X. CHAP. the King of Prussia, full of just and equitable views on the course to be pursued in the approaching invasion, which it would have been well for the Allies if they had strictly adhered to during the campaign. * 1792. 10. Selfish views of powers at In the ambitious projects entertained at this period by the Prussian cabinet and the Duke of Brunswick, is to the Allied be found the true secret of the disasters of the campaign, this period, and one powerful cause of the subsequent calamities which befell every part of Europe. The former was intent on iniquitous gains in Poland, and took the lead in the coalition against France chiefly in order to gratify the wishes of the Empress Catherine, who was the head of the league for effecting the partition of the former country, and at the same time vehemently desirous of extinguishing the principles of the Revolution. The latter was apprehensive lest his great reputation, which rested on no permanent or illustrious actions, should be endangered, and his secret views in France blasted by too intemperate an hostility against that country. Thus both the government and the generalissimo were prepared to play false before they entered upon the campaign. They intended only to make a show of hostility on the Rhine, sufficient to propitiate the Semiramis of the north, and incline her to allow them as large a share as possible of the contemplated booty on the Vistula. Frederick William, indeed, was sincere in his desire to deliver the King of France, and re-establish monarchical authority in his dominions; but, surrounded by ministers who had "You will understand better than I what an important effect the disposition of the interior of France must have on the operations of the campaign. It would be well to address a proclamation to the national guards, announcing that we do not make war on the nation, that we have no intention of abridging their liberties, that we do not desire to overturn their constitution; but that we insist only for reparation to the German princes dispossessed in Alsace. That affair of the indemnities will occasion the greatest embarrassment, if we cannot prevail on the Emperor to give his consent to the changes which are commencing in Poland. For my own part, I give to acquisitions in Poland a decided preference to any that may be acquired in France; for by any attempt at territorial aggrandisement in that country, the whole spirit in which the war should be conducted will be changed."-Mem. 19th Feb. 1792.-HARD. i. 353. X. different objects in view, he was unable to act with the CHAP. energy requisite to insure success, nor was he aware of the difficulties to be encountered in its prosecution. The 1792. Duke of Brunswick alone was adequately impressed with the serious dangers which attended the proposed invasion, and in his memoir, already mentioned, he had strongly urged the necessity of "immediate and decisive operations, the more so as, without them, consequences of incalculable importance may ensue; for the French are in such a state of effervescence that, if not defeated in the outset, they may become capable of the most extraordinary 353, 357. resolution." 1 1 Hard. i. Dumourier of Paris. Dumourier, minister of foreign affairs at Paris, aware 11. that Austria was totally unprepared for a war in the Views of Low Countries, and strongly impressed with the idea and the govthat the real object of France should be to wrest these ernment opulent provinces from the house of Hapsburg, counselled an immediate advance into Flanders; while at the same time, by means of secret agents, he prepared the minds of the discontented, both in that country and in Piedmont, to second the invasion of the Republicans. Aware of the intrigues which M. Sémonville, the French envoy, was carrying forward, the King of Sardinia refused to permit him to advance beyond Alessandria. Dumourier affected the utmost indignation at this slight put upon "the great nation" in the person of its plenipotentiary; but the cabinet of Turin remained firm, and refused either to admit M. Sémonville to the court, or make any submis- 357, 369. sion to the indignant feelings of the Republicans.2 2 Hard. i. vasion of is resolved on. After much deliberation, the Allies resolved to attempt 12. the invasion of France by the plains of Champagne, the The insame quarter where an inroad was afterwards success- Champagne fully achieved by them in 1814. Great difficulties were experienced in regard to the corps of emigrants, which, from the want of aid either from Prussia or Austria, had not yet attained any consistent military organisation; as, on the one hand, the Allies were apprehensive of exciting X. 1792. CHAP. the nation by the sight of an armed invasion of the emigrant noblesse, while, on the other, the influence of those illustrious exiles, especially with the northern courts, rendered it an imprudent measure to give them any serious ground of complaint. At length a middle course was resolved on-to join the emigrant corps to the army, but keep it in reserve with the second line-a resolution which, however unhappy, was rendered unavoidable by the arrival of a courier from St Petersburg, bringing despatches, containing not only the entire concurrence of the Empress Catherine in the proposed hostile operations, but her resolution not to permit any change in the form of government in any European state. This declaration, under the veil of a general principle not likely to be disputed in despotic courts, concealed her secret design to make the recent changes in the Polish constitution a pretext for completing the partition of the Sarmatian plains.1 May 3. 1 Hard. i. 367, 389. 13. Impolitic invasion of The partitioning powers at length spoke openly out. On the 8th June, Frederick William, in concert with the Poland, and Empress Catherine, replied to the King of Poland, that wise views he entirely disapproved of the revolution so lately effected of Louis XVI. in the Polish dominions, and that nothing but an immediate invasion by the Russian and Prussian forces could be anticipated from such a step, taken without their concurrence. At the same time twenty-five thousand men, under Marshal Moellendorf, received orders to advance towards Warsaw. Thus, at the time when a cordial alliance of all the European powers was imperatively called for to stem the torrent of the French Revolution, the seeds of weakness and disunion were already sown, from the unjustifiable projects of some of them of aggrandisement on the shores of the Vistula. Meanwhile the King of France, not venturing openly to communicate with the Allied sovereigns, despatched a secret envoy to Vienna with letters to Marshal Castries, whom he had selected to communicate between him and the exiled princes, containing the wisest and most salutary advice CHAP. X. 1792. July 20. 1 Hard. i. on the conduct to be pursued by the invading powers.* These instructions were received, and deliberately considered by the Allied cabinets. They were strongly impressed at the time with the justice of his views, and gave the most solemn assurances to the envoy, Mallet du 369, 383, Pan, that their measures should be entirely regulated by Bert. de them. But the advice was forgotten almost as soon as it Moll. Mém. was received, and the more intemperate wishes of the Mallet du exiled princes subsequently gained too great an ascen- 287. dancy in the counsels of the coalition.1 402, 421. 370, 374. Pan, i. 286, tion of the On the 25th July the King of Prussia joined the 14. army, and on the same day the proclamation was issued Proclamawhich had so powerful an effect in exciting the patriotism Duke of and healing the divisions of the French people. This * "The safety of the monarchy," said Louis, "that of the King and all his family, the general security of persons and property, the stability of the order which may eventually succeed to the present confusion, the urgent necessity of abridging the duration of the crisis, and weakening the agitating influences-all concur in recommending the views of his majesty to all true Royalists. He fears, with reason, that a foreign invasion will induce a civil war in the interior, or rather a frightful Jacquerie; that is the object of his greatest apprehension. He ardently desires, in order to prevent the calamities of which you appear to discard too lightly the consideration, that the emigrants should take no part in the approaching hostilities; that they should consult the interests of the King, of the state, of their properties, and of all the Royalists in the interior, rather than their own just resentment; and that, after having disarmed crime by their victories, and dissolved a fanatical league by depriving it of its means of resistance, they may, by a salutary revolution, prepare the way for a treaty of peace, in which the King and the foreign powers may be the arbiters of the destinies and laws of the nation."-Instructions of Louis XVI. to Duc de Castries.-HARD. i. 402, 404. +"After having suppressed, in an arbitrary manner, the rights and possessions of the German princes in Alsace and Lorraine; troubled and overthrown, in the interior, good order and legitimate government; committed on the sacred person of the King and his august family crimes and acts of violence, which are renewed day after day, those who have usurped the reins of power in France have at length put the finishing stroke to their misdeeds by declaring war on his Majesty the Emperor, and attacking his possessions in the Low Countries. Some of the possessions of the German empire have been involved in that aggression; others have only escaped the danger by yielding to the imperious demands of the ruling party in France. His Majesty the King of Prussia, united in a close alliance with the Austrian monarch, and, like him, charged with the defence of the German confederacy, has deemed it indispensable to march to the succour of his Imperial Majesty and of Germany. To these motives is joined, also, the equally important object of terminating the anarchy in the interior of France itself, arresting the strokes levelled at the throne and the altar, re-establishing legal power, and restoring to the King Brunswick. X. 1792. CHAP. proclamation, though signed by the Duke of Brunswick, was drawn up by M. Calonne and the Marquis Lemon, in more violent terms than was originally intended, or than was consistent with the objects of the war, as set forth in the previous official declaration of the Prussian cabinet, in consequence of the intelligence which the Allied powers had received of the secret offers made to the Duke by the constitutional party in France, and the necessity which they thence conceived there was of com the security and liberty of which he has been deprived, and putting him in a condition to exercise his legitimate authority. Convinced that the sound and right thinking part of the French nation abhor the excesses of the faction which has subjugated it, and that the great majority of the inhabitants await only the arrival of external succour to declare themselves openly against the tyranny which oppresses them, their Imperial and Royal Majesties invite them to return to the ways of reason, justice, order, and peace; and declare "I. That, being drawn into this war by irresistible circumstances, the two Allied courts propose to themselves no other object but the happiness of France, without seeking to enrich themselves by conquests at its expense. "II. That they have as little intention of interfering in the internal government of France; but that their only object is to deliver the King, the Queen, and the royal family, from their captivity, and to procure to his most Christian Majesty the security to enable him, without danger, and without obstacle, to convoke the assemblies which he may deem necessary to secure the happiness of his subjects, in conformity with his promises, so far as depends on him. "III. That the combined armies will protect the towns, burghs, and villages; the persons and property of all those who shall submit themselves to the King; and that they will concur in the immediate establishment of order and police over all France. "IV. That the national guards are called upon, in an especial manner, to watch over the tranquillity of the towns and country, and the preservation of the lives and property of all the French until the arrival of the troops of their Imperial and Royal Majesties, or till otherwise ordered, under pain of being personally responsible; while, on the other hand, such of the national guards as shall have combated against the forces of the Allied courts, and shall be taken with arms in their hands, shall be treated as enemies, and punished as rebels to their King, and disturbers of the public tranquillity. "V. That the generals, officers, and soldiers of the French army are, in like manner, summoned to return to their ancient fidelity, and to submit instantly to the King, their lawful sovereign. "VI. That the members of departments, districts, and municipalities shall be in like manner responsible, with their heads and properties, for all the crimes, conflagrations, pillages, and assassinations, which they have not done their utmost to prevent in their respective jurisdictions; and they are hereby required to continue in their functions till his most Christian Majesty is set at liberty. "VII. The inhabitants of towns, burghs, and villages who shall dare to defend themselves against the troops of their Imperial and Royal Majesties, and fire on them, either in the open country, or from windows, doors, or roofs, |