of the year 1809, the Swedish commerce was continually disturbed by Danish privateers, having at length proceeded to actual hostilities, by giving directions to his subjects, that all Swedes who shall be found on board of ships captured, or which may hereafter be captured, are to be treated as prisoners of war:-we have found it necessary to repel force by force, and do herewith declare, that as a state of war with Denmark has now commenced, we shall take all the necessary means and steps to insure the security of our subjects and kingdom, and to obtain for ourselves a reasonable redress; and we do accordingly herewith order and command, that all navigation, trade, and communication by post, and all other exchange of letters to all ports, towns, and places in Denmark and Norway, or in the provinces appertaining to them, shall, on pain of law, entirely cease from this day forward. And for such cause, it is herewith our most gracious will and command to our Field-marshals, Chief Governors, Commanding Generals, Admirals, Governors of Districts, and all others our Commanders by land and sea, that they, and all persons serving under them, shall not only, each in his place, take all necessary precautions to have this our gracious will and duty immediately made public, but likewise seriously take care that it be carried fully into effect, and strictly observed. According whereto, all whom it may concern have to regulate theniselves. And, in further conside ration whereof, we have signed these presents with our own hand, and caused them to be confirmed under our Royal Seal. Given at the Palace of Haga, the 15th Sept. 1813. (Signed) CHARLES, L. S. (Countersigned) A.G. MORNER. Proclamation addressed to the Hanoverians. The victorious arms of powers allied against France, have, under the manifest protection of Divine Providence, nearly completed the deliverance of the country from her ten years' sufferings. The valiant army of the North is already approaching; it is led by his Royal Highness the Illustrious Crown Prince of Sweden, whose love of justice and heroism, have both disposed and qualified him to beconie the deliverer of the Germans. The troops of our King, attached to this army, have already . occupied the capital, and great part of the country. All faithful Hanoverians will gratefully venerate, in this consolatory change of affairs, those wise measures which his Majesty, our beloved King, has ever steadily pursued during the most untoward circumstances, and which his Royal Highness the Prince Regent, who is no less warmly interested in the welfare of the hereditary German states of his House, has, with equal constancy, continued and completed. Instead of groaning under the yoke of foreign ulers, to whom the annihilation of our constitution and language, the destruction of our property, and the shedding of the blood of our children, were only a pretext for the gratification of an idle ambition, we are now once more blessed by the paternal government of native princes, who are are accustomed to seek their glory and happiness in accomplishing our own. A son of our highly revered Monarch, his Royal Highness the Duke of Cumberland, who, ever since his earlier residence among the Hanoverians, has conceived the most lively attachment to them, is himself on the spot, and has most generously resolved actively to contribute towards effecting the welfare of the ancient inheritance of his illustrious ancestors. In this joyful change of circumstances, we have not hesitated, in the name of the lawful Sovereign, to resume the government of the electoral dominions. We had flattered ourselves to have had the satisfaction, even in this early notification, of communicating to the faithful German subjects of his Majesty, the first expressions which his Royal Highness the Prince, our present Regent, has been pleased, so early as the 5th of last October, to address to them, in order to as sure them of his gracious intentions, and of his indefatigable endeavours for their happiness. Accidental circumstances have as yet prevented us from receiving the most condescending Proclamation of his Royal Highness. We must therefore content ourselves for the present, with the assurance, that his Royal Highness is particularly solicitous to restore, as speedily as possible, his subjects to the cnjoyment of their former happy constitution. To execute this high intention will be our most pleasing duty.. But every thing has been too much overturned, to allow of this object being attained at once. We therefore preliminarily con firm the provisional commissiong of government, which have been appointed by the military authority, and which, under our superintendance, will henceforward provide for the several, provinces, whatever in each may be of the first and most pressing necessity, not doubting but that, supported by the tried loyalty and attachment of Hanoverians, we shall quickly witness among us the revival of our former happiness, and of our earlier comforts, provided that a lasting peace secures what has hitherto been gained. But if we would obtain this, it is not yet time to lay aside our arms. The enemy is defeated; he is humbled beyond any former period; but be may, he will rise again, should the Germans prematurely imagine that they may take rest. It ought not to be concealed, that for a time to come, ample sacrifices, as well as further efforts of our long-tried valour, are indispensible. The public spirit and ancient military glory of the Hanoverians, are pledges that they are willing and ready to make them; and that, after so many successes, they will not shrink from any call, manfully to sustain the last struggle. Concord, courage, confidence, and patriotism, infallibly ensure success. Bavarian Declaration. "Every one knows the relations which for eight years past bound Bavaria to France, as well as the motives which occasioned them, and the conscientious good faith with which the King fulfilled their conditions. "Other states gradually joined themselves to the first ally of the French Empire. This junction of Sovereigns took the form of an union, of such nature as the German history exhibits more than one example. "The Act of Confederation, signed at Paris on the 12th of July, 1806, although imperfect, stipulated the mutual conditions which were to exist between the Confederated States and his Majesty the Emperor of the French, as Protector of this alliance. "The foundation of this treaty on both sides was the interest of both parties: none other could exist; for otherwise this Act of Confederation would have been nothing else than an act of unconditional submission. Meanwhile the French government appears to have considered it absolutely in the latter light; because in every act which followed on that solemn contract, she never regarded, in the application of the fundamental point which rendered the continental war mutual to the several contracting parties, either the spirit or the intent which presided in its tenour, but gave to it, at her own pleasure, the most extended explanation. She required at her own will the military forces of the confederates, for wars which were totally foreign to their interests, and the motives for which had not been previously intimated to them. "Bavaria, who considered France as a main support for her preservation, but whose principles, nevertheless, caused her the most serious apprehensions, fulfilled all her obligations to France with the most unbounded zeal and integrity; no sacrifice to her seemed too great to fulfil the wishes of her ally, and to contribute to the restoration of the Continental Peace, which was stated to be the end of these renewed undertakings. "When the Emperor Napoleon had, in the year 1812, determined on the war against Russia, he demanded of Bavaria to come forward with the maximum of her contingent. This war was undeniably entirely foreign to the interests of Bavaria. It was painful to her, in every respect, to suffer her troops to march against a state which had always been her friend, and which for a long time past was the guarantee of her independence; and against a Sovereign who is allied to the Royal Family by a double tie of consanguinity. Already had the French ministry expressed themselves in the most alarming terms, and even proclaimed them in diplomatic documents in the face of Europe. These expressions aimed at nothing less than to represent the confederated States in such light as if they were the vassals of France, and their Princes bound, under punishment of felony, to do every thing which his Majesty the Emperor Napoleon might think proper to require of them. Notwithstanding the alarm. which the expression of such principles necessarily caused, Bavaria still resolved, as she had no point of law to support, to let 30,000 of her troops join the French army. The unexampled misfortunes which distinguished that campaign are too well known to repeat the distressing portrait of it here. The whole Bavarian army, including a reinforcement of 8000 men, which joined it in the month of October, was destroyed. "There are but few families that were not thrown into mourn ing by that dreadful catastrophe; and what was still more painful to his Majesty's paternal heart was, that so much blood had been shed in a cause which was not the cause of the nation. Meanwhile preparations were made for a new campaign; and Bavaria, who was only the more stedfast to her ally in proportion to his being unfortunate, made no hesitation in replacing the weak remains of 38,000 Bavarians, who had fought under the French standards, by a new division. "At the commencement of the campaign,glorious prospects crowned the so often victorious arms of the Emperor Napoleon. Germany, and all Europe, believed that, as the Emperor now found himself in a condition wherein he might shew his moderation, with out exposing himself to any suspicion of weakness, he would have accepted the mediation which Austria, from the most wise and generous motives, offered, for the purpose of procuring peace to the world, or at least to the continent. This hope was destroyed. On the contrary, she saw the number of his enemies increase, by the powerful addition of Austria to the coalition already formed against the Emperor Napoleon. From this moment the situation of Bavaria became very critical. The energy of the Bavarian government, and the attachment of a nation which considers no sacrifice heavy, when it is necessary to prove their love to an adored Sovereign, had already, as by a magic stroke, created a new army, which marched towards the borders on the side of Austria. But the French army, to which the Emperor had given the name of The Army of Observation of Bavaria,' and which was assembling in the vicinity of Wurtzburg, and in the surrounding territory, instead of supporting the Bavarian army, suddenly received another destination. "In this critical situation, the Emperor 'did not even deign to bestow on his most faithful ally the least consideration of means for his protection. Nay more, the second army of observation, which was to assemble under the command of Marshal Augereau, was not formed, and its weak stem, which was still at Wurtzburg, totally disappeared. "Being in this manner totally deserted, his Majesty would have infringed on the most sacred of his duties had he not yielded to the wishes of bis faithful subjects, which were daily more loudly expressed. The Sovereigns allied against France did not neglect to inform the Bavarian government of the principles of moderation which animated thein, and to assure it of their formal guarantee of the integrity of the kingdom of Bavaria in its full borders, as at that time, on condition of the King's joining his military force to theirs, not to carry on a war of am bition or aggrandisèment against France, but to secure the independence of the German nation, and of the States of which it consists, and to prevail on the Emperor Napoleon to sign an honourable peace. His Majesty could not have given a refusal to such proposals, without becoming criminal to his own subjects, and being blind to the sacred principles on which only their welfare can be founded. With full confidence in such open and generous offers, he has therefore resolved to accept them in their full extent, and to conclude an alliance with the three Princes, against the ambitious views which the Emperor Napoleon has shewn that he entertains, and for the good effects of which his Majesty will use his utmost endeavours. "His Majesty wishes that a speedy peace may soon restore the relations which he would not now have relinquished, had not the illegal extension of a power, which grew every day more insupportable, rendered it his duty to take the steps, and form the alliance, he has done. "From henceforward, united in interest and sentiments with his high and powerful allies, his Royal Bavarian Majesty will neglect no means which may contribute to draw closer the ties which bind him to them. "Munich, 17th Oct. 1813." Address of the Swiss Diet. We, the Landamman and the Members of the Diet of the nineteen Cantons of the Swiss Confederation, To you, dear Confederates, health: The war which was lately far from our frontiers, is approaching our country and our peaceable dwellings. Under these circumstances, it was our duty, as deputies of the Confederate Cantons, to maturely reflect upon the situation of the country, to address communications to the Belligerent Powers, and make all the ulterior dispositions which circumstances demand. Faithful to the principles of their forefathers, we have, in virtue of the powers and orders of our government, declared, with unanimous voice and will, the neutrality of the Swiss. We are going to have transmitted and notified in the most proper forms, to the sovereigns of the states at war, the solemn act which we have just passed with this intention. Thanks to Divine Protection, the observation of an exact neutrality has, during ages, guaranteed the liberty and repose of our country. Now, as in old-times, this neutrality alone belongs to our position, and to our wants. We, therefore, wish to establish and make it respected by all the means which are in our power. We wish to insure the liberty and independence of Switzerland, maintain its present constitution, and preserve our territory from all attempts; such is the only end of all our efforts. To this effect we address ourselves to you, dear Confederates of all the Cantons of Switzerland, in immediately giving you information of the declaration which has just been issued. The Diet expects of each of you, whoever he may be, that he will act with the same views; that he will contri bute |