210 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1794. 



treasiuy of the empire, the just 

 claim ot 1 ,St)0,000 viK-doUars, the 

 expences for the siege of the for- 

 tress of Meiitz. 



Proclamation piildished ly the Em- 

 peror at Brussels, April 17, 1794. 



EUROPE has, during five years, 

 witnessed the calamitous state 

 of thewretchedkingdom of France; 

 the evils of which increasing daily, 

 do not as yet hold out a prospect of 

 their termination. Ihe impious 

 faction which tyrannizes over that 

 kingdom, to maintain its monstrous 

 system, has at once attacked, under 

 the specious pretext of rer irm, re- 

 ligion, the constitution of the state, 

 and all the bases of social order, 

 which this faction has hastened to 

 dcstro}', substituting in its p'ace a 

 pretended equality, absolutely chi- 

 merical. 



Resolved invariably to maintain 

 the religion and the constitution 

 which have for ages constituted the 

 happiness of the Belgic provinces, 

 "vve are desirous, by a rigid law, to 

 support the public wishes, strongly 

 and generally pronounced by tiie 

 horror the v.'hole country has dis- 

 played at the French revolutionary 

 systems. 



The undermentioned articles fol- 

 low the preamble in the usual 

 form : 



1. All persons, whether foreign- 

 ers or inliabitauts, who shall, by 

 conspiracies or plots, attempt to in- 

 troduce or propagate, in this coun- 

 try, the above system, shall be con- 

 sidered as guilty of high treason, 

 and punished with death. 



2. All those who by words or 

 writing shall favour the propagation 



of such a system shall be punished 

 by imprisonment. 



3. The associations, known un- 

 der the titles of clubs and literary 

 societies, as well as every other si- 

 milar assemblage of men, whatever 

 its denominations maybe, shall be 

 bound to inform the fiscal counsel- 

 lors of the object of their society, 

 and the names of those who com- 

 pose it, for the purpose of obtaining 

 in writing a consent from the said 

 fiscal counsellors, which shall, how- 

 ever, be merely provisional. Every 

 act of disobedience to be punished 

 by a fine of one hundred crowns. 

 This clause to extend to all the ci- 

 ties, towns, and villages, of the 

 Imperial Netherlands. 



4. Those who shall lodge infor- 

 mations against such as are guilty 

 of the aboVe-named crimes and ex- 

 cesses shall have arecompence, pro- 

 portioned to the magnitude of the 

 discoveries they shall make. Eor 

 the crimes mentioned in the first 

 article, thisrecompense shall not be 

 less than 1 COO crov/ns. And, 



5. Informing accomplices shall 

 have the same recompense, with 

 forgiveness, unless they shall have 

 been the chief and principal abet- 

 tors. 



Address Jrom the Emperor to the in- 

 habitants oj the Netherla?ids. 



The emperor and king. 



REVEREND fathers in God, 

 nobles, dear and liege vassals, 

 dear and weli-beloved: by ourroyaj 

 dispatch.,of the LOth of April last, 

 we announced to you the motives 

 which induced us to have recourse 

 to your zeal ; the motives which our 

 commissioners have sincedisclosed to 

 you, concern yourselves as much as 



thty 



