"Every possible doubt of this nature is for ever and irrevocably silenced by the events themselves.

"The political and military tactics of Napoleon were well known: to divide in order to command, politically by separate negociations, militarily by partial attacks on his adversaries, executed with an immense display of force: to divide and cut them off from each other, was more especially the line he had to follow in this new enterprise; as he could depend on finding in his own party the unity of guilt and desperation, and as the union of the Princes opposed to him seemed, from the diversity of the several interests, to become more intricate and artificial with the accession of every new member.

"His political attacks were directed, as had been foreseen, first against Austria; in such a critical situation as his was, nothing short of the defection of so great a power as Austria could throw a weight into his scale. He has brought into play the most sacred private feelings, which, in the great mind of him who was to be gained by them, had been long since repressed within their due limits; he gave clearly to understand the immense present advantages which a union with him would have placed in the hands of the House of Austria. Al! was in vain : posterity will judge whether Austria has worthily terminated a twentyyears struggle, whether the ancient pillars of her throne, justice and an innate conscientiousness in her policy, have been forgotten by her, at a moment when an indubitable preponderance (the highest aim of short-sighted cabinets) was offered to her; posterity will only doubt whether Austria has shown more magnanimity in prosperity or adversity.

"In a military point of view, it was with certainty to be foreseen that he would make a concentrated attack upon one of the wings of the great theatre of war, which extended from the Apennines and the Alps along the Rhine; Italy and the Netherlands were the first and most natural objects of his operations. Now by a rare union of political and military activity, the first of these objects, Italy, was wrenched from his hands; so that the Alps, whose summits, supported by his only Ally, he fancied he could threaten, became his most vulnerable frontier, is evident to the whole world.

"The more difficult it was for him to separate himself from Paris, as it was decided that he must renounce Italy for ever,

and that he could find only in France a place for his usurped throne, the more unalterably was the plan of operations prescribed to him, which he had to adopt, and by which he was to meet his ruin. It was necessary that the Power which the most nearly threatened Paris, should be first, if not annihilated, at least shaken.

66

According to the first plan of the Allies, three armies were to penetrate into France at once, independent of each other, but tending to a common centre. That of the Upper Rhine under Field-Marshal Prince Schwartzenberg, that of the Lower Rhine under Field-Marshal Prince Blucher, and that of the Netherlands under Field-Marshal the Duke of Wellington. The Russian armies, which according to the usual calculations, could not come up till a later period, were to form the Reserve, as the Austrian army in Italy was to come to support the South of France, immediately after the completion of the conquest of Italy.

"The turn that affairs took in Italy, induced the great British Commander, strenuously to urge the union of the two armies of the Lower Rhine and the Netherlands. With what reciprocal regard this union, this belle alliance, was accomplished, neither of the two Commanders becoming subordinate to the other, and how just was the military conception in which this union originated, has been proved by the most brilliant result: the heroism and the energy of the execution, were no more than Europe justly expected from the two Generals and their armies.

"But that the Lower Rhine could be uncovered, without causing a break in the whole undertaking, and that the urgent representations of the Duke of Wellington could be attended to, for this, Europe is indebted to the unparalleled exertions of the Prussian Government, which had assembled upon the Rhine, before the end of June, a force that, according to the most favourable calculations, would have achieved the utmost that could be expected, had it arrived by the same time upon the Elbe; so that it was able immediately to enter into the great line, and to fill up the interval between the army of the Upper Rhine, and that of the Netherlands.

"Thus, by a perfectly united exertion of all the great Powers of Europe, was Buonaparté defeated, both in the cabinet and the field. The remembrance of this great moment, so truly glo

rious for all the leading Sovereigns, will never be extinguished. Posterity, in complete possession of all the details of these events, will acknowledge how much it owes, in particular, to his Majesty the Emperor of Austria." From the Austrian Observer.

Restitution of Works of Art

carried off by the French.

Aix-la-Chapelle, July 25th.

By an official letter from the Counsellor of State, M. Ribbentrop, Intendant-General of the army of the Lower Rhine, dated Paris, July 15, I have received information, that his Excellency Field-Marshal Prince Blucher of Wahlstadt, immediately after the taking of Paris, ordered that all the works of art and literature which are there, and which had been previously carried off by the French from the States of his Prussian Majesty, should be seized and restored to the places from which they were taken. For the execution of this order, a special Committee has been appointed at Paris, under the direction of an Intendant-General, and at the same time a line of conveyances from Paris to the Rhine. The first convoy left Paris on the 16th; among the articles which it brings, is the invaluable picture of St. Peter, which Rubens presented to Cologne, his native city, and which the audacious hands of our enemies ravished from the sacred and classic soil. Orders have also been given, that the beautiful columns of granite and porphyry, carried off by the same sacrilegious hands from the sanctuary of our Cathedral at Aix-la-Chapelle, and placed afterwards to support the arched roof of the Hall of Antiquities at Paris, shall be pulled down, and brought back to Aixla-Chapelle. I had particularly requested our illustrious FieldMarshal, immediately upon the taking of Paris, to cause these two articles to be restored; he has immediately complied with this desire, and has thus acquired a particular right to the gratitude of the cities of Cologne and Aix-la-Chapelle. You see, Prussians of the Rhine, that the State of which you are the youngest children, has not forgotten to seize the first opportunity to make you participate in the fruits of its victories. Your cities will celebrate with grateful joy, the day on which the property plundered from your ancestors, re-taken from a rapacious enemy, by the powerful hand of your King and his warriors, shall reenter your walls, &c. (Signed) SACK, President of the Prussian Provinces of the Rhine.

The Duke of Wellington to Lord Castlereagh.

Paris, Sept. 23d, 1815.

"There has been a good deal of discussion lately, respecting the measures which I have been under the necessity of adopting, in order to get for the King of the Netherlands, his pictures, &c. from the Museum; and lest these reports should reach the Prince Regent, I wish to trouble your Lordship with the following statement of what has passed, for his Royal Highness's information.

"Shortly after the arrival of the Sovereigns at Paris, the Minister of the King of the Netherlands claimed the pictures, &c. belonging to his Sovereign, equally with those of other powers; for, as I learn, he never could get any satisfactory reply from the French Government. After several conversations with me, he addressed to your Lordship an official note, which was laid before the Ministers of the Allied Sovereigns assembled in conference; and the subject was taken into consideration, repeatedly, with a view to discover a mode of doing justice to the claimants of the specimens of the arts in the Museum, without injuring the feelings of the King of France.

"In the mean time the Prussians had obtained from his Majesty, not only all the pictures really Prussian, but those belonging to the Prussian Territories on the left of the Rhine, and the pictures, &c. belonging to all the Allies of his Prussian Majesty: and the subject pressed for an early decision, when your Lordship wrote your note of the - on which it was fully discussed.

"The Ministers of the King of the Netherlands, still having no satisfactory answer from the French Government, applied to me as the Commander-in-Chief of the army of the King of the Netherlands, to know whether I had any objection to employ his Majesty's troops to obtain possession of what was his undoubted property? I referred this application again to the Ministers of the Allied Courts, and no objection having been stated, I considered it my duty to take the necessary measures to obtain what was his right.

"I accordingly spoke to the Prince de Talleyrand upon the subject, explained to him what had passed in conference, and the grounds I had for thinking that the King of the Netherlands

had a right to the pictures, and begged him to state the case to the King, and to ask his Majesty to do me the favour to point out the mode of effecting the object of the King of the Netherlands, which should be the least offensive to his Majesty. The Prince de Talleyrand promised me an answer the following evening, which not having received, I called upon him at night, and had another discussion with him on the subject; in which he informed me, that the King could give no orders upon it, that I might act as I thought proper, and that I might communicate with M. Denon. I sent my Aide-de-Camp, Col. Fremantle, to M. Denon in the morning, who informed him that he had no orders to give any pictures out of the gallery, and that he could give none without the use of force.

"I then sent Colonel Fremantle, to the Prince de Talleyrand, to inform him of this answer, and to acquaint him that the troops would go the next morning, at 12 o'clock, to take possession of the King of the Netherlands' pictures, and to point out, if any disturbance resulted from this measure, the King's Ministers, and not I, were responsible. Colonel Fremantle also informed M. Denon, that the same measure would be adopted.

66

It was not necessary, however, to send the troops, as a Prussian guard had always remained in possession of the gallery, and the pictures were taken without the necessity of calling for those of the army under my command, excepting as a working party to assist in taking them down and packing them.

"It has been stated, that in being the instrument in removing the pictures belonging to the King of the Netherlands from the gallery of the Thuilleries, I had been guilty of a breach of a treaty, which I had myself made; and as there is no mention of the Museum in the Treaty of the 25th of March, and it now appears, that the Treaty meant, is the Military Convention of Paris, it is necessary I should show how that Convention affects the Museum.

"It is not now necessary to discuss the question, whether the Allies were or not at war with France: there is no doubt whatever, that their armies entered Paris under a Military Convention, concluded with an officer of the Government; the Prefect of the Department, as an army officer, being the representative of each of the authorities existing at Paris at the moment, and authorized by those authorities to treat and conclude for them,