"My Royal Brother—
"It is with feelings of profound regret that I find myself forced to decline your majesty's most friendly offers of mediation with Turkey. I am obliged to unsheathe my sword, and I shall not return it to the scabbard until it shall have won full reparation for all the wrongs sustained by my forefathers at the hands of the Porte. Your majesty is a monarch, and as such, you are acquainted with the rights of kings. And is this undertaking of mine against Turkey any thing more than an attempt to resume the rights of which my throne has been dispossessed?
"The Turks (and perhaps not they alone) have a maxim, that whatever they lose in adverse times, they must win back when opportunity is favorable. By such means the house of Hohenzollern has attained its present state of prosperity. Albert of Brandenburg wrested the duchy of Prussia from its order, and his successors, at the peace of Oliva, maintained their right to the sovereignty of that country.
"Your majesty's deceased uncle, in like manner, wrested Silesia from my mother at a time when, surrounded by enemies, her only defences were her own true greatness and the loyalty of her subjects.
"What equivalent for her lost possessions has Austria received at the hands of those European courts who have blown so many blasts on the balance of power?
"My forefathers were forced at different times to yield up Spain,
Naples, Sicily, Belgrade, the principality of Silesia, Parma, Piacenza,
Guastalla, Tortona, and a portion of Lombardy. What has Austria taken in
return for these heavy loses?
"A portion of the kingdom of Poland! And one of less value than that assigned to Russia.
"I hope that you will not dispute the justice of my resolve to make war upon the Porte, and that you will not hold me less a friend because I may do some injury to the Ottoman. Your majesty may rest assured that under similar circumstances, I should apply the same principles to myself, were I possessed of any of YOUR territory.
"I must also announce to you that, for some years to come, diplomacy must give place to war.
"Hoping for a continuation of your majesty's friendship, I am, with highest esteem, your friend and brother, JOSEPH." [Footnote: "Letters of Joseph II.," page 121, and the following.]