STATE PAPERS. 



651 



transmitted to him by the minister 

 for foreign affairs, feels it incum- 

 bent on him to confine himself to a 

 recapitulation of that conduct which 

 his august master has constantly- 

 held tOAvards the French govern- 

 ment, the plain exposition of which 

 ■will sufficiently demonstrate the na- 

 ture of the reciprocity which he has 

 in his turn experienced from that 

 power. From the moment that 

 his majesty ascended the throne, he 

 laboured with all his care to renew 

 the good intelligence which had for- 

 merly prevailed between France and 

 Russia. His imperial majesty, in 

 anticipating the explanations which 

 were to produce a solid and perma- 

 nent understanding between the two 

 countries, was happy in the per- 

 suasion, that he would by that means 

 eflfedtually contribute to the general 

 pacification of Europe ; the tranquil- 

 lity of which had been too long dis- 

 turbed by the events m hich occa- 

 sioned the war that was terminated 

 by the treaty of Luneville. The 

 readiness which his majesty shewed 

 to make peace with the French go- 

 venmient, at the time it was at war 

 with several other powers — ^the re- 

 newal of the former treaty of com- 

 merce, which was entirely to the 

 advantage of France — the good of- 

 fices of Russia in bringing about a 

 reconciliation between the republic 

 and the Ottoman Porte, are all con- 

 vincing proofs of the disposition of 

 his majesty, and of his wishes to 

 negledt nothing on his part, which 

 could tend to consolidate that con- 

 nexion which he hoped might ex- 

 ist for ever. Since that period, 



M'hen, in consequence of the mis- 

 fortunes which Germany experienc- 

 ed in the course of the war, and 

 that many members of the Germanic 

 body were put uudcr the ucccssity 



of submitting to make sacrifices, 

 and that it became necessary to as. 

 certain those sacrifices, for the pur- 

 pose of settling tlie ii\demnities that 

 Avere to compensate for their losses, 

 the emperor consented to become 

 a joint mediator with the French 

 government, in the cordial hope, 

 that the a6t of mediation would seal 

 the tranquillity of the continent. — 

 The completion of this salutary 

 work allowed his imperial majesty 

 to turn his attention to the engage- 

 ments which France voluntarily en- 

 tered into at the period of her con- 

 clusion of her peace with Russia. 

 His majesty having scrupulously 

 fulfilled those which he entered into 

 with France, had a right to expe6t 

 that the French government would 

 also have shewn itself anxious to 

 equal his punctuality, and to per- 

 form its own obligations. How- 

 ever reasonable this expe6tation was, 

 it has never been realised ; and the 

 French government, so far from 

 shewing any disposition to fulfil 

 them, has taken no little pains, if 

 the undersigned may use the expres- 

 sion, to retard their accomplish- 

 ment. The king of Sardinia, who 

 has been wholly deprived of his 

 possessions in Italy, by the unioa 

 of Piedmont to France, has still to 

 look for that indemnity which the 

 cabinet of the Thuillcries had so- 

 lemnly pledged itself to Russia to 

 allow him, and which the latter has 

 continually demanded. — The king 

 of Naples, who Mas freed for a 

 short time from the presence of a 

 JVench army in his kingdom, be- 

 holds it again occupying his pro- 

 vinces, under a pretext the nature 

 of which is not know n to his im- 

 perial majesty ; and he is conse- 

 quently placed out of 'the line of in- 

 dependent states. The represen- 

 tations 



