DECLARATION.

The undersigned, on the exchange of the Ratification of the Treaty of the 25th of March last, on the part of his Court, is hereby commanded to declare, that the 8th article of the said Treaty, wherein his most Christian Majesty is invited to accede, under certain stipulations, is to be understood as binding the Contracting Parties, upon the principles of mutual security, to a common effort against the power of Napoleon Buonaparte, in pur. suance of the 3d article of the said Treaty; but is not to be understood as binding his Britannic Majesty to prosecute the war, with a view of imposing upon France any particular government. However solicitous the Prince Regent must be to see his most Christian Majesty restored to the throne, and however anxious he is to contribute in conjunction with his allies, to so auspicious an event, he nevertheless deems himself called upon to make this declaration, on the exchange of the ratifications, as well in consideration of what is due to his most Christian Majesty's interests in France, as in conformity to the principles upon which the British Government has invariably regulated its conduct.

specting the 8th Article of the Treaty of the 25th of March last, has received orders to declare, that the interpretation given to that article by the British Government is entirely conformable to the principles by which his Imperial Majesty proposes to regulate his policy during the present war. The Emperor, although irrevocably resolved to direct all his efforts against the usurpation of Napoleon Buonaparte, as that object is expressed in the 3d Article, and to act in that respect in the most perfect concert with his allies, is nevertheless convinced, that the duty imposed upon him by the interest of his subjects, as well as the principles by which he is guided, would not permit him to engage to prosecute the war for the purpose of imposing a form of government on France.

Whatever wishes his Majesty the Emperor may form, to see his most Christian Majesty replaced upon the throne, and whatever may be his constant solicitude, to contribute, conjointly with his allies, to the attainment of so desirable an object; his Majesty has nevertheless thought it right to answer by this explanation, the declaration which his Excellency Lord Castlereagh has transmitted on the exchange of the ratification, and which the undersigned on his part is fully authorised to accept. METTERNICH.

Vienna, May 9, 1815.

complished. Providence calls you at last, to be an independent people. One cry echoes from the Alps to the Strait of Scylla the independence of Italy. What right have strangers to rob you of independence, the first right and blessing of all people? What right have they to reign in your fertile plains, and to appropriate to themselves your wealth, for the purpose of transporting it to countries where it did not originate? What right have they to carry off your sons, to make them serve, languish, and die, far from the tombs of your fathers? Is it that nature has in vain given you the Alps for a bulwark, and the invincible discrepancy of your character, a barrier still more insurmountable? No! no! let every foreign domination disappear from the soil of Italy.

Formerly masters of the world, you have expiated that fatal glory by a servitude of 20 centuries.Let it now be your glory to have masters no longer. Every people must keep within the limits fixed to it by nature: the sea and inaccessible mountains,--these are your frontiers. Never think of passing them; but expel the foreigner who passes them, and force him to confine himself within his own. Eighty thousand Italians at Naples hasten to you under the command of their King; they swear never to rest until Italy be free; and they have proved more than once, that they know how to keep their oaths.

Italians of all countries!-Second their magnanimous efforts. Let those who have borne arms resume them; let the raw youth accustom themselves to handle

them; let all citizens, friends of their country, raise a generous voice for liberty; let the whole force of the nation be drawn forth in all its energy, and in every form. The question to be decided is, whether Italy shall be free, or shall remain for ages bent under the yoke of slavery. Let the struggle be decisive, and we shall have established to a distant period the happiness of our fine country,—that country, which though still torn and bleeding, is full of ardour and strength to conquer its independence. The enlightened men of all countries, the nations which are worthy of a liberal government, the Princes who are distinguished by the greatness of their character, will rejoice in your enterprise, will applaud your triumphs. England,

-can she refuse you her suffrage?

that nation which holds out to all others the model of a national and constitutional government; that free people, whose finest title to glory is to have shed its blood and treasures for the independence and liberty of nations!

Italians!-Having long invited and urged us by your wishes, you were surprised at our inaction; but the propitious moment was not come; I had not yet received proofs of the perfidy of your enemies. It was necessary that you should be convinced by recent experience, how false was the liberality of your present masters, how deceitful and lying their promises. Fatal and deplorable experience! I call you to witness, brave and unfortunate Italians of Milan, Bologna, Turin, Venice, Brescia, Modena, Reggio, and so many other famous cities,

how

how many of your brave warriors and virtuous patriots have been torn from their native soil! how many groan in dungeons! how many are victims of unheard of exactions and humiliations.

Italians!-You must put a period to so many calamities; arise, and march in the closest union. At the same time that your courage shall assert your external in dependence, let a government of your choice, a true national representation, a constitution worthy of you and the age, guarantee your internal liberty and protect your property. I invite all brave men to come and combat with me; I invite all brave men who have reflected on the wants of their country, that, in the silence of the passions, they prepare the constitution and laws which must in future govern happy and independent Italy.

JOACHIM NAPOLEON.

By the King.

MILLET DE VILLENEUVE, Chief of the Staff.

Letter from M. De Caulaincourt to Viscount Castlereagh, dated

Paris, April 4, 1815. My Lord, The expectations which induced his Majesty the Emperor, my august Sovereign, to submit to the greatest sacrifices, have not been fulfilled; France has not received the price of the devotion of its monarch; her hopes have been lamentably deceived. After some months of painful restraint, her sentiments, concealed with regret, have at length manifested themselves in an extraordinary manner; by an universal and spontaneous im

pulse, she has declared as her deliverer, the man from whom alone she can expect the guarantee of her liberties and independence.The Emperor has appeared, the royal throne has fallen, and the Bourbon family have quitted our territory, without one drop of blood having been shed for their defence. Borne upon the arms of his people, his Majesty has traversed France from the point of the coast at which he at first touched the ground, as far as the centre of his capital, even to that residence which is now again, as are all French hearts, filled with our dearest remembrances. No obstacles have delayed his Majesty's triumphal progress; from the instant of his re-landing upon French ground, he resumed the government of his empire. Scarcely does his first reign appear to have been for an instant interrupted. Every generous passion, every liberal thought, has rallied around him; never did any nation present a spectacle of more awful unanimity.

The report of this great event will have reached your Lordship. I am commanded to announce it to you, in the name of the Emperor, and to request you will convey this declaration to the knowledge of his Majesty the King of Great Britain, your august master.

This restoration of the Emperor, to the throne of France, is for him the most brilliant of his triumphs. His Majesty prides himself above all, on the reflection that he owes it entirely to the love of the French people; and he has no other wish than to repay such affections, no longer by the trophies of vain ambition, but

by all the advantages of an honourable repose, and by all the blessings of a happy tranquillity. It is to the duration of peace that the Emperor looks forward for the accomplishment of his noblest intentions. With a disposition to respect the rights of other nations, his Majesty has the pleasing hope, that those of the French nation will remain inviolate.

The maintenance of this precious deposit is the first, as it is the dearest of his duties. The quiet of the world is for a long time assured, if all the other Sovereigns are disposed, as his Majesty is, to make their honour consist in the preservation of peace, by placing peace under the safeguard of honour.

Such are, my lord, the sentiments with which his Majesty is sincerely animated, and which he has commanded me to make known to your government.

I have the honour, &c.
(Signed)

CAULAINCOURt,
Duc de Vicence.

His Excellency Lord Castlereagh, &c.

(No. 2.)-TRANSLATION. Letter from M. Caulaincourt to Viscount Castlereagh, dated

Paris, April 4, 1815. My Lord, The Emperor was anxious to express directly to his Royal Highness the Prince Regent, the sentiments which inspire him,

your Excellency to present it to his Royal Highness.

The first wish of the Emperor being, that the repose of Europe should remain inviolate, his Majesty has been anxious to manifest this disposition to the Sovereigns who are still assembled at Vienna, and to all other Sovereigns.

I have the honour to be, &c.
(Signed)

CAULAINCOURT,
Duc de Vicence.

His Excellency Lord Castlereagh, &c.

(No. 3.) Letter from Viscount Castlereagh to M. Caulaincourt. Downing-street, April 8, 1815. Sir, I have been honoured with two letters from your Excellency bearing date the fourth inst. from Paris, one of them covering a letter addressed to his Royal Highness the Prince Regent.

I am to acquaint your Excellency, that the Prince Regent has declined receiving the letter addressed to him, and has, at the same time, given me his orders to transmit the letters addressed by your Excellency to me, to Vi enna, for the information and consideration of the Allied Sovereigns and Plenipotentiaries there assembled.

I am, &c.

CASTLEREAGH.

Castlereagh.

Vienna, May 6, 1815. My Lord,-Adverting to your Lordship's dispatch of the 8th ult. and to its inclosures, conveying a proposal made by the exist

ing government in France, and your Lordship's answer thereto, I have the honour to acquaint you, for the information of his Majesty's Government, that at a conference held on the 3d inst. his Highness Prince Metternich ac. quainted us, that a M. de Strassant, who had been stopped on his way hither, at Lintz, from not having been furnished with proper passports, had addressed a letter to his Imperial Majesty, and therewith forwarded some unopened letters which the Emperor had directed him to unscal in the presence of the Plenipotentiaries of the Allied Powers.

These proved to be a letter from Buonaparte, addressed to his Majesty, professing a desire to continue at peace, to observe the stipulations of the Treaty of Paris, &c.; and a letter from M. de Caulaincourt to Prince Metternich, containing similar professions.

After reading these papers, it was considered whether any, and what answer should be made thereto, when the general opinion appeared to be, that none should be returned, and no notice whatever taken of the proposal.

Upon this, as indeed upon all other occasions subsequent to the resumption of authority by Buonaparte, wherein the present state of the Continental Powers with regard to France has come under discussion, but one opinion has appeared to direct the Councils of the several Sovereigns. They adhere, and from the commencement have never ceased to adhere, to their Declaration of the 13th of March, with respect to the actual Ruler of France. They are

in a state of hostility with him and his adherents, not from choice, but from necessity, because past experience has shewn, that no faith has been kept by him, and that no reliance can be placed on the professions of one who has hitherto no longer regarded the most solemn compacts, than as it may have suited his own convenience to observe them; whose word, the only assurance he can afford for his peaceable disposition, is not less in direct opposition to the tenour of his former life, than it is to the military position in which he is actually placed. They feel that they should neither perform their duty to themselves or to the people committed by Providence to their charge, if they were now to listen to those professions of a desire for peace which have been made, and suffer themselves thus to be lulled into the supposition that they might now relieve their people from the burthen of supporting immense military masses, by diminishing their forces to a peace establishment, convinced as the several Sovereigns are from past experience, that no sooner should they have been disarmed, than advantages would be taken of their want of preparation, to renew those scenes of aggression and bloodshed, from which they had hoped that the peace so gloriously won at l'aris would long have secured them.

They are at war, then, for the purpose of obtaining some security for their own independence, and for the reconquest of that peace and permanent tranquillity for which the world has so long panted. They are not even at war

for