ucceeded.

"The French government has just ordered a new levy of three hundred
thousand men; the proclamations of the senate contain a challenge to
the allied powers. They find themselves called on again to
promulgate to the world the views by which they are guided in this
present war, the principles which form the basis of their conduct,
their wishes, and their intentions. The allied powers are not
making war on France, but on the openly admitted preponderance
which, to the great misfortune of Europe and France, the Emperor
Napoleon has too long maintained outside the limits of his Empire.

Victory has brought the allied armies to the Rhine. The first use
their imperial and royal Majesties have made of victory has been to
offer peace to his Majesty the Emperor of the French. A position
reenforced by the accession of all the sovereigns and princes of
Germany has had no influence on the conditions of this peace, for
these conditions are founded on the independence of the other states
of Europe. The objects of these powers are just in their aims,
generous and liberal in their application, reassuring to all, and
honorable to each.

The allied sovereigns desire that France should be great, strong,
and happy, since its greatness and power is one of the foundations
of the social edifice. They desire that France should be happy,
that French commerce should revive, that the arts, those blessings
of peace, should flourish, because a great people are tranquil only
when satisfied. The powers confirm the French Empire in the
possession of an extent of territory which France has never attained
under her kings, since a generous nation should not be punished
because it has experienced reverses in a bloody and well-contested
struggle in which it has fought with its accustomed bravery.

But the powers themselves also wish to be happy and peaceful. They
desire a condition of peace which, by a wise partition of force, by
a just equilibrium, may hereafter preserve their people from the
innumerable calamities which have for twenty years overwhelmed
Europe.

"The allied powers will not lay down their arms until they have
obtained this grand and beneficent result, the worthy object of all
their efforts. They will not lay down their arms until the
political condition of Europe is again secure; until immutable
principles have