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whilst he was engaged in exercises of devotion, suffered extreme distress to
be brought on the ecclesiastical state by falling into the impolitic and ini-
quitous practice of his predecessors; who enabled their adherents to enrich
themselves at the public expence, by a monopoly and export of grain.—
Ganganelli, whilst he equalled the most exemplary of his predecessors in
piety and a uniform discharge of religious duties, was wise, provident, and
just; and his enlarged mind disposed him rather to deviate from the practice
of his predecessors than from the dictates of good sense and reason.-To
remedy the present dearth, he employed a part of a sum of 5,000,000 of
crowns deposited by Sixtus Quintus in the castle of St. Angelo, to be used
for the relief of national distress on any great emergency.
To provide
against the return of scarcity, he ordered seed to be distributed to the
husbandmen, and lowered the tax on provisions. These judicious acts of
beneficence Clement was enabled to perform by the simplicity and economy
which he observed in his general manner of living.

с

1770

GENEVA.

THE success which had attended the popular party in their late assertion of right gave encouragement to other claimants.-That description of persons denominated natives, or sons of inhabitants, born at Geneva, who were at this time nearly as numerous as the citizens or burghers, became more sensible of the power which numbers give, and their passions were warmed by the writings of Rousseau and others in favour of liberty and political equality. Their interests had, indeed, been attended to in the late edict of reconciliation, which rendered the privileges of citizenship more easily attainable to them; decreeing that, on the payment of a small sum, twentyfive of them should be admitted to the enjoyment of these in the present year and five annually afterwards. But this did not satisfy them. Presuming on the support of those citizens who declared themselves the friends of freedom, they first expressed their dissatisfaction in murmurs because they were not admitted to a larger share of civic privileges. And they, at last betrayed

C Caraccioli. 66.

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1770

betrayed such a disposition to seditious practices that the magistrates thought it incumbent on them to provide for the public peace by coercive measures. Incensed at the exercise of authority with which they were threatened, the malecontents, then, flew to arms; pretending that they did it to prevent the enterprises of the magistrates against the freedom of the constitution.— A tumult ensued, in which the magistrates and the citizens who supported them prevailed: And the issue of the feud was, that eight of the ringleaders of the malecontents were banished; and, as the most advisable means of preventing a repetition of these tumultuous proceedings, other immunities were granted the natives.

a

1770

GERMANY AND PRUSSIA.

THE emperor, whose mind was ever intent on the domestic concerns of his dominions, as well as the great affairs of state, gave a signal proof of his regard for the welfare of his subjects on occasion of the extreme dearth which now prevailed. When informed of the distress occasioned by it in Bohemia and Moravia, not content with the representations of others, he immediately repaired into those provinces; that, by his personal inquiries, he might make himself perfectly acquainted with the cause of the calamity, and be enabled to employ the proper means to prevent as well as to remedy the evils of scarcity. He visited the hospital at Prague and added 24,000 florins to its revenue; he distributed 50,000 ducats in bread and other necessaries during his residence in Bohemia, and caused punishment to be inflicted on those who had been guilty of abuses in the administration.— Moreover, that none of his subjects might suffer, without redress of their wrongs or relief of their distresses, he, at this time, published an ordinance that did him great honour, by which people of all descriptions were allowed free access to his person, and the officers of his court were forbidden to debar any one who wished to lay their complaints before him.Actuated by the same principles of humanity and patriotism, he not only alleviated the present sufferings of the people by prohibiting the exportation

of

a

Planta. 2. 357•

of grain, but provided for the future comfort of the peasantry by regulations to prevent their being oppressed by their lords: he moreover facilitated the obtaining of redress even to those who were in the capacity of slaves; and provided for the punishment of those who were guilty of

violence towards them."

We cannot but regret that the attention of a prince who was so laudably employed should be diverted to matters of foreign policy, which led him on to schemes of aggrandizement that were inconsistent with justice and hostile to the general interests of Europe.-The success of the Russian arms, this year, in Moldavia and the Mediterranean increased the alarm which the empress's proceedings in Poland gave to the neighbouring powers. For that reason, the emperor and the king of Prussia thought it necessary to pay a particular regard to their armies at this period. To observe and guard against the movements of this rival in power became the chief object of their policy. Frederic, by incessantly exercising his troops in every branch of military operations, had restored that vast body of infantry which had made him formidable in the late war to such a state of perfection, that, he tells us, he could lead them to the field with confidence. The emperor, mean-time, was labouring to bring his forces to that exact discipline and perfect skill and address in tactics and evolutions for which the Prussians were so celebrated. After he had done honour to his sister, the archduchess Maria Antoinette, by his attendance on the ceremony of her marriage to the dauphin, which was celebrated with great pomp at Vienna, he devoted his principal regard to warlike preparations, and councils with the generals who were to execute his orders.

The necessity of an interposition on the part of the courts of Vienna and Berlin, to bring about a peace between the empress and the Porte was rendered daily more evident by the victories obtained by the Russian arms. -They began with offering their mediation to the belligerent powers; which was accepted by them. These were transactions, however, in which many obstructions were expected. In the mean-time, the peculiar affairs of their imperial and Prussian majesties being of such a nature as were best discussed by the monarchs in person, a congress was held by them at Neustadt,

a

Caraccioli. 23 to 26.

b

Idem. and Memoires de Frederic II. 5. 164.

1770

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Neustadt, in Lower Austria,† that Frederic might return the honour done him in the preceding year.-After an exchange of civilities, prince de Kaunitz, the counsellor who attended to prevent any ill consequences that might arise from his sovereign's ardour, opened the conferences by declaring the political principles on which his court acted. He insisted on the necessity of opposing the ambitious views of Russia, and said, "That the empress queen would not suffer the Russians to pass the Danube, nor the empress to make such acquisitions as would advance her territories to "the confines of Hungary." He added, "that an union of Prussia and "Austria was the only barrier that could be opposed to the torrent which threatened to overwhelm all Europe."-To this his majesty replied, "That he should endeavour to cultivate the friendship of their imperial majesties, which he highly valued; but prayed prince Kaunitz to con"sider the obligations which his alliance with Russia laid upon him, which "he could not depart from; that these were so many shackles which pre" vented him from adopting the measures proposed by the prince:" adding, "that his only desire was to prevent the war from becoming general; that " he would employ his earnest endeavours to reconcile the two imperial "courts; which it was necessary to do, that their present misunderstanding "might not bring on an open contest."-Such was the purport of the conference between Frederic and prince Kaunitz, which was communicated to his imperial majesty. That he might preserve the emperor's esteem, however, the king repeated his professions of the most friendly disposition towards the court of Vienna.

66

Two days after this interview, a courier arrived with letters from the grand seignior, inviting the emperor and the Prussian monarch to mediate a peace between him and the empress of Russia; and declaring also, that the sultan was not disposed to consent to any treaty but by their intervention.— The mediation, which was offered in so flattering a manner, being perfectly agreeable with the views of the two monarchs, was readily accepted by them, and the sultan's propositions were communicated to the empress Catharine about the close of this year.

+ August 3.

August 12.

Memoires de Frederic II. 5. 49.

d Idem. 5. 51. 55.

It

It is evident that Frederic, in these transactions, was preparing to pursue his own peculiar interests, as occasion might invite. His secret views became more suspected when it was known that his brother, prince Henry of Prussia, under pretence of making a visit to his sister, the queen of Sweden, had changed his route, and was repaired to Petersburg. When this was compared with his majesty's declarations at Neustadt, it was thought to be ominous of some deep-laid design for the mutual advantage of himself and the empress Catharine.

If, in these transactions, candour and disinterestedness were sacrificed to that self-interested policy which directed all his actions with foreign powers, his conduct receives some extenuation from the too frequent practice of other courts: and, in other instances, our attention is called off from the demerit of his acts of rapine by the splendid military achievements which accompanied them. Injustice itself appears less deformed when it is practised among those who are equal in strength. But we now find him practising oppression without any such extenuating circumstances, against a small republic, under the protection of a monarch who was disabled from rendering it any service by the successful tyranny of the neighbouring powers. The magistrates of Dantzic had forbidden the Prussian officers to raise recruits within their free city: and the postmaster had refused to pass some casks of silver which came from the Prussian resident, without examination. On intelligence of this, a body of troops, by his majesty's orders, made an irruption into the territories of the republic;|| seized several posts; and made the guards prisoners. Nor were the citizens relieved from the consternation into which they were thrown, till they had consented to pay him 75,000 ducats, and had subscribed certain articles prescribed to prevent a repetition of this offence.

1770

DENMARK.

THE spirit of intrigue, which afterwards produced such fatal effects, began already to discover itself in the cabals of the court.

1770

Count Holke, who had
long

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f Annual Register. 43.

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