STATE PAPERS. 



219 



a great share even in the re-taking 

 of Mentz. Notwithstanding the 

 well-founded immunities of his 

 house, his majesty has given in 

 Austrian Flanders and in the 

 country of Brisgaw, the first useful 

 example of arming the inhabitants ; 

 and, at the first proposition of or- 

 ganizing a separate army of the em- 

 pire, he immediately furnished an 

 cxtroardinary contingent of 37,000 

 men. This conduct merits consi- 

 deration the more, in that the other 

 states, who take hold of every pre- 

 text to refuse their contingents, if 

 they had been in the place of the 

 Imperial court, and possessed of such 

 an exemption, acknowledged by 

 the emperor and the empire, and 

 solemnly maintained upon every oc- 

 casion, would have regarded the 

 demand of such a succour, under 

 the name of a contingent, as an 

 infraction of their rights, as mem- 

 bers of the Germanic body. 



The putting on foot such nume- 

 rous armies, the great expence of 

 maintaining them v»-ith the current 

 coin of die empire, the events of 

 the war which have succeeded eacli 

 other with such rapidity and changes 

 of fortune, have required immense 

 sums, which itwas necessary to send 

 from tiie hereditary states into fo- 

 reign provinces ; and, tosupply this, 

 bis majesty has sacriticed, with an 

 unexampled generosity, his own 

 revenues, the voluntary subsidies of 

 his faithful subjects, and his indivi- 

 dual abilities. 



To these sacrifices ought to be 

 added others equally great and dis- 

 tressing. His Imperial majesty, be- 

 sides his numerous contingent, has 

 kept up a considerable force from 

 Basle to Philipsbonrg, for the ge- 

 neral defence of the empire. He 

 lias even employed, for tlie protec- 



tion of the Germanic body, 20,000 

 men, as stipulated in the treaty with 

 his Prussian majesty, notwithstand- 

 ing the important services which 

 those troops might have rendered in 

 defendinghis own possessions in the 

 Low Countries. He still under- 

 takes, however, to supply thera 

 with bread and forage. 



Another sacrifice, of no less im- 

 porf^nce, and of greater prejudice 

 to his majesty's hereditary states, is 

 the Imperial court has not applied 

 to the court of Great Britain, its 

 Jaithful ally, to oblige the t)2,000 

 Prussians, subsidized by the mari- 

 time powers, to march into the 

 Low Countries. According to the 

 express terms of the treaty, these 

 troops were at the disposal of these 

 powers, and to act in support of 

 the common cause. They would 

 have been employed to the greatest 

 advantage in the Low Countries, 

 and by co-operating with the allied 

 armies, might have averted the ca- 

 lamities which have taken place. 



Tliese extraordinary efforts, these 

 grievous and irreparable sacrifices 

 which have not been seconded with 

 energy and alacrity, can only pro- 

 tract for a short period the last me- 

 lancholy blow, which the empire 

 has too much reason to apprehend 

 from the conquest of the provinces 

 on the banks of the Rhine, a^d on 

 ' the other side that river. However, 

 as his majeiity's states are in fact 

 drained of their men and money, by 

 the favourable, as well as by the 

 adverse occurrences of this destruc- 

 tive war, the extreme remedy must 

 now be resorted to, in order to pre- 

 vent the annihilation of our troops, 

 should we be inclined still to parry 

 otf the mortal blow, which threatens 

 the sitbversion of the constitution 

 and government of Germany. 



The 



