Page:Readings in European History, vol. 2 (1906).djvu/479

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The National Assembly proclaims that the French nation, faithful to the principles consecrated by its constitution, “not to undertake any war with a view to conquest nor ever to employ its forces against the liberty of any people,” only takes up arms for the maintenance of its liberty and independence;

That the war which it is forced to prosecute is not a war of nation against nation, but the just defense of a free people against the unjust aggression of a king;

That the French nation never confuses its brethren with its real enemies;

That it will neglect nothing which may reduce the curse of war, spare and preserve property, and cause all the unhappiness inseparable from war to fall alone upon those who have conspired against its liberty;

That it adopts in advance all foreigners who, abjuring the cause of its enemies, shall range themselves under its banners and consecrate their efforts to the defense of liberty; and that it will promote by all means in its power their settling in France.

Deliberating upon the formal proposition of the king and after having decreed the matter one of urgent importance, the Assembly decrees war against the king of Hungary and of Bohemia.

 The victories of the Austrians which followed the declaration of war called forth harsh measures against enemies at home, namely, such of the clergy as had been roused to opposition by the radical ecclesiastical reforms of the Assembly. The decree of May 27, 1792, ordered the expulsion from the realm of those clergymen who refused to take the oath to the constitution. The king increased his unpopularity by refusing to sanction this measure of the Assembly.

The National Assembly, considering that the efforts which the nonjuring clergymen are constantly making to