1797.

ingly, notwithstanding the treaty of Campo Formio, fummoned by the French general, Hatry, to furrender, with the menace, that he would fubject the territory of that electorate to all the calamities of war, if that city did not open its gates to him. The menace was afterwards put in execution and the gates opened; and, for the fortrels of Ehrenbritftein, it was clofely befieged. The count de Metterich publicly complained of these violations of the treaty, in a note addrefled to the citizens Trailhard and Bonnier, dated at Raftadt, the twenty-fourth of December, "He had learnt," he faid, "from all quarters, that the French troops, without any provocation whatever, had patled the lines marked out by the armiftice, that they had fummoned the fortress of Ehrenbrittein to furrender, had paled the Rhine as well as the Nidda, near Openheim, and that they had formed lines of circumvallation round Mentz." On the fubject of grievances, the count proceeded to mention another, which was, "The political organization that the French would, by force of arms, compel a people to accept, who were accustomed to a conftitution which formed their happines. Such an enterprize," he oblerved, "was in direct and avowed oppofition to the fpirit of the French conftitution, and which could refult only from a definitive treaty of peace, that should establish such a people under the dominion of France. Befides, this attempt was made during an armiftice, religioutly obferved by the lates of the empire, and at the moment of a negociation, whofe object was to enfure, by a folid and durable

peace, the return of that ancient confidence and friendship which, for the interest of fuffering humanity, should be reftored between the two nation." To thefe complaints no reply was made, nor does it appear that any was infifted on. The plenipotentiaries, after not a little difcuffion on the subjects of defignations, titles, and a paffport, for a French citizen, named Bocher, entered ferioufly on the bufinefs for which the congrefs was called, on the feventeenth of January, 1799. Citizen Trailhard, ha ving flated, as an incontrovertible fact, that a war had been provoked by the German empire, proceeded to reprefent, that his government had an inconteftible right to an indemnification for all the facrifices which it had made; and that, in compliance with its principles of loyalty and juftice, whofe object was to terminate the calamities of war, and to establish peace on the moft folid foundation, he proposed, for the firft bafis, "That the courfe of the Rhine fhould be acknowledged as a boundary. To this propofition, the count Metternich, in a note of the twenty-feventh of January, replied, "That, by the new frontier propofed, Germany would be difmembered, independently of the circle of Burgandy, of the moft confiderable parts of the three circles of the Rhine; and that, by fuch a difpofition, feveral fiates, the exifting nobility, and other members of the empire, would lofe either the whole, or, at leaft, a great part of their poffeffions. The ceffion, to France, of the provinces beyond the Rhine, would thake, to the very foundations, the Germanic confitution, and dilable the empire from fupporting its poli

fical exiftence, and maintaining the relations which it hitherto preferved with the other ftates of Europe. By the preliminaries, fettled at Leoben, on the eighteenth of April, 1797, an affurance was given, that the empire fhould preferve its integrity: and this affurance was allo confirmed afterwards, by the definitive treaty of Campo Formio. The emperor and empire, it was fated by the imperial plenipotentrary, confidently expected, from the juftice and generofity of the French government, that it would be difpofed to fubftitute, instead of the propofition already made, a bais of negociation more accordant to that which was ftipulated, in favour of the empire, by the preliminaries of Leoben. Some propofitions," he farther obferved, "were indifpenfably neceflary to be made, concerning the wretched fate of thofe parts of Germany, at that moment occupied by the French troops. The propofitions, to be made on this head, would be favourably received, fince they refted on conventions fettled with the French nation, were in ftrict conformity to the law of nations and the natural confequence of negociations, now entered on, for the purpose of arranging a definitive treaty. They were refolved into the following heads:

I. That, in confequence of the preliminaries of peace, figned at Leoben, the armiftice fhould be Itrictly obferved till a definitive treaty fhould be concluded.

II. That the French troops should remove, altogether, from the right bank of the Rhine; and, refpecting the left bank, that they fould retire beyond the lines fettled by the armiftice.

III. That all hoftilities, and confequently all contributions and requifitions, of every denomination, thould ceafe, from that moment, and without any future renewal.

IV. That all fale or alienation of the poffeffions, fituated as well on the German territory as ont of it, belonging to the ftates of the empire, and other members of it, fhould be difcontinued: that a ftop fhould be put to the destruction of forefts, the fale of woods, as well as the fuppreffion of ecclefiaftical and pious foundations: and, that thofe faithful fubjects, who had manifefted a zeal for their mafters, and particularly thofe who, being fill in the civil or military fervice of the princes and lords, had, without any just reason, been classed as emigrants, and had their properties fequeftered or fold, fhould be free from all future perfecution: that thofe fervants or fubjects, who had inhabited, to the prefent moment, the countries, fome time fince, or more recently, occupied by the French troops, fhould not be difturbed by the arreft of their perfons, or fequeftration of their goods; and that they should be permitted, on the contrary, to remove with their effects and to follow their masters: and that, in those parts of Germany, where there were any French troops, none of the penal confequences of emigrations thould be exercifed against thofe who had withdrawn from the theatre of war and the countries that were occupied by the armies.

V. That, in all the different places, whether occupied or not by the French troops, a ftop fhould be put to all thofe new doctrines and revolutionary difpofitions, whole. object was to feduce fubjects from [K3]

the

the conftitution which was fuited to them, and to affociate them with the republican fystem.

VI. Finally, to prevent the total ruin of the countries occupied by the French troops, that the number of thefe fhould be proportioned to the means and refources of thofe countries.

This aufwer from the deputation of the empire, to the propofition, that the Rhine fhould be cftablished as a limit of the French republic, the minifters plenipotentiary of the republic tranfmitted to their government. At the fame time, they ftill infifted, that the indemnity required by the republic was equitable. The boundary of the Rhine was effential to its fafety, and the tranquillity of the empire was fill more immediately interested in forming thofe limits.

Meanwhile, the French not only declined to retire beyond the limits fettled by the armiitice, but proceeded to inveft Manheim and to other acts of aggreffion. The imperial plenipotentiary did not fail to make loud complaints of fuch conduct, as well as of various flagrant attempts to excite, through out the territories of the empire, a fpirit of infurrection. In thefe attempts, the plenipotentiaries, on the part of the republic, difavowed all concern or participation, and faid, that the executive directory had taken very strong measures to difcover and punish their authors and accomplices. As to the confiant acts of aggreffion they were filent. Difputes were allo continued concerning the origin and commencement of the war. Count Metternich confidered it as an incontrovertible fact, that the empire did not attack France, and that it

engaged in the war from no other caufe than that it was attacked itfelf. According to the Germanic conftitution, the empire could not engage in a war without a refolution of the diet to that effect, ratified by its chief. The refolution of the diet, on the twenty-second of March, 1793, expreffly declared, "That, fince France made war on the empire, by acts of hoftility, without any formal declaration; fince he had attacked and difpoffed, by means of her armies, the countries belonging and ftates of the empire, this war, undertaken by France, and declared by acts of hoftility alone, must be confidered as a war common to all the empire." The French plenipotentiaries replied, "That the open and fcandalous protection, given, notwithstanding the moft ardent remonftrances, to the emigrants, who were brought back to threaten the French frontiers, was the first act of hoftility against France, which not only wified for peace but muft be acknowledged to have been deeply interefted in maintaining it. The continued refufal, to difperfe the affembling of thefe implacable enemies, compelled France to take fuch measures as were neceffary for her fecurity: but, fo far from endeavouring to fufpend them, by giving reafonable fatisfaction, the empire proceeded to declare itfelf in a ftate of war. Thefe facts were of fuch public notoriety, that they could not be contefted." But fuch difcuffions were equally endless and unimportant. It was not by appeals to any principles of justice, or to any thing that had paffed, that the points in queftion were to be fettled, but by the present situa tien of affairs and future profpects..

That

That the Rhine fhould form the boundary between the French and German empires had been affented to, in the lecret articles of the treaty of Campo Formio, was no fecret. The whole of Bavaria, beyond the Inn, was to be the compenfation for this ceffion. Bavaria was to receive, in return, a part of Suabia and certain ftates in Franconia. No doubt was entertained of the good understanding that exifled, on this point, between France, Prutia, and Auftria. That the fyftem of fecularization, which was to make up the refpective loffes, had been previoufy agreed on among thefe three refpective powers: but the deputation of the empire were not prepared to make, at once, fo great lacrifices. The French plenipotentiaries reprefented, that the ceffions, on the left bank of the Rhine, were of no great confequence, as an addition of territory to fuch a republic as France, while the boundary of the Rhine was established by nature, and would equally conduce to the tranquillity of both empires. The deputation of the empire, on the contrary, ftated, that, by giving up the left fide of the Rhine, and the indemnities propofed, thirtyone fecular and thirteen ecclefiaftical ftates of the empire would be Abjected to loffes, which amounted to upwards of eleven hundred fquare-miles; the population of which was upwards of three millions of inhabitants. France had drawn from this country, fince the beginning of the war, in requifitions and contributions, more than eighty millions. For fertility and fituation, it was one of the firft provinces of Europe. The French plenipotentiaries, not, probably, difcouraged by this laft argument,

perfifted in their firft propofitions, from which, they declared, they would never depart. France, they faid, demanded the left fide of the Rhine, not fo much for the purpofe of aggrandizement as for that of fecuring to the republic a determinate and fecure frontier. The deputation was ftill indifpofed to make fo large a facrifice. But, on the third of March, 1798, the deputation, in a note of the third of March, agreed to a ceffion of half the territory demanded; and this they did in confideration that the French government, according to the declaration of its minifters plenipotentiary, had no view of aggrandizement, and that its principal object was to procure natural and determined limits for both France and the empire. As a line of demarcation, of this kind, they propofed the Rhine and Mofelle, leaving to the French government the choice between the countries of the empire, fituated beyond the Rhine, on the right bank of the Mofelle; or thofe on the fame fide of the Rhine on the left. But, in confenting to fuch an important ceffion, they declared, it would be abfolutely neceffary to make every poffible provifion to alleviate the condition of thofe ftates of the empire, of the nobles, and other members of the Germanic body, who, by fuch a difpofition, would fuftain very confiderable loffes. Nothing, in the way of negociation, on equal terms, could have been more reafonable than this propofition, which, in the ftyle of common bufinefs, was a fair divifion of the difference. But the French plenipotentiaries peremptorily declared, that the boundary of the Rhine was a bafis of negociation from which the republic

[K4]

public would never depart. The imperious demands of France, as might naturally be expected, gave rife to very animated debates in the diet of the empire. The duke of Bavaria not only refufed to agree to the ceffion propofed, but went fo far as to propofe, to the other ftates, to invite the empire, Ruffia, Pruffia, and England, to oppofe it by main force. But the defliny of the empire was in the hands of Pruffia and Auftria. After multiplied fittings, long debates, and the interchange of preparatory notes, the deputation of the empire, on the thirteenth of March, finally confented to the ceffion of the whole left fide of the Rhine; but on the conditions that the French troops fhould immediately withdraw from the right bank of the Rhine, and that all military engagements and requifitions fhould immediately ceafe; that the French republic fhould immediately with draw all its troops from the right fide, and, confining itfelf to the countries of Germany, which fhould he ceded to it, on the left bank of the Rhine, fhould not form any farther pretensions, on the empire, of any kind; that indemnities fhould be fixed for, the fates which had fuftained any lofs on the left bank of the Rhine; that all perfecution, of whatever kind, in the countries to be ceded, thould ceafe, and individuals be safe and secure in their perfons and properties. The French plenipotentiaries agreed, that the ceffion of all pofts, on the right bank of the Rhine, fhould be the first confequence of a final pacification. They alfo agreed to the principle of indemnities, which, they faid, were to be found in a fecularization of the ecclefiaftical

eftates; which principle was allo adopted by the deputation of the empire. But in the difcuffions which enfued, on the application of this general principle, there was a great interference and oppofition of interefis; and it was evident, that each state thought only of its own aggrandizement, and of throwing the fum of damages and lofles on thofe who were the leaft capable of defending their own interefts. The ftates of the first rank did not diffemble that these lofles were to fall on the fecondary ftates; and thefe, again, fhifted them off on thofe of inferior order. The Auf trian minifters propofed the great fecularizations; the ecclefiaftical electors demanded to be indemnified by thofe of the prince bithops; the prince bifhops required the fuppreflion of abbeys, monafteries, and the inferior prelacies. Many, in order to lighten the stroke with which they were threatened, and which they had not the power to avert, began to form a fund for their future fupport, by putting to fale not only their moveables and other portable objects, but alfo con fiderable portions of their landed property: fo that, in cafe of the fecularizations expected, the new pofleflors fhould have the lefs benefit, unless a law thould be pafled for invalidating fuch dilapidations.

It was decided, by the deputation, that they thould begin with the total fecularization of the abbeys and private prelacies. If thefe fhould not be fufficient to cover the balance of the loffes, a part of the poffeffions of the prince bithops fhould be taken to their account. Auftria and Pruffia declared, that, in order to avoid too great a number of feculariza