1784 ECCLESIASTICAL STATE. BEFORE that important era arrived when persecution and oppression were to be added to extreme humiliation, the pontiff was destined to experience further indignities from the catholic sons of the Romish church. -We have an example of this in the present conduct of the king of Naples.-Don Ferdinand could not see the papal authority interfering with that of the crown, he could not see his kingdom swarming with monastics, and in particular sixteen thousand mendicants preying upon the community, without feeling an inclination to share with the emperor and the duke of Tuscany in the honour of reforming such abuses and confining the papal power within its proper bounds.-Disputes had been carried on during several years, respecting the right of presenting to vacant sees and other matters. Don Ferdinand had expressed his displeasure and mortified his holiness by discontinuing the solemn farce of doing homage to him by presenting a palfry in the cathedral church of St. Peter, as a tribute to the holy see. And this undutiful behaviour of the Neapolitan monarch was rendered more alarming by the indication of a disposition in the catholic king to support don Ferdinand in his opposition.-Without detaining the reader with the particulars of these cavils, it may be sufficient to say, that after several unsuccessful efforts had been made to effect a reconciliation, the courtly, accomplished cardinal Bernis was sent, this year, to the court of Naples, to mediate between his holiness and don Ferdinand. And we are informed that he succeeded not only in removing all the prejudices, "which stood in the way of pacification, but also in gaining attention to "what he had to propose: that he obtained, that, at the approaching "festival of the holy apostles, the pontifical vanity should again be feasted "with the homage of the palfry: he extorted some vague promises, and " carried "it was lined with crimson velvet, richly trimmed with gold tassels and lace, and containing such numerous and spacious apartments as had been sufficient to entertain a large court; the whole "surrounded with a spacious gallery. It seemed singular enough, that this old memorial of the "extermination of infidels should be now a present from Spain to an infidel power."—Annual Register. 1786. 37. carried back to Rome some hopes which the pope participated, but which were soon disappointed.** 1784 GERMANY. THE treaty in which the negotiations with the Porte terminated, at the opening of this year,† did not correspond with the emperor's demands. And the subsequent measures, which we shall soon see adopted by him and the empress of Russia, evinced that it was intended to produce a temporary accommodation only, to answer the purposes of the confederates, not a permanent peace. Some of the conditions of it, however, were very satisfactory to a monarch who was straining every nerve to extend the trade of his dominions. In compliance with the demand made by the imperial minister of a participation of all the commercial advantages granted to Russia, by the late or former treaties, the Danube and the Turkish seas were opened to the emperor's subjects, with free ingress and egress to and from the Mediterranean, and a free trade in the Archipelago: several privileges were also granted respecting duties and tolls: moreover, a part of Walachia was ceded to him.aa Advantageous as these stipulations were in appearance, and flattering as they were to the pride of his imperial majesty, who thus triumphed over the sultan's weakness, they were, in fact, productive of very small benefit + January 9. to * The Spanish ambassador, the chevalier Azara, we are informed, addressed his holiness with much freedom on this occasion. "It was time," he said, "to put an end to those refusals which "in the beginning had been only ridiculous, but which might ultimately terminate in fatal consequences. Why drive the Neapolitan court to extremities? did it not possess various means of "wreaking its vengeance? could it not put in execution a plan which it had already conceived"that of causing the new bishop of Potenza to be confirmed, according to the ancient discipline, by three bishops of the country, and thus dispensing with the interposition of the see of Rome? "The repugnance, moreover, which that court felt to the performance of the annual homage, was "well known: why then furnish it with an additional motive for completely emancipating itself "from the obnoxious ceremony? And did his holiness wish to incur the self-reproach of having by his own mismanagement forfeited a prerogative so flattering to his vanity."-Life of Pius the Sixth. 2. 56., 66 1784 Life of Pius the Sixth. 2. 50. 66. aa Annual Register. 41. VOL. II. 3 т 1784 to his subjects. The ill success of his labours fully proved, either that he did not understand the true principles of commerce, or that he did not choose to conform his practice to them. Impressed from his earliest years with sentiments favourable to despotism, it did not appear to have occurred to him that a flourishing commerce was not to be introduced in a country by the grant of privileges which are to be enjoyed as a boon from an absolute monarch, nor by the forcible opening of navigable rivers; that it is the natural result of that security of person and property which a free government only can give. On the contrary, he was continually reminding his subjects by new regulations, in which his sovereign will alone was consulted, that their property was in his power; and, although he did not deprive them of it, yet he depreciated it by his arbitrary edicts. The emperor discovered his ill-directed activity, this year, by an act which was very offensive to his Hungarian subjects; that was the removal of the crown and regalia from Presburg to Vienna. Whoever thus wantonly sports with the feelings of a people shews that he does not set a just value on their affections. Had this monarch reflected on the generous behaviour of the Hungarians to his mother, at a crisis when she trembled on her throne, and entreated their services with her infant son Joseph in her arms, and when, laying their hands on their sabres, they swore that they would die in her cause, he would not have mortified a high-spirited people, so firmly attached to the interests of his family, by depriving them of these vestiges of their former freedom and independency. His majesty's measures relative to his dominions in the low countries, however inconsistent with the laws of nations, which enjoin a strict adherence to treaties and observance of public faith, was more popular, as having the good of his people for their object. An account of these having been already given, in the history of the Dutch states, it need only be remarked here that he displayed, on this occasion, that impatience of temper and want of foresight which marked his character; and, that mortification and embarrassment were the immediate consequence of his precipitate ardour. b Annual Register. 1786. 48. PRUSSIA PRUSSIA. WE find the Prussian monarch ever vigilant in watching the movements of the neighbouring powers and opposing them when they endangered the welfare of his own states. He had endeavoured to protect the stadtholder against an adverse party in the Dutch provinces. And, whilst he continued his interposition in support of that prince, he deemed it incumbent on him to guard the provinces themselves against the commercial enterprises of the German emperor. When informed of that monarch's measures relative to the opening of the Scheldt, and that the empress of Russia was disposed to conciliate his friendship by supporting him in doing it, he dispatched prince Henry to France, to concert with the court of Versailles the means proper to be adopted by them to counteract the emperor's designs, and to prevent the Dutch republic from falling a sacrifice to them." 1784 DENMARK. THE queen dowager, Juliana of Brunswick Wolfenbuttel, and her junto had governed the kingdom from the time of the revolution in 1772.Their power appeared, in the eyes of men in general to acquire strength by continuance; the chief offices of the state being, by degrees, filled by men who were professedly in their interests. There was, however, a strong party in the kingdom which had grown up under the auspices of the prince royal; some of them nobles who pitied or respected his unfortunate mother; others, such as were personally attached to himself: these were all disaffected to the court party, and looked forward to a period when some favourable event should enable them to dispossess their rivals. An opportunity of effecting their purpose at this time presented itself.— Frederick, 1784 1784 Frederick, a young prince of good talents and popular address, being now in his seventeenth year, was declared major; and as such he took his place at the head of the council board. This event was immediately followed by a total change in the administration. So weakly founded was that power which had lately borne so great an appearance of vigour, that the junto was dissolved without a struggle: the queen dowager, and her son Frederick who had deserved well of the state by his good conduct, retired into Holstein, with ample provisions made them out of the royal estates: and count Rosencratz and other old ministers were recalled and placed at the head of a new administration.a 1784 SWEDEN. AMITY towards France and jealousy of Russia had long been the prevailing principles of Swedish policy. In conformity with these, Gustavus, this year, concluded a new treaty with the former, by which he received from it the island of St. Bartholomew, in the West Indies. In return, he granted to the French the rights of natives in the port of Gottenburgh, the emporium for the foreign trade of Sweden; they being permitted to establish warehouses for the storing all manner of goods imported either from France or America, in the vessels of either nation, without being subject to any duties. " And when Catharine, as the ally of his imperial majesty, declared for him in his contest with the Dutch states relative to the navigation of the Scheldt, Gustavus as the centinel of the Baltic, to watch the movements of Russia and counteract them when inconsistent with the general welfare, began his naval and military arrangements, that he might act in concert with the courts of Versailles and Berlin in their measures respecting this affair. aa |