STATE PAPERS. 
of an armed neutrality; announcing 
to him, at the same time. that the 
security of these co intries was ihe 
fnotive in which the measures re- 
ferred to had originated. 
Substance of the Reply made to the 
ab-ve Note by the Court of Vienna. 
HIS Imperial mijesty, as su- 
preme head of the empire, cannot 
doubt that the states are obliged te 
concur in a war, fendered neces- 
sary from the pressure of circum. 
$tancés, and formally declared wih 
all their force, for the common de- 
fence. This obligation is derived 
from the principle of individual 
‘and general security, which is the 
most sdcred and the most essential 
basis of every constitution. It is 
ina particular manner blended with 
the substance of the Germanic con- 
stitution, and is recognized by se- 
veral of its laws in the most posi- 
tive terms. ; 
Such is the-result diated by the 
spirit of our constitution, which 
Subjeéts all the respective states, 
and all the nicans of defence, to the 
general controul of the sovereign 
power of the Getmanic empire. 
Such is the result of the oath of 
fealty, which the electors, princes, 
and states of the empire, in order to 
strengthen the social bond, take in 
their capscity of vassals; by which 
they swear, a¢tively to concur in 
‘every step which can tend to the 
onour, to the advantage, and to 
‘the pro-perity of his Imperial’ ma- 
Jesty and of the empire, and which, 
Dy consequence, imposes upon them 
“an-ebligation to second, with all 
‘their might, the measures adopted 
‘by the chief and the states of 
the empire, to avert the danger 
‘which threatens them with total 
‘destruction, 
~~ Wer, XXXVIIL, 
[289 
H's Imperial majesty sees with 
pain, that the appearanees of the 
war by no means answer“the ex- 
pectation which he had been Id 
to entertain ; but in considering the 
fundamental laws of every well 
organized constitution, and the 
principles recognized in the most 
positive terms in the laws of the 
empire; full of anxiety for the good 
of the country, his majesty cannot 
refrain from manifesting a desire 
that the corps, assembled at a crisis 
the most alarming and the most dan 
gerous, may be employed rather in 
aiding a most just defence, by op- 
posing the common enemy, than in 
stopping an invasion still at a dis. 
tance, and of which we apprehend 
only the possibility. 
‘These measures of security, con. 
sidered in themselves, do not ap. 
pear to be contrary to the basis and | 
the spirit of the constitution, pro- 
Vided that the arrangements, for 
the safety and the particular de. 
fence of the north of Germany, are 
not founded upon illegal imposi- 
tions, and provided they are not 
employed to sanétion the unconstt- 
tutional pretext of freeing thém 
from the obligations binding upon 
them by the register of the resolu- 
tions-of the empire, dgcreed for the 
purpose of the gerieral security of 
Germany. . 
If his Imperial majesty on the 
present occasion were to grant to 
this measure of security, as it is 
tetmed in the circular letter of the 
Prussian minister, in the letters of 
conyocation; and in the declara- 
tions of the plenipotentiaries of the 
king, an unlimited approbation, 
alt who should compare it with the 
tenor of the decree of ratification 
of the 29th of July, 1795, would 
accuse him oi adopting contradic. 
19) tory 
