THE letters, of which we here give a translation, were recently published in Germany, and excited great sensation. They were communicated to the original publisher by an individual formerly attached to the person of the Emperor. They are highly valuable, as forming materials for a future history of this great monarch; the proper time for which is not yet come-partiality and passion not having yet subsided; and respect for many persons who were closely connected with him, and who are still living, would doubtless influence the historian.

No one that reads these letters will lay them aside without feeling a sincere esteem for their author. They are not only interesting on account of the light which they throw on various points of history, but more particularly because they explain what were the views and principles by which Joseph was actuated in his various undertakings. They are truly characteristic letters, especially when we compare what Joseph executed with what he intended; when, with all his zeal for the public good, we see so many of his plans frustrated, and when we recollect how this prince, who thought he had done every thing well, had the bitter mortification, towards the close of his reign, to find that he had satisfied scarcely any portion of his subjects-that one called him a heretic, another a tyrant, and that, finally, whole provinces and states revolted against him: so that only one conviction was left him, his good intention; and one hope, his justification by posterity. He himself confesses, in one of his letters, that these reflexions only could prevent the wish arising within him, not to have existed: "But," says he, "I know my heart; I am convinced of the honesty of my intention, and hope that, when I am no more, posterity will examine and judge more equitably, more justly, and more impartially, all that I have done for my people."

LETTERS OF JOSEPH II.

To Emmerich Joseph, Baron von Breidbach-Bürresheim, Elector of Mentz, and Arch-Chancellor of the Holy Roman Empire.

MONSIEUR,-Allow me to make you my most sincere acknowledgments for the trouble you have so kindly taken on my account, with the assembled Electors and Princes of the Empire, and for the zealous solicitude which you evinced for me in the election of a Roman King.

I consider it my duty to assure you, as Chancellor of the Roman-German Empire, and first Elector, that I shall perform the duties of the office and royal dignity, to which you have, by a free and lawful choice, called me, by the most conscientious observance of the laws of the empire, and of the obligations imposed by them upon me; that I shall strictly adhere to the elective capitulation to which I have sworn; and that I shall defend and protect the rights and liberties of the whole nation, and especially the particular privileges of individual states of the empire.

My only wish is, that my means may be adequate to the circumstances, and to the dignity conferred upon me. You may perfectly rely on my sincerity, on the honesty of my intentions, and on my determination to maintain our national freedom. I embrace you, my Prince, with the most distinVOL. XIX. NO. XXXVII.

Pam.

F

guished sentiments of friendship, and reckon on your support whenever circumstances occur that render it indispensable to God preserve you a long time to Germany. Frankfort, April 1764.

To Charles, Prince of Batthian.

JOSEPH.

Mon Prince,-We travelled, in company with the GrandDuke of Florence, and the two Archduchesses, Anna and Christina, to Inspruck, to assist at the nuptials of my brother; and on the 18th, the melancholy event of the Emperor's death took place. He was suddenly attacked with apoplexy, and expired in my arms.

Mon Prince! No human being is capable of adequately expressing the acute feelings with which the heart of a son is overwhelmed, who loses for ever a father, by whom he is convinced he was loved.

In the midst of my own sufferings I did not forget my mother. But could the consolations of a son whose heart was almost broken-could these consolations compensate for the cruel blow which fate had given her?

He was

My father had the most tender affection for me. my teacher, my friend, and the greatest prince of his house; worthy the confidence of his family and his whole people. He was generous, just, beneficent, a patron of the arts and sciences, a friend to the indigent, and to aspiring genius, and, though a monarch, well acquainted with private merit.

I am now twenty-four years of age. Providence has given me the cup of sorrow in my early days! I lost my wife after having possessed her scarcely three years.Dear Eliza! thou wilt never be forgotten by me! Since thy death I have felt inexpressible sufferings !

You, my Prince, were the guide of my youth; under your direction I became a man. Do now support me also as a monarch in the important duties which destiny imposes upon me, and preserve your heart for your friend,

Inspruck, 20th August, 1765.

JOSEPH.

To Maria Beatrix of Esta, Princess of Modena, Consort of the Archduke Ferdinand.

Madame,-I wish you all the happiness of this life, and all the joys of which you are susceptible. May heaven grant your heart that contentment and happiness which your amiable disposition deserves.

Princess! these are the wishes which, with sentiments of real friendship, I sincerely offer you, on a day you were des

tined to become the consort of my brother, and which I shall always reckon among the solemn festivals of my house.

I recommend myself to the continuation of your kind friendship, and am, with the most decided sentiments of respect and esteem,

Your Highness's most affectionate brother and friend, Vienna, October, 1771.

To General *****

JOSEPH.

My General,-You will immediately arrest the Count of K. and Captain W. The Count is young, passionate, and influenced by wrong notions of birth, and a false sense of honor. Captain W. is an old soldier, who will adjust every dispute with the sword and pistol, and who has received the challenge of the young Count with unbecoming warmth.

I will suffer no duel in my army. I despise the principles of those who attempt to justify the practice, and who would run each other through the body in cold blood.

When I have officers who bravely expose themselves to every danger in facing the enemy, who at all times exhibit courage, valor, and resolution, in attack and defence, I esteem them highly: the coolness with which they meet death on such occasions, is serviceable to their country, and at the same time redounds to their honor. But should there be men amongst them who are ready to sacrifice every thing to their vengeance and hatred, I despise them; I consider such a man as no better than a Roman gladiator.

Order a court-martial to try the two officers; investigate the subject of their dispute with that impartiality which I demand from every judge; and he that is guilty let him be a sacrifice to his fate and the laws.

Such a barbarous custom, which suits the age of the Tamerlanes and Bajazets, and which has often had such melancholy effects on single families, I will have suppressed and punished, even if it should deprive me of one half of my officers! There are still men who know how to unite the character of a hero with that of a good subject; and he only can be so who respects the laws of the state.

August, 1771.

JOSEPH.

To Choiseul, Duke and Peer, and Secretary of State in France.

Sir, I thank you for your confidence. If I were regent, you might boast of my support. With respect to the Jesuits, and your plan for their suppression, you have my perfect approbation.

You must not reckon much on my mother; attachment to this order has become hereditary in the family of the house of Habsburg. Clement XIV. himself has proofs of it. However, Kaunitz is your friend; he can effect every thing with the Empress. With regard to their suppression, he is of your and the Marquis Pombal's party; and he is a man who leaves nothing half done.

Choiseul, I know these people as well as any man; I know all the plans which they have executed; their endeavours to spread darkness over the earth, and to govern and confuse Europe from Cape Finisterre to the North Sea.

In Germany they were mandarins, in France academicians, courtiers, and confessors, in Spain and Portugal the grandees of the nation, and in Paraguay kings.

Had not my grand-uncle Joseph I. become emperor, we probably might have lived to see in Germany Malagridas, Aveiros, and an attempt at regicide. But he knew them thoroughly when the Synedrium of the order suspected his confessor to be a man of integrity, and found that he manifested more attachment to the Emperor than to the Vatican, he was summoned to Rome. The confessor foresaw his cruel fate, should he be compelled to go thither, and entreated the Emperor to prevent it. But all the efforts of the monarch were in vain. Even the Nuncio demanded his removal in the name of his court. Indignant at these despotic measures, the Emperor declared that if this priest was obliged to go to Rome, he should not go there without a numerous suite; for all the Jesuits in the Austrian dominions should accompany him, none of whom should ever return. This positive answer of the Emperor, so unexpected in those times, caused the Jesuits to give up their intentions.

Thus it was formerly, Choiseul; I foresee that things must change.

Adieu! May Heaven preserve you a long time to France, to me, and to your numerous friends.

January, 1770.

JOSEPH.

To the Count of Aranda, Knight of the Golden Fleece, Grandee of Spain, Privy Counsellor, Minister President of Castile, and Ambassador in France.

Monsieur,-Clement XIV. has acquired eternal glory by suppressing the Jesuits. He has annihilated these apostolic sibyls from the earth; and in future their name will be mentioned only in the history of controversies and Jansenism.

Before they were known in Germany, religion was a doc