254 
_ My very dear son; 
IT was} with real regret that we 
Jearned the premature death of 
your illustrious and unfortunate 
nephew, with the melancholy cit- 
cumstances attending it. We have 
not teased to invoke Divine Pro- 
vidence that he may deign to for. 
tify and encourage your majesty, 
that you may. be enabled in these 
times of calamity to support the 
burthen of the crown of your an- 
cestorss 
The misfortunes and adversities 
that have incessantly pressed upon 
you since your departure from 
France, have been intimately felt 
by every one. But to these mise 
fortunes there is an end . 
Confide then in the infinite mercy 
of the Almighty; he alone will 
decide between you and the French 
people, whether they ought to 
be republicans, or whether they 
shall be subject to a king. His 
will, which shall be freely made 
known by the people in the new 
national organization, shall un. 
dotibtedly decide upon that heroic 
sacrifice which is worthy to be 
made by a soul like yours in favour 
wf the of human kind. 
‘The “anequivocal ‘principles _ of 
equity which have superseded the 
“Darbarous system of terror under 
which France has.groaned, give ti 
the reason to hope that pacific re- 
solutions will be the fulfilment of 
the designs of the Almighty. 
Very dear. son, whatever these 
may be, constantly depend upon 
our ‘paternal solicitude,- 4nd the 
tender interest we shall not cease 
to take in the concerns of the eldest 
son of the church, 
We give your majesty our apos- 
tolical benediflion, and pray to 
eoserveoee 
ANNUAL REGISTER, 1795. 
God that he will proteét your law- 
ful rights. 
(Signed) Pius VI 
PROCLAMATION OF LOUIS 
XVIII, 
LOUIS, BY THE GRACE OF GOD; 
KING OF FRANCE AND NAVARRE, 
To all ouy subje&s, greeting. 
In depriving you of a king, 
whose whole reign was passed in 
captivity, but whose infancy even 
afforded sufficient grounds for be- 
lieving that he would: prove 4 
worthy successor to the best of 
kings, the impenetrable decrees of 
Providence, at the same time that 
they have transmitted his crown to 
us, have imposed on us the necessity 
of tearing it from the hands of 
revolt, and the duty of saving the 
country, reduced, by 4 disastrous _ 
revolution, to the brink of ruin. 
The fatal conformity which sub- 
sists between the corhmencement 
of our reign and the commencement 
of the reign of the fourth Henry, 
operates as an additional induce- 
ment with us to take that monatch 
for our model, and imitating, in. 
the first instance, his noble can- 
dour, we shall row lay open our 
whole soul ‘before you. Long, too 
long have we had to deplore those 
fatal circumstances which impe- 
riously prescribed tle fiecessity of 
silence; but now that we are al- 
lowed to exert our voice, attend to 
it. Or love for you is the only 
sentiment by which we are attu- 
ated; Our heart obeys with de- 
light the ditates of clemericy ; and 
since it has pledsed Heaven to re- 
serve us, like Hetiry the Great, to 
re-establish in our empire the eh 
