388 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1813. 



FOREIGN STATE-PAPERS. 



Russia. — Declaration. — At tlie 

 moment of my ordering the armies 

 under my command to pass the 

 Prussian frontier, the emperor, my 

 master, directs me to declare, that 

 this step is to be considered in no 

 otlier h'ght than as the inevitable 

 consequence of the military opera- 

 tions. 



Faithful to the principles which 

 have actuated his conduct at all 

 limes, his imperial majesty is guid- 

 ed by no view of conquest. The 

 sentiments of moderation which 

 have ever characterised his policy 

 are still the same, after the decisive 

 successes with which divine Pro- 

 vidence has blessed his legitimate 

 efforts. Peace and independence 

 shall be their result. These his 

 majesty offers, together with his 

 assistance, to every people, who, 

 being at present obliged to oppose 

 him, shall abandon the cause of 

 Napoleon, in order to follow that 

 of their real interest. I invite 

 them to take advantage of the for- 

 tunate opening which the Russian 

 armies have produced, and to unite 

 themselves with them in the pur- 

 suit of an enemy whose precipitate 

 flight has discovered its loss of 

 power. It is to Prussia in parti- 

 cular to which this 'nvitation is ad- 

 dressed. It is the intention of his 

 imperial majesty to put an end to 

 the calamities by which she is op- 

 pressed, to demonstrate to her king 

 the friendship which he preserves 

 for him, and to restore to the mo- 

 narchy of Frederic its eclat and its 

 -extent. He hopes that his Prussian 

 majesty, animated by sentiments 

 which this frank declaration ought 



to produce, will, under such cir- 

 cumstances, take that part alone, 

 which the wishes of his people, 

 and the interest of his states, de- 

 mand. Under this conviction, the 

 emperor, my master, has sent me 

 the most positive orders to avoid 

 every thing that could betray a 

 spirit of hostility between the two 

 powers, and to endeavour, within 

 the Prussian provinces, trf soften, 

 as far as a state of war will permit, 

 the evils which for a short time 

 must result from their occupa- 

 tion. 

 (Signed) The marshal commander 



in chief of the armies, 

 Prince Koutosoff Smolensko. 



Proc/amatio7i. 

 When the emperor of all the 

 Russias was compelled by a war of 

 aggression, to take arms for the 

 defence of bis states, his imperial 

 majesty, from the accuracy of his 

 combinations, was enabled to 

 form an estimate of the important 

 results which that war might pro- 

 duce with respect to the indepen- 

 dence of Europe. The most heroic 

 constancy, the greatest sacrifices, 

 have led to a series of triumphs; 

 and when the commander in chief, 

 prince KoutousofF Smolensko, led 

 his victorious troops beyond the 

 Niemen, the same principles still 

 continued to animate the sovereign. 

 At no period has Russia been ac- 

 customed to practise that art (too 

 much resorted to in modern wars), 

 of exaggerating, by false state- 

 ments, the success of her arms. But 

 with whatever modesty her details 

 might now be penned, they would 



