ás Bavaria, rendered still more im. portant by its peculiar fituation, befides rounding and completing the Auftrian dominions, would have confolidated fuch a great and compacted body of power, as nothing afterwards in the empire, confidering the divifion and general weakness of its states, could be fup. pofed able in any degree to counterpoize.

On the other hand it would feem, that nothing less than the paffion of filling a throne, for however short a time, and the empty gratification of leaving a name enrolled in the mouldering catalogues of for. gotten kings, could have induced the elector, at his time of life, and without children, to enter into a meafore f dif greeable to his fubjects, fo dang rous to his co estates of the empire, and fo unjuft to his apparent heirs and prefumptive fucceflors, as the dominion which he was to obtain bore no adequate proportion in the great objects of ex. tent, number of inhabitants, im. portance, or fecurity, to the coun. try which he was to give in exchange.

No feafon, however, could well be chofen, that was lefs favourable to the carrying of fuch a meature into execution, than the prefect. The attention of Europe was already much roufed by the northern alli. ance, and by a fucceffion of mea. fures or projects which were fuppofed to have arifen from it; fo that the more diftant as well as the nerer powers began now to entertain no finall jealoufy of the conduct and views of thefe two great empires, whofe union appeared to be fo ftrictly cemented, that they were fcarcely to be confi. dered in any other point of view than that of acting under the fame

common influence of defign, and under the impulfe of the fame comnon intereft in every thing. In fuch a disposition and state of cir cumftantes, it was fcarcely reason. able to expect, that an innovation in the conititution of the Germanic body, as well as in the gen. ral system of European policy, could by any means pass unquestioned; or indeed that the attempt would not be attended with much difficulty and danger.

The negociation upon this in tended barter was conducted with fuch extreme closeness and fecrecy, that no fufpicion of the design was entertained, even by these who were the most immediately interested in, and would be the moft deeply af fected by the measure, until the treaty was fuppofed to be already far advanced, if not abfolutely concluded. This business was likewife attended with the peculiar circumftance of its exiftence having been in the first inftance abfolutely denied, and never after fully acknow. ledged, by the contracting parties them elves. A letter from the emprefs of Ruffia to the duke of Deuxpo ts, tending to induce him to an acquiefcence in, if not a con firmation of, the proposed scheme of exchange or barter, was the first intelligence which that prince, the prefumptive neir and fucceffor to the elector palatine in all his cftites, dominions, and titles, received, that any fuch defign was in agitation.— This letter was probably received about the clofe of the year 1784, as the king of Pruffia was informed of the whole affair by the duke, who claimed his interference and protection as guarantee of the treaty of Tefchen, early in the following month of January.

In whatever terms the duke's answer

:

anfwer was conveyed, it was fo ill taken by the court of Petersburgh, that the refufal was probably very peremptory. The king of Pruffia immediately remonftrated ftrongly with that court upon the fubject, as having been a mediator of the peace at Tefchen, and being a gua. rantee to the treaty. The emprefs, in her anfwer, declared, that he had conceived this project to be the only fure means of preventing a war that upon this ground the very feriously wifhed for its being carried into immediate execution: that these fentiments had indeed dictated the letter written by her to the duke of Deuxponts, inviting him, in the moft iriendly manner, to come into the fcheme; but finding herfelf ill requited for her good offices, fo far as could be judged from the answer which he received from the duke, which is of a tenor that she neither can nor fhall give any reply to, he had dropped all farther concern in the bufinefs; and the empress declares to the king, that he has no intentions to enforce the execution of this project, excepting that the parties more immediately concerned thould fully agree to it.

But, previous to this develope. ment of the bufinefs by the emprefs of Ruffia, both the courts of Murich and Vienna had thought it receffary publicly to contradict the reports which were fpread upon the subject, and to affert, that they were unfounded; and though the expreffions were loofe and general, they were evidently intended to convey an idea that no fuch defign had exifled. The ftates of Bavaria were fo exceedingly alarmed at the report, that the elector thought it Lacalary to give them fome fatis

faction on the subje&. He affured. them, in a written document, dated on the 13th of February 1785, that the reports fpread of a pretended treaty between him and the Imperial court, relative to an exchange of country, were without foundation; that the convention between hiat. and that court, which had been lately ratified, related only to the adjuftment of limits; and that he had already ordered an extract of thaɛ. treaty, fo far as it concerned the provincial ftates, to be communicated to them.

Though this anfwer feemed to afford fome temporary fatisfaction, yet it was foon confidered as not being fufficiently explicit; a general apprehenfion and alarm was fpread among the people; and the order of burghers joined the nobles in the moft preffing folicitations to the elector for a farther and clearer explanation! The difcontents excited upon this occafion ferved to renew with additional force thofe old animofities which, through a long courfe of mutual injuries and cruel wars, had for ages fubfifted between the inhabitants of Bavaria and the Palatinate. This ill temper became fo prevalent, that all the powers of difcipline and defpotifm were scarcely fufficient to prevent the Bavarian and electoral troops from proceeding to the most dangerous extremities. It was even faid to have pervaded the elector's palace and court; and it was reported, that the very grooms could not be prevented from coming to blows in his tables.

While the emperor, by a courfe of policy not very explicable, nor feemingly well connected, was ftrowing the feeds of foreign jealoufy and commotion; the multifarious

projects

projects which he adopted at home, and the continual innovations in all the established forms of internal government, laid fuch a foundation of difcontent in a very great and valuable part of his fubjects, as feemed capable, in its confequences, of interfering in no fmall degree with his foreign views.

Of all his dominions the noble kingdom of Hungary, whether confidered with refpect to extent, in trinsic value, or the peculiar character of its inhabitants, feemed to merit a very high, if not the first place, in point of confideration, and particularly to demand the greatest attention and the most lenient hand in its government. The brave and haughty nobility, and the warlike inhabitants of that country, after having, through a courfe of ages, fhed fo much blood in refifting the invafions of their rights, and the various oppreffions to which foreign government is but too prone, had at length the unparalleled magnanimity, without any retrofpect to paft injuries, to fave the houfe of Auftria, at a fimilar expence of blood, perhaps from final diffolution, in the hour of its great. eft diftrefs, and most imminent danger. Every body knows the fitua tion in which the late Maria The refa's affairs were, when, with the prefent emperor, an infant, in her arms, the threw herfelf and him for refuge and protection upon the generosity of that gallant nobility. The affection and ardour with which her diftrefs and eloquence infpired them, is not lefs a fubject of admiration; nor how fpeedily and effectually they turned the tide of fortune in her favour. Perfonal gratitude for fo unexampled a fervice, operated during the

long reign of that great princess, in producing a great regard to the privileges of the Hungarians, and their government was conducted upon fuch principles, as afforded general fatisfaction, and confequently ferved to confirm their zeal and attachment.

A haughty, martial, and ancient nation, efpecially if they have not been foftened by arriving at the highest point of cultivation and res finement, are generally (perhaps always) great enemies to innova tion, and exceedingly tenacious of their old forms and cuftoms; even though thefe might admit of or require improvement. This difpofition will be fortified and increafed, if it is accompanied with ftrong national prejudices and averfions, founded upon a fenfe of former injuries. Men are indifpofed to follow the example, or to adopt the customs, of thofe whom they hate, however laudable; and the Hungarians had no predilection in favour of the Germans, nor of their government.

The emperor, in the courfe of his numberlefs fchemes of reform, had trenched deeply upon the civil and religious establishments of Hupgary. He had new-modelled their courts of justice, and reduced their number from thirty-eight, which was that of the diftricts into which the kingdom was divided, to ten only; which was confidered as a number infufficient for its due adminiftration in fo extenfive a coun→ try. He had introduced the Ger. man mode of military confcription, than which nothing could have been more odious to the people, into Hungary and the adjoining provinces. He had likewife abridged the power, influence, and privi

leges

leges of the nobility; and feemed intent upon placing that kingdom under the fame form of government with his Auftrian provinces. The vaft armies which were kept on the frontiers to awe the Turks, ferved to give a fanction to these measures, but could not leffen the difcontent of the people.

The rude pealants, inhabiting the mountainous and woody countries which form the borders be. tween Tranfylvania and the Auf. trian Wallachia, blind to confequences, and equally ignorant of their own force and condition for war, as they were of that which they were to encounter, broke out into an open, and, until its extent could be known, alarming rebellion, towards the close of the year, 1784. It does not appear clearly, whether this revolt proceeded from their averfion to the new military confcription, in confequence of which they had been lately inrolled, and arms placed in their hands, or whether it was occañoned by the oppreffion of their lords. It is probable that the operation of both caufes concurred in the event; but however this was, their fury fell indifcriminately upon the nobility and the public officers. Their numbers amounted to fourteen or fifteen thoufand; and fo totally ignorant were they of public affairs, and of all the circumftances of their fituation, that they ventured to elect one of their chiefs, and a peafant like themselves, named Horiah, to be their king; and this extraordinary representative of majefty had a feal actually made, with the reprefentation of a fpear piercing a heart, and the motto of Horiah, Rex Dacia, infcribed on it. VOL. XXVII.

The favage and infatuated pea fants committed the most horrible cruelties. They attacked the noBility feparately in their caftles, which they every where destroyed, and maffacred whole families, with out diftinction of age or fex. About 200 of the nobility were butchered in this manner, before they had time either to efcape or to make any effectual preparation for defence. The numbers and fiercenefs of the rebels fupplying the want of difcipline and military fkill, they for fome time repeatedly defeated fuch small detachments of troops as could be haftily collected to oppofe their ravages.

Though this ftate of things could not be lafting, yet, through the nature and difficulties of their rude country, as well as the distance of the royal forces, the rebellion subfifted for three or four months before it could be finally fuppreffed. The infurgents had, however, the cou rage or rafhnefs to venture a general action with the Austrian forces, in which they dearly purchafed a full knowledge of their infufficiency to fupport fuch a contention, they being routed with out difficulty, and a confiderable flaughter made, with little lofs to the victors. The mock king, Horiah, with their two other principal leaders, having been betrayed by their own followers, as Pugat, cheff had, in a fimilar enterprize, fome years before in Ruffia, were furprized, and taken alive in a cave. One of thefe found means to hang himself with a very narrow undif covered girdle, which he wore next to his fkin, poffibly for that purpofe. Horiah, and the other, were fent about as a public spectacle, to [4]

undergo