hopes that the aggregated censure due to a power thus spared in the hour of danger, will be proportioned to its oppressive conduct towards this kingdom.-The conse. quences of the secret articles of the treaty of Tilsit, which were imme. diately suspected, and which the Russian ministry have since ac. knowledged, began by degrees to unfold themselves. England's commercial monopoly, that ridiculous scarecrow, erected by the French government, in order to usurp to itself the Continent, was also brought forward for the contem. plation of the North, for the sake of extending, even to that part of the world, the oppression and misery which, from port to port, from state to state, Europe had been subjected to. No government is any longer left to its own light and experience; no people to their own lawful industry; no middle class must be acknowledged between the ́vassal.and the enemy. Peace signifies confederacy-confederacy, submission; and from Paris must proceed the mandates which are to dictate both principles, laws, and ordinancies, to the self-styled, in dependent confederacy, while they promote only a lust for power, and violate what is most sacred in society and between societies.-Preparations were made in conformity at St. Petersburgh last autumn, for a rupture with England, and they waited only for the proper season of the year to be able, with somiewhat more security, to carry that measure into effect. A proposal was made to his royal majesty, in a note, dated the 6th of October, to assist agreeably to the convention made in 1780, in shutting the Baltic against foreign ships of war. His - VOL. L. majesty, on the 13th November, returned for answer that so long as the French government was in possession of so many harbours on the south side of the Baltic, and there exercised their system of ex. clusion, the Baltic could not be kept peaceable. His majesty in consequence also requested that his imperial majesty would first endea vour to prevail on the French to quit those ports; and when the first-mentioned application was renewed on the 27th of the same month, as an objection grounded on the convention of 1780, his majesty circumstantially declared on the 21st Jan. last, that by vir. tue of the couvention made in the year 1801, between Russia and England, and to which his majesty at the pressing, instance of Russia, and under her own guarantee, be came a party, the previous armed neutrality had entirely ceased. That his majesty had theu entered into direct engagements with England, in reference to that object, and which could not equitably be departed from, so long as the latter power, on her side, fulfilled her obligations. That at the same time that the armed neutrality was done away with, the stipulations ground. ed therein, respecting the shutting of the Baltic, became null and void, and which was the less applicable to existing circumstances, as the Danish naval force, then calculated upon, no longer was in being; not to mention that England had since that time discovered the passage through the great Belt. But that of Sweden could not with her arms contribute to the protection of the Baltic, she would, on the other hand, take upon herself to obtain, by negociation with England, that she she should not send any ships of war into those seas, provided no other power made armaments there, or new hostilities should oblige her to come there as an assistant. That Sweden should be called upon to serve Russia as outworks, because she had thought proper to provoke England; that Sweden should sacrifice her fleet and commerce as a defence for Cronstadt and Revel, was asking rather too much; yet immediately after these representations, Russia actually commenced her preparations for war on the frontiers of Finland. His majesty - continued, notwithstanding, to view them with calm forbearance; for as yet no specific complain's had been preferred, nor had any un"conditional demands been made. The proposal (his majesty had made) of an agreement to protect the Baltic, presented aspects of tranquillity and advantage to Rus. sia, to all the north, which it would appear could not, but under great responsibility, be refused. The ports of Russia would thereby be. come more frequent than they had been since the commencement of the war, and might obtain an emulation in trade respecting their produce, unknown for many years. Neighbourly friendship, commerce, répose after an unfortunate war, and some motives for applause after a still more unfortunate peace, such were the advantages to be de-, rived from the proposals which the king made to the emperor. They were made with a well-grounded confidence in the concurrence of England, and his majesty expected Russia's consent would have arrived much earlier than the dreaded English Beet could shew itself as an avenger in the Baltic. He pressed a speedy answer, and it was intended that the king's ambassador should, on the 15th of February, in a private audience with the em peror, which was promised him, urge this important concern; when at once the communication of the embassy with Sweden was in a violent manner interrupted, and Russian troops entered Finland with the following proclamations: [Here follow the Russian proclamations, dated Frederiksham the 18th (6th) Feb. 1808, and Louisa, 10th (224) Feb. 1808, already published]. The declaration then concludes as follows:-Let every legal government, let every brave and honest warrior, every loyal subject, judge of this conduct: a treacherous invasion of a peaceful neighbour's country, preceded by manifestócs inviting to rebellion, are things at all times detestable, even in these latter times, otherwise so burthened with examples of violence and injustice. The Russian empire, the ally of France, is not, it would seem, powerful enough to abide upon the common terms of the law of nations, the resistance of a province left to defend itself on account of the season of the year. It calls forth the aid of treachery and treason. The government expects to purchase the Finlanders en masse, under promises of liberty; but the commander of the army offers to purchase the soldiers individually, like slaves, in the market of St. Petersburgh or Riga.-Ye youthful inhabitants of Finland, a people worthy of esteem; your king has, during the whole of his reign, paid attention to your in struction, to the cultivation and prosperity of your country. A faithless neighbour threatens to hurl you you back to the state you were in in ages past, because your neigh. bourhood is become a reproach to him. His sword is brandished over your heads; his plundering hands are stretched towards your proper. ty; his forces approach your dwelling, and his promises and protestations have no other aim than to facilitate his access to you. Deeply grieved at the distresses inseparable from war, although conscious of in no wise having been the cause of it, your king rests assured that your hearts will remain unseduced and your courage unsubdued, till the time shall arrive when he can freely employ his whole force, and that of his ally, in protecting and revenging you. Danish Declaration against Sweden, 29th February, 1808. out the slightest deviation. All Europe has resounded with one cry of indignation at the crime committed by Great Britain against a neutral and peaceful state; and from all quarters has the Danish government received testimonies of the most lively interest in its cause. The court of Stockholm alone, notwithstanding the particular ties which united it with that of Copenhagen, observed a total silence, which it at length broke, only to prefer complaints the most unfounded and reproaches the most unjust, with respect to the incon veniences that had indirectly resulted to it, from the events of the war, as well as from the rigorous measures which the situation to which the Danish government has been most unexpectedly, reduced, has imperiously required it to adopt, and which the chicane and endless vexations of Sweden have HE Danish government has been little calculated to induce it T with to see the effect of the efforts employed by the court of St. Petersburgh for the purpose of recalling Sweden by the most friendly means, to those interests which are com. mon to her with all the powers of the north, and to those principles which are, the first bond of her connection with Russia and Den mark. These efforts having finally · proved ineffectual, the Danish government finds itself placed in a position towards Sweden. which will no longer allow its relations with that kingdom to remain un. certain. What these relatious had become, it is indeed impossible to dissemble, after a perfidious aggression had suddenly forced Denmark from the path she had followed during a long series of years with. would have been extremely embarrassed to interpret the conduct on the part of a sovereign, whose in terests, principles, and sentiments, it had regarded as being equally wounded by an act of atrocity, which has suddenly lighted the flames of war in the north, if it had not quickly seen cause to suppose, that the resolution taken by the king of Sweden under these circumstances was not merely that of indifference. The extraordinary facility with which that monarch, several weeks before the reduction of Stralsund, had consented to the departure of the major part of the English forces in Pomerania (whether, as it should seem, they came with no other view than to await the opportunity of being conveyed to Zealand), and the pains his Swedish majesty took to inform his people that this re-embarkation took place by virtue of a separate article of his convention with Great Britain, gave the first indications of a secret understanding at the expence of Denmark. These in. dications were very soon increased. The Danish government is not ac. quainted with the extent of the assistance which its enemy received in the ports of Sweden; but it has felt the consequences of that as. sistance in a manner the most lamentable to itself. It is easy to eonceive the impression which has been produced upon the Danish nation by the relations of every kind, and the uninterrupted communications which the English found no difficulty in maintaining with Sweden. No one could fail to remark how much Denmark was insulted by the pleasure which the king of Sweden appeared to take in repairing to the coast opposite to the Sound, and beholding per sonally all the injustice and out. rage committed against a neigh bouring country; by the caresses and numberless marks of distinc tion lavished upon the leaders of the English forces; by the honours which they, on their part, affected to render to the ally of their sove reign; and by the demonstrations of respect towards his Swedish ma. jesty, to which the ships of war, violently seized from the port of Copenhagen, were not bound, on their passage along the Sound, under the cannon even of that for. tress to which their salute was owing. However unfavourable an aspect the concurrence of these circumstances necessarily casts upn the dispositions of the king of Sweden towards the government of Denmark, that government cannot reproach itself with having gratui tously exaggerated those appear. ances, which the court of Stock. holm, far from attempting to remove, wished to produce, nourish, and strengthen, as far as it was in its power. But these simple appearances were soon succeeded by facts. The government of England was the first to develope to Denmark the openly hostile disposition of his Swedish majesty. Europe already knows the explanations occasioned between Denmark and Sweden by this denunciation. The king of Sweden, when called upon in the most frank and friendly manner to declare himself on this subject, was seen to endeavour eluding the necessity of such a declaration; and when he was at length closely pressed, his majesty gave an answer oblique, equivocal, and insulting. Nevertheless, as this answer appeared in some measure to give the lie to the government of England, the government of Denmark was contented with it for the momentį and thought it becoming to dissi mulate its just resentments against Sweden, in the hope that, enlight ened concerning her true interests, and reflecting on the consequences of her resolutions, she would at last end by yielding to the repres sentations which the court of St Petersburgh had made, with as much tenderness as patience, in order to engage her to renouncè her alliance with Great Britain, evidently become incompatible with the tranquillity of the North, and especially with the security of Den. mark. The Danish government is but imperfectly acquainted with the nature and extent of the engagements gagements which Sweden has ens tered into with England; whatever may be the object of them, and whatever their tendency, no one can better conceive or appreciate than itself the repugnance which his Swedish majesty would feel in failing in any of the obligations he had contracted. But the cabinet of Copenhagen is not uninformed that the Swedish government itself has admitted, that the term of its engagements recently expired; and after the cabinet of St. James's had anmasked itself in the face of all Europe, it would have been insult. ing the court of Stockholm to suppose that it would dare to concur in an attack upon the first bases of the security, prosperity, and dignity of the powers of the north. These considerations could not be balanced by the trifling advantage of subsidies, with which the cabinet of London shews itself ready at all times to purchase its allies, and whom it pretends to have then the right of treating as mercenaries, The resolutions of the king of Sweden having, however, frustrated the last hopes of his neighbours, the government of Denmark could no longer hesitate, on its part, to take those measures which its secu. rity, the general interest of the north, its attachment to Russia, and the nature of its engagements with that power, imperiously prescribe to it. At a moment when Zealand is threatened anew by the forces of England, to which the ports of Sweden serve as a point of re-union; when the enemy of the north has just assured himself of the dependence of the court of Stockholm upon him for fresh pecuniary assistance; when the public declarations of the English ministry sufficiently unfold the nature of the engagements still subsisting or re. newed between the two allies, the Danish government deems it right to prefer a state of open hostility to precarious and equivocal rela, tions towards an enemy whose dis. position is become more and more suspicious, and who, during a long period, could be considered only as a disguised enemy. His majesty the king of Denmark declares con sequently, that he adopts altogether the resolutions of Russia in respect to Sweden, and that he will not separate his cause from that of the emperor Alexander, his august and faithful ally. Declaration of the King of Prussia against Sweden, dated Konigs berg, March 6, 1808. HIS majesty the king of Prussia, our most gracious sovereign, has been solicited by both imperial courts of Paris and St. Petersburgii, consistently with the system of the other powers of the continent, and the declaration against England, to extend the same measures against Sweden, which have been taken against England, on account of her fresh alliance with that power. imitation of the declaration issued by the emperor of Russia on the 10th (22) of February, in this year, his majesty has accordingly broken off all relations with Sweden, and commands all in office under him, under the penalty of severe punishment, to restrain from all community or intercourse what. ever with Sweden. In pursuance of this, from the present moment, and till farther orders, all Prussian harbours shall be utterly closed y 3 against |