310 
ed nation; which it is in vain to 
seek to vilify, to intimidate, or to 
impose upon, until all preparations 
be ready to attackit, I expect from 
you, Sir, all the energy which be- 
comes the French nation. You will 
preserve its dignity by speaking free- 
ly, and by speedily coming some 
way or other to a conclusion. 
Letter from M. Noailles to the French 
Minister for Foreign Affairs. 
April 5th, 1792. 
Sir, 
YOUR dispatches of the 27th of 
March were brought to me by the 
courier Dorville, on the 4th of April. 
I immediately obeyed the instruc- 
tions contained in them, by visiting 
the Count Cobentzel, vice-chancel- 
lor of the state and of court. I pre- 
ferred addressing myself to him, be- 
cause he is more accessible than 
Monsieur the Prince de Kaunitz, 
and because I was sure by his means 
of introducing whatever I chose to 
the knowledge of the sovereign. 
I said every thing to the vice- 
chancellor which could produce a 
definitive explanation, such as you 
wished. I represented to him how 
much our uneasiness increased every 
day upon observing the hostile pre- 
parations directed against us. ‘* I 
said it was in vain to object to our. 
arming, or to our armaments; that 
it was well known hey had been 
provoked; that we were desirous of 
being able to have confidence in the 
conduct of foreign powers with re- 
gard tous; that they had reason to 
be easy with regard to our conduct; 
tbat if malice had been less exercis- 
ed against us we would have quietly 
concluded the work of our regene- 
tation; that the court of Vienna 
ANNUAL REGISTER, 1702. 
had begun a league or plot against 
us, by granting an asylum and pro- 
tection to the emigrants, and coun- 
tenancing their agents ; and that at 
present they had assembled forces. 
in the Brisgaw, which were, to us 
very suspicious; that the tranquil- 
lity of the Low Countries did not 
require any thing like it; that we 
wanted better assurances than words; 
that simple pacific assurances at pre- 
sent appeared to us calculated solely 
to gain time ; that at length things 
were come to that pitch, that I had 
a positive order to demand a declar- 
ation by which the court of Vienna 
should renounce her armaments 
and the coalition, or to make known 
in default thereof, that the King 
would consider himself to be in a 
state of war with Austria, and that 
he would be strongly supported by 
the whole nation, which was anx- 
ious for a speedy decision.” 
Count Cobentzel undertook to 
justify his court from the hostile 
views imputed to it. ‘ He pro- 
teSted that the King of Bohemia 
was by no means inclined to med- 
dJe with our interior concerns,. 
and did not design by any means. 
to support the interests of the emi- 
grants; he repeated what be had 
often said before, that they had 
sent reinforcements to Brisgaw. as 
they thought them necessary to 
preserve order and justice in the 
country, and that they might sue- 
cour the states of the empire which 
had requested it ef their neigh- 
bours.” I observed, that so many 
precautions, afier the concert that 
was known to us, justified our 
alarms. I insisted especially upon 
the conclusion of this concert, so 
contrary to what we might expect 
from our ally. 
The 
