Ift. After the article 17th of the treaty of London, of the 19th November, 1794, all merchandise of the enemy's, or merchandise not fufficiently afcertained to be neutral, conveyed under American flags, fhall be confifcated: but the flip on board of which such merchandife fhall be found, fhall be releafed and given to the proprietor. The commiffaries of the Directory are enjoined to accelerate, by all the means in their power, the decifion of the contests which fhall arise either upon the validity of the captures of the cargoes, or upon freights and infurances. 2d. According to the 18th article of the treaty of London, dated the 19th of November, 1794, relative to articles declared contraband by the 24th article of the treaty, dated February 6th, 1778, are added the following: Ship-timber; Oakum, pitch, and rofin; Copper for theathing veffels; Sails, hemp, and cordage; and every thing which ferves directly or indirectly to the arming and equipping of veffels, excepting bar iron, and fir in planks. Thefe articles fhall be confifcated as often as they fhall be deftined, or attempted to be carried to the enemy. 3d. According to the 21ft article of the treaty of London of the above date, every American who fhall hold a commiffion from the enemies of France, as well as every feaman of that nation compofing the crew of the fhips and veffels, fhall, by this act alone be declared piratical, and treated as fuch, without fuffering the party to establish that the act was the confequence of threats or violence. 4th. In pursuance of the law of the 14th February, 1793, the regulations of the 21st October, 1794,' and of the 26th July, fhall be complied with, according to their form and tenor. Every American ship shall there fore be deemed a lawful prize which fhall not have on board a bill of lading in due form, according to the plan annexed to the treaty of the 6th of February, 1778, the execution of which is enjoined by the 25th and 27th articles of that treaty. 5th. The commiffioners of the Executive Directory are required to carry into effect the penalties that attach on all clandeftine attempts that may be made by American, or veffels belonging to any other nation, to pafs as neutral, on board the veffel where the fraud is attempted to be practised, in the manner that thefe penalties have been repeatedly carried into effect during the prefent war. The penalty fhall attach where the blanks in the con fignments and envoices are not filled up, though figned and fealed, where the papers are in the form of letters, containing fictitious fignatures; where are double palports or policies, fpecifying different deftinations; where confignment is made to two or more factors, and where there are different receipts or papers of any kind which confign the whole or part of the fame goods to different owners or different deftinations. 6th. By this article, provifions of the treaty of the 9th Frimaire laft, relative to freight and infurance, are repealed, as far as they apply to infurance. 7th. The prefent treaty fhall be publifhed in the bulletin of the laws. The minifters of the marine and of the colonies, of justice, and for fo reign THE proclamation of the 4th Complementary Day in the 5th year, had for its object to put the French armies in a condition to march on the 15th Vendemiaire, (October 6th). The defenders of their country have liftened to the voice of the Executive Directory. From every part they have rejoined their reIpective armies, and the minifter at war has returned on this head the moft fatisfactory accounts. In this generous ardour, in this eager zeal for the maintenance of liberty, the fpirit of Frenchmen was recognised. Their warlike attitude has already overthrown the obftacles which the cabinet of St. James has fo long oppofed to the conclufion of a peace with the Emperor. On viewing your pofition, Auftria returned to her true interefts, and on the 26th Vendemiaire, the treaty which was fufpended for more than fix months, was concluded at San Formio, near Udina, between the Commander in Chief, Buonaparte, Plenipotentiary of the French Republic, and four Plenipotentiaries of the Emperor, King of Bohemia and Hungary. You will learn with pleafure that feveral millions of men have been restored to liberty, and that the French nation is the benefactress of thefe people. But this is not all. A congrefs is about to be affembled, in order to conclude a peace with the empire. Citizens, every thing prefages that in a fhort time you fhall gather the fruit of fo many facrifices. The peace of the continent will foon be fixed on an immovable base. It only remains to you to punish the perfidy of the cabinet of London, which is ftill fo blinded as to think of making other nations the flaves of their maritime tyranny, and who deceive the English themfelves by extorting from them the means of prolonging on the ocean the calamities of war, the effufion of human blood, the deftruction of commerce, and all the horror in which it traffics, and for which it pays. Thefe, however, will fhortly be retorted on themfelves. It is at London that all the miseries of Europe have been fabricated, and it is there that they must be terminated. Citizens, under these circumftances the end very nearly approaches of thofe military efforts which the government is still to expect from French valour. But until this object be attained, be on your guard: do not lay down thofe arms which make you fo terrible to the enemies of your independence; do not liften to the perfidious fuggeftions of thofe who would with to deftroy the effect of your triumph; they are about to repeat to you that, peace being concluded, you fhould now return to your homes: yes, the Directory has undoubtedly figned for you a glorious peace; but, in order to enjoy its happiness, it is necefiary that you fhould finith your work; that you should enforce the execution of thofe articles which have been agreed upon between the Emperor and France; -you should aid the prompt decifion of those which are still pending with the empire; and, in fine, you must crown your exploits by the invafion of that ifland where your ancestors carried flavery under William the Conqueror, and carry thither again the genius of liberty, which will difembark at the fame time with the French. Citizens, be affured that government is defirous of accelerating that happy moment when, in concert with the legiflature, they can reduce their armies to the footing of a peace eftablishment, recompense those heroes who compofe them, and, after having confecrated their valour by feafts and monuments worthy of their triumphs, fpread through every canton that republican fpirit with which the armies have been animated, by fending to their homes thofe of their defenders who have a right to return. But of this you fhall judge your felves. The hour has not yet ftruck: a few inftants more, and the French Republic, triumphantly established, and everywhere acknowledged, will enjoy that repofe which it is to procure to the world. The Executive Directory decrees that the above proclamation fhall be printed, and fent into all the departments and to the armies; and that the arret annexed to the deof the 4th Complementary Day fhall continue to be executed according to its form and tenor. cree innumerable battles, where victory The Executive Directory is defi- It is not only against French liberty that this government had directed its confpiracy: it is against the whole world. This perfidious government wishes to trouble, fubjugate, or defolate every part of the globe. Say, Americans, who were directly or indirectly your real rulers? Unfortunate Indians, speak by what deteftable arts this government has founded its tyranny amongst ye? And you, ye Europears, ftill more unfortunate, innocent inhabitants of Franconia and of the Northern Alps; ye numerous victims of the fcourge of war, fay who have been the most ardent inftigators of the fcourge of war, where immenfe treafures have been engulphed where more than a million of men have and where the eye of been flain of peace now can view nothing but general mourning, univerfal mifery, and vaft defpair. It is under thefe circumftances that the cabinet of St. James has revealed to afflicted Europe, that he alone has felt nothing of thefe vaft difafters. Hear the difcourfe held " from the height of the throne." "Our revenues," fays the King of England, "have been meliorated; our national induftry has even had a new increase; our commerce has paffed its former limits." If the King of England has told the truth, what a terrible leffon is this for you, ye other powers of Europe! Of what defcription is that power which is interested in your difcords, who derives an intereft from your calamities, who profpers by your diftrefs, and who fattens on the tears, the blood, and the fpoils of other nations? This cabinet may defire war, because they are enriched by the war. It is this government, however, who has lately accufed France of an "infatiable avarice." It does not fay that the English, the first devaftators of our Ifland of St. Domingo, have alfo taken without a blow the colonies of Holland, at that time their ally, and that they pretend to retain these robberies under the name of conquefts. The King of England, however, ftil fpeaks to the powers of Europe of the ambition of France! The difpofitions of the French towards other nations are now understood. They are not to be obfcured by vague allegations. If the French Republic can, by attaining her natural limits, repair the faults of her monarchy, the difdains the acquifition of foreign conquefts for this purpofe. She withes not to opprefs the fecondary states or the feebler powers. She punishes without hatred, and, naturally generous, the does not even hate the English nation. In France, no minifter fhall ever be deified for his hatred to the English nation. But the people of France are agreed on one point:-When they remember Toulon, Dunkirk, Quiberon, and La Vendee, they must deteft the cruelty and perfidy, the bloody Machiavelifm of the British minif try. They muft deplore, at the fame time, the inconceivable blindnefs by which the people of England fuffered themselves to become the horror of the world. The great nation will avenge the univerfe, and for this end, Frenchmen, it offers you several means. The firft and the most rapid is a defcent upon England. By your unheard-of exploits you are difufed from reckoning upon obftacles. In fuch enterprizes the name of the army is the promise of triumph, and the juftice of its cause the guarantee of fuccefs. There is no longer a time to difcufs the means, or to dwell on the probability of effecting a defcent. Where Frenchmen are at the point, their will is the victory. The army of England is about to dictate peace in London, and there, republicans, you fhall find your auxiliaries. You will find there a number of men whom reafon has not fo far abandoned, not to feel the odium which their governors have caft upon the English name. You will there find thousands of men who have long ftruggled to promote parliamentary reform. You will there find artizans without number who figh for peace, and whom the war reduces to wretchednefs, and who weigh as light, in the balance of their diftrefs, the magnificent trumpery of royal harangues, the illufion of manifeftos, and the chimeras of conqueft! You will also find the Irish nation, oppressed for fo many years, and which has borne with fo much pain the chain of a court which has been nourished by its fweat, fed by its blood, and which now infults its defpair! Proceed under thefe aufpices, brave republicans! Second the ananimous wishes of the nation. Conducted by the hero who has fo long led you in the path of victory, you will be followed by the applaufe of every just and virtuous mind. Go and re-establish the dominion of the feas. Confine within its just limits the difordered ambition of a government, which has not only disturbed its own ftate, but that of the univerfe. The repofe of the French republic is identified with that of Europe. At this time the British government fmiles with cold difdain, or with a fierce regard, on all the operations on the continent. It is for you to make them pay their share of the expences of the war, of which she has eternized the duration, and to which they can put an end, whenever they speak to the French republic a language which fhe may understand, and which she may deem fincere. Citizens, you will recognize your own fentiments in thofe of the Directory. The fame spirit animates your faithful reprefentatives. It is in vain that the cabinet of London exhaufts its efforts to fow amongst you difcord and miftruft, or to perfuade you that their efforts have fucceeded. The 18th Fructidor has annihilated English influence, and from that day the members of the VOL. XXXIX. councils and of the Directory offer only the interefting fpectacle of complete union. No patriot can have a feparate interest, nor is there in the republic but one with and one opinion. A war against the cabinet of St. James is the unanimous cry of France. What glory is promifed to the army of England; it is only neceffary to infpire them with enthufiafm; it is only: neceffary to remind them of what they had done. The walls of fortified towns fell before them; the firft generals of the age could not refift them. Bender was taken prisoner at Luxemburg, and Wurmfer at Mantua. The tri-coloured standard now floated over the banks of the Rhine and of the Egean. Sea. After fo many victories, what can add to the ardour of Frenchfoldiers? They hear the voice of. their country, and they remember their own exploits. The Executive Directory decrees, that this proclamation fhall be publifhed, printed, and fent to all the communes of the republic, and to all the divifions of their armies by land and fea. The minifters of the army of the interior, of the marine, and of the colonies, are to render an account of its due publication. (Signed) REVELLIERE LEPAUX, Prefident. |