affair, the underfigner has the honour to prefent, inclosed herewith, to your Excellency, copies of the decrees given upon the different claims of the Pruflian fubjects, upon that of each merchant feparately; whence it refults, that of 239,850 crowns, which those merchants reckoned due to them, the commiffion has adjudged to them no more than 159,486 crowns zo gr. principal, and 33,283 crowns intereft, at the rate of 6 per cent. Though his Majefty has all the reason to be perfuaded, that the faid commiffion has proceeded according to the forms of the mott impartial juftice, his Majefty has nevertheless ordered the underfigner to declare, in the prefent memorial, that his Majefty is difpofed to have any contefted facts examined afresh by the faid commiffion, if any officers, or Englih privateers, who fhall believe theinfelves wronged thereby, think proper to interfere therein; and to get the judgmeat altered, in cafe the allegations of the party fo complaining, fhould be found valid. The King fixes, for the exhibition of thefe allegations, the term of three months, reckoning from the day of this declaration. As the lift of the feveral captures annexed to this memorial con tains the names of those who made them, bis hierty refers it to the good pleasure of the British government, in what manner in hall be proper to inform the parties of the judgment pronounced, that they may enter their complaint against it according to law. If nevertheless the faid term lapfes without any one's interpofing in his own vindication, his Majefty will abide by the decree of his council; and, in pursuance thereof, will order the de duction of the fum adjudged to his fubjets, including the intereft thereon at 6 per cent. until the 10th of July of the current year; which faid deduction, fo ordered from the money due to the Engith, amounts to 194,725 Brandenburg crowns, 4 gr. and 5 deniers, and is to be applied to the indemnification of the PrufSin merchants. His Majefty at the fame time declares, that he is ready to order a remittance to be made to the commiffiogers of the Silefia loan, of the refidue of what is owing upon that claim, both on account of the capital, and of the intereft growing thereon, at the rate of 7 per cent, to the 10th of July of this prefent year: always provided, that the faid commiflioners fhall produce an authentic releafe for the faid principal and intereft. In cafe that, against all expectation, they fhall in England refufe to come into this fo equitable a regulation, I am to declare to your Excellency, that the King will order the faid fum to be judicially delivered to his chamber of juftice in Berlin, there to remain in depofit, till it fhall please the proprietors to draw it out by furnishing proper difcharges; and as the continuance of the intereft naturally ceafes after this depofit, his Majefty exprefsly protefts against being thenceforward accountable for any; and, in virtue of this authentic proteft, his Majefty holds the debt upon the Silefia mortgage entirely extinguished, and that duchy fully exonerated from all obligations with regard to it. London, Nov. 23. 1753. MICHELE. LONDON MAGAZINE. An anecdote from the biftory of Q2. Elifa beth, quoted on occafion of the prefent dif pute with Pruffia. During the war carried on by that wife and glorious Queen against Spain, feveral of the Swedish and Dant zick fhips had been feized by our ships of war, on account of their being loaded with contraband goods for Spain; and probably fome exceffes had then likewife been committed, as there always are upon fuch occafions. Upon this Sigifmund, King of Poland and Sweden, fent Paulus de Jaline, his ambaffador, to Q. Elifabeth, to demand fatisfaction; which at his firft audience he began to do in Latin, the only lan guage then ufed upon fuch occafions. But he did it in fuch a high tone and haughty manner, that the Queen cut him fhort with the following extempore anfwer in Latin. Heu quàm decepta fui! Expe&avi nuncium, tu verò querelam mihi adduxifti: per literas te accepi effe legatum, te verò heral dum 20 2. Elifabeth's answer to an infolent ambaffador. dam invenio. Nunquam in vita talem orationem audivi. Miror, fanè miror, tantam et tam infolitam in publico audaciam; neque puto, fi Rex tuus adeffet, talia verba protuliffet. Sin aliquid tale tibi in mandatis commifit, (quod quidem valde dubito); tribuendum, quòd cùm Rex fit juvenis, & non tam jure fanguinis quàm electionis, atque etiam noviter electus, non tam bene percipiat quid inter reges convenit, quàm majores fui nobifcum obfervarunt, & alii fortaffe deinceps obfervabunt. Quod ad te attinet, videris multos libros perlegifje, libros tamen principum non attigiffe, neque intelligere quid inter reges convenit. Cum verò jus naturæ gentium commemoras; hoc feito effe jus naturæ gentium, ut cum bellum inter reges intercedat, liceat alteri alterius undique allata præfidia intercipere, et ne in damnum fuum convertantur, prævidere: hoc fcito effe jus naturæ & gentium. Ubi itidem domum Auftriæ narras, quam jam tanti facis; non te lateat, ex eadem domo non defuifle qui regnum Polonia Re"gi tuo intercipere voluiffent: De reliquis, que cùm multa funt, & fingulatim deliberanda, non funt hujus loci ac temporis; accipies quod à quibufdam confiliariis huic rei defignatis deliberandum fuerit. Interim valeas, &quiefcas. This anfwer runs in English thus. "How much am I deceived! I expected an envoy, but thou has brought me a challenge. By thy credential letters, I took thee to be an ambaffador; but I find thou art a herald. In all my life I never heard fuch a fpeech. I am furprised, I am really amazed at fo great and fo unufual impudence in public; nor do I think that thy mafter, had he been here himself, would have made ufe of any fuch language. But if there be any fuch thing in his inftructions to thee, (which very much doubt); as he is a young King, not by hereditary right, but by election, and even but lately elected, I muft impute it to his being unacquainted with that language which is proper among fovereigns, and which his ancestors have always obferved towards us, and his fucceffors from henceforth probably will. As to what relates to thyfelf, thou feemeft to have read many books, but never to have looked into the book of I Vol.xv. princes, nor to understand what is decent among fovereigns. But fince thou talkeft of the law of nature and nations, know, that when war breaketh out be tween two kings, they are, each of them, warranted by the law of nature and nations, to intercept all fupplies brought to the other, let them come from whence they will, and to take care that no fuch fupplies may be made ufe of a gainit themfelves. Know this to be the law of nature and of nations. Where again thou talkeft of the house of Auftria, which thou now buildeft fo much on; thou art not ignorant, that there was not wanting of that house, one who defigned to intercept from thy King the kingdom of Poland *. As to the reft, being numerous, and fuch as must be particularly confidered, they are not proper for this time or place: the refolutions of the commiffioners appointed for this purpofe, fhall be communicated to thee. In the mean time fare thee well, and be quiet." Thus did that great princess answer a powerful King, who only talked in a manner which the thought infolent : and it is remarkable, that this spirited answer was made by her when he was old; when fhe was involved in a war with Spain, then the most potent monarchy in Europe; when she had been deferted by her ally Henry IV. of France, who had made a feparate peace with Spain; and when there was a dangerous rebellion in Ire land, headed by the famous Ter-Owen, and fupported by Spain.. And Speed, who gives us this anecdote, tells us, that having ended her ora tion, fhe, lion-like rifing, daunted the malapert orator no lefs with her stately port and majeftic departure, than with the tartnefs of her princely checks: and turning to the train of her attendants, faid, "God's death, my Lords, I have been forced this day to scour up my old Latin that hath long lain rusty." * The Archduke Maximilian of Austria, brother to the Emperor Rhodolph II. had difputed, the crown with Sigifmund. JOUR JOURNAL of the Proceedings and Debates in the POLITICAL CLUB, continued from vol. xiv. p. 568. The fubftance of feveral speeches in the debate upon the new treaty, by which a fubfidy of 32,000/. per annum is to be paid to the King of Poland, Elector of Saxony. [xiv. 287.] The Speech of Servilius Prifcus, who opened the debate. Mr Chairman, T HE treaty between his Majefty and the States-General on the one part, and the King of Poland, Elector of Saxony, on the other, concluded at Drefden the 13th of September last, having been referred to this committee, I now rife up to move for granting fuch a fum to his Majefty, as may be neceflary for enabling him to make good the engagements he has entered into by that treaty. And I cannot Lippofe, that it will be neceffary for me to make ufe of many arguments for indaing the house to comply with the motion I am to make; because this treaty with the King of Poland, was a natural, and indeed a neceffary confequence of that with the Elector of Bavaria, which was laft feflion fo wifely approved of by a great majority of this affembly. The providing against a vacancy of the Imperial throne, by getting the eldeft fon of the prefent Emperor chofen King of the Komans, was then thought to be a meafure fo neceffary for fecuring the peace of Europe, and preferving the balance of power, that few gentlemen feemed to grudge any expence that might be found to be neceffary for rendering that meafure effectual. It was indeed then thought, that this nation would not have been put to any farther expence upon that account; and perhaps we should not, if it had been thought prudent to proceed to an election pon our having fecured only a bare majority of the electors: but every gentleman muft fee, that in order to render this election the more firm and indifputable, it will be proper to have the concurrence of the whole electoral college, or at leaft of as many of them as can poffibly be procured; and for this purpose it wa neceffary, among the very firit, to gan the King of Poland, Elector of SaVOL. XV. xony, not only as being one of the moft powerful electors, but as being one of the two vicars of the empire. It was upon this maxim, Sir, that his Majefty entered into the negotiation for the treaty now under our confideration; and the maxim was fo apparently wise and juft, that the Dutch, without any difficulty, not only approved of it, but alfo agreed to bear a proportionable share of the expence, notwithstanding the prefent low ftate of their finances, and the heavy debt they now labour under. That wife people are fully fenfible of the dangerous confequence of a new vacancy in the Imperial throne; therefore they rightly judge, that it ought to be guarded againft at any expence: and confidering the difputes ftill fubfifting between this nation and France, as well as Spain, we have more reafon than the Dutch to be afraid of that danger; for the freedom and independency of the Dutch is of fuch an immediate concern to all the princes of Germany, that if France and Spain fhould attempt to conquer Holland, it would in a manner force all thofe princes to put an end to, or at least to fuípend all their mutual difputes and animofities, and cordially unite together for the protection of Holland. In fuch a cafe, and for fuch a purpofe, they would foon agree upon the choice of an Emperor, and all join in a confederacy for faving their neighbouring state. But if, upon a vacancy of the Imperial throne, a civil war fhould arife in Germany about the choice of a fucceffor, and France and Spain fhould take that opportunity to endeavour to drive us out of all our poffeffions in Afia, Africa, and America, as well as the Mediterranean; fuch an attempt would be thought of very little concern to the princes of Germany, and confequently would have no fuch influence as to force them to put an end to the civil war among themselves; efpecially if we had before thewn ourfelves D quite 22 Of the fubfidy to the Elector of Saxony. I know, Sir, it is an unpopular and invidious talk to talk against the power or ftrength of one's country; but I deSpife flattering even my native country, at the expence of my fincerity; and therefore I must declare, that, in my opinion, it would be impoffible for us by ourfelves alone to fupport a war of any continuance against the united power of France and Spain, and probably of the whole houfe of Bourbon. In fuch a war they would certainly compel Portugal to refufe admittance to our fhips of war into any of her ports, and might perhaps compel that kingdom to join with them in the war against us: for as that kingdom lies open to an attack from Spain by land, against which we could give it ittle or no affiftance, it would be forced to receive the law from the houfe of Bourbon; and let gentlemen confider what a condition our fhips would be in, if upon any diftrefs or danger they had not a port to retire to from the Land's end to the ftreights of Gibraltar. Then again let us confider, Sir, how, in cafe of fuch a war, our navy, formidable as it is, must be weakened by being divided: for we fhould be obliged to have always one numerous fquadron in the Mediterranean, another of equal force in the Weft Indies, and a third fuperior to either upon our own coafts; and befides thefe, it would be neceffary for us to have always a finall fquadron upon the coast of Africa, a fecond in the Eaft Indies, and a third in the Baltic. All these quadrons, I fay, it would be neceffary for us to have continually in their refpective stations, for the protection of our trade or our fettlements in thefe feveral parts of the world: and would it be pof fible for us, even with the best intelligence, to prevent its being in the power of France and Spain to steal out their fhips, and attack us with a fuperior fquadron in one or other of thofe places? If thefe things be duly confidered, Sir, every gentleman muft fee, that whilft France and Spain continue united, and whit both of them are daily forming Vol. projects against our trade and fore fettlements, which they want only a p per opportunity for carrying into exe tion, it will be abfolutely neceffary us to have always a confederacy up the continent ready to attack them land, if they fhould ever openly atta us by fea or in America. But if an teftine war fhould break out in Germ ny, would it be poflible for us to pr vide any fuch confederacy? And ev one knows, that nothing is fo likely create an inteftine war in that count as a vacancy in the Imperial throm Therefore, in the prefent circumftand of Europe, there is no nation in it, not even Germany itself, that can ha a greater concern than we have, to pr vent, as far as is confiftent with the co ftitution of the empire, the poffibility fuch a vacancy; and confequently y ought not to grudge any expence th may appear to be abfolutely neceffa for guarding against fuch a dangero misfortune. But, Sir, a vacancy in the Imperi throne is not now the only misfortun we have to guard againft: France, w know, is at great pains, and a vast ex pence, to gain, and attach to her inte eft, as many of the German princes fhe can prevail with to accept of he terms; and as most of those princes now keep up a larger number of regular troop than their own proper revenues can a fwer to fupport, they must have fubfidi from fome foreign ftate or other. Th Emprefs Queen of Hungary is alway obliged to keep up fuch a numerous arm of regular troops, in order to be read to make head against any fudden irrupt on of the Turks, that the cannot fpare t grant any fubfidies; and the Ruffians at in the very fame fituation: confequent! none of the princes in Germany can ex pect any fubfidy, unless it be either from France and Spain, or from the Dutc and us. Moft of them, I have good rea fon to believe, will accept of a lefs fut fidy from us, than what has been offer ed, or may hereatier be offered b France; but if we fhould be fo impro dently parfimonious as to refufe to grat them any fubfidy, they would be obl ged to accept of one from France and Spain; and in confequence thereof they would be bound to join with thofe two crowns, perhaps againft the intereft of their native country, as well as againt that of Europe in general, Thus it appears, Sir, that his Majesty had two most preffing motives for con Aluding this fubfidy-ureaty with the King of Poland: for he has thereby prevented that prince's being reduced to the neceffity of entering into any treaty with France; and he has fecured, as far as is confiftent with the laws of Germany, the concurrence of that prince's vote and intereft for electing the Archduke Jofeph King of the Romans. This, it is true, is not, nor could it be made an exprefs article of the treaty; because such an are ticle would have been contrary to one of the fundamental conftitutions of the empire: but this was understood by all the contracting parties; and, I am convinced, will be as faithfully performed as if it had been made an exprefs article; not fo much on account of the tacit engagement in the treaty, as on account of its being agreeable to the particular intereft of Germany, as well as the general in terest of Europe. I may therefore, I think, now venture to fay, Sir, that we have fecured not only the two vicars of the empire, but two thirds of the electoral college, to concur in the election of a King of the Romans; and confequently, I hope, nay, I truft, that the election will be brought on, and the Archduke Jofeph elected, before we meet here again in a new feffion. Nothing, I think, can prevent it, unless it be a well-grounded hope to get the election made unanimous; and this I have fome reafon to think far from being impracticable. I wish with all my heart it may be effected; for it is an end fo defirable, that the leaft ground to hope for attaining it, would fully compenfate a delay for another year, if that fhould appear neceffary, which I trust it will not; and therefore I hope this will be the last expence which this nation may be obliged to put itself to for fecuring, as far as human prudence can devise, the internal quiet of Gerina ny, and of courfe not only our own tranquillity, but the free and uninterrupted poffeffion of our trade and our fettlements in every part of the world: and if we can purchafe fuch a valuable fecurity for fuch a trifle of expence, I am fure every gentleman muft allow, that we have inade a cheap purchase; for which reafon I fhall conclude with moving, That a fum not exceeding 32,0001 be granted to his Majefty, to enable his Majefty to make good his engagements with the King of Poland, Elector of Saxony, purfuant to treaty. The Speech of Pomponius Atticus, wha Spoke next. Mr Chairman, Although I have for many nerally agreed in my fentiments with the Hon. Gentleman who spoke laft, and although I now agree with him in thinking, that it would add to our security, as well as the fecurity of the ba lance of power, to have the Archduke Jofeph chofen King of the Romans; yet I cannot agree with him in my opinion of this treaty: for I not only think, that the nation is thereby to be put to a most unneceffary expence, but that the treaty itfelf is a very wrong measure; because it will rather prevent than forward the end for which it is faid to be intended. With regard to the expence, Sir, it fhould have been confidered, that the King of Poland is in circumftances very different from those of the Elector of Bavaria. The family of Bavaria had long had an attachment to France, and might ftill have thought it their interest to continue that attachment; therefore, if there had been no fuch thing as an election of a King of the Romans in view, it would have been not only prudent, but neceffary for us to grant a fubfidy to the Elector of Bavaria, in order to withdraw that prince from his attachment to France, and to fix him in the intereft of the house of Austria, and of this kingdom. For this reafon many gentlemen, of whom I am one, might have last year approved of the treaty with Bavaria, and yet may now very much difapprove of this treaty with the King of Poland. Even that D 2 with |