-20 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1758.
pieces purpofely to impofe upon the abufed and credulous public, and to anfwer the fjnifter ends which they hoped to make of it at a pro- per time and place?
It is faid alfo, in the memorial of the court of France, ' That the
- claufe contained in the treaty of
« Weflminfler tooppofe theintro-
- duftion of forei;jn troops into
- Germany, is contrary to the right
- whi(.h the Hates have to make
' alliances with foreign powers • « and that it had France principally
- in view : That his Britannic
- majefty was not ignorant, that,
- by virtue of his defenfive treaties,
- and his guaranty of ihofe of
- Wellphalia, the king of France
- would be obliged, at the requifu
- ■ tion of thofe ftates, to ff nd troops
' to their alTiftance, in cafe of their ' being attacked ; and that the en-
- gagement made to oppole thofe
- troops, was a moli unjuil decla-
- ration of war.'
The fecond article of the treaty
of Weltminller abfoluiely deliroys this objedion. It fpeaks only of troops that fliould come lo dijlurb tie peace of the empire ; for what other troops could be then thought of? To fuppofe a defign had been formed to attack. S.xony and Bohemia, and to exclude the en- trance of lawful fuccoors, is to affert the very thing that is called in quelUon, and, confidering the evidence to the contrary, is entirely void of all proof. It is objciled in the lafl placp, * That in the treaty
- of Weliminiler the neutrality of
- the Low Countries, in favour of
- ■ the empiefs queen, was not in-
< ferted with that of Germany :
- That the public foon diicovered
- the artifice; and that it was the
.' intention and defign of the ■ conirdcliug parties to exae
- France, by this faft, to attacl^
' thofe countries, in order, by thac
- mpan% to kindle up a general
- war.'
The reafon why the Auflrian
Netherlands were not compre- hended in that trf5,ty is very clear- ly explained in a feparate article. His Prufiian majefty was not oblig- ed by the peace of Drefden, to guaranty thtfe countries. Eelides, what reafon could there be fop fuch a guaranty for the emprefs queen, who had fi^nified on feve- ral ccc .fions, that fhe feared no- thing from France? Was it not in the power of his moft Chriitian ronjelly not to attack the coun:ries in queilion ; or did the treaty of Wcftminller give him a right to invade them? At leaft, if he h.id taken fo unjult a refolution, it is plain that his Britannic ma- jelly would not have been an- f.verable for the event. However, the peace of thef" provinces was no his (ecured by that treaty, than if they had been exprefsly included. France would naturally avoid car- rying the war thither, at a time, when, by her own confeffion, ihe was abandoned by her ally, and engaged in a burihenfome war. She would have been afraid of drawiflg upon her AujUia, Hol- land, and other powers, who, both by virtue of treaties, and alfo from motives of felf-intereR, muU, in that cafe, have t..ken part in the war. .
Nothing then can be more unex- ceptionable than the king's conduct with regard to the treaty of Wert- minller, which will be for ever an irreproachable witnefs of the care he took to maintain the peace of Europe.
France took quite dift'erent mea-
fa res : her numerous land forces
perfuaded
I
