STATE PAPERS. 
ing divided. In aword, your pre- 
sence, by depriving our enemies of 
hope, will deprive those factions, 
by which we are torn, of all the 
strength they derive from terror.— 
This word will no longer be pro- 
nounced in a country, the defence 
of which you undertake; and you 
will acquire every kind of glory by 
restoring to France that tranquillity 
which is necessary for framing good 
laws, and by securing to the King 
the eternal gratitude of a people to 
whom he shall have given the Duke 
of Brunswick as a defender. 
You may be told that the French 
constitution, which you might think 
proper to support, abounds with 
faults; but such as it is, it isa grand 
epoch in the human mind; and no 
judgment ought to be passed on it 
while it is seen surrounded only by 
all the troubles of a civil war, really 
existing, though that expression has 
never openly been pronounced. 
In short, the French people wish 
to bury themselves under the ruins 
of this constitution; and in their 
devoting themselves there will be 
something heroic, which will oblige 
the Duke of Brunswick, should he 
become their enemy, to confess, 
that ¢hat nation, in its defeat, knows 
how to snatch from the conqueror 
. the prize of his glory. 
I could also, in coolly discussing 
the interests of Europe, prove to 
your Serene Highness the utility of 
_ the step which I propose; but I 
place my hopes only in that love of 
glory which we ought to believe to 
be the characteristic of your High- 
ness. To this sentiment I wished 
to address myself: it is the language 
of antiquity, a language such as the 
Romans would not have resisted, 
that I have thought proper to em- 
ploy. The glory of the Duke of 
303 
Brunswick seems to be cotempora- 
ry with those ages of heroism. 
Should Isave my country by per- 
suading your Serene Highness to 
pursuethe courageous course which 
I request you to follow you cannot 
doubt that my whole attention, in 
the office I occupy, shall be to unite 
all the means which prudence can 
suggest to second your views: and 
you will find the same enthusiasm 
which has dictated this letter, in the 
ardent care I shall employ to make - 
you enjoy success in the noble step 
which I may prevail upon you to 
pursue. 
M. de Custine will give account 
to your Royal Highness, with as 
much exactness as ability, of the 
present situation of the affairs of 
France. When you have heard 
him, and read this letter, you will 
pronounce an answer which will 
weigh much in the balance of the 
fate of the empire. But if, my 
Lord, you deceive my hopes, if you 
resist the impulse of your heart, all 
will not be terminated between you 
and the French nation. We shall 
still have the ambition of acquiring 
sufficient glory, to make the Duke 
of Brunswick regret having refused 
tu gratify a wish which I have ex- 
pressed tu him in the name of the 
people andthe King. 
I am with respect, 
my Lord, yours, &c. 
(Signed) Louis pe NARBONNE. 
Answer of the Duke of Brunswick to 
M. Louis de Narbonne, Minister 
at War. 
Sir, January 22. 
The letter which you have done 
me the honour to write to me, could 
not fail to excite my most respect- 
ful gratitude to the King, and the 
liveliest 
