A RUSSIAN FLEET BLOCKS UP THE PRUSSIAN PORTS IN THE BALTIC.

Whilst the king of Prussia was in Bohemia, the empress of Russia ordered notice to be given to all masters of ships, that if any of them were found assisting the Prussians, by the transportation of troops, artillery, and ammunition, they should be condemned as legal prizes; and her fleet, consisting of fifteen men of war and frigates, with two bomb-ketches, was sent to block up the Prussian ports in the Baltic, where it took several ships of that nation, which were employed in carrying provisions and merchandise from one port to another. One of these ships of war appearing before Memel, a town of Poland, but subject to Prussia, the commandant sent an officer to the captain, to know whether he came as a friend or an enemy? to which interrogation the Russian captain replied, that, notwithstanding the dispositions of the empress of both the Russias were sufficiently known, yet he would further explain them, by declaring that his orders, and those of the other Russian commanders, were, in conformity to the laws of war, to seize on all the Prussian vessels they met with on their cruise. Upon which the commandant of Memel immediately gave orders for pointing the cannon to fire upon all Russian ships that should approach that place.

The land-forces of the Russians had now lingered on their march upwards of six months; and it was pretty generally doubted, by those who were supposed to have the best intelligence, whether they ever were designed really to pass into the Prussian territories, not only on account of their long stay on the borders of Lithuania, but also because several of their cossacks had been severely punished for plundering the waggons of some Prussian peasants upon the frontiers of Courland, and the damage of the peasants compensated with money, though general Apraxin’s army was at the same time greatly distressed by the want of provisions; when, on a sudden, they quickened their motions, and showed they were in earnest, determined to accomplish the ruin of Prussia. Their first act of hostility was the attack of Memel, which surrendered: and, by the articles of capitulation, it was agreed that the garrison should march out with all the honours of war, after having engaged not to serve against the empress, or any of her allies, for the space of one year.

His Prussian majesty, justly foreseeing the great enormities that were to be expected from these savage enemies, who were unaccustomed to make war, except upon nations as barbarous as themselves, who looked upon war only as an opportunity for plunder, and every country through which they happened to march as theirs by right of conquest, published the following declaration: “It is sufficiently known, that the king of Prussia, after the example of his glorious predecessors, has, ever since his accession to the crown, laid it down as a maxim to seek the friendship of the imperial court of Russia, and cultivate it by every method. His Prussian majesty hath had the satisfaction to live, for several successive years, in the strictest harmony with the reigning empress: and this happy union would be still subsisting, if evil-minded potentates had not broke it by their secret machinations, and carried things to such a height, that the ministers on both sides have been recalled, and the correspondence broken off. However melancholy these circumstances might be for the king, his majesty was nevertheless most attentive to prevent any thing that might increase the alienation of the Russian court. He hath been particularly careful, during the disturbances of the war that now unhappily rages, to avoid whatever might involve him in a difference with that court, notwithstanding the great grievances he hath to allege against it; and that it was publicly known the court of Vienna had at last drawn that of Russia into its destructive views, and made it serve as an instrument for favouring the schemes of Austria. His majesty hath given the whole world incontestible proofs, that he was under an indispensable necessity of having recourse to the measures he hath taken against the courts of Vienna and Saxony, who forced him by their conduct to take up arms for his defence. Yet, even since things have been brought to this extremity, the king hath offered to lay down his arms, if proper securities should be granted to him. His majesty hath not neglected to expose the artifices by which the imperial court of Russia hath been drawn into measures so opposite to the empress’s sentiments, and which would excite the utmost indignation of that great princess, if the truth could be placed before her without disguise. The king did more: he suggested to her imperial majesty sufficient means either to excuse her not taking any part in the present war, or to avoid, upon the justest grounds, the execution of those engagements which the court of Vienna claimed by a manifest abuse of obligations, which they employed to palliate their unlawful views. It wholly depended upon the empress of Russia to extinguish the flames of the war, without unsheathing the sword, by pursuing the measures suggested by the king. This conduct would have immortalized her reign throughout all Europe. It would have gained her more lasting glory than can be acquired by the greatest triumphs. The king finds with regret, that all his precautions and care to maintain peace with the Russian empire are fruitless, and that the intrigues of his enemies have prevailed. His majesty sees all the considerations of friendship and good neighbourhood set aside by the imperial court of Russia, as well as the observance of its engagements with his majesty. He sees that court marching its troops through the territories of a foreign power, and, contrary to the tenor of treaties, in order to attack the king in his dominions; and thus taking part in a war, in which his enemies have involved the Russian empire. In such circumstances, the king hath no other part to take, but to employ the power which God hath intrusted to him in defending himself, protecting his subjects, and repelling every unjust attack. His majesty will never lose sight of the rules which are observed, even in the midst of war, among civilized nations. But if, contrary to all hope and expectation, these rules should be violated by the troops of Russia, if they commit in the king’s territories disorders and excesses disallowed by the law of arms, his majesty must not be blamed if he makes reprisals in Saxony; and if, instead of that good order and rigorous discipline which have hitherto been observed by his army, avoiding all sorts of violence, he finds himself forced, contrary to his inclination, to suffer the provinces and subjects of Saxony to be treated in the same manner as his own territories shall be treated. As to the rest, the king will soon publish to the whole world the futility of the reasons alleged by the imperial court of Russia to justify its aggression; and as his majesty is forced upon making his defence, he has room to hope, with confidence, that the Lord of Hosts will bless his righteous arms: that he will disappoint the unjust enterprises of his enemies, and grant him his powerful assistance to enable him to make head against them.”