£24 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1758.
annexed to the Parallel, dcftroys both thofe reproaches. The king there owns with what fatisfaftion he received the oiFer which hnd been made him, and fpeaks of it as a propofal not coaiing from him, but folely from the emprefs queen : ' His m ijcfly (fays that
- paper) has heard, with as great
- pleafure as regifd for her ma-
' jefly the emprefs queen of
- Hungary and Bohemin, that her
- imperial and royal itrcijelly
- wanted to hinder the countries
- belonging to his Britannic ma-
- jefty m Germany, from being
- inxolved in the prefent troubles.
« The king alfo declares, that he « perfifted in the refolution to take
- all poffible meafures to keep out
« foreign troops from his pofTcf-
- fion, and from their r.eighbour-
- hood, .more efFcftualiy to pre-
- vent the dsnger which might
- threaten them.'
The French army would not have been far from the king's ter- ritories, had he followed the path which was marked out for him. After fending this explanation to the court of Vienna, it was necef- fary to wait for its anfwer before paHing to other propofals. This anfwer was only received in the fcheme of the convention : and the court of Vienna muft own, that the negotiation was then abfolute- ]y broken off.
The court of France is very fenfible that thefe objcftions have nothing to do with the principal affair; but that the qneftion pro- perly is, whether the king was obliged to accept the neutrality offered him? Whecher his refufal of it julliiies their proceedings afterwards towards his dominions, and thofe of his allies? And
whether the conditions offered him arc not the cleared proof of the unjuft defigns the French had againit him? Thus they feek to excufe themfelves ; but nothing can be more weak than that pre- tended julHfication. * The king, ' it is faid, was obliged to permit 'the French army to have a paf-
- fage through his dominions; it . *
- could take no other rout: the
- conditions offered had nothing
- in them unjull, difhonourable,
- nor dangerous, as it was propof-
- ed to put the fortrefs of Hame-
- len into the hands of the emprefs
- of Ruffia, or of the king of Den-
- mark.'
Nothing can be worfe founded
than the pretended obligation of the king, to permit the French army a pafTage through his domi^ nions. According to the law of nations, and that of the flates of the empire with regard to foreign • powers, no ftate can be forced to grant a paffage to the troops of an- ^ other Itate through its territories j much lefs ought that pa(]age to be demanded, when it might give occafion or pretence to bring the theatre of the war into the courr- try, where it would get footing. The laws of the empire do not allow the emperor to introduce foreign troops inte Germany, with- out the confent of the itates. In the cafe wherein, by the conltitu- tion oi the empire, the ftates are obliged to allow luch paffage, ic is not to be done with prejudice or danger to the countries. For this reafon it is ordained, that firft of all, the perfon to whom the troops belong fhall give le- curity to caufe the troops to march in fmall bodies, without caufing. any damage to the coun-
trj.
