STATE PAPERS. 



205 



Germanic empire and his illustiious 

 allies. 



His majesty, confident that his 

 designs are pure, might pass in si- 

 lence over such rumours, and con- 

 tent himself with the conviction, 

 that they would find no belief on 

 the part of the well-disposed states 

 of the empire : but to give the most 

 ample satisfaction, and to confound 

 the malevolent, who invent simi- 

 lar stories purposely, and periiaps 

 to excite distrust, the undersigned 

 has orders formally to declare, that 

 while his majesty makes war upon 

 the French, he has never any view 

 but the defence of the Germanic 

 empire, and the maintenance of the 

 constitution; that it never was his 

 majesty's design to make conquests 

 for himself ; and that if conquests 

 are made from France, the empire 

 will have its share ; that l>e never 

 conceived the least idea of indem- 

 nifying himself at the expence of 

 the empire, whose constitution has 

 always been sacred to him, and for 

 whose maintenance he ha* already 

 made so many sacrifices, as is gene- 

 rally knowv). 



The undersigned finally declarer., 

 that his majesty will never btlie 

 those intentior.s in f;iture, and v^iU 

 be always ready to secure and gua- 

 rantee to the Germanic empire its 

 territory and constitution, and to its 

 states in particular, botli spiritual 

 and temporal, their possessions and 

 rights ; in a word, the inviolable 

 maintenance of the whole Germa- 

 nic body, provided the empire, and 

 above all, those six circles which 

 are most exposed to danger at the 

 present, will co-operate as much as 

 the^ constitution and patriotism re- 

 quire of them. 



(Signed) Baron Hochstettor. 



Letter from the king of Prussia, 

 to the prince of Saxe Coburg. 



I AM eager to inform you, that 

 in consequence of the negotia- 

 tions which have hitherto been car- 

 ried on, it is my intention to give 

 orders to my field-marshal Mollen- 

 dorfF to leave behind a corps of 

 20,000 men, under the command 

 of heutenant-general Kalkreuth, to 

 withdraw with the rest of my army 

 from the environs of Mentz, and to 

 march towards Cologne. I request 

 you, for that purpose, to take the 

 necessar}- measures, that the retreat 

 of the most considerable part of my 

 troops do not turn out advantage- 

 ous to the enemy, but that the for- 

 tress of Mentz, and the empire in 

 general, remain covered against 

 hostile invasion. It being in other 

 respects necessary to make arrange- 

 ments to procure to the troops who 

 put themselves on their march the 

 necessaiy provisions on the road to 

 Cologne, their departure will not 

 follow so rapidly ; and those troops 

 shall not file off at once, but by di- 

 visions — you will, therefore, have 

 time sufficient to make the necessary 

 disposition. I hope, at the same 

 time, that you will liave the goodness 

 to take such measures, that when 

 field-marshal Mollendoiff shall have 

 finished his preparations, and when, 

 by virtue of the orders received, he 

 shall have informed you of the days 

 on which the troops shall depart, 

 the execution of this resolution do 

 not suffer any obstacle. 

 (Sicrned) William Frederick. 

 Pi^tsdam, March 11, 1794. 



Dpi-laraiion of tie king of Prussia to 

 the German cmpirc,on his secssion 



Jram 



