The Enquirer

[Volume 3.

Europe.

STATE PAPER.

BY HIS MAJESTY THE KING OF PRUSSIA.

As inserted by authority in the Gazette of Konigsberg, of the 1st Dec. 1806.

"The battle of the 14th of Oct. notwithstanding the courageous efforts of his majesty's armies, has been so unfortunate for the Prussian arms, that the road of the capital and even to the very heart of his majesty's dominions, has been left open to the enemy; the king was, therefore induced to offer terms for an armistice, of which he had every reason to expect accordial acceptance on the part of the enemy, as in the midst of the battle he received a letter from the emperor Napoleon, full of friendly expression; but to this offer of the armistice, the door of acceptance was shut unless the king consented, as the basis of a peace, to certain sacrifices, incompatible with his honor and dignity.

"The king who saw the full extent and magnitude of the misfortunes and dangers which unavoidably surrounded his faithful subjects, preferred an immediate and uncertain tranquility, to the remote and uncertain prospect of the return of the fortune of war in his favour; his majesty, therefore, immediately took the resolution of making such sacrifices, however great they might be, as were compatible with the interests of his throne, and accordingly sent the Minister of State, the Marquis Lucchesini, on the 18th of October, with ample diplomatic powers to the head-quarters of the Emperor and King Napoleon.---The sacrifices which the King had agreed to, on receiving the first dispatches from Marquis Lucchesini (to whom, in order to accelerate the business, his majesty had sent major-general Zastrow) were so adequate to the advantages which the enemy, by the fortune of a single day had gained, that so early as the 20th of October they were respectfully acknowledged, and received as the basis of a treaty for peace. by the plenipotentiary, the grand marshal of the palace Duroc; upon this basis the peace itself was to have been concluded without delay, and the king on his own part, took all the necessary measures to provide that those conditions of peace should be punctually fulfilled, immediately after the signing of the preliminaries thereof. The emperor Napoleon, on the contrary, refused to put a stop to hostilities, and allowed his army not only to enjoy all the advantages they already possessed, but to proceed in acquiring new conquests, and even all the provinces of the king, on the Oder and the Warthe, destitute of garrisons, were inundated with French troops, and thus these defenceless provinces felt all the horrors of war, as well as the capital.

"At the head quarters of the emperor, even four days after the acceptance of the conditions of peace, a seditious proclamation was printed, published, and distributed, tending to produce an insurrection or disturbances and rebellion, among the subjects of his majesty in South Prussia. Wherever the enemy's troops could find their way, the property of the king was taken possession of; the royal treasures were seized, and it was attempted to seduce the servants of his majesty from their lawful allegiance, and an oath was then tendered to them, whereby they were required to swear fealty to the enemy.

"Those facts created a suspicion that the emperor was not serious in his intention of concluding a peace upon the basis already understood by the plenipotentiaries of both nations. The unceasing, but ineffectual endeavors of the plenipotentiaries of the king, and to break off entirely the thread of communication between the two belligerent powers, proved clearly to his majesty that this suspicion was well grounded, more particularly as the positive declaration, "That the emperor, knowing the situation in which Prussia has been placed, since the unfortunate battle of the 14th, must take advantage of that situation for the conclusion of his peace with England and Russia," leaves no doubt remaining with respect to the intentions of France.

"After this the formally concluded basis for peace was entirely set aside, and instead of it an armistice was proposed, on the part of the French, at the very moment when it was thought that the basis of a defensive peace had been settled, and each new advantage gained in the interim by the French, now increased the severity of the demands made upon Prussia.

"After having indulged themselves in so many illusory hopes, the plenipotentiaries of the king, at last thought themselves justified in concluding, on the 16th of November, the armistice hereafter inserted verbatim, in order to put a stop to the continually increasing demands of the enemy. This document was accompanied by the official declaration of the imperial minister for foreign affairs, M. Talleyrand, prince of Benevento, the contents of which prove more clearly than any thing that had gone before, that Prussia would only flatter herself in vain, if she cherished the most distant hope of a secure and lasting peace, notwithstanding the unheard of sacrifices which the armistice imposed upon her.

"But if the king himself even had indulged such a hope, it was no longer in his power, to fulfill those conditions in that armistice with regard to the return of the Russian armies, because, as the French troops during the negociation had advanced even to the Vistula, his majesty was not in a situation to stop the march of the Russian armies, when their own frontiers were menaced by the enemy. Those no choice was left to the king; he was obliged to refuse his ratification of the armistice, which the grand marshal Duroc brought to his head-quarters, at Osterode, on the 22d of November.

"If any alternative remained, it was one that implied the accomplishing of impossibilities viz. to invite the cabinets of St. James and St. Petersburg to unite with his majesty, and agree upon the basis of a negociation with the emperor Napoleon for a general peace.

"This has been done, and though there were but feeble hopes of the success of such an attempt, yet the king did not recall the Marquis Lucchesini from the head-quarters of the Emperor and King.

"During the time that the king was thus exhausting all the resources in his power to stop the shedding of human blood, he was nevertheless busily occupied in bringing forward all the means of resistance which God had given him."
While the fortresses, provided with ample means of defence, such as those of Stettin, Custrin, Magdeburg, &c. have been delivered up to the enemy in a most scandalous manner by their respective commanders: the other fortresses of the country, particularly those on the banks of the Vistula, have been now put in the best possible state of defence, and entrusted to the command of brave and honorable officers.

The rest of the marching regiments which were quartered or encamped near the Vistula and Warte, shall be united with numerous, well disciplined and brave army brought to the assistance of the king by his true friend and faithful ally the emperor Alexander.

While these united troops attack the enemy, a new and numerous army, which is begun to be collected, well disciplined, and equipped for war, shall follow their fellow soldiers to the field of glory.

Above all, the king relies on the support of that people, who gloriously fought the battles in the seven years war against almost all Europe, and who did not despond nor waver in their allegiance to their monarch, even when the capital and the greatest part of the kingdom, were in possession of the enemy: his majesty looks with confidence to the support of that people, who, upon that occasion, in the midst of unheard-of perils and calamities, evinced an energy and firmness which has merited the applause of the present age, and secured them that of the future generations.

At the present moment, there are even greater calls upon our energies than there were at the period of the above calamities. We now struggle for all that is dear & honourable to us as a nation, or sacred to humanity. To preserve the independence and existence of the nation alone, the king took up arms; this the nation, nay the whole world knows: and the enemy will be able to deceive the people by the phantom of a pretended coalition, of the existence of which he cannot produce the least evidence.

In her former struggles in the seven years war, Prussia stood alone, or at least without any material assistance from any other power. She then stood up against the first powers in Europe. In the present struggle She can reckon upon the assistance of the powerful and magnanimous Alexander, who with his whole strength stands forward to the preservation of Prussia.

Prussia in this great struggle has only one interest in common with Russia; both will stand and fall together. With such an intimate union of both powers in such a holy struggle against an enemy whose success has raised him to such a giddy height, that he knows no limits to his career, the issue of the struggle cannot long remain doubtful.

Perseverance in danger, according to the glorious example of our forefathers; can and will lead us on to victory."

Here follows the armistice concluded at Charlottenburg, on the 16th November, 1806. between Prussia and France, as heretofore given.]

NOTE

Of Charles Maurice Talleyrand, Prince of Benevento, delivered in after the above Armistice was signed.

"The undersigned minister for foreign affairs has received his imperial and royal majesty's commands to declare to their excellencies the marquis Lucchesini and the general Von Zastrow, plenipotentiaries of his majesty the king of Prussia, as follows:

Four coalitions, of which the last has brought on the present war, were formed against France--all four have been conquered; the victories which his imperial and royal majesty, has gained over them, have subjected under his power very extensive dominions. Thrice has France, actuated by a moderation unexampled in history, determined to give back the whole or at least the greater part of her conquests, and has re-established princes upon their thrones, without any great diminution of that power which they had forfeited in consequence of the emperor's victories.

Although the emperor has thrice acted in this manner, yet he is willing once more to display his extraordinary moderation, though it might produce, before the lapse of ten years, even a fifth coalition.

In the course of those continually renewed wars. France, Spain and Holland, have lost their colonies. It is natural, it is just, that those countries which, by the laws of war have come into the possession of the emperor, should serve as compensations for those colonies. But the most material injury which the fourth coalition has done to France is that the Porte has lost its independence. Wallachia and Moldavia were governed by two men who were justly deposed by the Porte; but he has been forced to reinstate them in their dignities by the threats of Russia; and those concessions on the part of the Porte may be reckoned as actual conquests by Russia; if therefore, the total independence of the Porte ought to be a chief point to France, his majesty the emperor would lose the greatest advantage of his victories, if he were not to obtain the guarantee of the future independence of that power.

His imperial majesty, therefore, cannot in the least consent to the restoration of the conquered countries until the full enjoyment of the rights of the Porte over Wallachia and Moldavia, is acknowledged, and its total independence recognized and guaranteed.

The undersigned has the honor to renew to their excellencies the marquis Lucchesini, and the general Von Zastrow, the assurance of his high consideration.

C. M. TALLEYRAND.

Prince of Benevento.

Berlin, Nov. 16, 1806."