HISTORY OF EUROPE. 



n 



In the warmest endeavours to in- 

 duce the diet to espouse the quarrel 

 against France with the utmost ener- 

 gy. His ministry perceived in that 

 body a tardiness, or rather indeed a- 

 vcrseness, to coroperateinthe views 

 pf tlje coahtion. This dispo- 

 sition proceeded from a convic- 

 tion of the inefficacy of all the 

 measures proposed against the 

 French, and that it were wiser to 

 leave the settlement of that mighty 

 people to themselves, than to pro- 

 voke them to enmity against their 

 neighbours by hostilities that only 

 tended to convert them into a nar 

 tion of soldiers, and to render them 

 regardless of all other objects but 

 those of carrying war and destruc- 

 tion into every country around. 

 These sentiments, which were those 

 pf that immense majority of indivi- 

 duals which was desirous of peace 

 were very unacceptable to the 

 Austrian ministry. Undiscouraged 

 by the disasters of the preceding 

 campaign, itstill cherished the hope 

 of being able by fresh exertions to 

 repair the losses they had sustained, 

 and, if not to add new territories to 

 their dominions, still to recover 

 those which they had lost. For 

 this end the imperial envoy to the 

 diet had in the month of February 

 delivered a note to that assembly, 

 wherein the necessity was urged of 

 recurring to every means ot put- 

 ting the frontiers of Germany in a 

 condition to repel the expected in- 

 vasion on the part of France. The 

 propriety of embodying the people, 

 and causing them to rise in amass, 

 T*'a3 vehemently insisted on ; the fi- 

 nances of Austria v.'ere stated to 

 have been lavished in supjiort of 

 the empire : and tliat it was incum- 

 b'-nt on the (jcrmanic princes and 

 »iates to come forward on this 



critical occasion, with every exer- 

 tion they could make for the ho-> 

 nour and preservation of their 

 country. 



The envoy expatiated on the 

 zeal displnycd by the Emperor m 

 his endeavours to protect the em- 

 pire from the contagion of Frenc't^ 

 principles, and to repress the spirit 

 of anarchy and irreligion vi'ifh 

 which it was threatened by the re- 

 volutionary rage th«t had pcr-"^ 

 verted the sentiments ot that peo- 

 ple, and rendered them the de-? 

 clared enemies pf all the established 

 governments in Europe. To stop 

 the progress of an enemy that evi- 

 dently aimed at their total subver.. 

 sion, extraordinary measures were 

 indispensable, and it behoved th^ 

 diet warmly to (joncur in leaving 

 the stipplies prescribed by the Ger, 

 manic constitution in cases of emer-. 

 gency,such as the present. To this 

 purpose it would be requisite to call 

 on the princes and states for a tri- 

 ple proportion of their usual con- 

 tingent, in virtue of the regulation 

 enacted during the last century, in 

 a case similar to the present, wiicn 

 the Turkish armies had overrun all 

 Hungary ; and Vienna, alter sus- 

 taining a long siege, was on the 

 point of falling into their hands. 

 Notwithstanding the vehemence 

 with which the imperial envoy en- 

 larged on those varioustopics,hedid 

 not make that impression upon the 

 diet which he had proposed. His 

 speech was not altogether so coni"!- 

 liatory as the occasion seemed to 

 require ; in some parts of it r-- 

 proaches of negligence in contri- 

 buting their proportions of the ge- 

 neral supply, were levelled at some 

 of the members, and accompanied, 

 with menaces ot compulsion in case 

 of reFutal. liut the circumstance 



which 



