, which will secure our honour, and the prosperity and independence of our country. May the Almighty deign to grant this, who has caused us to make an important step towards our future happiness, and crowned our arms with his bene diction.

Dispatch from Mr. Moore to Lord

Hawkesbury.
Constance, Oct. 31, 1802.

My lord,

Have the honour to inform your lordship, that I arrived here on the 27th instant, and that, having

received this evening authentic in formation of the submission of the diet of Switzerland, assembled at Schwitz, to the French arms, I lose no time in dispatching the messenger, Shaw, with this intelligence; from which your lordship will perceive that it only remains for me to obey that part of my in structions by which I am directed, under such circumstances, to take up my residence in the neighbourhood of Switzerland, and there to await his majesty's further orders. I have the honour to be, &c. (Signed) Frances Moore, The right hon. lord Hawkesbury, &c. &c.

Note addressed, on the 26th of Oc tober, by the Diet of Schwitz to General Ney.

HE president of the confede

TH

rated cantons having been required, on the part of general Ney, by his adjutant, M. Bechet, to declare whether the diet. would accept the proclamation of the first consul of the French republic, the diet have the honour to observe to the general, that already, on the 15th of this month, they had taken the resolution of delivering up their powers into the hands of their constituents as soon as the French troops should enter Switzerland, having never entertained the design of opposing them by force of arms. Now that the diet is positively informed that the cities of Balse and Berne are occupied by French troops, it no longer delays to dissolve itself; at the same time, they seize this oppor tunity of declaring to the general, that conformably to the instructions they have received from their constituents

stituents, which they consider themselves obliged to conform to, they cannot regard the Helvetic govern ment as established, nor alienate the saered right which their nation possesses, of forming a constitution for itself, a right which they inherited from their ancestors, and which was confirmed to them by the treaty of Luneville; but, on the contrary, are firmly convinced that the Swiss will never recover their tranquillity and their happiness, but in the exercise of that right.

They pray that the general will place before the eyes of the first consul, this just demand, which is not only the expression of the sentiments of the diet, but of all Swiss who wish well to their country.

Aloys Reding.

Proclamation to the Helvetic People, from the Government of Helvetia,

IN

Citizens of Helvetia,

N announcing to you, four months ago, that the French troops were about to quit our soil, the council of execution at the same time declared to you, that a constant obedience to the laws, a spirit of confidence and peace, the union of all wishes for the maintenance of the established order of things, could alone protect your independence; while the contrary dispositions, disobedience, tu mult and discussions, would infallibly bring back a foreign army. You have not attended to our words, citizens of Helvetia! ambitious men have induced you to embrace the cause of their interests, and their passions; and while one party amongst you roused itself at their calling to overturn the constitutional and national government, the other

party became, by its silence, an accomplice in the civil war. What is the result? A few weeks have scarcely passed, when the French troops, ten times more numerous than they were last spring before their departure, penetrate into your cantons; they take from you the arms which you have turned against your government, and thus declare to all Europe that you are at once incapable of remaining at peace, and unworthy to protect yourselves. Tell us then, citizens of Helvetia, to whom you owe the return of these troops? Is it to the senate and to the council of execution, whose fault was, on the contrary, to consent too soon to their departure, and whose whole study latterly tended to prevent, by a frank and loyal acceptance of the mediation of the chief consul, the evils which we had to fear from his indignation? or is it to the insurrectional anthorities, to the assembly which dignified itself with the name of the confederate diet of Schwitz? to that assembly which, rejecting the conditions of the proposed mediation, promising to dissolve itself, and notwithstanding continuing its intrigues, announcing peace, and keeping the soldiers under arms, wishing that a foreign force might enter the country, that they might have it in their power to say, "we yielded only to force?" Miserable vanity! which gratifies itself at the expense of a whole nation; wretched ebullition of pride! calculated to precipitate the country into complete ruin, and which it would have done, if the generosity of the chief consul had not equalled his power; notwithstanding all the efforts of his enemies, and of yours, he had not still persisted to wish your welfare.

X X4

How

However, citizens of Helvetia! the council of execution is informed of it; the members of that seditious assembly, and the committees which it had established in the cantons, not content with having consecrated, in formal protestations, their foolish pretensions, still seek to mislead the people respecting their real situation, to spread false hopes of foreign succour, to frighten them by menaces, and to belie the intentions in which the Helvetic government addressed itself to the chief consul, to invite him to make himself the supreme arbiter of our differences. But we will answer these men, that they likewise have invoked that mediation. The letters of the chiefs of the little cantons to the chief consul, and to the ministers of France; the plans of constitution on which they openly called for their good offices; the sending deputies to Paris, are so many proofs of the desire which they had of interesting the French government in their cause. It was only when the first consul had previously demanded and exacted the cessation of a war which armed citizens against citizens, and brothers against brothers, that they rejected the mediation solicited by themselves, and which they then artfully turned for the purpose of increasing the number of their partizans. We will tell them again, that if we have called for the mediation of the first consul, it is because, of all the powers called by their position to take an interest in the destinies of Helvetia, France is the only one which has recognized our independence, consecrated, by its means, in a solemn treaty: the only one which can exercise over us an influence of protection and support. The history of Switzerland

for five centuries, our revolution, and the years which have succeeded it, sufficiently prove how much it is our interest to follow the political system of France. It is this truth which, engraved on the hearts of our ancestors, protected the cradle of the confederation; and we, citizens of the Helvetic republic, have a thousand times more reason still to be convinced of it. Lastly, we will say no longer to these men, for they will not understand us, but to the nation itself, that the equality of rights amongst the cantons, the abolition of hereditary privileges, the liberty of the citizens, being a deposit placed in our hands to be preserved at any price, it was not permitted to us to waver respecting calling for the mediation of the only government which can preserve to us these principles. Thus, our conduct in this respect has been only the necessary consequence of the national will, expressed in favour of these same principles at the time of the acceptance of the constitution. Such is the answer which the council of execution owes to that part of the accusations of its enemies. With regard to the other accusations by which it is attempted to raise against them a factious hate, they despise them, well knowing that they cannot cite a single family of which it has caused the ruin, or a single person in whom the rights of a citizen have been violated. It is, on the contrary, for having been too indulgent, too confident in the justice of its fellow-citizens, too little severe, in short, that it has experienced misfortunes. The insurrectional authorities ordered in four weeks ten times more arrests, odious inquests, and measures of rigour of every kind, than it had ordered