sistant. 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 complaints had been preferred, nor had any unconditional demands been made. The proposal (His Majesty had made) of an agreement to protect the Baltic, presented aspects of tranquillity and advantage to Russia, to all the North, which it would appear could not, but under great responsibility, be refused. The ports of Russia would thereby become 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, repose after an unfortunate war, and some motives for applause after a still 'more unfortunate peace, such were the advantages to be derived from the proposals which the king made to the Emperor. They were made with a well grounded confidence in the concurrence of Eugland, and his Majesty expected Russia's consent would have arrived much earlier than the dreaded English fleet 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 Emperor, 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 (22d) 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 manifestoes 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 bis reign, paid attention to your instruction, to the cul-' tivation and prosperity of your comtry. A faithless neighbour threatens to hurl you back to the state you were in in ages past, because your neighbourhood is become a reproach to him. His sword is brandished over your heads; his plundering hands are stretched towards your property; 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 unsubdned, till the time shall arrive when he can freely employ his whole force and that of his ally in protecting and revenging you.

Whereas the eastern frontiers of the kingdom have already been invaded by a Russian force; and whereas the western, southern, and northern frontiers are in danger of inva sion: we are compelled by all the means a our power to defend our kingdom, and at the same time to avail ourselves, for its security, of the sacred duty imposed upon the king of Sweden, as well by the ancient fon damental laws of the country, as by the present form of government. That we may be the better able to oppose our enemies, we hereby command all unmarried and able young men, between the ages of 18 and 25 years, of what rank soever they may be, excepting such as have heretofore served as soldiers or seamen, to be ready whenever they may be called upon, to defend their country. In the mean time we order our commanders immediately to enrol all young men of the above description, in every parish throughout the kingdom, and transmit to us a statement thereof as speedily as possible, that we may, accordingly to the information given of the number in each district, issue orders for their organization as regular troops. All those whom these may concern are here. by enjoined to observance.-Given at our palace at Stockholm, this 14th day of March 1808. GUSTAF ADOLPH.

Besides the above proclamation, there are several others of less moment: one dated March the 3d, prohibiting all travelling into Norway without a pass from the first secretary of state, which is to be granted only on account of especial business; and providing against the circulation of publications on the frontiers. Another proclamation prohibits on pain of death, all communication between the dominions of Sweden and Russia.

DENMARK.Declaration against Sweden, 29th February, 1808.

The Danish government has with just impatience waited 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 common to her with all the powers of the north, and to those principles which are the first bond of her connection with Russia and Denmark. 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 uncertain. What these relations had become, it is indeed impossible to dissemble, after a perfidious aggression had suddenly forced Denmark from the path she-had followed during a dong series of years without the slightest deviation. All Europe has resounded with one cry of indignation at the crine committed by Great Britain against a neutral and peaceful state; and from all quarters has the Danish govern. ment 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 inconveniences 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 been little calculated to induce it to abandon. The Danish cabinet would have been extremely embarrassed to interpret the conduct on the part of a sovereign, whose interests, principles, and sentiments, it bad 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 (whither, 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 indications were very soon increased. The Danish government is not acquainted with the extent of the assistance which its enemy received in the ports of Sweden; but it has felt the consequences of that assistance in a manner the most lamentable to itself. It is easy to conceive 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 mech 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 personally all the injustice and outrage committed against a neighbouring country; by the caresses and numberless marks of distinction lavished upon the leaders of the English forces; by the honours which they, on their part, affected to render to the ally of their sovereign; and by the demonstrations of respect towards his Swedish majesty, 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 fortress to which their salute was owing. However unfavourable an aspect the concurrence of these circumstances necessarily casts upon the dispositions of the King of Sweden towards the government of Denmark, that government cannot reproach it. self with having gratuitously exaggerated those appearances, which the court of Stockholm, 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 moment, and thought it becoming to dissimulate its just resentments against Sweden, in the hope that, enlightened concerning her true interests, and reflecting on the consequences of her resolutions, she would at last end by yielding to the representations which the court of St. Petersburgh had made, with as much tenderness as patience, in order to engage her to renounce her alliance with Great Britain, evidently become incompatible with the tranquillity of the North, and especially with the security of Denmark. The Danish government is but imperfectly acquainted with the nature and extent of the engagements which Sweden has entered 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 unmasked itself in the face of all Europe, it would have been insulting 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 security, 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 renewed be

tween the two allies, the Danish Government deems it right to prefer a state of open hostility to precarious and equivocal relations towards an enemy whose disposition 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 consequently, 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.

PRUSSIA. Declaration of the King of Prussia against Sweden, dated Konigsberg, March 6, 1808.

His Majesty the King of Prussia, our most gracious sovereign, has been solicited by both imperial courts of Paris and St. Petersburgh, 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. In 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 whatever with Sweden. In pursuance of this, from the present moment, and till farther orders, all Prussian harbours shall be utterly closed against Swedish vessels; Prussian vessels shall no longer be sent into Sweden, neither shall Swedish or neutral ships, or wares which came from Sweden, be admitted into Prussian harbours.

"said charges, with the exception of that ་¢ part of the second charge which relates "to the order that the columns should be "unloaded, and that no firing should be "permitted on any account."-The court are anxious that it may be distinctly understood, that they attach no censure whatever to the precautions taken to prevent unnecessary firing during the advance of the troops to the proposed points of attack, and do therefore acquit lieutenant-general Whitelock of that part of the said charge-" The court "adjudge, that the said lieutenant-general "Whitelocke be cashiered, and declared to"tally unfit and unworthy to serve his "Majesty in any military capacity what"ever."

The king has been pleased to confirm the above sentence, and his Royal Highness the commander in chief has received his Majesty's command to direct, that it shall be read at the head of every regiment in his service, and inserted in all regimental orderly books, with a view of its becoming a lasting memorial of the fatal consequences to which officers expose themselves, who, in the discharge of the important duties confided to them, are deficient in that zeal, judgment, and personal exertion, which their Sovereign, and their country, have a right to expect from officers intrusted with high commands. To his Majesty, who has ever taken a most lively interest in the welfare, the honour, and reputation of his troops, the recent failure of south America, has proved a subject of the most heartfelt regret ; but it has been a great consolation to him, and his Majesty has commanded it to be intimated to the army, that after the most minute investigation, his Majesty finds ample cause for gratification in the intrepidity and good conduct displayed by his troops, lately employed on that service, and particularly by those divisions of the ariny, which were personally engaged with the enemy in the town of Buenos Ayres, on the 5th of July, 1807; and his Majesty entertains no doubt, that had the exertions of his troops in South America been directed by the same skill and energy, which have so eminently distinguished his commanders. in other quarters of the world, the result of the campaign would have proved equally glorious to themselves and beneficial to their country. By command of his Royal Highness the commander in chief.-HARRY CALVERT.-Major-Gen. and Adj. Gen. of the forces.

CITY OF LONDON.- -Petition to the House of Commons, March 25th 1808 Sheweth, that your petitioners have, dur

ing a long course of public events, productive of so many calamities, patiently submitted to unexampled burthens, and are still ready to make such further sacrifices as may be necessary for maintaining the honour and independence of the realm.-That these burthens have been considerably augmented by gross abuses in the management and expenditure of the public money, and by a profusion of sinecure places and pensions, which have not only greatly added to the sufferings of the people, but created a pernicious and dangerous influence, corrupting and undermining the pure and free principles of the British constitution.-That after the enormous abuses brought to light by the various commissions of inquiry, it is a matter of deep concern to your petitioners, that the offenders thereby discovered have not been brought to justice, and those who so grossly misapplied the public money have hitherto escaped with impunity-Your petitioners did therefore rely upon Parliament that speedy and effectual measures would have been 'adopted to reform such abuses, and detect and punish the offenders in future.-That your petitioners viewed with much satisfaction the foundation of a committee of Finance and hailed the introduction into your hon. house of a bill to prevent the granting of places in reversion, as the first step towards these salutary reformations. They beheld with increased satisfaction the measures taken by your honourable house, both during the late and present sessions of parliament, to carry the same into effect.-That it was with grief and disappointment they observed the views and intentions of your hon. house unhappily frustrated; and they have too much reason to apprehend, that the defeat of this measure has arisen from the baneful and predominating influence, which such abuses must necessarily create, and which this bill was intended to correct. That it appears to your petitioners at all times essential, that rigid economy should be observed in the expenditure of the public money, and thatno places or pensions should be bestowed but for real public services, more particularly so at the present moment, when it is declared, "that this country is at the very crisis of its fate," and the people are called upon for such unexampled sacrifices and exertions. They beg further to suggest to your hon. house the serious consequences likely to result, should a disposition be evinced by either branch of the legisla ture at a period so awful and momentous, not to participate with the people in their dangers, sacrifices, and privations. They therefore pray your hon. house, not