ANNUAL REGISTER, 1794. 



history of this unfortunate war 

 ihat will be long remembered. It 

 thre\y a damp on the minds of all 

 those who were friends to the first 

 promulgated principles of the coa- 

 lition ; which went apparently no 

 farther than to restrain the inordi- 

 nate ambition of those who con- 

 ducted the affairs of France, and to 

 keep that restless and long dreaded 

 nation within its ancient limits, 

 agreeably to the wise plan of the 

 i,mperor Leopold*. The Duke 

 of Brunswick's resignation took 

 place on the 6th of Januaiy 1/94. 



From the jealous behaviour of 

 these two courts, it was evident 

 that, as they were the two ruling 

 powers of Germany, the subaltern 

 princes and states of the empire 

 would side respectively with Prussia 

 or Austria, accordingly as they 

 might happen to be inclined to the 

 cause of the one or I he other, from 

 motives of interest ; or might find 

 themselves under the necessity of 

 supporting it, from the danger of 

 refusing their concurrence in its 

 measures. Such being the relative 

 situation of the Emperor and the 

 King of Prussia,the French govern- 

 ment was now considered as per- 

 manently established, and in no 

 danger of being overturned by ex- 

 ternal force. I'he only perils it had 

 henceforward to apprehend, were 

 such as might arise from those in- 

 ternal convulsions, the seeds of 

 which still lay too deep to be 

 eradicated by any power but that 

 of time. In this state of superior 

 strength, it was not surprizing that 

 the Convention and th^ authorities 

 constituted in France by its decrees, 

 should assume a style of speaking 

 and of acting full of confidence iu 



its exertioas, and of defiance to a]\ 

 the hostile powers surrounding it. 

 They well knew that a disjunctior^ 

 of Prussia from the confederacy 

 against them, would weaken it to 

 such a degree, as t» reduce it to a 

 mere phantom of what it had been 

 ht its primitive formation. That 

 enemy, which of all others France 

 was principally solicitous to hum- 

 ble, would, by ihesecession of Prus- 

 sia from the coalition, lose at once 

 all the benefits it had proposed to 

 reap through that profusion of 

 treasure it had lavished with so un- 

 sparing a hand, in order to fix this 

 fickle and v.'avering power in the 

 common interest of the alliance 

 against France. Could the repub- 

 lican administration succeed in de- 

 taching him from Great Britain and 

 Austria, the resentment and sus- 

 picion accruing from such a derelic- 

 tion, and breach of faith, would ba- 

 nish all confidence in him ever af- 

 ter, and obviate all future reunion 

 between these three coHrls. 



As these sentihients were justly 

 founded, they were acted upon 

 with all that solicitude and celerity 

 which characterized the conduct of 

 the republican government. Every 

 circumstance denoting a cessation 

 of real enmity between France and 

 the Prussian monarch, began at this 

 time to be noticed by the political 

 vor'd. So > aily as the month of 

 February, afritndly ccmmr.tucation 

 took place between them. The 

 ostensible motive was a reciprocal 

 exchange of French and Prussian 

 prisoners, On this pretext, com- 

 missionejs from the king and the 

 republic were appointed to meet 

 at Frankfort on the JNIaine. The 

 French commissaries made an entry 



* Sec Vo!. xxxiii. p. 72. 



uito 



