honourable manner, the last struggle for the independence of Germany, my allies are endeavouring to tear from me my finest provinces, and are disposing, during my life, of my suc cession. "In the various negotiations that have taken place, I think I have proved to the whole world the insufficiency of the reason alleged to excuse this violation of my most sacred rights, and public opinion has already decided in my favour, even before the full extent of the injustice was known of which it is intended to make me a victim. If it is mortifying to my heart to see how many persons, who have declared in the face of the whole world, that they took arms wholly to destroy the dominion of arbitrary power, to introduce into Europe a political system founded on the basis of morality, suffer themselves to be influenced by false representations that are made to them, that their debts are to be paid with provinces that belong to me, and the preservation of which has been purchased with the blood of my subjects, what a painful feeling must it excite in me, when I see my nearest relations at the head of those who seek to oppress me, and who, not contented with accepting that of which I am to be robbed, urge the execution of measures to which they ought never to have given their consent. to bestow on me. In so serious an affair, I find it impossible to separate the Government from its head, so as to find in the latter my relation and friend, while the former shows itself my bitter enemy. "I at length owe you my confession of faith. It is time that the affair should be decided one way or another, or I must declare to your Majesty, that as I believe myself to have more than fulfilled my engagements, as well by the exertions which my country has made for the common cause, as by the last conciliatory proposal which my Ambassador delivered at Frankfort, I am now irrevocably resolved not to consent to any thing further. I am not blind to the situation in which I am. Nothing surprises me; Iam prepared for every thing; but I declare to you, Sire, that if there should be an intention of tearing from me by force what never will be obtained voluntarily, I appeal, for my support, to public opinion, and your Majesty will hardly find a more powerful ally. "To the King I have now said enough. The feelings of my heart call on me to add a word to my brother-in-law and friend. I therefore conjure you, Sir, by the ties of blood which unite us, put an end to a negotiation which has too long attracted the anxious eyes of Europe; and which, by the establishment of the principle on which it is founded, may have as dangerous consequences for your Majesty as for me.-I am, &c. (Signed) "I am embarrassed in my mind when I endeavour to reconcile the continually renewed of fensive steps of your Majesty's Cabinet with the expressions of attachment which you continue "Carlsruhe, March 18, 1818." "CHARLES." Answer "My dear Brother and Brotherin-law;-I have read, with equal astonishment and regret, the letter of your Royal Highness; and I cannot sufficiently express to you what a painful impression it has made on me. You know the public and private negotiations which have taken place since 1813. Your Minister for Foreign Affairs was witness to the conventions concluded at Paris between the four powers who signed the treaty of 1815: he knows that I had no share in them. The memorial which my minister delivered on that occasion is inscribed among the public acts. "We have all fought in the bravest manner. The German troops emulated each other in their exertions. The general interest has nevertheless demanded sacrifices; I have made such, as well as the greatest members of the confederation. "If the Ambassadors of your Royal Highness are well inform ed, they will have informed you that the course which I have followed for these two years has been wholly conformable to the sentiments that unite us; and that, far from inducing measures against you, I have made it a rule to wait in silence the regulation of the interests on which depend the conclusion of the Acts which will fix the fate of Europe. "I do not allow myself to make to your Royal Highness any remark on the resolution you take. It is for you, in your wisdom, to decide on what the well understood interests of your house and your people require. But whatever events may ensue, they will never have any influence on the personal feelings which bind me to a relation who will be ever dear to me, and will never lessen the friendship and tender attachment which I cherish for your Royal Highness, and with which I am, &c. (Signed) "MAX. JOSEPH." 25. Coblentz.-We have today received the answer of his Majesty to our Address of the 18th of October last. The answer is addressed to the inhabitants of Coblentz, and to those of the cities and communes composing the arrondissement of that name. It is couched in these terms: "The period at which the organization of the States is to take place is not fixed either by the edict of the 22nd May, 1815, or by the 13th Article of the Act of the Confederation. All times are not equally propitious to introduce changes into the organization of states. Those who allow themselves to remind the Sovereigns of the execution of a promise freely given, thereby express a blameable doubt of his fidelity in fulfilling his engagements, and improperly take upon them to decide on the time when this new order of things ought to be established; whereas the fixing of this time ought to be as free as the promise given was. Every commune, every corporation, every individual, has the right to lay at the foot of the Throne, and to present to the Ministers their requests, by the way of petition; but the excitement (provocation) to petition cannot be tolerated; and this excitement exists when a petition is hawked about in a F 2 whole whole province, and the inha- "It is for these reasons that the petition which was presented to me a few days ago, in the name of the city of Coblentz, as well as of the communes which compose its districts, has given me just displeasure. I shall fix the period when the fulfilment of the promise which I have given, respecting the introduction of the representative system, shall take place; and I shall not suffer myself to be influenced by any unsuitable remonstrances on this subject. "My principles in this respect have been declared in the Federal Diet; and in consequence of these principles I shall continue to take the necessary preparatory measures. The duty of faithful subjects is to wait (with confidence in my fidelity in fulfilling an engagement which I freely made) for the moment which, after an examination of the situation of the whole monarchy, I shall judge fit for the execution of the article of the Federal Act, which is appealed to. (Signed) "FREDERICK WILLIAM." "Potsdam, 21st March, 1818." A Proclamation dated Washington, 28th April, 1818, relates to the carrying into effect the treaty of 1817, with respect to the naval force upon the Lakes. The treaty stipulated that The naval force to be main tained upon the American Lakes by his Majesty and the Government of the United States, shall henceforth be confined to the following vessels on each side: sels, each not exceeding like On the Upper Lakes, two vesburden, and armed with like force. sel, not exceeding like burden, On Lake Champlain, one vesand armed with like force. All other armed vessels on these lakes shall be forthwith dismantled, and no other vessel shall be built or armed. The latter part of the procla mation contains the approval of nouncement of their being finally these stipulations, and the ancarried into effect. announced a Consistory on the 29. Rome.-His Holiness has 4th of May next; he has signified his intention of deciding on the appointments of Bishops in the Romish states, and several of sixteen Neapolitan Bishops. Praffaele Mazio will then begin Secretary to the Members of the to officiate in his capacity of Consistory. This place, which, by custom, was always conferred upon an Italian prelate, is not important, and affords much insuperior in dignity; but it is very fluence, because the Secretary to ed Secretary to the Conclave. the Consistory is always appointHis Holiness has refused to recognise the appointment of several Bishops proposed by the King of Bavaria; some on account of count of their morals. their doctrines, and others on acrefusal has excited no agreeable sensations at Munich. This very the Grace of GoD, King of the Infant of Spain, Duke of Parma, of alloy; or in other words, 5-6ths Placentia, Castro, &c. pure silver and a 6th of alloy. After a mature examination of the decree of the 18th of August, 1814, by which the French restored the ancient monetary system of the kingdom, common at all times to our dominions on both sides of the Faro (straits that divide Sicily from the Continent), and abolished the computation by livres and centimes established by them in 1811, we have seen that its dispositions regarding the gold coin, far from following had overturned it, and that no other system conformable to the sound principles of political economy had been substituted in its place. Therefore, desirous to form a monetary system complete in all its parts, and founded on the sacred principle of promoting the prosperity of our beloved subjects, and wishing likewise to consolidate into one law that part of the ancient ordinances which we think worthy of being preserved, we have resolved, on the proposition of our Minister of Finance, and with the recommendation of our Council of State, to sanction the following law, which we declare sanctioned accordingly : TITLE I.-General Dispositions. Article 1. The monetary unit of our kingdom of the Two Sicilies, by which prices and every species of value in coin are computed, has the name of a ducat (ducato). The matter of which it consists is a piece of silver weighing 515 Neapolitan grains (acini), equal to 416 161-1,000th Sicilian grains (cocci),or22 943-1,000th gramms, and of the fineness of 833 1-3rd parts of pure silver to 166 2-3rds of 2. The ducat is divided into 100 parts, which have the name of grana in the part of our dominions on this side the Faro, and bajocchi on the other side. All the divisions of the ducat below ten centimes, or ten grana, have their value represented in copper coin. From ten centimes upwards their value is represented in silver coin. The multiples and sub-multiples in silver have always the same title, and their weight is geometrically proportioned. 3. The allowable variation is limited to 3-1,000th parts, more or less than the standard fineness. Silver coin exceeding or falling short of this standard more than 3-1,000th parts, shall not be put into circulation by the Mint. 4. Silver coin shall not be received by weight, nor can the pieces be refused as falling short of the standard, unless they are visibly clipped, understanding by that term an impairing of their legal contour (contorno). 5. All agio is prohibited in the exchange of silver pieces for silver pieces, though not in the exchange of gold and silver coins against each other respectively. is 6. Every grano in copper divided into ten parts. These tenths in Naples receive the name of cavalli, and in Sicily are denominated piccioli. 7. States the proportion of Neapolitan acini, and Sicilian cocci, in the grano. 8. The gold coin has the correspondent value which Government authorizes, and that which shall be subsequently coined will be raised to the fineness of 996 parts parts of pure gold in the thousand, which corresponds according to the ancient mode of valuing the fineness of gold to 23 9041,000ths in the carat of 24. 9. The new gold coin will not be issued with a greater variation than one thousandth part above or below the standard. our 10. All the gold, silver, and copper coins that have issued up to the present time from Mints of Naples or Palermo, shall remain in circulation according to their nominal value. Gold coins alone, as well old as new, shall be received by weight. 11. A constant and invariable permission is granted to export from the kingdom freely any sums in gold or silver coin. 12. A permission is likewise granted to melt it for exportation or otherwise. 13. The Spanish hard dollars are allowed to circulate at the rate of 12 carlini, and four grana of Naples. The prices of the divisions of the dollar are likewise fixed by this article. 14. States that the Minister of Finance will publish an ordinance to regulate the intrinsic value of foreign coins relatively to Neapolitan on the principles of this decree. TITLE II.-Silver Coin. 15. From this day forward there shall be coined only in silver, the four following kinds of pieces-1st, The carlino, of the weight of 5 Neapolitan accini; fifty carlini will form a mark of the Mint; the variation allowed above or below the standard weight, is 41 accini in the mark; 2ndly, The piece of two Neapoli tan carlini, or Sicilian tari, with a proportionate weight, &c.; 3rdly, The piece of six carlini, weighing 309 accini, or 13,765 gramms; and 4thly, The piece of 12 car. lini, weighing 618 accini, or 27,532 gramms, with an allowance of proportionate variations from the standard. TITLE III.-Gold Coin. 16. There shall be coined in gold, henceforward, the following denominations of pieces, with proportionate weight:-1st, The oncette, of the weight of 85 Neapolitan accini, or 3,786 gramms, in value equal to three ducats; 2ndly, The piece of 5 oncette, weighing 425 accini, or 18,933 gramms of the value of 15 ducats; and 3rdly. The piece of ten oncette, with proportionate weight of the value of 30 ducats. TITLE IV.-Copper Coin. 17. The copper-pieces shall be, 1st, the half grano, vulgarly called tornnese, of 70 accini, or, according to its Sicilian denomination, the half-bajocco; 2ndly, the grano, or bajocco; 3rdly, the piece of 24 grana; and, 4thly, the piece of 5 grana, or bajocchi. The fifth title of this ordinance regulates the inscriptions to be struck on the different species of coin; and the 6th, the mode of assaying the metals at the Mint, and certifying by the proper officers the weight and fineness of the pieces. |