916} 
sttengthened the ties by which they 
were united. Their reciprocal in- 
terest is therefore so intimately con- 
neéted and interwoven, and their 
determination so firm, that it 
would be impossible to obstruct the 
operations of one of them, without 
forcing the’ others most warmly to 
embrace his cause. Of this de- 
’ scription is especially the situation 
*of her Imperial majesty with respect 
to the king of Great Britain; so 
that in case of need, her Imperial 
majesty would be obliged to assist 
-and support him to the utmost ex- 
tent of her power, but fortunately 
such connections subsist between 
his Catholic majesty and the king 
of Great Britain, ‘in consequence of 
several treaties renewed in the year 
1793, as can never cease to be dear 
to his Catholic majesty, and neither 
ther-conveniency nor usefulness of 
which can have been lessened by a 
change of affairs produced by the 
- most imperious circumstances. 
This important consideration, in 
addition to that which proceeds 
fromthe favourable disposition of 
his Catholic majesty towards the 
common cause, cannot but render 
her Imperial majesty perfectly easy 
with ‘respect to the conduét which 
“his Catholic- majesty is likely to 
~ pursue. Her Imperial majesty is 
‘of opinion, that it will be both 
candid and sincere, and it would 
be painful for her to suppose, that 
in any case whatever his Catholic 
majesty could favour measures tend- 
ing to obstruct and oppose the 
avowed purposes of the three allied 
courts. ‘i 
‘You, sir, will adopt the most 
proper means officially to commu- 
nicate to the ministry of his Catho- 
lic majesty the tenor of this dis- 
patch, aud to make it the subject 
ANNUAL REGISTER, 1796. 
of-a conference you are to request 
of the Prince of Peace. 
(Signed) Count OsTERMAN. 
The Answer of his Excellency’ the 
Prince of Peace to M. de Bulzow, 
dated Santa Cruz,March 17,1796, 
I HAVE received your letter 
of the 22d of February, with a 
copy of the dispatch, which you, 
Sir, have received from your court 
by the last courier from London, 
and must return you in answer, 
that the King, my master, has 
with much pleasure learned the 
friendly terms, in which, on the 
part of her Imperial Majesty, he 
has been acquainted with the close 
alliance concluded with the courts 
of Vienna and London, which cer- 
tainly cannot have been the result of 
the circumstances which existed in 
Poland, at the time when the forces 
of her Imperial Majesty might have 
been employed at a point, where all 
those monarchs who united for the 
preservation of their existence, and 
the mutual support of their rights, 
rallied.. At that period, the King, 
my master, gave the strongest 
proofs of his grief at the misfortune 
of a beloved cousin, and foresaw 
that his dominions were drawing 
near that universal. corruption, 
which .results from. madness with- 
out bounds.: He waged war against 
tyrants, but was unable to learn 
who they were, for he did not 
know, following the capricious 
dictates of their levity, who were 
the good Frenchmen that defended 
the cause of their king. He was 
only able to discern, that but a 
few, victims of their sense of hos 
nour, were his true adherents, 
who followed him to the grave. 
The desire of the King, my master, 
was, however, so earnest, that 
note 
