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Unacquainted as I am with the code of the ftate prifons, I do not know whether the treatment which I have borne for these three years paft tallies with that code; but what we have heard about the mode of treatment in the juftly abhorred Baftille, and what I have read during my imprisonment in Pruffia of the treatment in the French prifons, under the barbarous domination of Marat and Robefpierre, even my captivity in Pruflia, all this had not prepared me for thofe rigours, which I would not deem poffible, efpecially under the fceptre of a prince whofe humanity and virtue I have so often heard praised, had I not had fo long and fo cruel experience of them.

2. I do further declare, That it is my intention, as foon as I fhall have my liberty, to go to Hamburgh, and to remain there till the news which I expect from my family fhall have enabled me to take a farther refolution, and till my impaired health at least be fo far recovered, that I can put it into execution.

3. With pleasure I renew here the promife which I have so often made to myfelf, never to travel in the hereditary dominions of his Imperial Majefty, fill lefs to fe tle in them. But as a thousand circumstances may difconcert the plan I have previously taken to go to North America, and to leave room for no pretext to treat me a fecond time as a flate prifoner, for having fulfilled my duties to my country, I deem it neceffary to make an exception in this promife. I therefore except formally the cafe, little bable at the bottom, where the fervice of my country, which I was forced to quit, and which will ever be dear to me, or the fervice of the ftate where I might in future fix my abode, and which Thould have received me, fhould impofe on me the imperious law to pay no regard to that promife. Olmurz, July 25th, 1797.

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LATOUR MAUBOURG.

Declaration of the third State Prifoner, Bureau de Pufey, previously to his Releafe.

GENERAL the Marquis de Chafteler has fummoned me, in the name of his Majesty the Emperor and King of Bohemia and Hungary, to expofe the complaints which I might have to make, as well against the individuals appointed to guard me, as of the rigours of my captivity, with exception of the measure which the duty of fecuring my perfon renders neceffary. I answer to this, as I do not know the measure of the regulations of fecurity and rigour which the Court of Vienna thinks neceffary to keep in fafe cuftody its ftate prifoncrs, I cannot answer the question afked me otherwife than by a faithful narrative of the hard treatment which has fallen to my lot ever fince I have been here.

I declare, therefore, that from the 18th of May 1794, to this present day, I have not been permitted, for a single moment, to

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quit the room in which I was shut up on my arrival; that I was confequently deprived of every other motion but that which I could make in that room; that I could breathe no other freth air but what entered by the windows, doubly barred with iron; an air frequently fo infectious and unwholesome, that the evil exceeded by far the benefit of the enjoyment. I do further declare, that out of the fmall number of books which I brought with me, about twelve were taken from me, under the pretence of being fufpicious; the fame happened with as many maps, which chiefly reprefented America; farther, with all the letters from my family, which I had received in Pruffia by the channel of the government of that country, till now not a fingle one of thefe articles has been returned to me. I declare, that during the first fourteen weeks of my imprisonment at Olmutz, I was not allowed to receive intelli-. gence from any of my relations, who were then all under the axe of the Jacobins in France, and were obliged the more to tremble as they had the misfortune to belong to me; I was not even allowed to fend them a proof of my ftill being in exiftence.

I declare, that a fervant who had been propofed to me, without my wishing for him, at my departure from Luxemburg to Wesel, and who of courfe accompanied me, was feparated from me on my arrival at Olmutz; that fix weeks after I only could fee him for a few moments, afterwards only every fortnight, each time for about an hour, then twice a week; at laft, during the last twenty-one months, he was allowed to pass three hours every day in attending on my perfon.

I declare that I have been conftantly refufed the ufe of paper, pen and ink, pencils, compaffes, and other inftruments of that kind; nay, and whole months, from the end of November 1794, to the end of July 1795, a fmall flate was taken from me, which I ufed for calculations, and in my mathematical studies.

I declare, that I have been conftantly deprived of all small articles of furniture, even of thofe moft indifpenfable with regard to our common daily wants, fuch as watch, fciffars, knife, fork, and razor. Farther, that with regard to my wearing apparel, I was for several months in the most horrid state. To speak the truth, I asked for none; not that I fufpected the government would refuse me what was most neceffary in that refpect; but in the first place, because my drefs fpoke for itself; and 2dly, because I preferred this privation, to the humiliating difcuffion on which I fhould have been obliged to enter on that account. I only once touched' flightly on this fubject, with regard to Major Chermack, an of ficer to whose care the prisoners were then entrufted, a man of a favage and brutal character, and incapable of conceiving the most common duties towards prifoners, before whom men of that fort think they ought to fhow themselves the prouder the more unfor tunate the former are. I farther declare, that, excepting the faid:

Major

Major Chermack, I have no complaint to make against any of the officers who were by turns on duty with me, and it is with pleafure I feize this opportunity to return thanks to Count Mack Elliot, who is now charged with the police of the ftate prifons, for the polite and humane conduct which he has continually obferved towards me.

The Marquis de Chafteller having alfo informed me, that the end of my imprisonment depended alfo upon taking on myfelf the obligation not to return to the dominions of his Majefty the Emperor, without his leave; I hereby declare, that I joyfully bind myfelf never to enter the dominions of his Imperial Royal Majesty of Hungary and Bohemia, without having obtained his permiffion; nay, even never crave that permiflion; excepting however the cafe of military fervice, on the fuppofition of a war between his Imperial Majefty, and the power that will grant me an afylum; as no motive can or fhall force me to fubject myself to the difgraceful terms of a promife, which might prevent me from fulfilling the firft duty as a citizen, to the state that shall grant me refuge. BUREAU DE PUSEY. Olmutz, July 25, 1797.

Letter from La Fayette, Latour Maubourg, and Bureau de Pufey, te General Buonaparte.

15 Vendemiaire (O&. 6), Year 6. Citizen General, THE HE prifoners of Olmutz, happy in being indebted for their deliverance to the benevolence of their country and to your invincible arms, had enjoyed, in their captivity, the idea, that their liberty and their life were attached to the triumphs of the republic, and to your perfonal glory. At prefent they rejoice to render homage to their deliverer. It would have been highly gratifying to us to have offered you in perfon the expreffion of these fentiments, and to have had an opportunity of taking a near view of the theatre of fo many victories, the army which gained them, and the hero who has added our refurrection to the number of his miracles; but you know that the journey to Hamburgh was not left to our choice. It is from the place where we bid the laft adieu to our gaolers that we addrefs our thanks to their conqueror. In the folitary retreat, on the Danith territory of Holftein, where we are going to endeavour to establish that health which you have faved, we will join to the wishes infpired by our patriotifm for the republic, the most lively fenfe of intereft for the illuftrious general, to whom we are more attached on account of the fervices which he has rendered to the caufe of liberty, and to our country, than of the perfonal obligations that we are proud to owe him, and which the moft lively gratitude has engraved on our hearts in characters the moft indelible.

Health and refpect!

Inftruction

Inftruction addressed by General Buonaparte to the Commissaire Ordonnateur in Chief of the Army of Italy, dated the 11th of Auguft.

1.

As S the Cifalpine republic pays to the army of the French republic one million per month, all parts of the territory of that republic are confequently exempted from every kind of requifition.

2. The actual limits of that republic are, ft. the countries fituated between the Tefie and the Oglio; 2d. all the territory that formerly compofed the Modene fe, Bolognese, and Ferrarefe.

3. When the troops of the Cifalpine republic fhall be stationed on its own territory, they fhall be furnished from the magazines of that republic.

4. When the troops of the Cifalpine republic fhall be with the French army, or any other territory than that of the republic, they shall be furnished from the magazine of the French.

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Proclamation publifhed at Venice on the 16th Auguft (29 Thermidor)

1797.

THE general in chief of the army of Italy wishing to give, in the name of the French republic, a proof of its esteem and friendship for the Sublime Porte, orders, 1ft. The generals commanding the different places of commerce occupied by the French in Italy, fhall afford fpecial protection to Ottoman fubjects, Greeks, and particularly to Albanians. 2d. The Ottoman fubjects fhall be at liberty to hire lodgings where they think proper, without being obliged to live all in the fame houfe, and be at home at an appointed hour. 3d. The French fhips in the Adriatic fea, fhall afford protection and fuccour to veffels bearing the Ottoman flag, and particularly to Greeks and Albanians.

(Signed)

BUONAPARTE.

Liberty, Equality.-In the Name of the Cifalpine Republic, One and

Indivifible.

Tefti, Minifier for Foreign Affairs, to the Prefident of the Batavian National Convention.

Milan, the 22d Thermidor (9th Aug.), the

Fifth Year of the French Republic.

THE beftowing of freedom on the Cifalpine nation has crowned the long series of victories of the French republic. This fair country is at length delivered from our and your enemies; the time is arrived when the political confequence of Italy fhall be restored and confirmed. The wish of the Cifalpine people for their

independence, and the exertion of their rights, cannot be more ardent or more ftrongly expreffed. Their motto of union is the fame with that of your nation-Liberty: a Republic. What a fortunate omen for the fulfilment of a wifh fo dear to our hearts! It is doubtless the duty of the Cifalpine government, on its first beginning, to make known to the brave Batavian nation, the commencement of a period which must ever be recorded in the annals of hiftory; to that nation, which, from the fimilarity of its fitua tion, has the fame enemies to oppofe and conquer. The mutual interefts of the two republics cannot but unite them, and induce them mutually to fupport each other. The Cifalpine people, rendered free by the power and generous fupport of the French republic, our ally and friend, has opened new channels for the reciprocal trade and activity of the three nations, and will fhortly become the firmeft bulwark of general freedom and happiness. Let us haften, therefore, to connect ourfelves together by the bands of the ftricteft friendship; bands which must be indiffoluble between two nations, which fo cordially love and efteem each other. It is impoffible that a nation which has once tafted the fweets of liberty, fhould willingly put on again the chains of flavery. The uniformity of our fentiments, our confidence in each other, and our ardent wish for the general happiness, are reciprocal bands by which we are connected. The fame fentiments are a pledge of the heartfelt fatisfaction I perfonally feel on this occafion, and the delight I feel in the fulfilment of my duty, in communicating to you the joyful intelligence, that the independence of the Cifalpinę republic is acknowledged, and that the Directory began to enter on its functions on the 11th of Meflidor. The members of it are the Citizens Giovanni, Galeazze Serbelloni, Pietro Mofcati, Giovanni Paridifi, Marco Alaffandri, and Giovanni Conftabili Contadini. Receive then, with the fame fentiments with which it is tranfmitted, this firft proof of friendship and alliance which the Directory, through me, confiders as a duty and a pleasure to communicate on the part of the Cifalpine people. The fentiments which I have had the honour to exprefs, I feel \ with the warmest fraternal esteem. Permit me to add the fincere with of my nation for your individual happiness and welfare; and to affure you of the efteem which I thall ever feel towards you. Health and fraternity!

(Signed)

CHARLES TESTI,
The minifter for foreign affairs.

Extract

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