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bon on the twenty-fourth of August, 1804, by the Imperial Envoys, accompanied by the Imperial Patent already published, containing the grand, ordinary, and abridged Titles of his Majesty the Emperor.

The envoys for the electorate of Bohemia, and the archduchy of Austria, have received from their sovereign, the annexed printed prag matic ordinance, by which his imperial and royal majesty, as sovereign of the Austrian monarchy, after the example of France, and for the reasons therein contained, has resolved to assume the hereditary im. perial title. The undersigned envoys have not delayed to communicate this ordinance to the general diet of the empire, and as his majesty has already addressed letters of notification to his several co-estates, it is not to be doubted that his communication will be received with the most friendly regard. As this new hereditary dignity, according to the express contents of the pragmatic ordinance, will produce no alteration whatever in the relation between the German hereditary states and the Roman empire; the undersigned envoys for the electorate of Bohemia, and archduchy of Austria, have it particularly in charge, explicitly to declare that no change will be hereby produced in any other political relations and connexions, but that his majesty will, with redoubled attention, continue to preserve unimpaired the friendly and benevolent sentiments which he has constantly most assiduously cherished towards all his co-estates of the empire. Frederic Count de Stadion. Egid. Joseph Char. de Fahneuberg.

Note on the Part of the King of Sweden communicated to the Diet; dated August 26th, 1804.

In consequence of the note given in to the diet of the empire, on the 25th instant, by the envoys for the electorate of Bohemia and archduchy of Austria, relative to the Austrian imperial title, the undersigned envoy from his Swedish majesty finds himself obliged to declare, that his majesty the king of Sweden participates with the most sincere satisfaction in every thing which can tend to promote the interest or gratifications of his imperial house; yet his Swedish majesty, both in quality of guarantee of the constitution of the empire, and in that of a state of the empire, cannot but consider the object of this notice as so inse parably connected with the composition of the German empire, that it is not to be laid before the diet merely as a notification, but as a subject for deliberation; in the discussion of which all the members of the diet may express their opinions as authorised by the constitution.

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and even the subject of this article are all of so extraordinary a nature, that his majesty has been yet hardly able to comprehend the object of such an act of political extravagance. If it has been done in the hope of misleading the public as to the conduct of his majesty, as it appears from the uncommon pains that are taken to draw a line of separation between his majesty and his subjects, let the world understand, that any instigation to that effect never could have been less likely to succeed than at this moment, or than it always will, with a people whose interests are bound up with those of a sovereign, who has never separated his prosperity from theirs, and who never feels so happy as when he contributes to the glory and to the happiness of his subjects. As his majesty cannot, consistent with his own dignity, or the honour of his crown, permit any official intercourse, after such an insult, he has ordered me, sir, to communicate to you, that from this day all diplomatic intercourse of every kind, both private and public, is immediately to cease between the French legation at Stockholm and his majesty's government. As a sentence in the article above-mentioned seems to imply that the French government is disposed to admit that the continuance of the commercial intercourse between Sweden and France would be attended with some advantages, his majesty, on his part, is willing to permit the same, from those sentiments of esteem which he has always entertained for the French people; sentiments which he has inherited from his ancestors, and which owe their origin to far happier times.

(Signed) T. D. Ehrenheim.

Order issued by the Court Chancellor at Stockholm on the 7th of September, 1804. Signed by C. B. Zibet and A. D. Hummel.

His majesty the king has been pleased to inform me, by his gracious letter of the 26th of August, that for a long time the prevalent tone of most French journals and daily papers has been marked by a want of due respect for kings and princes, and for every lawful government; that this insolence, so worthy of chastisement, has continued to increase, and the consequences thereof have lately appeared in one of the newspapers most generally known, which has dared to insert expressions attacking the king's exalted person, and consequently the dignity of the empire; and as this cannot be passed over without animadversion, his majesty has been pleased to order :-I. That from the hour when this notification is made public, the importation into the Swedish empire, and the provinces belonging thereto, of French journals, weekly magazines, and daily papers, is strictly prohibited ; and that no exception can be granted or demanded.-II. That all importation of books and writings which may be printed in France in future, is likewise prohibited; those, however, which have already appeared, are not included, provided their contents be not contrary to the regulation of the ordinances. still in force; but with respect to French books, which may be published in future, exceptions may be admitted, if an humble request be made for the purpose through the office of the king's court of chancery. In consequence whereof, I am required to publish this gra

cious command and ordinance of his majesty the king, that all people may conform themselves thereto.

Order issued by the Court of Madrid, dated 27th November, 1804.

The conduct which the English have observed since the event of the 5th of October is almost insufferable. They attack our ships of war in whatsoever situation they may appear, and detain our commercial vessels, obliging them afterwards to return to the ports from whence they came, so that the object of their voyage is wholly frustrated. These hostile proceedings have constrained his majesty to abandon the pacific sentiments which he has considered heretofore most conducive to the happiness of his beloved subjects; and he is therefore driven to the necessity of procuring satisfaction for these insults, by making reprisals on English property (as is done with respect to Spanish property in England), His majesty, however, requires that the seizures consequent on this arrangement should be proceeded in with such method and regularity, that the effects may be preserved entire, and uninjured, until the further pleasure of his majesty be made known respecting them. The command for this purpose, which this paper conveys, is to be immediately obeyed, under your direction, and you will consider the steps proper to be taken respecting such commercial transactions as are yet in progress, in which such English effects may be concerned.

against England, dated Madrid, Dec. 12, 1804.

The peace which Europe beheld with so much delight, re-established at Amiens, has, unfortunately for the welfare of nations, proved but of short duration. The rejoicings with which this happy event was celebrated upon all sides, were scarcely concluded, when the public satis faction began to be troubled, and the advantage of the peace to disappear. The cabinets of London and Paris held Europe suspended, and agitated between its terrors and its hopes, seeing the event of the negociations every day become more uncertain, until the moment that discord arrived at such an height, as to kindle between them the fire of a war, which must naturally extend itself to other powers; since it was very difficult for Spain and Holland, who had treated jointly with France at Amiens, and whose interests and political relations are so reciprocally connected, to avoid finally taking part in the grievances and offences offered to their ally. In these circumstances, his majesty, supported by the most solid principles of a wise policy, preferred pecuniary subsidies to the contingent of troops and ships with which he was bound to assist France, in virtue of the treaty of alliances in 1796: and as well by means of his minister in London, as of the English agents at Madrid, he gave the British government to understand, in the most positive manner, his decided and firm resolution to remain neutral during the war; making do doubt that he should quickly have the satisfaction of seeing that these ingenuous assurances

Declaration of War made by Spain were well received by the court of

Londan.

London. Nevertheless, that cabinet, which must have resolved in silence before-hand, for its own particular ends, upon the renovation of the war with Spain, and which it was always able to declare, not with the forms and solemnities prescribed by the law of nations, but by means of positive aggressions, which should turn to its own profit, sought the most frivolous pretexts to bring into doubt the conduct of Spain, which was truly neutral, and to give demonstrations at the same time, to the desires of his Britannic majesty, to preserve the peace, all with the intention of gaining time, cajoling the Spanish government, and holding in uncertainty the opinion of the English nation upon its own premeditated and unjust designs, which could in no manner be approved by that nation. Thus it is, that in London it appeared artfully to accept various reclamations from Spanish individuals, which were addressed to it; while its agents in Madrid magnified the pacific intentions of their own sovereign: but they never shewed themselves satisfied with the frankness and friendship with which all their notes were answered, rather anxious for proclaiming and magnifying armaments which had no existence, and pretending, contrary to the most positive protests on the part of Spain, that the pecuniary succours given to France were not merely an equivalent for the troops and ships which were stipulated in the treaty of 1796, but an indefinite and immense stock, which did not permit them to consider Spain in any other light than as a principal party in the war. Moreover, as there was not time entirely to banish the illusion under which they laboured, they exacted,

as the precise conditions upon which they would consider Spain as neutral, the cessation of every armament in her ports, and a prohibition of the sale of prizes brought into them. And, notwithstanding that both of these conditions, although urged in a tone superlatively haughty and unusual in political transactions, were immediately complied with, and religiously observed, they persisted, nevertheless, to manifest their want of confidence, and they quitted Madrid with eager. ness, immediately after receiving dispatches from their court, of which they did not communicate a particle of the contents. The context which results from all this between the conduct of the cabinets of London and Madrid, must be suffi cient to shew clearly to all Europe, the bad faith and the secret and perverse aims of the English ministry; even if they had not manifested them by the abominable crime of the surprise, battle, and capture of the four Spanish frigates, which, navigating in the full security which peace inspires, were fraudulently attacked in consequence of orders from the English government, signed in the very moment in which it was faithlessly exacting conditions for the prolongation of the peace, in which every possible security was given to it, and in which its own vessels were provided with provisi ons and refreshments in the ports of Spain. Those very vessels, which were enjoying the most perfect hospitality, and were experiencing the fidelity with which Spain was proving to England the good faith of her engagements, and how firm her resolutions were to maintain her neutrality-those very ships carried, concealed in the bosoms of their commanders,

commanders, the unjust orders of just and violent, to exact securities of another? Although England should find, at last, any claim to exact from Spain, in what manner could she justify it after a similar atrocity? What satisfaction could she be able to give for the lamentable destruction of the frigate Mercedes, with all its cargo, its equipage, and the great number of distinguished passengers who have perished, the innocent victims of a policy so detestable? Spain could not comply, with what she owes to herself, nor think herself able to maintain her well known honour and dignity amongst the greatest powers of Europe, were she any longer to shew herself insensible to such manifest outrages, and did not take care to revenge them with the nobleness and energy which belong to her character.-Animated with these sentiments, the magnanimous breast of the king, after having exhausted (in order to preserve the peace), all the resources compatible with the dignity of his crown, finds himself in the hard predicament of making war upon the king of Eng. land, upon his subjects and people, omitting the formalities of style by a solemn declaration and publica tion, owing to the English cabinet's having begun and continued to make the war without declaring it.—Iu consequence, after having given or. ders for an embargo, by way of reprisal, upon all English property in his dominions, and that the most convenient instructions, both for his own defence, and the offence of the enemy, should be circulated to his viceroys, captains general, and great officers of the marine, his majesty has commanded his minister in London to retire, with all the Spanish legation; and his majesty does not

the English cabinet for assaulting Spanish property on the seas-iniquitous orders, and profusely circulated, since all its vessels of war on the seas of America and Europe, were already detaining and carrying into its harbours as many Spanish vessels as they met with, without respecting even the cargoes of grain which were coming from all parts to succour a faithful nation, in a year of the greatest calamity. Barbarous orders, since they deserve no other name, to sink every Spanish ship under an hundred tons; to burn those which they found on shore on the coast; and to make prize of, and carry to Malta, those only which exceeded an hundred tons. The master of a laud, of Valentia, of fifty-four tons, has made this declaration, that he effected his escape in his launch upon the 16th of November, on the coast of Catalonia, when his vessel was sunk by an English vessel, whose captain took from him his papers and his flag; and informed him, that he had received these express instructions from his court. In spite of such atrocious actions, which proved to perfect evidence the covetous and hostile views which the English cabinet had meditated, it was still able to carry on further its perfidious system of blinding the public opinion, alleging, for this purpose, that the Spanish frigates had not been carried into the English ports in quality of prizes, but as being detained until Spain should give the desired securities, that she would observe the strictest neutrality. And what greater securities could or ought Spain to give? What civilized nation, until this hour, has made use of means so un.

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