t found in the paper; and in respect to
the honorary epithet bestowed in Mr. Mann's instructions on the late
chief of the revolutionary government of Hungary, Mr. Huelsemann will
bear in mind that the government of the United States cannot justly be
expected, in a confidential communication to its own agent, to withhold
from an individual an epithet of distinction of which a great part of
the world thinks him worthy, merely on the ground that his own
government regards him as a rebel. At an early stage of the American
Revolution, while Washington was considered by the English government as
a rebel chief, he was regarded on the Continent of Europe as an
illustrious hero. But the undersigned will take the liberty of bringing
the Cabinet of Vienna into the presence of its own predecessors, and of
citing for its consideration the conduct of the Imperial government
itself. In the year 1777 the war of the American Revolution was raging
all over these United States. England was prosecuting that war with a
most resolute determination, and by the exertion of all her military
means to the fullest extent. Germany was at that time at peace with
England; and yet an agent of that Congress, which was looked upon by
England in no other light than that of a body in open rebellion, was not
only received with great respect by the ambassador of the Empress Queen
at Paris, and by the minister of the Grand Duke of Tuscany (who
afterwards mounted the Imperial throne), but resided in Vienna for a
considerable time; not, indeed, officially acknowledged, but treated
with courtesy and respect; and the Emperor suffered himself to be
persuaded by that agent to exert himself to prevent the German powers
from furnishing troops to England to enable her to suppress the
rebellion in America. Neither Mr. Huelsemann nor the Cabinet of Vienna,
it is presumed, will undertake to say that any thing said or done by
this government in regard to the recent war between Austria and Hungary
is not borne out, and much more than borne out, by this example of the
Imperial Court. It is believed that the Emperor Joseph the Second
habitually spoke in terms of respect and admiration of the character of
Washington, as he is known to have done of that of Franklin; and he
deemed it no infraction of neutrality to inform himself of the progress
of the revolutionary struggle in America, or to express his deep sense
of the merits and the talents of those illustrious men who were t