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arrangement which might be proposed for that effect.

Thus, under whatever point of view the Britannic Government wishes to view its position with regard to the King of Naples, it can only consider as just and reasonable the demand which the undersigned are charged with reiterating to his Excellency my Lord Castlereagh, of proceeding to the prompt conclusion of a definitive Treaty of Peace between the two Crowns.

No person can better be qualified than my Lord Castlereagh to enlighten the English Government with respect to the affairs of Naples. Having concurred in the negociation which preceded and which followed the accession of his Neapolitan Majesty to the Coalition, he was the organ of the engagements entered into by the English Government towards the Court of Naples, and his character for justice and probity is too well known to allow the undersigned to suppose that his political conduct will vary in any manner, and they are certain that he will support in London the engagements which he contracted in the name of his Government towards the King of Naples, as well as the promises and verbal declarations made by him during the last campaign of the coalesced armies, and principally at Chaumont and Dijon.

The undersigned beseech his Excellency my Lord Castlereagh to accept the assurances of their very high consideration.

(Signed)

The Duke de CAMPOCHIARO. The Prince de CARIATI.

AMERICA.

President's Message to both Houses of Congress.

To the Senate and House of
Representatives of the United
States.

I lay before Congress copies of the Treaty of peace and amity between the United States and his Britannic Majesty, which was signed by the Commissioners of both parties at Ghent, on the 24th of December, 1814, and the ratifications of which have been duly exchanged.

While performing

this act, I congratulate you and our constituents, upon an event which is highly honourable to the nation, and terminates with peculiar felicity a campaign signalized by the most brilliant suc

cesses.

The late war, although reluctantly declared by Congress, had become a necessary resort, to assert the rights and independence of the nation. It has been waged

with a success which is the natural result of the legislative counsels, of the patriotism of the people, of the public spirit of the militia, and of the valour of the military and naval forces of the country. Peace, at all times a blessing, is peculiarly welcome, therefore, at a period when the causes of the war have ceased to operate; when the government has demonstrated the efficiency of its powers of defence; and when the nation can review its conduct without regret and without reproach.

I recommend to your care and beneficence the gallant men whose achievements, in every department of military service, on

the

the land and on the water, have essentially contributed to the American name, and to the restoration of peace. The feelings of conscious patriotism and worth will animate such men, under every change of fortune and pursuit; but their country performs a duty of itself, when it bestows those testimonials of approbation and applause which are at once the reward, and the incentive to great actions.

The reduction of the public expenditures to the demands of a peace establishment will doubtless engage the immediate attention of Congress. There are, however, important considerations which forbid a sudden and general revoIcation of the measures that have been produced by the war.

Experience has taught us, that neither the pacific dispositions of the American people, nor the pacific character of their political institutions, can altogether exempt them from that strife which appears, beyond the ordinary lot of nations, to be incident to the actual period of the world; and the same faithful monitor demonstrates, that a certain degree of preparation for war is not only indispensable to avert disaster in the onset, but affords also the best security for the continuance of peace.

The wisdom of Congress will, therefore, I am confident, provide for the maintenance of an adequate regular force; for the gradual advance of the naval establishment; for improving all the means of harbour defence; for adding discipline to the distinguished bravery of the militia; and for cultivating the military art

in its essential branches, under the liberal patronage of Government.

The resources of our country were, at all times, competent to the attainment of every national object, but they will now be enriched and invigorated by the activity which peace will introduce to all the scenes of domestic enterprise and labour.

The provision that has been made for the public creditors, during the present Session of Congress, must have a decisive effect in the establishment of the public credit both at home and abroad. The reviving interests of commerce will claim the legislative attention at the earliest opportu nity; and such regulations will, I trust, be seasonably devised, as shall secure to the United States their just proportion of the navigation of the world. The most liberal policy towards other nations, if met by corresponding dispositions, will in this respect be found the most beneficial policy towards ourselves. But there is no object that can enter with greater force and merit into the deliberation of Congress, than a consideration of the means to preserve and promote the manufac tures which have sprung into existence, and attained an unparalleled maturity throughout the United States during the period of European wars. This source of national independence and wealth, I anxiously recommend to the prompt and constant guardianship of Congress.

The termination of the Legislative Sessions will soon sepa rate you, fellow citizens, from each other, and restore you to your constituents,

constituents. I pray you to bear with you the expressions of my sanguine hope, that the peace which has been just declared will not only be the foundation of the most friendly intercourse between the United States and Great Britain, but that it will also be productive of happiness and harmony in every section of our beloved country.

"The influence of your precepts and example must be every where powerful; and while we accord in grateful acknowledgments for the protection which Providence has bestowed upon us, let us never cease to inculcate obedience to the laws, and fidelity to the union, as constituting the palladium of the national independence and prosperity.

JAMES MADISON.

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The victories of Champ Aubert, of Montmirail, of Chateau Thierry, of Vauchamp, of Mormans, of Montereau, of Craone, of Rheims, of Arcy-sur-Aube, and of St. Dizier; the rising of the brave peasants of Lorraine, of Champagne, of Alsace, of Franche Comté, and of Bourgoin, and the position which I had taken on the rear of the enemy's army, by separating it from its magazines, from its parks of reserve, from its convoys and all its equipages, had placed it in a desperate situation. The French were never on the point of being more powerful, and the flower of the enemy's army was lost without resource: it would have found its grave in those vast countries which it had mercilessly ravaged, when the treason of the Duke of Ragusa gave up the capital and disorganised the army. The unexpected conduct of those two Generals who betrayed at once their country, their Prince, and their benefactor, changed the desThe disastrous tiny of the war.

situation of the enemy was such,

that at the conclusion of the affair

which took place before Paris, it

was without ammunition, on account of its separation from its parks of reserve.

Under these new and important circumstances, my heart was rent, but my soul remained unshaken. I consulted only the interest of the country. I exiled myself on a rock in the middle of the sea. My life was, and ought to be, still useful to you. I did not permit the great number of citizens, who wished to accompany me, to partake my lot. I thought their presence useful to France; and I took

with me only a handful of brave men, necessary for my guard.

Raised to the Throne by your choice, all that has been done without you is illegitimate. For twenty-five years France has had new interests, new institutions, and new glory, which could only be secured by a national Government, and by a Dynasty created under these new circumstances. A Prince who should reign over you, who should be seated on my throne by the power of those very armies which ravaged our territory, would in vain attempt to support himself with the principles of feudal law he would not be able to recover the honour and the rights of more than a small number of individuals, enemies of the people who, for twenty-five years, have condemned them in all our national assemblies. Your tranquillity at home, and your consequence abroad, would be lost for ever.

Frenchmen! In my exile I heard your complaints and your wishes: you demanded that government of your choice which alone was legitimate. You accused my long slumber; you reproached me for sacrificing to my repose the great interests of the country.

- I have crossed the seas in the midst of dangers of every kind : I arrive amongst you to resume my rights which are your's. All that individuals have done, written, or said, since the capture of Paris, I will be for ever ignorant of: it shall not at all influence the recollections which I preserve of the important services which they have performed. There are circumstances of such a nature as above human organization.

to

be

Frenchmen! There is no nation, however small it may be, which has not had the right, and which may not withdraw itself from the disgrace of obeying a Prince imposed on it by an enemy momentarily victorious. When Charles VII. re-entered Paris, and overthrew the ephemeral throne of Henry V.; he acknowledged that he held his throne from the valour of his heroes, and not from a Prince Regent of England.

It is thus that to you alone, and to the brave men of the army, I account it, and shall always account it, my glory to owe every thing.

By the Emperor. (Signed)

NAPOLEON.

The Grand Marshal performing the functions of Major-General of the Grand Army. (Signed)

Count BERTRAND,

Note from the King of Saxony to the Allied Powers.

"The King of Saxony has seen with the deepest affliction, in the documents which Princes Metternich and Talleyrand and the Duke of Wellington were charged to communicate to him, the determination which the five Powers have come to with regard to the fate of Saxony.

"Without any other principle but that of convenience, and without any regard to the internal relations of the nation, a line has been traced across the country, which would at once tear from it two-fifths of its population, and more than one half of its territorial extent, as well as the means indispensable for the subsistence

of

of what shall remain to the King.

It is to such sacrifices that the King has been invited to give his assent, while it is added, that no negociation will be entered into as to accessary points, until his Majesty shall have categorically declared himself on the teritorial cession.

"His Majesty can by no means acknowledge the validity of these arrangements, made without the presence and assent of his Plenipotentiary. The King having recovered his liberty, there is no longer any obstacle to treating with him; his rights cannot be pronounced upon without his consent, and he cannot admit that his states should be considered and retained as conquered countries. Drawn on by the force of circumstances, and by the obligations which he was under the necessity of contracting in a war which he had neither provoked nor declared, the King took no part in it but as an auxiliary; it did not depend on his Majesty, either at the commencement, or during the progress of the grand contest, to join the cause of the Allies, however sincere his wish to that effect, manifested in an unequivocal manner, and latterly, by a formal application addressed to the Allied Sovereigns. The Saxon nation, full of confidence in the coalesced Powers, has made every effort, and endured with resignation all the sacrifices which have been exacted of it. The right of conquest would not, therefore, apply either against the King or his people, even though the Allies had not proclaimed, as they have done, that their efforts were exclusively

directed against usurpation, and that they were far removed from every idea of conquest.

His Majesty having only in view the good of his people, and sincerely desirous of seeing his old relations of peace and good understanding re-established with all the Courts of Europe, flatters himself that the five Powers will be pleased to pay regard to his representations, and that they will lay to heart his interest and those of his states. He again claims the admission of his Plenipotentiary to the Congress, in order to treat with the Ministers of the Allied Powers.

"His Majesty likewise requests, that the Provisional Government of Saxony may be enjoined to suspend all measures which bear relation to the projected partition.

"The King, in fine, accepts, with profound sensibility, the offer of the mediation of the august Sovereigns who have hitherto interested themselves in his favour; and the conviction which his Majesty feels of his rights, and of the equity of his claims, convinces him that these monarchs will in future grant him without restriction their powerful support.

"The undersigned Cabinet Minister and Secretary of State, fulfils the pleasure of the King in transmitting to their Excellencies this note, begging that they will be pleased to submit it to their august Sovereigns, as well as to the Committee, and to accompany it with their good offices.

Presburgh,

March 11, 1815."

DECLA

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