ther attendance in parliament. It has afforded me infinite satisfaction to observe, since my arrival in this kingdom, the temper and wisdom with which your proceedings have been uniformly conducted. Gentlemen of the house of com mons, I am particularly to express his majesty's acknowledgments for the liberal supplies which you have contributed for the service of the empire and the defence of the king. dom, with such unanimity and cheerfulness. The extent of your grants is a convincing proof how warmly you feel yourselves interested in the vigorous prosecution of a war rendered necessary by the wanton and unprovoked attack of France, and involving in it the general cause of social order, morality, and religion, in all civilized countries. On my part, you may be assured they shall be faithfully applied to the great purposes for which they were granted. My lords and gentlemen, His majesty observes with the highest satisfaction, that during the present crisis you have not failed to cherish and to maintain the va-. rious sources of your internal prosperity. You have also completed the intention so benevolently entertained, of entirely relieving the poorer classes from the tax of hearthmoney. A wise foundation has been laid for educating at home the Roman Catholic clergy. A satisfac. tory arrangement of the treasury has been confirmed by law; and an alteration of duties has been in troduced, with a view to prevent the immoderate use of spirituous liquors, and in the hope of introducing a more general habit of sobriety amongst the lower orders of the people. In the execution of these measures, you may depend upon my sincere and earnest endeavours to pursue that wise and prudent policy by which they were dic. tated. too On repairing to your respective counties, which I cannot strongly and too earnestly recommend, it is specially incum bent upon you to make those exertions which the times demand, and to inculcate the necessity of an exact submission to the laws.By contrasting the blessings which result from a well-regulated liberty and peaceable subordination, with the mischiefs which necessarily spring from licentiousness and anarchy, you will increase the attachment of the people to our free and happy constitution. To preserve the constitution inviolate is the great object of his majesty in the present contest, and he cannot but look to its fortunate issue when he reflects on the loyalty, spirit, and power of his people, and on their just sense of the invaluable inheritance for which they con tend. It will be the constant object of my administration, in which his majesty's commands and my own personal wishes are most intimately combined, to forward, with unre mitting vigilance, the welfare and the happiness of this country. These objects I cannot so effectually promote, as by attending to, and acting upon, those established princi. ples which form the connexion be tween Great Britain and Ireland, on which the security, the freedom, and the prosperity of both kingdoms most essentially depend. Convention Convention between his Britannic on the sum of four millions six Majesty and the Emperor of Germany, signed at Vienna 4th May, 1795. THE emperor and the king of Great Britain, being equally convinced of the necessity of acting with vigour and energy against the common enemy, in order to procure to their respective dominions a safe and honourable peace and to preserve Europe from the danger with which it is threatened, their Imperial and Britannic majesties have thought proper to concert together upon the measures to be adopted for the next campaign, and to agree, for this purpose, on such stipulations as may best conduce to the salutary object of their intentions already mentioned. With this view, their majesties have appointed their respective plenipotentiaries; that is to say, his Imperial majesty, his privy counsellor actual, and minister for foreign af. fairs, baron de Thugut, commander of the order of St. Stephen; and his Britannic majesty, sir Morton Eden, knight of the bath, one of his majesty's most honourable privy council, and his envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary at the court of Vienna; who, after having communicated to each other their respective full powers, have agreed upon the following articles: Art. 1. In order to assist the ef. forts which his Imperial majesty is desirous of making, and to facilitate to him the means of bringing forward the resources of his dominions, in the defence of the common cause, his Britannic majesty engages to propose to his parlia. ment to guarantee the regular payment of the half-yearly dividends, VOL. XXXVII. hundred thousand pounds sterling, which is, or is to be raised, on account of his Imperial majesty, on the terms and in the manner specified in the two engagements. or octrois, the tenor of which is annexed to this convention; his Imperial majesty solemnly engaging to his Britannic majesty, that he will make due provision for the regular discharge of the payments which shall become due in conse quence of the said loans, so as that those payments shall never fall as a burthen on the finances of Great Britain. 2. In return for the stipulation contained in the preceding article, and by the means of the said loan of four millions six hundred thou sand pounds sterling, assured by the guarantee of Great Britain, his Imperial majesty shall employ in his different armies, in the ensuing campaign, a number of troops, which shall not only amount at least to two hundred thousand ef.fective men, but which his Imperial majesty will exert himself, as much as possible, to augment even above that number; which troops shail act against the common enemy, according to the dispositions agreed upon by a secret article, forming a part of this convention. 3. The emperor will see with pleasure, the appointment of general officers, or other persons of con fidence, to be present with his ar mies on the part of his Britannic majesty, to whom all the necessary communication and information will be furnished, with respect to the state and strength of the ar mies, and the number of troops of which they may consist; and if, in order to facilitate and promote M the the correspondence and communication between the armies of the two courts, his Imperial majesty shall think proper to send an officer, or other person, on his part, to the English armies, they shall, in like manner, receive from the generals of his Britannic majesty, all such marks of confidence as are most analogous to the intimate union so happily subsisting between the two courts. .4. It is expressly agreed, that the said loan is to rest on the security of all the revenues of all the different hereditary dominions of his Imperial majesty. All the necessary measures shall be taken on the part of his Imperial majesty, 5. If it should ever happen that, contrary to all expectation, any part of the dividends duc on the said loans should, in consequence of the failure of the payments stipu lated to be made by his Imperial majesty, be paid by the British government, it is agreed that such payments shall be made at the Bank of England, and only on the delivery of the tallies or certificates of the dividends so respectively paid; and every such tally or certificate so delivered up shall be a valid and legal security, so as to enable the holder thereof to sue any of the receivers or treasurers of his Imperial majesty's revenues, in any of his dominions aforesaid, at the option of such holder, and to recover from them, or any of them, the full amount of the sum expressed in such tally or certificate, with interest thereon, at the rate of five per cent. per annum, to be reckoned from the date of the payment made by the British government. And whereas it is provided, in the terms agreed upon for raising the said loans, that, as a collateral security for the said loans, there shall be deposited in. the Bank of England mortgage actions of the Bank of Vienna, for a sum, in the proportion of four to three of the loan to be so raised; it is further agreed, that the governor and company of the said Bank shall, in case of any such payment as aforesaid being made by the British government, be authorized to withdraw from the said deposit such a quantity of the said actions, as shall be required to make up at least the proportion of four pounds for every three which shall be so paid by the British government, to be by the said government either used as a security or claim upon the Bank of Vienna, until re-payment of of the said sum, and of the interest due thereon, or negotiated at the time to such extent as may be necessary in order to effect such reimbursement, according as to the said government may seem most eligible; and that the quantity of actions so withdrawn shall be deducted from or set off against any quantity, which, according to the terms of the said loan, might there. after be to be withdrawn from the said deposit, in proportion to the gradual redemption of the bonds, and the payment of the annuities, as is specified in the conditions of the said loan. 6. And whereas certain ad. vances have been made by the British government to his Imperial majesty, on account and by way of loan; it is agreed that the same shall be repaid at London, in the course of the present year, in ex. change for the receipts given by the generals commanding in chief the Imperial army, and conform ably to the sums contained in the said receipts. The said advances shall be reimbursed, at latest, in two equal parts, in the months of November and December, so that the total shall be reimbursed before the expiration of the present year. 7. The present convention shall be ratified on each side with out any delay, and the exchange of the ratifications, expedited in due form, shall be made within the space of one month at latest. In witness whereof, we the undersigned, being furnished with the full powers of their Imperial and British majesties, have, in their names, signed the present act, and have thereto set the scal of our arms. Done at Vienna, the 4th day of May, 1795. (L.S.) LE BN. DE THUGUT, MORTON EDEN. Articles of Agreement for raising French Corps for the service of Great Britain, 9th March, 1795. Art. 1. THE French corps shall be raised under the authority with which his majesty is invested by an act of the present session of parliament, intituled, " An act to enable subjects of France to enlist as soldiers in regiments to serve on the continent of Europe, and in certain other places; and to enable his majesty to grant commissions to subjects of France, to serve and receive pay as officers in such regiments, or as engineers, under certain restrictions." 2. Each regiment shall consist of two battalions, comprising the number of officers, soldiers, &c. stated in the plan, No. II*. 3. The recruits shall be taken from among the peasants, deserters, and soldiers, of the troops of the line. No man shall be enlisted who is not five feet five inches, or who has not been examined by a surgeon, who will vouch that he has no infirmity which can prevent him from serving. 4. For each man delivered at the depôts or places of rendezvous that shall have been fixed upon, the colonel shall be paid levy mo. * The numbers referred to were long lists and accounts laid on the table of the house of commons, but which we have not room to insert.. ney, at the rate of 31. 10s. which sum of 31. 10s. is to be in lieu of all charges respecting the said re. cruits, for enlisting, for travelling, and all other expences whatsoever, until delivered at the place of rendezvous general assigned for each corps by the colonel, and approved by government. 5. Besides the fixed bounty of 31. 10s. a man, the government shall furnish for each recruit, the articles specified in the list No. V. 6. The funds necessary for the levy of 1551 men, of which each regiment shall consist, the staff officers being deducted, shall be furnished at the rate of 31. 10s. a man, as fixed by the 5th articie of these regulations, and shall be paid into the hands of the colonels; that is to say, one third, or 1809l. 10s. immediately after the delivery of the letters of service, and the two other thirds, on the demand of the colonels, who shall provisionally give proofs of the progress of their exertions for completing their corps. 7. The colonels shall nominate their officers, subject to the ap. probation of his majesty; but no officer shall be named to any rank who does not possess at this mo. ment, in the service of France, the rank immediately superior, or at least equal to it; thus the lieute. nant-colonels shall be chosen among the colonels, the captains among the officers superior to captains, the lieutenants among the captains or lieutenants, the sub-lieutenants among the lieutenants or sub-lieutenants, or non-commissioned of. ficers. have been named in their respective corps, according to the superiority of the commissions which they held in France on the 1st of July, 1789; and, in case of equal de. gree at that period, according to the date of the commissions of the rank which they held before. Such officers as shall subsequently obtain promotion, shall take rank from the dates of their new commissions in the British service. When two or more officers of the same degree, and of different regiments of emigrants, either raised, raising, or to be hereafter raised, in the service of Great Britain, shall do duty together, either on courts-martial, detachments, or any other military service, they shall take precedence, according to the superiority of the commissions which they held in France on the 1st of July, 1789; and in case of equal degree at that period, ac. cording to the dates of the commissions which they held before. When officers of the emigrant regiments shall do duty with British officers, they shall take rank ac cording to the dates of their commissions in the service of Great Britain; but in cases where two or more French officers of equal rank shall be on detachment with a British officer, if the British officer is senior to the French officer, who, in conformity to what has been above stated, would have the command over his countrymen, the British officer shall take the command of the whole, even al though any of the said French officers should be senior to him in the British service. 8. The officers, at the forming 9. The rank of the officers, of the regiments, shall take rack being one? settled, shall never in the degree to which they shell - var. Their promotion shall take place |