1809.] 
ance of peace, neither Europe nor I shall owe 
that obligation to you, and we canby no means 
consider you as friends ;.and I shall consider 
myself as completely at liberty to call upon 
you to make ,those arrangements which the 
state of Europe demands. 
¢ What may in the mean time happen. You 
have levied a force of 400,000 men; I will 
levy a body 200,000 men. The Confederation 
of the Rhine, which had disbanded its troops, 
will re-assemble them, and arm the mass of 
their population. Germany, which had be- 
gun to breathe after so many destructive wars, 
will find her wounds bleeding afresh. Instead 
of evacuating, as was my intention, the pro- 
vince of Silesia, and the Prussian states, 
I shall again put the fortresses of Silesia 
in a state of defence. All-'Europe will 
be in arms; the armies will be drawn 
up in the presence of each other, and the 
slightest oceurrence will occasion the com- 
mencement of hostilities. 
‘ You say that you havean army of 400,000 
men, a force more considerable than you pos~ 
sessed at any period of your monarchy}; you in- 
tend to douole it ; if your example were to be 
followed, even the very women would soon 
be made to take up arms. 
things, when every spring is on the stretch, 
war will become desirable, for the mere pur- 
pose of unbending them: Thus it is, that in 
the physical world, the state of suffering which 
nature experiences at the approach of a tem- 
pest, excites a wish that the thunder should 
burst forth, in order to unbend and give relief 
to the contracted sinews, and to restore the 
sweets of a pleasing calm toheaven and earth; 
a violent, but shert illness, is better than a 
long period of suffering. : 
‘ Mean while all hope of a maritime peace 
disappears ; the efficient means of attaining it 
are rendered of no avail. The English smile 
with satisfaction at the prospect of discord be- 
ing revived on the continent, and to her it is 
they confide their interests. 
‘Such are the evils which you have pro- 
duced, and that too, were I to credit your pro- | 
fessions, altogether unintentionally. But if 
your intentions are as pacific as you pretend, 
you must give proofs that they-are so; you 
must recal the measures that have produced 
30 dangerous a ferment ; and this impulse, in- 
voluntarily impressed, must be opposed by a 
direct contrary impulse; and whereas from 
_ Petersburgh to Naples nothing hasbeen talked 
of but the war that Austria was on the point 
of commencing, and whichall your merchants 
represented as inevitable; all Europe must, I 
say, be completely convinced that peace re- 
quires that your pacific intentions should be 
universally talked of and confirmed by your 
actions as well as. your professions. On my 
side you shall receive every assurance that you 
can desire.” 
*¢ Such, Sir, as far as I have been able ta 
describe it, is an authentic statement of what 
his Majesty addressed to M. Von Metternich. 
His Majesty seemed to be moved, as men na- 
Stale of Public Affairs in ALays 
In such a state of ° 
499 
turally are, in discussing matters of such im~ 
portance! He, however, exhibited only that 
dezree of animation, which such a motive was 
calculated to produce; he spoke of the Empe- 
ror of Austria and his government with the 
greatest reserve, and pald many personal com- 
pliments toM. Von Metternich. ‘This Am- 
bassador, who, it should be observed, has ai- 
ways given us assurance of the pacific senti- 
ments of his court, was not, for a moment, 
placed in a situation of embarrassment; I had 
a conversation with him in the evening, and 
he felicitated himself on being employed at a 
court where communications of thisdescription 
could be personally made by a sovereign to a 
foreign minister. 
with him in this sentiment. The Emperors 
‘to those who are capable of comprehending 
him, appears noble, magnanimous, frank, 
attentive to all the duties of etiquitte, and 
performing them with a peculiar degree of ree 
finement, and that perfect sensibility, which 
- is awakened by the great interests of humanity- 
It might be clearly discovered that, equally 
prepared for war or peace, he wished for the 
latter without dreading the former ; andit was 
the general opinion that to so frank and mag- 
nanimous a discourse, no other answer could 
be given than by declaring either that war is 
actually intended, or by proving the existence 
of a pacific disposition by deeds rather thanby 
words. You maymake this dispatch,Sir,the sab- 
ject of your conferences with M. Von Stadion. 
The Austrian government can lentertain no 
doubts with respect tothe sincerity of the Em- ° 
peror’s pacificinclinations. But the Emperor 
ra ety & 
will have tranquillity as well as peace. Tf 
Austria attaches an equal degree of value to 
this peace, she will neglect no means of com- 
pletely tranquilliging the Emperor, with res- 
pect to her dispositions, and she will most ef+ 
fectually contribute to this object by giving 
another direction to public opinion ; but this 
direction can only result from a change of mea- 
sure.” 
BULLETINS OF THE FRENCH ARMY. 
First Bulletin. 
Head quarters at Ratisbon, April 24, 1809. 
Vhe Austrian army passed the Inn on the 
9th April ; that was the signal for hostilities, 
and Austria deciared an implacable war against 
France and her allies, and the Confederation 
of the Rhine. 
The following were the positions of the 
French army and herallies :— 
The corps of the Duke D’ Auerstadt at Ra- 
tisbon. . 
The corps of the Duke of Rivoli at Ulm. 
The corps of General Oudinot at Augs- 
burgh. 
The Head-quarters at Strasburgh. 
The three divisions of Bavarians, under the 
Duke of Dantzic were placed as follows: — 
The first division, commanded by the ¥rince 
Royal, at Munich 5 the second, by Gen. De- 
roy, at Landshut3 andthe third by Gen. Wiede 
at Straubing, 
The 
M. Von Tolstoy concurred _ 
eee 
