UNITED STATES-Continued. TREATIES of Peace and Commerce, &c., with Great Britain: CONVENTION With Great Britain, relative to the N. W. Boun- Page 773 dary...... ...... Correspondence relating to do. ... 1807.. 1187 CARTEL with Great Britain, for the Exchange of Prisoners of War... Washington, 12th May, 1813.. 1410 VENEZUELA. DECLARATION OF RIGHTS by the Supreme Congress. Caracas, 1st July, 1811.. 1104 DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE of the Confederated Provinces. Caracas, 5th July, 1811.. 1108 MANIFESTO of the General Congress, relative to the Indepen- dence of the Nation. . Caracas, 30th July, 1811.. 1113 Caracas, 16th August, 1813.. 1142 September, October, 1813.. 1247 WIRTEMBERG. PRELIMINARY TREATY of Alliance with Austria. Fulda, 2nd November, 1813.. 111 MANIFESTO of The King, against France. Stutgardt, 6th November, 1813.. 1181 BRITISH AND FOREIGN State Papers. SPEECH of the Lords Commissioners, on the Closing of the British Parliament, 30th July, 1812. My Lords, and Gentlemen, IN terminating the present Session of Parliament, His Royal Highness the Prince Regent has commanded us to express to you the deep concern and sorrow which he feels at the continuance of His Majesty's lamented indisposition, His Royal Highness regrets the interruptions which have occurred in the progress of public business, during this long and laborious Session, in consequence of an event which His Royal Highness must ever deplore. The zeal and unwearied assiduity with which you have persevered in the discharge of the arduous duties imposed upon you by the situation of the Country, and the state of public affairs, demands His Royal Highness's warmest acknowledgments. The assistance which you have enabled His Royal Highness to continue to the brave and loyal Nations of the Peninsula is calculated to produce the most beneficial effects. His Royal Highness most warmly participates in those sentiments of approbation which you have bestowed on the consummate skill and intrepidity displayed in the operations which led to the capture of the important fortresses of Ciudad Rodrigo and Badajoz, during the present Campaign; and His Royal Highness confidently trusts that the tried valour of the Allied Forces under the distinguished command of General the Earl of Wellington, combined with the unabated spirit and steady perseverance of the Spanish and Portuguese Nations, will finally bring the Contest in that quarter to an issue, by which the independence of the Peninsula will be effectually secured. The renewal of the War in the North of Europe furnishes an additional proof of the little security which can be derived from any [1812-14.] B submission to the usurpations and tyranny of the French Government. His Royal Highness is persuaded, that you will be sensible of the great importance of the struggle in which the Emperor of Russia has been compelled to engage, and that you will approve of His Royal Highness affording to those Powers who may be united in this Contest, every degree of co-operation and assistance, consistent with his other engagements, and with the interests of His Majesty's Dominions. His Royal Highness has commanded us to assure you, that he views with most sincere regret the hostile measures which have been recently adopted by the Government of the United States of America towards this Country. His Royal Highness is nevertheless willing to hope, that the accustomed relations of peace and amity between the 2 Countries may yet be restored; but if his expectations in this respect should be disappointed by the conduct of the Government of The United States, or by their perseverance in any unwarrantable pretensions, he will most fully rely on the support of every class of His Majesty's Subjects, in a Contest in which the honour of His Majesty's Crown and the best interests of his Dominions must be involved. Gentlemen of the House of Commons, We have it in command from His Royal Highness to thank you for the liberal provision which you have made for the services of the present Year. His Royal Highness deeply regrets the burthens which you have found it necessary to impose upon His Majesty's People, but he applauds the wisdom which has induced you so largely to provide for the exigencies of the public service, as affording the best prospect of bringing the Contest in which the Country is engaged to a successful and honourable conclusion. My Lords, and Gentlemen, His Royal Highness has observed, with the utmost concern, the spirit of insubordination and outrage which has appeared in some parts of the Country, and which has been manifested by acts, not only destructive of the property and personal safety of many of His Majesty's loyal Subjects in those districts, but disgraceful to the British character. His Royal Highness feels it incumbent upon him to acknowledge your diligence in the investigation of the causes which have led to these outrages, and he has commanded us to thank you for the wise and salutary measures which you have adopted on this occasion. It will be a principal object of His Royal Highness's attention to make an effectual and prudent use of the Powers vested in him for the protection of His Majesty's People; and he confidently trusts, that on your return into your respective counties, he may rely on your exertions for the preservation of the public peace, and for bringing the disturbers of it to justice. His Royal Highness most earnestly recomiends to you the importance of inculcating, by every means in your power, a spirit of obedience to those Laws and of attachment to that Constitution, which provide equally for the happiness and welfare of all classes of His Majesty's Subjects, and on which have hitherto depended the glory and prosperity of this Kingdom, SPEECH of His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, Regent, on the Opening of the British Parliament, 30th November, 1812. My Lords, and Gentlemen, It is with the deepest concern that I am obliged to announce to you, at the opening of this Parliament, the continuance of His Majesty's lamented indisposition, and the diminution of the hopes which I have most anxiously entertained of his recovery. The situation of public affairs has induced me to take the earliest opportunity of meeting you after the late Elections. I am persuaded you will cordially participate in the satisfaction which I derive from the improvement of our prospects during the course of the present Year. The valour and intrepidity displayed by His Majesty's Forces and those of his Allies in the Peninsula, on so many occasions during this Campaign, and the consummate skill and judgment with which the operations have been conducted by General the Marquis of Wellington, have led to consequences of the utmost importance to the common Cause. By transferring the War into the interior of Spain, and by the glorious and ever memorable victory obtained at Salamanca, he has compelled the Enemy to raise the siege of Cadiz; and the Southern Provinces of that Kingdom have been delivered from the power and arms of France. Although I cannot but regret that the efforts of the Enemy, combined with a view to one great operation, have rendered it necessary to withdraw from the siege of Burgos, and to evacuate Madrid, for the purpose of concentrating the main body of the Allied Forces; these efforts of the Enemy have, nevertheless, been attended with important sacrifices on their part, which must materially contribute to extend the resources and facilitate the exertions of the Spanish Nation. I am confident I may rely on your determination to continue to afford every aid in support of a Contest, which has first given to the Continent of Europe the example of persevering and successful resistance to the power of France, and on which not only the indepen |