*

so that peace, on her fide, actually resembled war; and, on his, not a troop had been moved, nor a fingle tent pitched: the King thought it high time to break filence, at least. That accordingly he directed M. Klinggrafe, his Plenipotentiary at the Imperial Court, to demand of the Empress Queen, whether all those great preparations of war, which were making on the frontiers of Silefia, were designed against the King, or what were the intentions of her Imperial Majefty? That her answer, in express terms, was, That, in the present conjuncture, she had found it necef

"

66

fary to make armaments, as well for her own defence, as for " that of her allies; and which did not tend to the prejudice of any body."

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So vague an anfwer requiring explanations, M. Klinggrafe, in conformity to further instructions, farther represented to the Empress, That tho' the King had dissembled, as long as his safety, and his glory would permit; the bad designs imputed to the Empress, would no longer fuffer him to do so: That he was acquainted with the offenfive projects of the two Courts, to attack him together, unexpectedly, the Empress-Queen with 80,000 men, the Empress of Ruffia with 120,000; which were to have been put in execution in the fpring of the current year, but had been deferred till the next, because the Ruffian troops wanted recruits, their ships seamen, and Livonia corn for their subsistence: That the King left the Empress the choice of peace or war: that if the chose peace, all he asked, was, a positive assurance, that the had no intention to attack the King, either this year or the next; but that he should confider any ambiguous answer, as a declaration of war; in which cafe, he should call Heaven and Earth to witness, that all the ca'amities resulting from it, were to be placed to her account:

That the answer given by the Court of Vienna, was more haughty, and less fatisfactory, than the former; which was both recapitulated and juftified in it, as clear, reasonable, and fatiffactory, and what she might have declined giving at all, if the had fo thought proper; feeing, that all Europe knew the military preparations she was making in her own dominions, had not been resolved on, till the military difpofitions of the King of Prussia himself, had first set her the example: That being accustomed to receive, as well as practise, the attentions which Sovereigns owe to each other, the could not hear, without as much aftonishment as sensibility, the contents of M. Klinggrafe's Memorial, which were of fuch a kind, both for matter, and manner of expression, that were she to answer the whole, she could not avoid trespassing on the bounds of moderation the had prescribed to herself: That the informations his Pruffian Majesty had received, concerning an offenfive alliance between her Majesty and the Empress of Ruffia, and all the circumstances and tipulations relating to it, were absolutely false and groundless; that no fuch treaty did exist, or ever had existed; and that this declaration would enable all Europe to judge of what weight and

Ss 4

and quality the dreadful events are, which Mr. Klinggrafe's Memorial announced, and that they could in no sense be imputed to her.

What follows next in this Exposition, is called a short Recapitulation to shew the insufficiency, and incongruity of this Reply. And first, concerning the military dispositions of the King of Pruffia, faid to be known to all Europe; it farther afferts, That upon the Ruffian armaments, in the month of June, the King caused four regiments to pass out of his electorate into Pomerania; and ordered his fortresses to be put into a state of defence; of which the Empress-Queen, glad of any pretence to palliate her ill intentions, was pleased to avail herself, as a fufficient excuse for assembling an army of 80,000 men in Bohemia and Moravia: that when this army had been so assembled, the King ordered three regiments, which had been quartered in Westphalia, towards Haberstadt; but, to avoid giving umbrage, did not send a fingle regiment into Silefia; his troops remaining quiet in their garrifons, without even horses, and the other necessaries for an army, which was either to encamp, or invade : that, on the contrary, the Court of Vienna, while using the language of peace, actually took the most serious measures for war; caufing another camp to be marked out near Hotzenplots, which, tho' a place belonging thereto, lay directly between the two fortresses of Neiffe and Cofel; and, moreover, being then preparing to occupy the camp of Iaromitz, within two miles of Silefia:

That, upon these advices, the King thought it time to make the proper difpofitions, that he might not be at the mercy of a Court so well-intentioned to his interests, as that of Vienna was: That if he had had any formed design against the Empress, he might have put it in execution, with ease, two months fooner: That, however, he was negociating while his enemies were arming: That he had only followed the measures of the Austrians; and that, consequently, the very article on which they lay fo much stress, only ferves to fet their ill designs in broad day-light.

Recurring then to the answer first given to M. Klinggrafe, faid in the second to be so clear a declaration, the Expositor pronounces, both to be inconclufive and unintelligible: asking who are the allies of the Empress threatened with war? France, or Ruffia? and adding, That none but such as were strangely blinded, would fufpect him of designing to attack either; much less with fuch a force as the four regiments sent into Pomerania.

He alío cavils with the Court of Vienna, for faying, they did not mean to attack any body, instead of faying explicitly, they did not mean to attack the King of Prussia. He maintains, that the fubject matter of Klinggrafe's Memorial would not have appeared difagreeable, but to a Court difinclined to give the affurances demanded: and, paffing on to the Ruffian alliance, he says; It is easy for the Austrian Minifters to deny this Convention; but, besfides the facts which are published about it, there are circumftances which feem fufficiently to indicate at leaft a concert.Thefe These circumstances he then enumerates-namely, The approach of the Ruffian troops, in the beginning of June, towards the frontiers of Prussia: The forming an army of 70,000 men, in Livonia, at the fame time that the Austrians were forming another in Bohemia, under the title of an Army of Observation: The return of the Ruffians, about the middle of that month, into their quarters; and the adjournment of the Austrian camps till the next year.

After which he proceeds to say, That notwithstanding these fufpicions and indications, the King would have been glad to have accepted a denial of these projects, accompanied with affurances, that they would not attack the King, either this year or the next: That this was the effential article in Klinggrafe's Memorial, which is precisely the article to which no answer is given: Afks, If this filence did not fufficiently shew, what the designs of the Court of Vienna tended to? and which of the two Powers wished for war? that Power whose troops were encamped on his neighbour's frontiers, or that whose troops were quiet in their quarters? Infers, that the Court of Vienna, far from defiring peace, breathed nothing but war; and proposed, by continual artifices, and haughtinesses, to drive the King into it, in order to have a pretext for reclaiming the assistance of its allies, &c. And then adjoins, That altho' this answer left no further doubt about the designs of the Empress-Queen, and laid him under a necessity to take the only part which was confiftent with his honour and glory; his Majesty had still been pleased to make one last attempt to shake the inflexibility of the Court of Vienna, for the fake of preserving peace: That he had accordingly charged M. Klinggrafe, a third time, to declare, that if the Empress would yet give the positive assurances before required, viz. that she would not attack the King by name, either this year or the next, his Majesty would, in fuch cafe, directly withdraw his troops, and restore things to the state wherein they ought to be: But that this having proved as fruitless as the former, his Majefty flattered himself, that all Europe would do him justice, from a conviction, that it was not the King, but the Court of Vienna that would have war.

Here the Expofitor, if he had fso thought fit, might have laid down his pen: but an over-fondness for his subject, or an overfolicitude to leave nothing unfaid upon it, leads him into repetions of matter, if not of terms, which might have been spared. After which he makes a very proper diftinction between the first aggressions and the first hostilities: Acknowleges the King of Pruffia to have commenced hoftilities; but confiders the Entpress-Queen as the Aggreffor: Infifts, that aggreffions, of which he specifies several kinds, justify hoftilities: Briefly cites several cases in point: Charges the House of Auftria again, with a defign to deftroy the Liberties of Germany: Declares his Pruffian Majefty to be their Champion and Defender; and that they shall not be buried, but in the fame grave with Pruffia: Makes another appeal to Heaven: Says, he is forced to take up arms to diffipate a conspiracy against him; and concludes in these words: If his Majesty departs from his usual moderation, ' it is only because it ceases to be a virtue, when his honour and ⚫⚫his independency, his country, and his crown are at stake.'

This is a fketch of the remarkable piece which is the basis of the Leyden Letter; and the drift of that Letter is to illustrate more at large the diftinction above specified and admitted, between Aggressions and Hostilities; as also to prove, that a Prince is, in every light, juftifiable, who, apprised of an injurious design upon his dominions, proceeds against his adversary by way of prevention. The arguments made use of, are drawn from the first law of Self-preservation: The right of Princes, (who acknowleging no fuperior, are in a state of nature with regard to each other) to the benefit of this law, in common with all other individuals: The right of Princes to appeal to the sword, in every fuch cause as would warrant a subject to appeal to the Courts of law and Justice: The proofs of aggreffion, by any overt-act or acts, whether by military preparations, adverse alliances, &c. which are, in fact, fo many hoftilities, tho' distinguished by a different name: The tacit avowal of such aggreffions, by repeated refusals of the requisite explanations, again and again demanded : The obligations incumbent on a Prince, as the father and protector of his subjects, to prevent the calamities preparing for them by his and their enemies; And the authorities of all the eminent Civilians to warrant their proceeding accordingly.

Coming to application, he says, 'The King of Pruffia, * in the last war, sufficiently made good his claims from the • House of Auftria, and acquired as good a title to Silefia, as a private person, who, in any instance, having gained his fuit, has ' to possess what was adjudged to him. If then the Queen of Hungary endeavours to recover that province, she meditates an unjust design, and the war by which the King of Pruffia en• deavours to overthrow the measures she has taken for that pur* pose, is strictly defenfive.'

The remainder of this piece will be called by some, an Invective against the House of Austria; as bringing a pretty home charge against it, of unreasonable ambition, rapaciousness, and other eminent princely qualities: and the conclufion is seconded with a strong citation from a Latin work of the last age, which, for the fake of shewing how well England has paid her court to the other powers of the continent, by the incredible efforts she has made for the aggrandizement of that ungrateful House, we shall here subjoin, as follows:

"The House of Austria having always governed the Empire " with a view to its own private interest, it were to be wished, "that the Electors would agree to perform what fome authors say they concluded upon, in the time of Lewis of Bavaria; "which was, That the House of Austria should for ever be de

"prived

"prived of the Imperial Crown. This example was imitated by the Poles, who, after being fully convinced of the ambi" tion of this House, concluded in one of the diets, That no person should dare, under the pain of infamy, to propose a "Prince of the House of Austria to be King of Poland, or give " him his fuffrage for that purpose. The Electors not having repealed this ancient convention of their predecessors, putting "the cafe that it has existed, the House of Austria has raised a flame in the Empire, which can scarcely be extinguished " without the entire ruin of that House."

III. Four Pieces, containing a full Vindication of his Prufsian Majesty's Conduct in the present Juncture. 4to. 3s. E. Owen.

The first of these is a Memorial from the Prussian Minister to the States-General, in answer to the Memorial of the Saxon Refident at the Hague; for which reason it will be, in some fort, necessary to give a sketch of the one, which has also been officioufly printed here, before we proceed to the other: and if we should also happen to recollect as we go, that the outside of all this cabinet-work is ever rendered as specious as possible, we shall understand none of them the worse for it.-These, however, which follow, are so many facts which cannot be disputed, viz. The Pruffians formally demand a free passage through Saxony; the Saxon Court does not refuse it, but requires time to make the proper adjustments; with a refolution, however, to obstruct them by force of arms, when properly supported: and his Prussian Majesty fore-seeing, or fore-knowing this, never waits the issue of his own requifition, but enters on the premisses, in a way that fufficiently shewed, what kind of authority he relied on most, when he first ventured on this hardy enterprize.

The Saxon Memorialist, then, sets out with calling it, not only an Invasion, but an attack on the Law of Nations; in the preservation of which every Power was interested; an invafion in the time of the profoundest peace, and when the King, his august Master, had not only avoided, with the greatest care, every measure that might possibly give umbrage to his neighbours, but, from the first glimpse of a misunderstanding between the Courts of Vienna and Berlin, had enjoined his Minifters at all the Courts of Europe, to declare his firm resolution, to observe the strictest Neutrality.

He further aggravates the horrors of this invasion, by an enemy, under the masque of friendship, who, without alleging the leaft complaint, or any pretext whatsoever, but his own conveniency, made himself master of the whole country, capital and all; fortifies, dismantles, difarms, seizes the revenue, raises contributions, exacts hostages, empties arsenals, forces the archieves of state from the custody of the Queen of Poland herself, by the dint of menaces and violence; and instead of the legitimate government,