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be overwhelmed, after an attempt to justify himself, thought it expedient to resign his appointments.* || d

Such was the distracted state of the Dutch provinces, when they were called upon to maintain their right to what had ever been deemed most essential to their welfare.-The emperor of Germany, having effected an accommodation with the Porte, turned his attention again towards his dominions in the low countries. We have seen in the German history of 1781, that he had freed himself of the humiliation which the house of Austria had long suffered, by the operation of the barrier treaty, to which necessity had constrained it to submit.-Encouraged by success, and by the weakness which internal dissension had brought on the Dutch states, he proceeded to demands on them of various kinds, which were submitted to a congress held by the plenipotentiaries of the two parties at Brussels. †-After long but fruitless discussion of his claims, which related to boundaries, to his imperial majesty's pretensions to Maestricht, and to some pecuniary matters, which had been left unsettled between his ancestors and the states, he changed his ground. Thinking the circumstances of the neighbouring powers favourable to his design, exhausted as they were by a very expensive war, he embraced the opportunity to attempt a removal of the disgrace which the vanquished Spanish monarch had suffered from the Dutch republic, by demanding a free navigation of the Scheldt, the enjoyment of which had been a copious source of wealth to the city of Antwerp, and the benefits whereof were the natural rights of his Flemish subjects; offering, on their acquiescence with this demand, to moderate his claims, particularly that which he made on Maestricht. In answer to which the states said, that the emperor could not maintain his claim without contravening the treaty by which they had been acknowledged independent states, and that by which his ancestors had been put in possession of the Austrian Netherlands; adding, that they considered their prosperity, their dignity, and their existence as inseparably connected with the sovereignty

+ April 24.

August 23.

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|| Oct. 14. These events prove how imprudent it is in sovereigns, or persons invested with authority, to irritate their subjects and provoke opposition by stretching, to the utmost extent, a power to which they have a doubtful title, and which they have either not force or not spirit to maintain: d Hist.of Unit. States. 75. 7. 80. Idem. 64. Idem. 85.

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of the Scheldt.-On any other occasion the emperor would, possibly, have thought long possession, secured by treaties, sufficient to supersede any claim founded on natural right. But he now appeared as the champion of liberty. As such, when the Dutch governor of Fort Lillo, on that river, fired on a vessel sent down from Antwerp to assert the right of a free passage, he prepared to support his claim by force of arms.-The republic, on the other hand, prepared for defence by assembling their forces, opening their sluices, and cutting through their dykes near Fort Lillo. +

On this occasion their high mightinesses experienced the friendship of the French monarch. Lewis the Sixteenth, who was at this instant forming a close alliance with the states from which much benefit was expected to accrue," was glad to recommend himself to them by becoming their protector. Unrestrained by his connexions with the emperor as his ally and brother-in-law, he addressed a letter to him expostulating with him on his present measures, and urging him to moderate his views, and to renew the conferences under his mediation. To prove his sincerity, and to convince the parties interested of his resolution to support his councils by a correspondent line of conduct, he, moreover, assembled an army near Luxemburg under the command of marshal Broglio and count de Stainville. -His Prussian majesty, in the mean-time, gave greater effect to his interference by making warlike preparations, which were presumed to be intended for the support of the Dutch states. Whilst the empress of Russia, as the emperor's ally, presented a memorial to the states, signifying her intention to interest herself in his support. Such, however, was the preponderance on the side of the republic and her allies, taking into the account their local advantages, that Joseph thought it advisable to desist from the prosecution of his demand respecting the Scheldt, and to turn his attention to other objects which appeared to be more attainable."

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FRANCE.

THE ruinous effects of the weakness and want of resources in the government extended to the foreign affairs of the crown. In these it did not appear with its accustomed dignity, nor possess its former weight among the European states.-To curb the growing power of the Russian empress, to prevent her from increasing the influence which Russia had long been endeavouring to establish in Germany, to obviate the ill effects arising from her alliance with the emperor, an alliance in itself inconsistent with the treaty subsisting between the courts of Vienna and Versailles, to keep a watchful eye on the movements of these confederates and oppose any scheme which they might form for employing their combined forces against the welfare or rights of the neighbouring states, and to improve the advantages that might be derived from a commercial intercourse with the Dutch provinces, and attach them to the interests of France, were at this period the ruling principles of French policy. These objects de Vergennes had pursued; but not with the energy of a government which was confident in its strength. On the contrary, from an unwillingness to act resolutely in support of the Turkish sultan, this government had suffered the empress of Russia to extend and establish her power by the treaty of Kainardgi in 1779. It had suffered the emperor to strengthen himself by the stipulations of the treaty of Teschen, with the elector of Bavaria, the same year, and by procuring the nomination of his brother to the coadjutorship of the electoral archbishopric of Cologne, without an attempt to prevent a measure so obviously adverse to the true interests of this crown. It had taken part with the aristocrats in Holland against the partisans of the stadtholder and Great Britain; but in the transactions respecting them it pursued the policy of a state which was desirous to maintain a fair shew of friendship, rather than that of a sincere, active, and resolute ally.

Lewis, this year informed their high mightinesses, by de Vanguion, his ambassador at the Hague, that he accepted the office of mediator between them and the emperor. As a friend to both parties, he began with employ

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ing his kind offices to accomplish a reconciliation; dispassionately arguing the points in debate with his imperial majesty; controverting the arguments brought by him on the grounds of the natural right which his Flemish subjects had to the navigation of the Scheldt; and endeavouring to convince him that, however plausible these might appear abstractedly considered, they could not be admitted in the present state of things, without destroying security of property, invalidating all conventions between states, and introducing irreclaimable disorder into the political world. And when neither his reasonings, nor his subsequent expostulations were successful, the king had recourse to more efficacious means of enforcing his arguments; he assembled an army of 80,000 men, under the command of marshal Broglio, on the plains of Lens, near Luxemburg; and he deliberated with prince Henry of Prussia, who visited his court at this time, on the line of conduct to be pursued by the courts of Versailles and Berlin for preventing the ill consequences apprehended from the emperor's schemes of ambition. But Lewis, cramped by embarrassed finances or influenced by Austrian councils, refused to take that decisive part which the Prussian monarch recommended; which would not only have extricated his allies honourably from the contest, but have prevented the renewal of the emperor's ambitious schemes in this quarter.

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SPAIN.

His catholic majesty, being relieved from the war with Great Britain, availed himself of his great naval force to chastise the Barbary states, which continued to molest the christian powers by their piracies.-A strong fleet was sent againt Algiers, in the late year, under the command of don Antonio Barcelo; and the fortress was severely bombarded during nine days.

We shall see in the result his Prussian majesty's conjecture respecting the issue of this business justified. "You will find," said he to a French general (M. de Bouillé) who was conversing with him towards the close of the year 1784, "that M. de Vergennes will compel their "high mightinesses to make it up with my brother Joseph, by giving him something to drink, "which will encourage him to be more exhorbitant another time.”—Soulavie. 5. 28.

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days. But the valiant defence made by the garrison baffled all the efforts of the besiegers; and they were constrained to raise the siege, after expending a vast quantity of ammunition in vain.—This failure did not discourage the Spanish monarch. The Algerines, who had added to their natural bravery a knowledge of the different branches of the military art, as practised by the Europeans, became every year more formidable. And it was now agreed by the powers which were most annoyed by them, to fit out a joint and very powerful armament for the purpose of destroying a nest of pirates which had for ages depredated upon the maritime nations.-A fleet of one hundred and thirty sail, supplied by the kings of Spain, Portugal and Naples, and the Maltese knights, was sent out this year from Carthagena. Seven distinct attacks were made on the fortress, with all the advantage that could be derived from bomb-ketches and gun-boats. But the intrepidity of the assailants was equalled by the warlike spirit of the infidels. Such was the strength of the place, and the firm resistance made by them, that don Barcelo had the mortification to see all his skill and prowess again prove ineffectual. Repulsed in every assault, when it was determined in a council of war that nothing further could be attempted with any prospect of success, he raised the siege and returned to Spain, chagrined at having been foiled by an enemy whom the Spaniards had been taught to hold in disdain.

Don Carlos was, in the mean-time, cultivating amity with the Porte, with a view of counteracting the vast designs of Russia, as well as promoting their mutual advantage by a commercial intercourse.-A treaty having been concluded by the courts of Madrid and Constantinople, monsieur de Boligny was sent ambassador to the Porte, carrying with him presents of great value to the sultan; and was treated with such marks of distinction as evinced the great desire which that sovereign had to enjoy the friendship of the Spanish monarch.*

ECCLESIASTICAL

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Annual Register. 42.

July 12 to 21.
Idem. 141.

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Idem. 35.

* "Among other grand or curious presents which he delivered from the catholic king at his "first audience, was a field-tent of singular greatness and magnificence, which derived lustre from "its former service, as well as veneration from its antiquity. It had been constructed for and "used by Ferdinand the catholic, in the pride of conquest and victory, at the camp of Oceanna;

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