20d ANNUAL REGISTER, 1794. 



probability, have been reduced 

 Avithin a fortnight. Alsace might 

 then have been turned by tlie Saar. 

 The possession of the Lauter would 

 have afforded more solid advantages; 

 and if, by all possible means, the 

 junction of the armies of the Rhine 

 and the Moselle had been prevent- 

 ed, and the point of Bouquenon 

 gained, Strasburgh \rouId have been 

 threatened, and Landau very likely 

 subdued. 



I beg your royal highncss's par- 

 don for expressing my regrets. Com- 

 plaints are useless, I know; but 

 sometimes they afford a momentary 

 relief: permit me only to add, that 

 if you have any influence over my 

 successor, I would wish you to pre- 

 vail on him to employ all his credit 

 to prevent the frittering of the army 

 into too numerous detachments ; 

 the consequence of which is, that 

 being every where too weak to act 

 on an offensive plan, our troops are 

 obliged to confine tl»emselves to de- 

 fensive measures with the enemy we 

 have to combat, which is a fault 

 productive of the most pernicious 

 consequences. 



It is with the sincerest regret I 

 leave an army which has inspired 

 me with the highest esteem, ad- 

 miration, and attachment. 



L.:tter ■written ty the ling of Piuss'ta 

 to the elector of Mcntz. 



Berlin, Jan. 31. 



THE extraordinary urgency of 

 the present circumstances in- 

 duces me to write this letter to your 

 highness, in full assurance of your 

 highness's perfect knowledge of the 

 situation of Ger,-r.any, oi:r country. 

 The dangerous crisis in which this 



country is thrown by a war without 

 example, with a formidable, furious, 

 and destructive enemy, who already 

 menaces the six frontier circles, to 

 enter them with fire and sword : 

 such a crisiis is too well known to 

 your excellency, not to see the ne- 

 cessity of concurring with me and 

 with ever)- state, animated with a 

 patriotic zeal, in the most proper 

 measures to ward off the danger. 



Among all the measures which 

 the empire can employ, there is 

 none which appears to me more in- 

 efficacious against an enemy, whose 

 numbers diminish not, and who op- 

 pose a fanatic fury in battle, the re- 

 sources of tactics, and a numerous 

 artillery ; nothing, I say, is more 

 insufficient than the general arma- 

 ment of the inhabitants of the circles 

 which has been proposed. This 

 measure, so dangerous, and so sin- 

 gularly delicate in itself, is still more 

 inadmissible, because it can in no 

 ways accord with the defence of 

 the empire by my troops ; and 

 their retreat must infallibly be the 

 consequence. 



As it is impossible for me to con- 

 tinue a war so far distant from the 

 frontiers of my estates, and which 

 is so expensive, I have, some months 

 since, frankly opened myself on this 

 head to the principal powers who 

 take part in the war, and I have 

 entered on negociations with them, 

 which cannot yet be terminated. 



It is for this reason I now find 

 myself obliged to demand of the 

 empire to charge itself with the 

 provisioning of my army. 



In reality, the necessaiy mejfsures 

 on this subject have been lately 

 made at the diet; but your highness 

 will consider that it is imp^sible to 

 wait its decision ; so that tne only 

 thing which remains to be done, is, 



for 



i** •>*»:. 



