STATE PAPERS. 



SOS 



have the most need of protection, 

 namely, those of Franconia, Bava- 

 ria, Siiabia, the electoral circle of 

 the Upper Rhine, that of the Lower 

 Rhine, and of Westphalia, should 

 take upon themselves, provision- 

 ally, from the date of the 1st of Fe- 

 bruary, under the reserve of. the 

 eventual decision of the diet, and 

 until its full completion, the sup- 

 port of the Prussian army which 

 acts against the enemy. The pro- 

 visions to be delivered to it will 

 comprehend daily 41,966 rations, 

 and 82,154' portions, with the ne- 

 cessary wood, straw, carriages, &c. 

 and that after the decision of the 

 diet shall have taken place, they 

 shall receive from the other cir- 

 cles an indemnification in money, 

 proportionate to their advances. — 

 That this measure, which circum- 

 stances render so indispensably ne- 

 cessary, may be as soon as possible 

 carried into execution, the king has 

 requested his serene Htghness the 

 elector of Mentz, as arch-chancel- 

 lor and director of the empire, to 

 convoke without delay, in an as- 

 sembly at Francfort,the above-men- 

 tioned circles, with the reserve of 

 what is due in such cases to his 

 imperial majesty, as chief of the 

 empire, for the collection and par- 

 tition of the provisions, that mea- 

 sures may be taken in concert with 

 the Prussian commissary, deputy to 

 this assembly of the circles, the 



I baron de Herdenberg, without de- 



"v lay, and without observing the for- 

 malities useful in other cases, but 



' in this destructive, to determine tiie 

 place, the manner, and the time of 

 delivering them. The undersigned 



U is commanded at the same time to 

 give this information to the circles 

 of the Lower Rhine and Westpha- 

 lia, and to request of them to de- 



liberate immediately upon an ob- 

 ject so important and so urgent, 

 and to send to Francfort a depu- 

 tation which may co-operate to- 

 wards it. The reasons, which make 

 the greatest celerity necessary, are 

 too evident to require any farther 

 illustrations; the tearing asunder all 

 the bands of society ; the subver- 

 sion of all constitutions, jjolitical 

 and ecclesiastical ; the annihilation 

 of all property, and the destruction 

 of every species of happiness! and 

 prosperity, among all classes of men ; 

 such would be the melancholy fate 

 of Germany, if our couiltry were 

 to be conquered by a nation whicli 

 breathes only murder and pillage: 

 and this conquest would be the 

 almost inevitable . consequence of 

 the retreat of the Prussian army, to 

 which his majesty would, by dif- 

 ferent reasons, be infallibly com- 

 pelled, though with regret, if the an- 

 terior circles did not resolve without 

 delay, the provincial maintenance 

 which is demanded of them, and 

 did not immediately make the ne- 

 cessary dispositions to that effect. 

 His majesty, full of confidence in 

 his co-estates of this circle, assures 

 himself that, penetrated by the ur- 

 gency of circumstances, they will 

 conduct and accelerate this nego- 

 tiation with all the zeal which is 

 inspired by the defence of their 

 own existence, as well as that of all 

 Gt^rmany. At the same time that 

 the undtrsigned has the honour to 

 recommend, with the greatest confi- 

 dence, this affair to the patriotism 

 of the two high co-directors, he 

 must request that this proposition, 

 made on the part of the king of 

 Prussia, may be immediately com- 

 municated to the whole circle, and 

 that the assembly of the circle, at 

 present separated, may be called 



together. 



