64S 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1805. 



Germany may avail himself of the 

 opportunity which is offered to him. 

 The fate of his own states, and that 

 of Europe, is now in his hands. In 

 one hand lie holds the disturbances 

 and revolutions ; in the other, the 

 general peace. An impartial neu- 

 trality, sufficient for him to obtain 

 what he desires, and to insure the 

 peace of the world. The most effi- 

 cacious mediation of peace which 

 Austria can make, consists in the 

 preservation of the most peri'ec* neu- 

 trality, in the cessation of arma- 

 ments, in not obliging France to 

 make a diversion, and in leaving no 

 hope for England of bringing Aus- 

 tria over to her side. — Ihe under- 

 signed can have no doubt, but his 

 excellency count Cobentz '1 will set 

 a due value upon the subjects, dis- 

 cussed in the present note, and con- 

 tribute, by his influence, to have 

 them considered in that point of 

 view. — He seizes this opportunity 

 to renew to his excellency count 

 , Cobentzel, the assurance of his 

 highest esteem. 



Second Note from M. de Talleyrand, 

 dflinered on the IGtk of August, 

 1805. 



His majesty the emperor had pla- 

 ced the greatest reliance on the 

 pacific and amicable assurances of 

 Austria, as he thought he had a 

 right to depend upon the good dis- 

 position of that power, considering 

 the manner in which he behaved to- 

 wards it after two wrrs, the entire 

 advantage of which was on the side 

 of France, and in which the great- 

 est part of the Austrian possessions 

 had been conquered by his arms. — 

 Entirely occupied with the war 

 which Efigland has raised, he hoped, 

 since he had given Austria no cause 



of complaint, that Austria would 

 preserve the strictest and most im- 

 partial neutrality ; brit the move- 

 ments of troops, and the other hos- 

 tile dispositions which have taken 

 place in the Hereditary States, and 

 at which Europe is either uneasy or 

 astonished, compel his majesty the 

 emperor to demand not only a cate- 

 gorical explanation, but a most 

 speedy one. — The repeated accounts 

 which the emperor receives from all 

 quarters, compel him to postpone 

 his projects against England ; and 

 thus Austria has done as much as if 

 she had commenced hostilities : for she 

 has made the most powerful diver- 

 sion in favour of England. — Austria 

 assembles an army in the Tyrol, 

 whilst France has evacuated all 

 SwitzerlantI His excellency count 

 Cobenfzel knows very w.-ll, that 

 Austria has nearly 7*i,000 men in 

 Italy, whilst France has not 50.000 

 there, 15,000 of whom are on the 

 (jrulf of Tarento : and this is the 

 very cause that has principally dc- 

 tc-rmintd him to suspend his projects. 

 Austria raises camp-fortifications 

 every where, as if a war were alrea- 

 dy declared, or very near at hand. 

 All the Austrian troops are in mo- 

 tion ; all have quitted their garri- 

 sons in which they were quartered ; 

 all arc marching in a direction which 

 announces war; and how, indeed, 

 could his majesty the emperor ^of 

 Germany and Austria, assemble so 

 many regiments with a pacific inten- 

 tion, in a countr)' so barren and 

 poor as the Tyrol, where he can 

 only maintain them to the detriment 

 of his finances? Why should he 

 establish magazines ? Why should 

 he order the baking of biscuit ? Why 

 should he take up so many draught- 

 horses ? It is a principlein the public 

 law of Europe, that the assembling of 



troops, 



