Prussia have led to the case provided for by one of the articles of the treaty of the 12th of July, and we think it necessary that all the sovereigns who composed the confederation of the Rhine, should arm to defend its interests, to guaranty and maintain the inviolability of its territory. Instead of 200,000 men, which France is bound to furnish, she will furnish 300,000; and we have just given orders that the troops necessary to complete that number shall be transported with speed to the Lower Rhine. The troops of your majesty being still on a war footing, we invite your majesty to issue orders that they may be put in a state to march without delay, with all their field equipage, in order that they may contribute to the defence of the common cause, the success of which we dare believe will correspond with its justice, if at length, contrary to our wishes, and even contrary to our hopes, Prussia should compel us to repel force by force. We pray God, my brother, that he may have you in his holy and worthy keeping. Given at St. Cloud, the " emperor and king, to make known to his excellency M. Knobelsdorff, that new advices from Berlin, of an early date in September, state, that the garrison of that city had set out for the frontiers; that all the ar maments appeared to have redoubled their activity; and that they were publicly stated at Berlin itself, as being directed against France. The dispositions of the court of Berlin have so much the more strongly surprised his majesty, as he was far from foreseeing them, after the mission of M. de Knobelsdorff, and the letter of his majesty the king of Prussia, of which he was the bearer. His majesty the emperor and king has ordered some reinforcements to be sent to his army. Prudence commanded him to take steps against a project of aggression, as unexpected as it would be unjust. But it could only be in spite of himself, and contrary to his dearest wish, that he should see himself forced to unite the forces of his empire against a power whom nature herself has destined to be the friend of France, since she had tied together the two states by a community of interests before they were united by treaties. He pities the inconsiderateness of those agents who have procured the adoption, as useful, and even necessary, of the measures taken by the court of Berlin. But his sentiments for his majesty the king of Prussia have been neither. changed nor weakened; nor will be so, as long as his majesty shall not be forced to think that the Prussian armaments are not the result of a system of aggression against France; and when intrigue, which appears to have been active in so many ways, and under so many forms, in order to inspire into the cabinet of Berlinprejudices prejudices against its best and most faithful ally, shall have ceased; when it shall no longer menace, by preparations, a nation which, up to this hour, it has not appeared easy to intimidate; his majesty the emperor will regard that moment as the happiest for himself; and for his majesty the king of Prussia. He will be the first to countermand the movements of the troops, which he has ordered to interrupt armaments ruinous to his measures, and the relations between the two states will be re-established in all their intimacy. It is, without doubt, a satisfying thing to the heart of his majesty, not to have given, directly or indirectly, room for the misunderstanding which appears between the two states, and to be unable to be responsible for the results of this singular and strange contest, since he has not ceased constantly to make, by the means of his envoy extraordinary, and by the undersigned, every declaration proper to expose the intrigues which, in spite of his çares, have prevailed at Berlin; but it is at the same time a great subject of reflection for his imperial majesty, and of grief, that while the alliance with Prussia seemed likely to permit him to diminish the number of his troops, and to direct all his forces against the commion enemy, who is also that of the continent, it is against his own ally that he has precautions to take. The last news from Berlin diminishing greatly the hope that the emperor had founded upon the mission of M. Knobelsdorff, and upon the letter of his majesty the king of Prussia, and seeming to confirm the opinion of those who think that the armament of Prussia, without any foregoing explanation, is only the consequence of the first development of a system combined with the eremies of France, his majesty sees himself obliged to give to his preparations a general, public, and national character. He has always been willing that the undersigned should declare, that even after the publicity of the extraordi nary measures to which his majesty has found it necessary to recur, he is not less disposed to believe that the armament of the court of Berlin is only the effect of a misunderstanding, itself produced by false reports, and to replace himself, when that armament shall have ceased, in the same system of good understanding, of alliance, and of amity, which united the two states. The undersigned, &c. (Signed) C. M. TALLEYRAND, Prince of Benevento. Copy of the note of M. de Knobelsdorff, to the minister for foreign affairs, Sept. 12, 1806. The undersigned feeling how much it is of the first importance to answer immediately the note which his excellency the prince of Benevento, minister for foreign affairs, has done him the honour of addressing to him this evening, feels himself compelled to limit himself to the representation of the following observations. The motives which have engaged the king, my master, to make armaments, have been the effect of a scheme of the enemies of France and Prussia; who, jealous of the intimacy which exists between these two powers, have done every thing in their power to alarm, by false reports coming at once from every quarter. But, above all, what proves the spirit of this measure is, that his majesty has concerted it with no person whatsoever, and that the (Q4) intelligence, intelligence respecting it arrived sooner at Paris than at Vienna, St. Petersburgh, and London. But the king, my master, has ordered to be made to the envoy of his majesty the emperor of the French and king of Italy, an amicable communication on the subject of these measures. That minister had not yet returned an answer upon this communication. The relation of the interesting conversations that his imperial majesty has deigned to entertain with the undersigned and the marquis de Lucchesini, could not yet have arrived at Berlin. After this explanation, the undersigned can only testify to his excellency his most ardent wish, that public acts may yet rest suspended, till the return of the courier dispatched to Berlin. The undersigned begs his excel lency, &c. (Signed) GEN. KNOBELSDORFF. Copy of the second note to M. de Knobelsdorf, dated Sept. 13, 1806. The undersigned has laid before his majesty the emperor and king, the note that his excellency M. de Knobelsdorff yesterday did him the honour to address to him. His majesty has found therein, with pleasure, the assurance that Prussia had not entered into any concert hostile to Irance: that the armament she has made, had no other cause than a misunderstand ing; that the departure of the parrison of Berlin, though it happened since the letter written by his majesty the king of Prussia, ought only to be considered as the execution of an anterior order; and that the movements marked out for the Prussian troops would cease as soon as it was known at Berlin, what his majesty the emperor and king was pleased to say to M. de Knobels. dorff and Lucchesini, in the par-. ticular audiences which he granted them. His majesty has ordered in con sequence, that the communications which were to have been made to the senate on Monday next, shall be deferred; and that no troops, beside those which are actually on their march towards the Rhine, shall be put in motion, until his majesty learns the determinations and the measures that the court of Berlin shall have taken, after the report that M. de Knobelsdorff and Lucchesini have made ; and if these determinations are such that the French army in Germany shall be no longer menaced, and that all things shall be replaced between France and Prussia on the same focting as they were a month ago, his majesty will immediately order the retrograde march of the troops who are actually advancing to the Rhine. His majesty expects that this singular misunderstanding will be cleared up. He expects to be enabled, without any mixture of uncertainty or doubt, to restore himself to those sentiments of which he has given so many proofs to the court of Berlin, and which have always been those of a faithful ally. The undersigned prays M. de Knobelsdorff to receive the assurances of his high consideration. (Signed) C. M. TALLEYRAND, Prince of Benevento. Copy of the third note addressed by the minister of foreign affairs to M. de Knobelsdorff. The undersigned minister of fo. reign relations has expressed to his excellency M. Knobelsdorff, in the note which he had the honour to write to him on the 13th of Sept. the confiding dispositions with which his majesty the emperor received the assurances given by M. Knobelsdorff, that the military movements of the court of Berlin were not the result of any hostile concert against France, but simply the effect of a misunderstanding; and that they would cease the moment when the first communication of his excellency should have arrived at Berlin. Nevertheless, the news received every day bear so much all the character of an imminent war, that his imperial majesty must feel some regret at the engagement be made, not yet to call out his reserve, and to defer the constitutional notification, after which all the forces of the nation would be placed at his disposal. He will fulfil that engagement: but he shall think it contrary to prudence and to the ip terest of his people, not to order, in the interim, all the measures, and all the movements of the troops, which can take place without previous notification. to do in all circumstances, the occasion of testifying to his majesty the king of Prussia the price he attaches to his friendship; to an union founded on a wise policy, and on reciprocal interests; and to prove to him that his sentiments are always the same, and that no provocation has been able to alter them. The undersigned is happy in being able to give to his excellency M. de Knobelsdorff so formal an assurance of the dispositions of his majesty, which are so foreign to all idea of war with Prussia, that he has already committed a very grave military fault, in retarding his military preparations for one month, and in consenting to let fifteen days more pass over without calling out his reserves and his national guards. This confidence, which his majesty loves to preserve, proves what a value he sets upon what was stated to him by M. Knobelsdorff, that Prussia had entered into no concert with the enemies of France, and that the assurances that he had received, in putting a term to the misunderstanding which has just arisen, would cause the cessation of those armaments which were the consequences of it. (Signed) C.M. TALLEYRAND, &C. His majesty, has, at the same time, charged the undersigned to express again to M. Knobelsdorff, that he cannot yet explain to him- Paris, 18th Sept. 1806. self, by what forgetfulness of her interests, Prussia should be willing to renounce her ties of amity with France. War between the two countries appears to him a real political monstrosity; and from the moment that the cabinet of Berlin shall return to her pacific dispositions, and shall cease to menace the armies of Germany, his majesty engages to countermand all the measures which prudence com`manded him to take. He will seize with pleasure, as he does not cease Second note of M. Knobelsdorff to the minister for foreign affairs. The undersigned envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of his majesty the king of Prussia received yesterday the note addressed to him by his excellency the prince of Benevento, minister for foreign affairs. If, in this communication, the undersigned has found again, with extreme satisfac tion, the assurance formerly given, in the note of the 13th of September, that his majesty the emperor and king would fulfil the engagement which he had made to wait the result of the explanations given to M. de Lucchesini and to the general Knobelsdorff, before taking any measures respecting the consel tutional notification, which would put all the forces of the French nation at the disposal of government, he has learned with infinite pain that his majesty should have had any regret at that engagement; and that, in fulfilling it, he thinks it necessary to order all the measures and all the movements of troops, which can be taken without previous notification. The undersigned hastens to reiterate to his excellency M. the prince of Benevento, the assurance that his majesty the king of Prussia, far from ever having had an idea of renouncing his relations of amity with France, participates in that respect all the sentiments of his imperial and royal majesty, expressed in the communication to which this note is an answer; that, far from having entered into a concert with the enemies of France, his Prussian majesty has always sought to calm all resentments for facilitating the re-establishment of a general peace; in fine, that far from menacing the French armies in Germany by his armaments, these only took place in consequence of the advice received at Berlin, and which was so alarming, that it was not possible to neglect the measures of precaution demanded by prudence for the well fare of the state. The undersigned is pleased, in renewing to his excellency the prince of Benevento the assurance, that in taking these measures his majesty the king of Prussia has not renounced, for a single instant, the assurance of seeing the clouds dispersed that have been raised between him and France; and ge neral Knobelsdorff is persuaded, that such will be the result of the explanations that have taken place. In begging M. the prince of Benevento to make known to his majesty the emperor and king this answer to his communication, the undersigned has the honour to renew to his excellency the assurances of his high consideration. (Signed) GEN. KNOBELSDORFF. Paris, Sept. 29, 1806. Second report addressed to his majesty the emperor and king, by the minister of foreign relations, Oct. 6, 1806. Sire, When, in the report that a few days back I had the honour to address your majesty, I established, that if Prussia had any perso nal reasons which led her to make war, it could only be from a desire to enslave Saxony, and the Hanseatic towns, I was far from perceiving, that she would ever dare avow such a motive. It is, never. theless, an avowal which she has not feared to make and express in a note that M. de Knobelsdorff has sent me from Metz, and which I have the honour to address to your majesty. Of the three demands which that note contains, the first and the third are only made to disguise, if it be possible, that no real importance may be attached to the second. Prussia, after having seen with a tranquil eye the French armies in Germany during a year, could not be alarmed at their presence when their numbers were diminished— when they were dispersed in small |