to obtain for him honourable conditions. But the British Ministry, apparently faithful to that plan which was to loosen and break the bonds which had connected Russia and England, rejected the mediation.

"The peace between Russia and France was to prepare a general peace. Then it was that England suddenly quitted that apparent lethargy to which she had abandoned herself: but it was to cast upon the north of Europe new firebrands, which were to enkindle and nourish the flames of war, which she did not wish to see extinguished. Her fleets and her troops appeared upon the coasts of Denmark, to execute there an act of violence of which history, so fertile in examples, does not furnish a single parallel. A tranquil and moderate power, which by long and unchanging wisdom had obtained in the circle of monarchies a moral dignity, sees itself assaulted and treated as if it itself had been forging plots, and meditating the ruin of England: and all to justify its prompt and total destruction.

"The Emperor, wounded in his dignity, in the interests of his people, in his engagements with the Courts of the north, by this act of violence committed in the Baltic, which is an enclosed sea, whose tranquillity had been for a long period, and with the privity of the Cabinet of St. James's, the subject of reciprocal guarantee, did not dissemble his resentments against England, and announced to her that he could not remain insensible to it.

"His Majesty did not foresee that when England, having employed her force successfully, was about to bear away her prey, she would commit a new outrage against Denmark, and that his Majesty was to share in it. New proposals were made, each more insidious than the foregoing, which were to connect with the British power, Denmark, subjected, disgraced, and affecting to applaud what had been wrought against her.

"The Emperor still less foresaw that it would be proposed to him that he should guarantee this submis sion, and that he should pledge himself that this act of violence should have no unpleasant consequences to England. Her Ambassador believed that it was possi

ble to propose to his Majesty's Ministry, that his Majesty should become the apologist and the protector of what he had so loudly blamed.

"To this proceeding of the Cabinet of St. James's, the Emperor paid no other attention than it deserved. He thought it time to put limits to his moderation.

"The Prince Royal of Denmark, endowed with a character full of energy and nobleness, and possessing from Providence a dignity equal to his high rank, had informed the Emperor, that justly incensed at what had taken place at Copenhagen, he had not ratified the Convention, and considered it as of no effect.

"At this moment he has just communicated to his Imperial Majesty new proposals which have been made to him, which serve only to inflame his resistance instead of appeasing it; because they tend to impress upon his actions the seal of degradation, the impression of which they have never borne.

"The Emperor, touched with the confidence which the Prince Royal placed in him, and having considered. his own peculiar complaints against England; having maturely examined, too, the engagements which he had entered into with the powers of the North-engagements formed by the Empress Catharine, and by his late Majesty the Emperor, both of glorious memory, has resolved to fulfil them. His Imperial Majesty, therefore, breaks off all communication with England: he recals the whole of the Mission which he has sent thither; and no longer chuses to keep with him that of his Britannic Majesty. There shall from henceforth be no connection between the two countries.

"The Emperor declares, thus he annuls, for ever, every preceding Convention between England and Rus sia, and particularly that entered into in 1801, the 5th (17th) of the month of June.

"He proclaims anew the principles of the armed neutrality, that monument of the wisdom of the Empress Catharine, and engages, never to recede from that system.

"He demands of England complete satisfaction to all his subjects, for their just reclamations of vessels, and

merchandise, detained against the express tenor of treaties concluded in his own reign.

"The Emperor engages, there shall be no re-establishment of concord between Russia and England, till satisfaction shall have been given to Denmark.

"The Emperor expects that his Britannic Majesty, instead of suffering his Ministers, as he does, to lay the seeds of fresh war, listening only to his own feelings, will be disposed to conclude such treaty with his Majesty the Emperor of France, as shall prolong, to use the expression interminably (a toute la terme), the invaluable blessings of peace.

"When the Emperor shall be satisfied upon all the preceding points, and especially upon that of peace between France and England, without which no part of Europe can promise itself real tranquillity, his Imperial Majesty will then gladly resume with Great Britain those relations of amity, which, under the just discontent which he could not but feel, he has perhaps preserved too long."

"Given at St. Petersburgh, 20th (31st) October."

DECLARATION.

THE Declaration issued at St. Petersburgh, by His Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias, has excited in His Majesty's Mind the strongest Sensations of Astonishment and Regret.

His Majesty was not unaware of the Nature of those Secret Engagements which had been imposed upon Russia in the Conferences of Tilsit. But His Majesty had entertained the Hope, that a Review of the Transactions of that unfortunate Negotiation, and a just Estimate of it's Effects upon the Glory of the Russian Name, and upon the Interests of the Russian Empire, would have induced his Imperial Majesty to extricate Himself from the Embarrassment of those new Counsels and Connections which He had adopted in a Mo

ment of Despondency and Alarm; and to return to a Policy more congenial to the Principles, which He has so invariably professed, and more conducive to the Honour of His Crown, and to the Prosperity of His Do

minions.

This Hope has dictated to His Majesty the utmost Forbearance and Moderation in all His diplomatick Intercourse with the Court of St. Petersburgh since the Peace of Tilsit.

His Majesty had much Cause for Suspicion, and just Ground of Complaint. But He abstained from the Language of Reproach. His Majesty deemed it necessary to require specific Explanation with respect to those Arrangements with France, the Concealment of which from His Majesty could not but confirm the Impression already received of their Character and Tendency. But His Majesty, nevertheless, directed the Demand of that Explanation to be made, not only without Asperity or the Indication of any hostile Disposition, but with that considerate Regard to the Feelings and Situation of the Emperor of Russia, which resulted from the Recollection of former Friendship, and from Confidence interrupted but not destroyed.

The Declaration of the Emperor of Russia proves that the Object of His Majesty's Forbearance and Moderation has not been attained. It proves, unhappily, that the Influence of that Power, which is equally and essentially the Enemy both of Great Britain and of Russia, has acquired a decided Ascendency in the Counsels of the Cabinet of St. Petersburgh; and has been able to excite a causeless Enmity between Two Nations, whose long-established Connection, and whose mutual Interests prescribed the most intimate Union and Co-operation.

His Majesty deeply laments the Extension of the Calamities of War. But called upon as He is, to defend Himself against an Act of unprovoked Hostility, His Majesty is anxious to refute, in the Face of the World, the Pretexts by which that Act is attempted to be jusfied.

The Declaration asserts that His Majesty the Em

M

peror of Russia has twice taken up Arms in a Cause, in which the Interest of Great Britain was more direct than His own; and founds upon this Assertion the Charge against Great Britain of having neglected to second and support the Military Operations of Russia.

His Majesty willingly does Justice to the Motives which originally engaged Russia in the great Struggle against France. His Majesty avows with equal Readiness the Interest which Great Britain has uniformly taken in the Fates and Fortunes of the Powers of the Continent. But it would surely be difficult to prove that Great Britain, who was Herself in a State of Hostility with Prussia, when the War broke out between Prussia and France, had an Interest and a Duty more direct in espousing the Prussian Quarrel, than the Emperor of Russia; the Ally of His Prussian Majesty, the Protector of the North of Europe, and the Guarantee of the Germanick Constitution.

It is not in a publick Declaration that His Majesty can discuss the Policy of having, at any particular Period of the War, effected, or omitted to effect, Disembarkations of Troops on the Coasts of Naples. But the Instance of the War with the Porte is still more singularly chosen to illustrate the Charge against Great Britain of Indifference to the Interests of Her Ally: a War undertaken by Great Britain at the Instigation of Russia, and solely for the Purpose of maintaining Russian Interests against the Influence of France.

If, however, the Peace of Tilsit is, indeed, to be considered as the Consequence and the Punishment of the imputed Inactivity of Great Britain, His Majesty cannot but regret that the Emperor of Russia should have resorted to so precipitate and fatal a Measure, at the Moment when He had received distinct Assurances that His Majesty was making the most strenuous Exertions to fulfil the Wishes and Expectations of His Ally (Assurances which His Imperial Majesty received and acknowledged with apparent Confidence and Satisfaction); and when His Majesty was, in Fact, prepared to employ for the Advancement of the common Objects of the War, those Forces which, after the Peace of