HOLF Players' Guild Forum

Flag of the Kingdom of Sachsen
Die Dresdener Fischverpackung
Volume 1, Issue 1, Spring 1792
von Theilmann Takes Reins as New Elector
Following the sudden and unexpected passing of Frederick Augustus, Johann Adolf Freiherr von Thielmann, of the Kingdom's Cavalry Corps, has become the new Elector of Sachsen. The change in leadership comes at a trying time in Sachsen, as the Revolution in France threatens to spread a tide of violence across Germany. Freiherr von Thielmann promised a careful and thoroughgoing examination of Sachsen foreign and military policy, but made no commitments about the course that Sachsen might pursue.
Freiherr von Thielmann's first act as Elector was to appoint Ferdinand von Funck, also of the Cavalry Corps, as Prime Minister of the Sachsen government. Minister von Funck is expected to handle the War portfolio in the government and also attend to a number of diplomatic matters; the Elector will keep the Treasury portfolio and share the diplomatic workload.
Diplomatic Anger Flies in Germany
Temperatures were on the rise across Northern Europe as a French broadside directed against Great Britain and Hannover received a direct response from Berlin. The French Republic's Foreign Minister, Pierre Lebrun, accused the British of fomenting counter-revolution in the nation of France, and called upon fellow nations to resist such intrusion. Lebrun wrote, "We shall demand only one thing – that the British remove their puppets from our soil," an apparent reference to the Bourbon emigres gathered in London. Lebrun asked the assistance of other nations in securing this removal, "by diplomatic action or force of arms as the case may be."
His Royal Highness Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia made a direct and forceful response to the French broadside, asserting that "we do not react lightly on threats or demands from foreign nations" and claimed not to want French support, interference, or friendship. Lebrun responded that "England has planted and fertilized the seeds of a cancer... the cancer must be cut out before every nation is at risk of destruction." Rumors on the streets of Berlin were that the Prussians were not amused.
Britain appeared to officially be remaining silent in the face of the French invective; however, observers reported increased diplomatic activity in a number of German capitals in recent days and there is some suspicion that Britain may be trying to secure friendly relations with the states around Hannover, for what purposes no one can tell. There is little such activity in the streets of Dresden; one exchange of couriers to the British Embassy has been seen, but nothing more. British diplomacy was active elsewhere, however, with friendship treaties emerging with both Holland and Portugal. Unofficially, though, Britain was far from silent: a letter from the British Minister of War was published in the French L'Ami du Peuple saying, in part, "Your 'revolution' is nothing more than an excuse for thieves and vagabonds to seize power from their rightful rulers" and threatening war at any time of the French choosing.
The only response within Germany came from Wuerttemberg, whose ruler released only the cryptic comment "come begging to the German Princes to provide the manpower and arms to tip the balance of power." Doubtless the fires will burn late in the Foreign Ministries of the German states as they calculate the extent to which they have to power to do so, and decide where to cast their lots.