From the London Gazette. Tranflation of a note delivered to the earl of Egremont, by the count de Fuentes, December 25, 1761. T HE count de Fuentes, the Catholic king's ambaffador to his Britannic majefty, has juft received a courier from his court, by whom he is informed, that my lord Bristol, his Britannic majesty's ambaffador at the court of Madrid, has faid to his excellency Mr. Wall, minister of State, that he had orders to demand a pofitive and categorical answer to this queftion, viz. If Spain thinks of allying herself with France against England?' And to declare, at the fame time, that he fhould take a refufal to his demand, for an aggreffion and declaration of war, and that he should, in confequence, be obliged to retire from the court of Spain. The above minifter of ftate answered him, that fuch a step could only be fuggefted by the spirit of haughtinefs, and of difcord, which, for the misfortune of mankind, ftill reigns but too much in the British government; that it was in that very moment that the war was declared; and the king's dignity violently attacked, and that he might retire how, or when he should think proper. The count de Fuentes is, in confequence, ordered to leave the court and the dominions of England, and to declare to the British king, to the English nation, and to the whole univerfe, that the horrors into which the Spanish and English nations are going to plunge themselves, must be attributed only to the pride, and to the unmeafurable ambition of him who has held the reins of the government, and who, appears ftill to hold them, although by another hand that, if his Catholic majesty excused himself from anfwer ing on the treaty in queftion between his Catholic majefty and his moft Chriftian majefty, which is believed to have been figned the 15th of Auguft, and wherein, it is pretended, there are conditions relative to England, he had very good reafons; firit, the king's dignity required him to manifeft his juft refentment of the little management, or, to fpeak more properly, of the infulting manner with which all the affairs of Spain have been treated during Mr. Pitt's adminiftration, who, finding himfelf convinced of the juftice which fupported the king in his pretenfions, his ordinary and laft anfwer was, that he would not relax in any thing till the Tower of London was taken fword in hand. Befides, his majesty was much fhocked to hear the haughty and imperious tone with which the contents of the treaty were demanded of him: if the refpect due to royal majefty had been regarded, explanations might have been had without any difficulty: the ministers of Spain might have faid frankly to thofe of England, what the count de Fuentes, by the king's exprefs order declares publickly, viz. That the faid treaty is only a convention between the family of Bourbon, wherein there is nothing that has the leaft relation to the prefent war; that there is in it an article for the mutual guaranty. of the dominions of the two fovereigns; but it is fpecified therein, that that guaranty is not to be understood but of the dominions which fhall remain to France after the prefent war fhall be ended: that, altho' his Catholic majefty might have had reason to think himself offended by the irregular manner in which the memorial was returned to M. Buffy, mir nifter of France, which he had pre fented formed the defign to join the king's enemies in the prefent war, or to depart, in any manner, from the neutrality they had hitherto obferved; and to make that minifter fenfible, that if they perfifted in refufing all fatisfaction on demands fo jult, fo neceffary, and fo interefting, the king could not but confider fuch a refufal as the most authentic avowal, that Spain had taken her part, and that there only remained for his majefty to take the measures which his royal prudence fhould dictate for the honour and dignity of his crown, and for the profperity and protection of his people: and to re-call his ambassador. Unhappily for the public tranquillity, for the intereft of the two nations, and for the good of mankind, this last step was as fruitless as the preceding ones; the Spanish minifter keeping no farther meafares, anfwered drily, "That it was in that very moment that "the war was declared, and the king's dignity attacked, and "that the earl of Briftol might re"tire how, and when he fhould "think proper.' 66 66 And in order to fet in its true light the declaration, "That, if the refpect due to his Catholic "majefty had been regarded, ex"planations might have been "had without any difficulty, and "that the minifters of Spain might "have faid frankly, as Monf. de "Fuentes, by the king's exprefs order, declares publickly, that the faid treaty is only a con❝vention between the family of "Bourbon; in which there is nothing which has the leaft rela❝tion to the prefent war; and that "the guaranty which is there"in fpecified, is not to be under "flood but of the dominions, " which fhall remain to France "after the war." It is declared, that, very far from thinking of being wanting to the respect, acknowledged to be due to crowned heads, the inftructions given to the earl of Briftol, have always been to make the requifitions, on the fubject of the engagements between the courts of Madrid and Versailles, with all the decency, and all the attention poffible: and the demand of a categorical anfwer was not made till after repeated, and moft ftinging refufals to give the least satisfaction, and at the last extremity. Therefore if the court of Spain ever had the defign to give this fo neceffary fatisfaction, they had not the least reason that ought to have engaged them to defer it to the moment, when it could no longer be of use., But, fortunately, the terms, in which the declaration is conceived, fpare us the regret of not having received it fooner; for it appears at the first fight, that the answer is not at all conformable to the demand: we wanted to be informed, If the court. of Spain intended to join the French, our enemies, to make war on Great Britain, or to depart from their neutrality; whereas the answer concerns one treaty only, which is faid to be of the 15th of Auguft, carefully avoiding to fay the leaft word that could explain, in any manner, the intentions of Spain towards Great Britain, or the further engagements they may have contracted in the prefent crifis. After a deduction, as exact as faithful, of what has paffed between the two courts, it is left to the impartial publick to decide, which of the two has always been inclined to peace, he appeals to all Europe, and to the whole univerfe, for the purity of the king's intentions, and for the fincerity of the withes his majefty has not ceafed to make, as well as for the moderation he has always fhewed, though in vain, for the maintenance of friendship and good understanding between the British and Spanish nations. The king having received undoubted informations, that the court of Madrid had fecretly contracted engagements with that of Verfailles, which the minifters of France laboured to reprefent, in all the courts of Europe, as offenfive to Great Britain, and combining thefe appearances with the fep which the court of Spain had a little time before taken towards his majesty, in avowing its confent, (though that avowal had been followed by apologies) to the memorial prefented the 23d of July, by the Sieur de Buffy, minifter plenipotentiary to the most Christian king, to the king's fecretary of ftate; and his majesty having, afterwards, received intelligence, fcarce admitting a doubt, of troops marching, and of military preparations making in all the ports of Spain, judged that his dignity, as well as his prudence, required him to order his ambaffador at Madrid, by a dispatch dated the 28th of October, to demand, in terms, the most measured however, and the most amicable, a communica tion of the treaty recently concluded between the courts of Madrid and Versailles, or at least of the articles which might relate to the interefts of Great Britain, and, in order to avoid every thing which could be thought to imply the leaft flight of the dignity, or even the delicacy of his Catholic majefty, the earl of Briftol was authorised to content himfelf with affurances, in cafe the Catholic king offered to give any, that the faid engagements did not contain any thing that was contrary to the friendship which fubfifted between the two crowns, or that was prejudicial to the interefts of Great Britain, fuppofing that any difficulty was made in fhewing the treaty. The king could not give a lefs equivocal proof of his dependence on the good faith of the Catholic king, than in fhewing him an unbounded confidence, in fo important an affair, and which fo effentially interested his own dignity, the good of his kingdoms, and the happiness of his people. How great, then, was the king's furprize, when, instead of receiving the juft fatisfaction which he had a right to expect, he learnt from his ambaffador, that, having addreffed himfelf to the minifter of Spain for that purpose, he could only draw from him a refufal to give a fatiffactory answer to his majesty's just requifitions, which he had accompanied with terms that breathed nothing but haughtiness, animofity, and menace; and which feemed fo ftrongly to verify the fufpicions of the unamicable difpofition of the court of Spain, that nothing lefs. than his majefty's moderation, and his refolution taken to make all the efforts poffible to avoid the miffortunes infeparable from a rupture, could determine him to make a last trial; by giving orders to his ambaffador to addrefs himself to the minifter of Spain, to defire him to inform him of the intentions of the court of Madrid towards that of Great Britain in this conjuncture, if they had taken engagements, or formed to fee the friendship and attention to his majefty concur with thofe of his ferene highnefs the duke of Brunswick, for their hereditary stadtholder. Let me add, Sir, that their high mightineffes can affure your excellency, that the king your mafter could not have chofen any perfon for this extraordinary embaffy, who could have been more agreeable to them, as they have had the fatisfaction for fo many years of feeing you refide with them on the part of his majefty with fuch diftinguished approbation. They will continue to give you proofs of their esteem and regard upon all occafions. Declaration of the moft Chriftian king, delivered to the diet of the empire by his minifter the baron de Mackau. T HE king, my mafter, having been required, at the beginning of this war, by feveral princes of the empire, to take upon himself, in conjunction with the king of Sweden, the execution of the guaranty of the treaties of Weftphalia, notified to the ftates affembled at Ratisbon, in the month of April 1757, what were his motives, and what conduct he propofed to hold when he took that charge upon him, of the weight of which he was very fenfible. The prefervation of the three religions eftablished in Germany, the fupport of the Germanic laws and conftitution, and the reftoring peace on a folid and equitable footing, were the objects to obtain which his majefty was willing to make the greatest efforts and very confiderable facrifices. His majefly, in concert with his Swedish majefty, hath fince employed every method to attain to this falutary end; but he deplored the calamities under which Germany groaned; and if he was under a neceffity of taking up arms for its defence, he thinks it no lefs proper to lay them down when he has performed all that could be required in juftice from a zeal fo difinterested. It was with this falutary view that his majefty, jointly with the king of Sweden and the other pow ers his allies, propofed to the courts of London and Berlin to pave the way, by common confent, to a peace, by opening a congrefs, for which the city of Augsburg was thought moft convenient: and as their Britannic and Pruffian majesties agree to a propofal fo conformable to humanity and his majefty's pacific views, he thinks himself obliged to notify it to the states of the German empire, agreeably to what was done when he found himself under a neceffity of executing the guaranty. He at the fame time declares, that during the course of the negotiation he will not lofe fight of the motives which determined him to take part in the war. The princes and states of the empire may depend on the formal affurances which his majefty hath already given, and which he now repeats; and he defires that the emperor and the empire would concur with him in reftoring the public tranquillity. Ratisbon, June 22, 1761. Since this declaration was delivered, the Germanic body confider themfelves as invited to the congrefs; which they afcribe to the court of Verfailles. The fame day a declaration of the very fame import was delivered to the diet by the Swedish minister. Decla Declarations of marshal Broglio to the inhabitants of Brunfwic and Hanover on his late irruption into that country. WH HEREAS a great number of civil officers from the regency, and principal inhabitants of Brunfwic and Hanover, have abandoned the ufual place of their abode upon the entrance of his majefty's forces, not through fear of being ill treated or pillaged, fince it is known to all Germany the exact discipline which they obferve, but through an evil defign, and in order to avoid the obedience they owe to our commands; and it being our duty to remedy fuch pernicious conduct as is wholly repugnant to the laws of war, we have thought proper to publish this declaration, that no perfon may plead ignorance thereof, but attribute to themselves the penalties they fhall incur in default of a due obedience. I. Be it ordered to the officers of the regency, and in general to all the inhabitants of Hanover and Brunfwic, that they remain in their towns, villages, houfes, and other places of abode, keeping their effects and cattle with them; or if any of them should be already departed, to return to their habitations within eight days of the present publication. II. Be it known to all officers aforefaid, who shall difobey this order, that their houses fhall be pillaged and levelled to the ground; and if they are hereafter taken, they fhall be punished in their perfons according to the exigency of the cafe. III. As to the other inhabitants who shall leave their habitations, or that stray their horfes and cattle, as is ufual to do in the woods to prevent their being made ufe of in his most Christian majefty's army, they fhall be corporally punished as foon as taken; and the penalty of a certain fum fhall be laid upon the diftrict where they belong, in proportion to the number of beafts they fhall fo remove, which penalty fhall daily increase till they are returned. IV. And that the inhabitants fhall have no pretence to refuse to provide fuch a number of carriages as fhall be demanded of them by the proper officers of his moft Chriftian majefty, be it ordered, that for the future, each district fhall have in readiness fifteen carriages, to be drawn by four able horfes, or oxen; which number fhall be fixed upon every hundred houfes throughout the country; and all perfons difobeying fhall be feverely punished. V. It is well known that the inhabitants of this country are ordered by the regency to apprife the enemy of our approach, and for that purpose, conceal themselves in woods and paffes, place themselves upon eminences, and make an alarm with bells when they fee us arrive; abuse and pillage futlers and carriages that they find without defence, and in general hold a correfpondence with the enemy, ferving them as fpies and guides to our prejudice. The duty of the employ with which his moft Chriftian majefty has been pleased to honour us, requires, that to prevent and punish fuch enormous conduct, we ufe the utmost rigour and feverity of the laws of war; it is therefore ordered to the regency of Hanover and Brunfwic, to give notice to their respective diftricts and divifions, that every person on whom a letter is found directed to the enemy, any ways relating to the ope [T 3] rations |