COUNTER DECLARATION. The intention of his majefty not being, and never having been, to interfere by force in the affairs of the republic of the United Provinces; the communication made to the court of London on the 16th of last month, by Monf. Barthelemy, having had no other object than to announce to that court an intention, the motives of which no longer exift, especially fince the king of Pruffia has imparted his refolution; his majefty makes no difficulty to declare, that he will not give any effect to the declaration above mentioned; and that he retains no hoftile view towards any quarter relative to what has paffed in Holland. His majefty, therefore, being defirous to concur with the fentiments of his Britannic majefty for the prefervation of the good harmony between the two courts, agrees with pleasure with his Britannic majefty, that the armaments, and in general all warlike prepara tions, fhall be difcontinued on each fide; and that the navies of the two nations fhall be again placed upon the footing of the peace establishment, as it ftood on the first of January of the prefent year. Verfailles, the 27th of October, 1787. LE CTE. DE MONTMORIN. In confequence of the declaration and counter declaration exchanged this day, the under-figned, in the name of their respective fo." vereigns, agree, that the armaments, and in general all warlike preparations, fhall be difcontinued on each fide; and that the navies of the two nations fhall be again placed upon the footing of the peace establishment, as it ftood on the first of January of the prefent year. Verfailles, the 27th of October, 1787. DORSET. LE CTE. DE MONT. WM. EDEN. MORIN. [An inftrument of a fimilar tenor was alfo figned and exchanged between the Comte de Montmorin and the Pruffian envoy.] Remonftrance of the Parliament of Paris to the King, against the Declaration of a Stamp Duty, July 24, 1787. A most respectful address, fire, together with the juft alarms of the nation, has been humbly laid at the foot of the throne, by your majef ty's most dutiful and faithful par liament. The bare propofal of a duty on paper has alarmed every individual. After a glorious peace of five years, and a progreffive increafe of at least 130 millions of livres in 13 years, it feems as if the name of impoft were never to come out of a beneficient monarch's mouth, except in rendering it lefs onerous, or diminishing the num ber of thofe already exiting. What was our furprize then, fire, when we were told that new taxes were projecting by the notables; and tha a new one, of a most diftreffing kind, was to be offered for the ap probation of parliament ! (E 4) The the nation in general: fuch is the great, but fad example, that teaches monarchs how far they muft refpect the public opinion, feldom fufceptible of error, because men united together rarely give or receive an impreffion contrary to truth. In point of administration, fire, the pureft hands are hardly pure enough. A firft condefcenfion, or rather a firft wrong step, leads to a fecond: no bounds can circumfcribe the imprudent minifter when once he fwerves from his duty; fucceffive abuses produce an utter confufion, and a fatal diforder; the deep wounds fixed in the conftitution demand a remedy; and this, even when certain, will effect but a flow cure. The first reflection that naturally occurs at the very mention of a new duty, is to enquire into the actual ftate of the finances. What an adminiftration must the last have been, if the evils that refulted from it require fuch a defperate remedy! Your majefty must remember how we ftrove, in 1784 and 1785, to give you a faithful picture of the real fituation of the state; which feemed then (or your miniftry endeavoured to make it appear fo) as if inclined to take a turn for the beft; but the truth was, that the itate was more involved in difficulties than ever. Your parliament then, fire, did every thing in their power, but in vain, to fet truth in its clearest light; fome of your minifters had too great intereft not to conceal it from your majefty; all our humble remonftrances proved ufclefs; and there were fome of your council who went fo far as to make you fufpect the purity of our patriotic intentions: the terrible fituation of affairs, however, required a fpeedy and efficacious remedy. The notables, affembled by your majesty's orders, have withdrawn the veil that covered that undermining administration: a tions. dreadful fpectacle prefented itself to the eye of the astonished nation; an immenfe deficiency was very vifible in the treafury; and every body haftened to propofe the means of filling it up, and affording a fpeedy remedy. How grievous to your majefty's paternal heart muft fuch a discovery have been! How muft your aftonishment and forrow have increafed, when you reflected on the fatal errors, in which your minifters had long and purpofely kept you! Such is the confequence, fire, when the choice of minifters falls on perfons that are obnoxious to O let your majefty deign to paufe awhile on one of thefe falutary reflections, the importance of which has been acknowledged by all good monarchs.-Evil may happen in a fingle inftant, but whole years are fcarce fufficient to repair the mifchief it caufes. The vices of an adminiftration, or, which is the inevitable effect of them, the involuntary error of a just monarch, will forely diftrefs whole genera It is not your parliament's intention, fire, to grieve your majefty's moft fenfible heart by expatiating at prefent on fo affecting a fubject, and recalling fo unpleafant a thought; but they take the liberty of humbly intreauing your majesty to weigh often thefe important reflections, in fome of those moments when you are meditating in filence on the welfare and happiness of your fubjects. It behoves now your parliament to enter, with a noble freedom, upon a fubject propofed by your majefty yourself; we mean the projected retrenchments and acconomical fchemes, We earnestly entreat you, fire, to be on your guard againt the emotions and propenfities of your tender heart, in order that the arconomy already begun may continue, and thofe reforms adopted and fettled be of conftant duration. When a pure and enlightened adminiftration endeavours to establish certain principles of economy, it generally mects with fome ancient customs that feem to have been long attached to the conftitution, and to enjoy the right of prefcription. If the minister acts with firmnefs, he is immediately blamed for his imprudence; if with precaution, the world will cenfure his weakness: what difficulties will not then in fuch a cafe furround the monarch, and be inceffantly multiplying about him! Coutiers will publicly approve of, nay applaud, the projected reforms; but in fecret they will try to weaken, and even prevent their effect; all means will be employed to deceive him; it is then that art, addrefs, and fineffe, appear in a thousand different forms, actuated by the most imperious of all motives, personal intereft: the fovereign, thus befet, and attacked on every fide by claims, fuits, petitions, &c. is forced to liften to importunate clamours, and through the goodness of his heart often grants what could never be obtain ed through his juftice. The moment the word economy is mentioned, it echoes through the room; the cunning courtier apparently adopts the plan, and wishes to be numbered among the great characters of the nation, whofe example he affects to imitate; but he calculates at the fame time how long the economical reform may fubfift, and how he may render abortive the retrenchments that diminish either his credit or his reve nues all expences but his own feem fufceptible of diminution: in a vaft adminiftration, the weakest pretexts are easily tinged with the colouring of reafon; and that œconomy which has been fo often courted, and always expected, appears and difappears in an inftant, leaving a black cloud over the beautiful countenance of truth, which fome faint rays had begun to render confpicuous. These reflections, fire, written in the annals of every nation, are the faithful history of the human heart: never could the meditation on them be more interesting to your majefty than at prefent, for the application fuits exactly to the urgent circumstances of the times. The more vigour and firmnefs your maje@ty will fhew for the intended reforms, and falutary refolutions, the more difficulties and obstacles will certainly impede the way; and experience may perhaps have already proved, that the perfons interested in these economical views begin to hint as if the propofed fums were equivocal and precarious, and the deductions agreed upon incompatible with old cuftoms, and unlikely to laft a long time. It is in your majefty's power to enforce, with a laudable perfeverance, the order that must establish with permanency this indifpenfable reform. Every thing fhould undergo the strictest enquiry. Your majesty's justice, which is to us the fureft and most facred pledge, emboldens your parliament to lay before you, without danger of incurring your royal difpleasure, fome of thofe remarks and obfervations that must naturally haye occurred to you. Had you known, fire, the real state of your finances, no doubt you would not have undertaken thofe immenfe edifices that are are now building, nor made fo many acquifitions onerous to the ftate; you would not have permitted fo many exchanges of the crown lands, nor granted thofe exceffive liberalities that the importunate and intriguing are always fure of obtaining. The facility of obtaining money from the treafury (the fatal bane of all adminiftrations) would never have been fuffered to increafe, for it expofes every moment the fovereign to fome dangerous furprize; it fquanders fecretly the public revenue, and can never over-balance, with its pretended utility, the great inconveniencies always attending it. Your majetty would certainly never have confented to have Paris furrounded by fuch a magnificent wall; to fee palaces erected for your excife-officers at an exorbitant expence, in order to coincide with the views of the farmers-general, who, in expectation of a precarious and diitant gain, expend annually thofe fums that fhould be appropriated to wants of more real neceflity. All these objects, fire, and many others, the enumeration of which would astonish, are fufceptible of amendment; fome require a confiderable diminution; others an entire fuppreffion. But it is not the total only of each department that fhould be properly diminished; every part of it thould be fcrupuloufly examined, and divefted of all its fuperfluous charges; it should be reduced to the fimple and abso. lutely neceffary expence in fo do ing, your majefty might easily double the intended reform of the forty millions of livres, and this might then prove a real relief to your fuffering fubjects. There are honourable conomies, fire, that, far from diminishing the fplendour of a throne, add luftre and dignity to it. Majefly itfelf may fubmit to privations. The fovereign is always great when his fubjects are happy; and the fight of happiness ipread over a whole people is fo pompous and brilliant, that it commands public admiration and univerfal applaute. Thefe diminutions, fuppreffions, reforms, and economies, fo often folicited by your parliaments, demanded by the notables, and promifed to their spirited and just perfe erance, are wifhed for and expected every day by the unhappy husbandman, whofe tears bedew the very field that contributes to fo many ufelefs expences before it has furnished the neceffary fubfinence to the perfon who fowed it, for the fubfiftence of himself and family, and who, deprived of the common neceffaries, is forced to take from his poverty itfelf, wherewith to furnish to the exigencies of the ftate. Thefe unhappy beings, fire, Frenchmen by birth, and MEN, have a double right to enjoy their facred property even in the bofom of indigence; but as they cannot claim it themselves at your majesty's feet, let their claims and their rights be ever prefent before you ; let their plaints find their way to the throne, and reach your royal perfon; let them hear your graci ous anfwer, and let them know that your majesty's goodnefs and juftice are the fureft fupporters they can hope to find near the throne. The French never confult any intereft infeparable from the throne; they are always biaffed by their At every barriere (turnpike) there are two beautiful manfions, in the form of lodges, adorned with pillars, pilafters, medallions, &c. fincere fincere attachment to their monarch; in their fervent zeal and enthusiastic emotions for the royal caufe, they have been capable of the greatest facrifices; and they may fancy the ways and means of the nation as unbounded as their affection. These ways and means, therefore, must be carefully managed and ufed at proper times. It fhould be likewife confidered, that the contributions proceeding from the impofts granted to the monarch are only intended as fubfidies to the flate, and that the fovereign is but the ditributor of whatever is not employed for the public weal, which naturally belongs to thofe who co-operated in levying the contributions; and, if they are diverted from their chief and primitive intent, their fertile fource will foon become infufficient, and, in a fhort time, exhaufted; particularly if the expences increafe in proportion to the receipt. All kinds of impofts fhould be proportioned to the neceffary wants of the nation, and end with them. Each citizen contributes part of his property, for the fake of maintaining public fafety and private tranquillity. The people, on fuch principles, founded on the rights of mankind, and confirmed by reafon, fhould never increase their contributions but when the expences of the itate have undergone all the favings, alterations, and retrenchments, they are capable of. It is for this reafon, therefore, that your parliament, fire, look upon the duty on ftamped paper as en tirely oppofite to these primitive notions. It would affect the private tranquillity, by neceffarily opening a way to errors, and there by would prove far more dangerous than the gabelle [duty on falt, a kind of excife], which was, as has been feen, liable to open frauds. The most exact and habitual attention could hardly be futficient to diftinguith the numberlefs ftamped papers that are to serve for each refpective act of justice or common tranfaction. What mistakes will not the greateft part of your fubjects be liable to, by interchanging thefe papers, and making ufe of the one for the other! Many writings, by fuch involuntary faults, may appear counterfeited in the eye of juftice; and the unwary individual will find himself daily expofed to pay exorbitant fines, or to encounter difagreeable and heavy fuits at law. Such a duty, fire, is likewife incompatible with public fafety, as it would deeply wound mutual confidence, which is the fure foundation of it. Individuals would be afraid of producing unftamped bills or notes before a tribunal; and in this age, where there are fuch frequent instances of perfons taking all forts of advantages, and commencing or prolonging vexatious and never-ending fuits, a wife legislator fhould be very careful not to introduce new fubjects of chicanery. Befides, our public truft, fire, and our national dignity, abfolutely forbid the introduction of such a dangerous duty. The moment a declaration is iffu ed, which is generally vicious in almoft all its difpofitions, a feducing facility of extending its meaning or duration offers itself, and pretences are not wanting for impoting plaufibly on the public. Experience furnishes us with too many examples. The two fous and the eight fous per livre for instance, the fecond warrant for the poll-tax, and fo many other inventions, which the fertile genius of finances has imagined, and is never at a lofs to |