English, and the manly conduct of," men; and, farther, obliged to "work like freemen; that, by the "produce of their labour, they "might be enabled to furnish their "proportion for the fupport of gor "vernment." the French government of Guadaloupe, who told the refractory ne"That, being free, they were not to be flogged for rebellious "practices, but hot like gentle groes, CHAP. V. Effects of the Death of the Emperor Jofeph, and of the Acceffion of Leopold to the AuBrian and Imperial Thrones. Miftaken Notions of the Meeting at Pilnitz. The real Obiect of that Meeting. Project of Leopold for fettling and preferving the Peace of Europe. The Caufe of the King and Royalifts of France espoused by Catherine II. of Ruffia, by the King of Pruffia, and the young Emperor Francis. The Combined Armies of Auftria, commanded by the Duke of Brunfwick. The Duke not at perfect Liberty to pursue his own Plans. The Manifefto published in the Duke's Name. By whom compofed, [AVING confidered the inter and the influence of thefe upon her own foreign dependencies, we come now to view them as affecting, or affected by, the councils of independent nations. The deceafe of the Emperor Jofeph, and the fucceffion of his brother Leopold, as is ilustrated in former volumes of this work, to the Hungarian and Bohemian thrones, had already given a new afpect to the affairs of Europe, Leopold had governed Tufcany for near five-and-twenty years, with great wifdom and high reputation. He had directed his exertions principally to the good government of his people, to the improvement of their general condition, to the eftablishment of a perfect police, and to every beneficent object of a pacific reign. While at Florence, and only adiftant fpectator of the great fcenes paffing in the empire, he had attentively studied the affairs of Europe. Nor did he fail to perceive or draw inftruction from the errors of his elder brother. Upon his own eleva ation to the imperial throne, he timents of his former life. Free from the inconfiderate fpirit of reform and innovation, he knew how to temporize and to attain his object, by profound policy, by patience, and by conciliation. In the courfe of a very fhort reign, scarcely comprizing two years, he remedied many of the calamities occafioned by the precipitation of his brother. He had recovered the low countries, which had revolted; concluded an honourable peace with the Porte, and finally, after difarming the jealoufy of Ruffia, fecured the friendflip of Great Britain. The objects of the convention of Reichenbach, entered into between Leopold and Frederic William, in the autumn of 1790, were fulfilled by the peace of Siftov., concluded in the following year with the Turks. The mifunderftanding between the courts of London and Petersburgh, which gave rife to the armament of 1791, was completely terminated. On the 31ft of January 1792, the King of G 3 Great Great Britain, in his fpeech to parliament, opened the history of the laft, and the profpects of the year begun; which profpects were wholly pacific. France, in whofe interior the storm had been for fome time fermenting, which burft forth in the explosions already defcribed, had fuffered a temporary eclipfe. A celebrated orator in the English Houfe of Commons, faid, "That he looked in vain for that once powerful country, on the map of Europe, and found only a blank. The monarchy was fallen, the fovereign was powerlefs, the cabinet diftracted, and the finances without any order or folid fupport." Projects had been formed for reftoring the old government by foreign force; and The French territories were to pay the expences of the restoration. Thefe plans were fuppofed to have originated at the memorable interview at Pilnitz; and the court of London, as well as the great powers on the continent, has been publicly charged with a knowledge of them, if not a participation. On this fubject the public have been hitherto mitinformed. It was the intereft of all parties that the truth fhould remain under a veil, but of none that it should be published. Eu rope has been led to believe, that the project of Leopold, which has been mifreprefented under the defignations of the Coalition, and the Confpiracy of Pilnitz, was hoftile to the interefts of national liberty, and aimed at nothing fhort of the efta blifhment of defpotifm in France, after difmembering it of its ancient acquifitions. This opinion was confirmed by the invafion of the Duke of Brunfwick, at the head of the armies of Auftria and Pruffia, and accompanied by the emigrated princes and nobles of France. The interview at Pilnitz was indeed attended by the Compte D'Artois, Mr. de Calonne, aud the Marquis de Bouille; and a species of engagement was entered into, and afterwards published, by which the Emperor and the King of Pruffia engaged, in certain eventual cafes *, to fupport the re-establishment of order in France. This engagement, which, after its publication, was formally difavowed by the Emperor, as an act implying any hoftility to France, gave full fcope to the public opinion. The rulers of the French revolution anticipated and confirmed the belief, that a real confpiracy had been formed against them at Pilnitz. The death of the Emperor, which took place a few months afterwards, and which many connected with his love of peace, left the impofition to its courfe. Time has difcovered the truth on this important fubject. The memoirs of the Marquis of Bouille have, to a certain extent, done juftice to the memory of Leopold, in refcuing it from imputations with which it has been loaded; and the minifters of Great Britain have formally difavowed in parliament any knowledge or participa For a particular account of the views of the Emperor Leopold, at this junc ture, and alfo thofe of the other great courts of Europe, we muft refer our readers to our volume for 1791, nearly ready for publication; in which will be found the fubftance of the circular letter, written by Leopold to all the states of Europe, with a view of roufing their attention to their general intereft, There is little doubt but that he died by poifon.. tion in the fuppofed league of Pil nitz. grofs A mifreprefentation of fo a nature is beft done away, by leaving it to its own expofition. The dicovery of public impofture is fucceeded by indignationt. But there are great political reafons for unfolding the real project of the Emperor Leopok, when he met the King of Pruffia and the Elector of Saxony at Pilnitz. The wifh of that wife and pacific prince, was, to oppofe an effectual fecurity against the hurricane which menaced Europe: a hurricane, like thofe in the phyfical world, ready to be formed by equal forces rufhing against each other from oppofite directions: the ambition of conqueft from the north, and from the fouth, the rage of the rights of men. Thefe, he faid, were about to meet from Ruffia and France on the fields of Germany, and to level her conftitution and her laws to the earth, unlefs her fovereign rulers fhould have the good fenfe to join hands, and, in concert with the maritime powers, to confolidate the fecurity of nations. We have seen the original plan of the intended treaty of Pilnitz, and know from the beft authority, that the late Emperor, in luftrating his own project, was of ten heard to obferve, "That the league which Henry IVth of France and Elizabeth of England, aided by their wife minifters, had difcuffed, in fpeculation, for the benefit of Europe, must now be realized for its exiftence." The alarms and precautions of Leopold did not efcape the penetration of Catherine the Great. The agents of that princefs had been long at work to complete her defigns against Poland. The death of Jofeph had deprived her of an active, as well as powerful ally, in her grand project for overthrowing the Turkish empire. The fucceffion of Leopold, his peace with the Porte, and union with Pruffia, had thwarted her ambition, and mortified her feverely; while the oppofition of Great Britain, to her acquifition of Oczakow, had well nigh given a total check to the career of her glory. In this dilemma, fhe announced herself the protectress of the ancient government of France, and ftood forward as the heroine who was to conquer, like her predeceffor Peter the Great, the new' barbarifm of her time.* In this pleafing strain she was addreffed by the emigrant princes and nobles of France. And, after the death of Leopold, drawing a veil over all the refentment that the had nourished against the late union between Auftria and Pruffia; and giving it, with uncommon addrefs, another direction and acceptation, the paid her compliments to the new Emperor Francis, who had diftinguifhed himself, under his uncle, at the fiege of Belgrade, as the worthy reprefentative of + If any doubt fhould yet remain concerning the impofture in queftion, it would be removed by the perufal of a paper in the Anti-Jacobin of July 2d, 1798, fubfcribed Detector. There was a meeting in Auguft 1791, at Pilnitz; but not any pan then and there formed for the dismemberment of France. Charles XII. of Sweden, it is well known, like the new rulers of France, affomed a tone of domination among his neighbours. het her late ally. She encouraged the most eloquent of the French emigrants, to rouze the military pride of the king of Pruffia, who, from his connexions with England, had been expofed to the difcredit of returning from the expeditions of Reichenbach and Riga, without adding to the renown of the Pruffian armies. Frederic William, naturally brave and benevolent, and feeling for the fufferings of the King, princes, and nobles of France, embraced with joy, an opportunity of acquiring great glory to himfelf, while at the head of his troops, he fhould restore the French monarchy. The new Emperor, equally generous, and difpofed to military glory, was induced not to confult the minifters and friends who had poffeffed his father's confidence, but yielded to the influence of the Ruffian party; which had fo many partizans at the court of Vienna. The human mind forms refolutions, not from a complication of different confiderations, but under the influence of one predominating paflion. The motives which actuated the great northern powers on this occafion, and at this time, were probably no other than what have been juft defcribed. Yet, we may eafily imagine other motives which might have occured, and might have dictated the fame conduct on the part of all the parties. The Emprefs might be well pleafed to occupy and weaken the power of Auftria and Pruffia, while the ftill kept an eye on Turkey and Poland, and extending her influence over Germany and Europe. The Emperor might, without the imputation of very inordinate ambition, be in clined to embrace an opportunity of recovering the territories that had been invefted by Louis XIV. and Louis XV. from his hereditary dominions, as well as from the empire on the left fide of the Rhine; and the King of Pruffia, befides that he might be inclined to embrace an opportunity of cementing a reconciliation with the Emprefs, or at leaft deem it imprudent to oppofe her will, feconded by the Emperor, and all this at a juncture when he could not reckon on the fupport of France in a conteft with his rival, had an interest in the existence of a power that had formed to long a defence to the ftates of the empire against the encroachments of Auftria. At a meeting at Mayence, the Emperor and the King of Pruffia had a conference for the purpose of reftoring the French monarchy. The combined troops were placed under the command of the Duke of Brunfwick, efteemed, from his paft fervices, as one of the first generals in the world, and justly confidered in Germany as one of the moft juft and enlightened of her fovereigns. The Duke had been confidered by the Emperor Leopold, as the moft proper perfon, in every refpect, to direct the force of this defenfive confederacy. An intercourfe had been opened between them confidentially on this fubject; and the Duke was fully apprifed, and approved of the enterprize of Leopold. This was the circumftance that led him eventually to the command of the combined armies. He was, in fact, involved in the enterprize, without poffeffing the real power of either controlling or guiding it to the objects of which he had approved, and which his own wildom would have fuggefted*. This circumftance is a key to the fubfequent iflue of the campaign; and will account for feveral events that have been hitherto involved in myftery. The Duke of Bruníwick was naturally an advocate for any co-operation between the courts of Vienna and Berlin that tended to fecure the rights and integrity of the German empire; in equal danger from the violence of the French revolution, and the policy by which Ruffia had conftantly fucceeded in infaming the ftates of the empire against each other. He according ly accepted with pleafure of a command that was originally figned for him by Leopold; and which the new Emperor and the King of Pruffia were deftined to confirm. From a delicacy towards those fovereigns, he was unaffuming in their prefence. In proportion as one of them was as yet inexperienced, and the other diffident of his own talents, the veteran and profound Generaliffimo was attentive to their orders; to that in fact, he gave but few of his own; and thefe more in the detail than the fuggeftion of meafures. Hence it was, that a proclamation, above noticed, evidently in a tone oppofite to what the Duke of Brunswick would have dictated, was given in his name. This work, the cause of much evil, was both fuggefted and compofed by an individual, who, without office, obtained an influence which (where there was no permanent command) was equal to authority. It lay naturally with the princes of France to fuggeft the kind of manifefto which, from their knowledge, might have the moft powerful effect, in intimidating the revolutionists in France, and encouraging the loyalifts. The difpofition of princes and statesmen to encourage the intemperance of violent partizans, rather than to liften to prudent advice, and to depend for juftification and acceptance on the conciliatory voice of moderation, is an error as fatal as it is commont. An unfortunate effect alfo flowed from another deviation from the line of conduct that would have been purfued by the Duke of Brunswick. The hufband of the Arch-Duchess Chriftina, aunt of the young Emperor, commanded the Auftrian troops in Flanders. Had the army under the Duke of Brunswick marched into France directly, through that country, his command muft have been for a time fufpended. Hence, we have underftood, originated the march into Champaign, and the eventual failure of the fiege of Lifle, by the It is not with the Kings of the north, and above all, with thofe of Pruffia, as with thofe of thefouth; who, even when they attend their armies in perfon, delegate their whole authority to a commander in chief; as Louis XIV. did to the Marichal de Turenne and the Prince of Condè;-and George II. of England, to the Earl of Stair. When the kings of Pruffia, whofe characters as fovereigns, are effentially connected with that of military chiefs, appear at the head of their armies, every eye is turned on them, as the primary fource of inotion; the authority of the General being but fecondary. + And Ahab, king of Ifrael, faid unto Jehoshaphat, There is yet one man by whom we may enquire of the Lord; but I hate him, for he never prophefied good unto inc, but always evil: the fame is Micaiah, the son of Imla. 2 Chron. xviii. 7. |