The only appearance of any oppofition to the meafure in hand was a legal one, the reading of a proteftagainft it, under the fanction of law, by a notary. A captain of grenadiers, emulous of the example fet by enfign Wuchetigh, and hoping to benefit equally by the repetition of it, to avoid racking his invention, in finding a new caufe, pretended to have received exactly the fame infult which the former had done, and inftantly threw in a clofe, regular, and much more effectual fire upon the promifcuous multitude. Above for ty men and women were faid to have been killed upon the fpot, and double that number fent wounded to the hofpital. nube, or even in defence of the Ban nat, he feemed in fome degree to receive confolation for the ruin and difgrace which fell upon his vaft armies, from the cheap triumphs which were obtaided by his favourite general in the Low Countries. His fervices never failed to draw forth approbation and acknowledgement. In one of his letters, dated at Semlin, and another at Weifkirchen, a few days before the shameful rout, and the havock made of his army in the valley of Caranfebes by the grand vizir, are the following paffages:" [ " perfectly approve of the vigorous "manner in which the troops repel"led infolence at Louvain, and yet more at Antwerp: they muft per"fevere in the fame conduct to " " No words could defcribe the ge- compel refpect."--And again, from neral horror which this cruel,, cold- Weifkirchen, "I altogether approve blooded flaughter diffufed through "the meafures you have taken to every order of the people, and in "crush thofe diforders, and enforce every part of the provinces. It is but " refpect to the foldiery. I hope. juftice to mankind likewife to ob- by thefe acts of vigour, and the ferve, that thefe cruel executions, flight of the principal maleconcommitted upon a defenceless people, by their rulers, in a season of peace and the moft profound tranquillity, fcarcely operated lefs in exciting the deteftation and abhorrence of the neighbouring nations, than in producing thefe effects upon the immediate fufferers. In the mean time perfonal fecurity was now confidered as being fo precarious in the Netherlands, that feveral of the nobility, and a great number of other inhabitants of diftinction and property, thought it necellary to provide in time for their fafety, by retiring to Holland, Liege, and other neighbouring governments for protection. While the emperor could not bring himfelf to look his fierce enemy in the face, either on the Da tents, we shall be able finally to "re-eftablish order."-Is it then any wonder, that with fuch encouragement and applause from a great monarch, and accompanied with profeffions of the greatest freindship, couch in the moft endearing terms, a foldier of fortune, without other connection or hope to look to, fhould eagerly with, and affiduoufly endeavour, not only to preferve, but to increafe that favour and confidence? or will it be any furprize to thofe acquainted with the world, that such a man, fo circumftanced, fhould be little fcrupulous about the means of attaining or preferving, objects to him of greater importance, than the acquifition of a large kingdom would have been to his mafter? Though Though this was the laft mililary execution of any great notice which took place in the courfe of the year, yet the rafinefs and violence of government was every day, and in every thing apparent. Laws were repeatedly declared to be of no avail, except in ordinary cafes between man and man; but to place them in any degree of oppofition to, or competition with, the fupreme will of the fovereign, was confidered and treated as a crime of the firft magnitude. The fame principle was extended to all capitulations and compacts, whether ancient or modern, however ftrongly confirmed, or folemnly fworn to and ratified, between the fovereigns and the people. The breath of the prefent emperor was to do or to undo all things. While he feemed difpofed to wreak all the vexation and vengeance excited by the unexpected valour of the Turks, and the difgrace which he fo continually and leverely experienced, upon his unarmed fubjects in the Low Countries, the billops and abbots, who bore fo great a fway in thele provinces, were conftantly labouring under the apprehenfion of being stripped of all their tempotalities, according to the threats continually thrown out by the minifters, for their steadinefs in refufing to fend their youth to the feminary at Louvain; an object which the fovereign feemed nearly to have as much at heart, as even the. fubverfion of the laws and civil rights of the people. The revenues of fome of the abbots were already under fequeftration, for the fpirit and firmnefs which they had lately fo eminently displayed, as members of the allenblies of Brabant and Hainault, in opposing the arbitrary decrues and measures of the fovereign; the celebrity and popularity which they had thus acquired by no means tending to procure any mitigation of the rigour of the fentence. Both thefe and the other abbacies, which gave their poffeffors feats in the provincial aflemblies, although they were thereby integral parts of the conftitution, legiflature, and government of the country, were notwithstanding all threatened with speedy and final fuppreffion and confifcation. The largenefs of their eftates could leave little room to doubt of the ferious intention which accompanied this denunciation. A In the mean time, these fo lately flourishing and fmiling provinces prefented a fullen, filent, fettled gloom; melancholy and despair appearing in every countenance, people of an equable temper and flow paffions, are always deeply affected when at all fo. The best and most valuable inhabitants were daily quitting the country; those whofe affairs would not permit, though their ability might, to adopt that mode of fecurity, under continual apprehenfion of their perfons being feized by fome arbitrary and irrefiftible mandate, while the pritons were already filled with fuppofed delinquents, under the cofe general charge, of being inimical to the prefent government of fovereign will. Foreign commerce, internal trade, and the various branches of manufacture, feemed to totally annihilated, as fcarcely to leave a veftige behind that they had ever exifted; and the only trades that could procure employment, were thote that administered to the immediate necellities of life. To complete the climax of misfortune, this miferable people could not enter[D]2 tain The important events of the war between the great powers on the borders in Europe and Afia, as well as those connected with the revolution in Holland, neceffarily occafioned our poftponing other matters, which, though of confideration, were not fo immediately interefting, and which would not fuffer any diminution of their value or character by a later difcuffion. The internal affairs of Germany come within this defcription, where an extraordinary act of violence, committed by one prince, afforded a happy opportunity to a neighbouring great fovereign, of dignifying his reign, and unfolding his own character with great advantage to the world, by an act of fignal juftice. The circumstances were as follow: The death of the count of Lippe Schaumbourg (a fovereign prince of the empire) having taken place on the 15th of February, 1787, a too potent neighbour, the landgrave of Heffe Caffel, could not refift the temptation of feizing the poffeffions of the infant fon and fucceffor of the late count. The lat ́ter had appointed his widow to the guardianhip of his children, and likewife to the regency and government of the country, during the miniroty of the young count. But in two days after his death, three Heffian regiments of infantry, as many of cavalry, with a ftrong body of artillery, fuddenly entered the defencelef's country, feized the city and castle of Buckebourg, and poffelled themselves of the whole coun ty of Lippe Schaumbourg. This fmall principality contains two cities, three towns, and feventy-two villages. Notwithstanding the fuddennefs of this unexpected invafion, the vigilance and celerity of the faithful minifter and privy counsellor of the late count, preferved not only his fon, but the archives of the country, from the hands and defigns of his enemies. With these treasures he arrived fafe at Minden, where the dominion and protection of the king of Pruffia afforded them abun dant fecurity; but the countess was laid and kept under arreft in her own caftle; while the people were obliged to do homage and fwear allegiance to their new mafter, and all public bufinefs was conducted in the name of the landgrave. It will not be fuppofed, in fuch a commonwealth as that of Germany, where the poffeffions of the nume rous states, however fmall many of them may be, are, however, all secured and guaranteed by many general laws and fanctions, which bind the whole to the preservation of each individual, that fo flagrant an outrage would be ventured upon, without fome colour of right, or pretence of claim. It appears accordingly, that the ancestor of the late count, by marrying a woman of inferior rank, (a circumstance which is placed in a degree of confideration by the Germans, perhaps without example among any other people excepting the Gentoo cafts) afforded fome occafion, or at least pretence, for this exertion of violence: the landgrave infiftingthat the defcendantsof this marriage being illegitimate, the fief was become vacant, and likewife, that it reverted, in that cafe, to the house of Heffe; a queftion which, perhaps, would would have admitted of as tedious a litigation as that of illegitimacy. It happened, however, unluckily for the claim of the landgrave, that the question relative to the validity of this marriage had formerly, and near the time, been much contefted, and that it had been fully confirmed, and the legitimacy of the iffue accordingly established by the separate decrees of two of the fuperior tribunals of the empire, which were each competent to the purpose. But though this procedure might not well bear the test of examination with refpect to its morality and juftice, the defign was certainly not ill laid, when tried by the rules of that policy which looks only to advantage. For if no fuperior power had interpofed to fave them by an act of fummary juftice, it may be easily feen what the fituation of a poor exiled family would have been, rendered more helpless by a long minority, involved in an endlefs litigation, with a very powerful, and at least, one of the richest princes of the empire; while the very means which fiould have fupported them in the defence of their rights, were in the hands of their enemy, and applied to their fubverfion. For it is to be observed that the great tribunals of the empire are lo flow in their forms, and dilatory in their proceedings, that a law-luit is at this time depending, upon a queftion of territorial right, between a great and a smaller family, which commenced above two hundred years ago; the former having been the whole time in poffeffion of the litigated object, which it gained in the first inftance rce. The violence and apparent injuftice of the prefent affair, caused a very general fenfation of pity for the orphan and his diftreffed family, and of diflike to the oppreffor, throughout Germany. The Aulic council took up the business with fpirit, and iffued a decree, ftrongly condemning the wrong, and ordaining reftitution to be forthwith made to the injured family. But as the efficacy of their decrees depended upon the fupport they received from the emperor, and every body knew he was too deeply involved in fchemes of foreign ambition, to think it at all convenient to embroil himself at home, especially with fo powerful a prince as the landgrave, rendered ftill more formidable from his being a principal member of the German confederacy, and united fo clofely as he was with the two kingelectors of Brandenburg and Hanover, the hope of any near effect to be produced by their interference was weak indeed. If the king of Pruffia had not confulted juftice more than the dic-. tates of intereft and a narrow policy, he not only would have had a difagreeable card to play, but his fanction to the wrong would, in all human probability, the prefent pofture of public affairs in Germany confidered, have rendered it irrevocable, or at least have occafioned the affair to be left open for the decifion of a future age, while the poor family were exposed to every degree of ruin and diftrefs. The landgrave was his kinfman, close friend and ally; and his alliance, in the present state of things, and according to the political views which directed the conduct of the court of Berlin, appeared to be of great im portance; while the protection of a weak family, and the prefervation of a fmall principality, could an[D] 3 fwer fwer no immediate political purpofe whatever. The king of Pruffia, however, took a nobler part. He facrificed all interefted views to the principles of juftice, and to the generous defire of fuccouring the oppreffed. The elector of Hanover, who, both as king and elector, was ftill more intimately united with the landgrave, took likewife the fame difinterefted part. The first had a legal fanction for his interference to prevent wrong and injury, both as chief of the circle of Weftphalia, and as one of the directors of the circle of the lower Rhine; and he was called upon in thefe capacities, but only in general terms, by the decree of the Aulic council and the emperor. The landgrave, finding himfelf thus oppofed by his clofeft friends and meft powerful allies, found it neceflary to abandon his fcheme. He accordingly withdrew his troops out of the country in the beginning of April, reftoring every thing to the ftate they had found it; while in a letter, at the fame time, to Berlin, he attributed this condefcenfion entirely to his friendship for the king, and the regard he paid to his mediation; but referving his own rights for future legal difcuffion. Great delicacy was obferved with refpect to the landgrave's feelings, in the account of this tranfaction, published by authority at Berlin; the king's mediation being attributed rather more to his friendship for the houfe of Heffe, than to an attention to the difcharge of his official duties; and the family whom he had fo effec'tually protected not being at all mentioned. A great conteft took place in the Conimencement of the year 1787, between the elector of Cologne and the pope's nuncio. The latter it ence |