dersigned is at present authorised to negotiate. The undersigned' has orders to add, that his Britannic majestý, fully acquainted with the desire entertained by the court of St. Petersburgh for peace upon conditions reciprocally honourable and advan tageous, and at the same time com. patible with the interests of Europe, has authorised him to impart to the French plenipotentiaries the conditions upon which Russia (according to the full and perfect knowledge his Britannic majesty has of the intentions of that court) would be willing to negotiate with the French government; to reduce them into the form of a treaty in the event of their being agreed to on both sides; and to insert an article in the provisional treaty between Great Britain and France, by which his Britannic majesty should engage to employ his mediation, for the purpose of obtaining the accession of his majesty the emperor of all the Russias to the said treaty. The undersigned is aware that he ought to make the official communication of the conditions to the French plenipotentiaries: in the mean time, and for the satisfaction of his excellency the minister for foreign affairs, he has no difficulty in telling him that they will be in substance the same as those which have already been communicated to his excellency by his excellency baron de Budberg. The undersigned expects with great impatience the answer to this communication, which his excellency the minister for foreign affairs will have the goodness to send in writing. It is the more necessary for him to receive it in that form, as his court has remarked that the communications the undersigned has already made, have frequently remained without a written answer. The undersigned has the honour to renew to his excellency the minister for foreign affairs the assurances of his high consideration. Lauderdale. (Signed) Copy of a Dispatch from the Earl of Lauderdale to Earl Spencer, duted Paris, September 19, 1805.-Received September 22d. Paris, September 19, 1806. My Lord, At one o'clock this day, Mon sieur Talleyrand called on me according to the appointment which I announced to your lordship in my last dispatch. I immediately perceived, that his plan was to exhibit extreme civility, which no one knows better how to execute. After some time spent in compliments, and in condolence on the great loss the world had sustained, he told me, that as I insisted on an answer in writing, one was prepared, which contained a declaration consonant to what he supposed me to wish on the two most material points. First, that the emperor was willing to admit of an article being introduced to answer the ob jects I had in view in relation to Russia, and to instruct his plenipotentiaries to hear me with respect to the interests of that power. Secondly, that France would be ready to make great concessions for the purpose of obtaining peace. After some conversation, all tending to impress me with the idea that peace was their main object, and that they were even ready to make any sacrifice to secure it, he produced the paper to which he had alluded (marked A.); and which I had at first understood he meant to transmit to me when he should go home. Before he opened it, he looked at me, and said, that there was a mixture in it of what, perhaps, I should not like, but that I must take the evil with the good. He begged that I would allow him to read it through without interrupting him. When he had finished, I said that I should of course send such an answer as I thought becoming and proper. I told him, and, I trust, with perfect temper and seeming indifference, that the most important thing for me to know was, whether these concessions would be to the extent of allowing us to retain what they had originally proposed ? He answered that the emperor would leave every thing open to the plenipotentiaries. On his going away I felt myself so extremely fatigued, in conse quence of the weak state in which my late illness has left me, that I was obliged to lie down and recruit my strength before I could turn my mind to the formation of what I conceived to be a proper answer to his note. I trust your lordship will approve of the answer I have sent, a copy of which I have the honour of inclosing, (marked B.). My object in framing it, was to facilitate as much as possible the immediate progress of the negotiation, and, at the same time, to let the government of France feel that I was alive to what, in point of dignity, belonged to the plenipotentiary of his Bri. tannic majesty. I have, &c. First Inclosure (A.) Copy of a Note delivered by M. Talleyrand to the Earl of Landerdale, dated September 18, 1806. (Translation.) Paris, September 18, 1806. The undersigned, the minister for foreign affairs, has laid before his majesty the emperor, king of Italy, the note which his excellency the earl of Lauderdale, minister plenipotentiary from his Britannic ma jesty, did him the honour to address to him on the 13th of this month. His majesty the emperor and king sees with regret that the negotiation seems to take every day a retrograde course, and he is at a loss to discover what what point the English government wish to attain. In the first instance, obsolete forms were brought forward and urged for our acceptance, the text and the substance of which had never been admitted, nor even discussed, by the French government, and when this difficulty appeared to be removed, and the French plenipotentiaries held out a prospect of sacrifices which proved more and more the desire of their government for peace, points antecedent to the negotiation were recurred to, and a question was started again which had been three times decided; irst, by the powers given to M. d'Oubril, with which his Britannic majesty's plenipotentiaries were acquainted, afterwards by the powers given to the earl of Yarmouth, and lastly, for the third time, by those of the earl of Lauderdale. One might have supposed that a discussion, terminated before the first conference of the respective negociators, and decided even by the very fact of their negotiation, would not again be brought forward. His majesty the emperor wishing however to give a fresh proof of his uniform desire for the re-establish ment of peace, adheres to the fol. lowing proposal: That the negotiation between France and England shall continue; that the minister plenipotentiary of his majesty the king of Great Britain shall be at liberty to introduce into the treaty, either as a public or a secret article, or in any other form which would answer the same end, whatever he may conceive would tend to reconcile the existing differences between France and Russia, and would procure for the latter a participation in the benefits of peace, it being well understood, that no proposal shall be admitted except such as are res pectively honourable, and are not injurious to the real power and the dignity of the two empires; and that we shall not see again brought forward the extraordinary proposals which M. de Novosiltzoff was charged to make on the part of Russia, and which, having marked the origin of a coalition conquered and destroyed in its birth, ought equally to be forgotten with the coalition itself. There are proposals which, being only the result of blind confidence, and of a species of infatuation, and being founded neither on the real force of the parties, nor on their geographical situation, are deprived of their pacific character, and carry with them their own condemnation. France ought neither to abandon the interests of the Ottoman empire, nor a position which enables her to sustain that empire against the aggressions with which she is openly menaced by Russia; but as all the objects destined to enter into the arrangements of the treaty, must be reserved for discussion, the undersigned will not seek to anticipate the result which it may produce. If, after the changes which have taken place in the cabinet of his Britannic majesty, peace is still wished for in England, peace may be made, and that without delay. The emperor will not hesitate to make some sacrifices in order to ac. celerate it, and to render it durable; but if the dispositions for peace should have changed in London, if the wise and liberal views manifested in the first communications which took place with the illustrious minister, whom both nations lament, should no longer prevail, a vague discussion, discussion, immoderate pretensions, and ambiguous proposals, wide of that tone of frankness and dignity necessary to conduce to a real reconciliation, would only have the effect of producing more irritation, and would be unworthy of both nations. France does not pretend to dictate either to Russia or to Eng. land, but she will be dictated to by neither of these powers. Let the conditions be equal, just, and moderate, and the peace is concluded; but if an imperious and exaggerating disposition is evinced, if pre-eminence is affected, if, in a word, it is meant to dictate peace, the em peror and the French people will not even notice these proposals. Confiding in themselves, they will say,as a nation of antiquity answered its enemies, you demand our arms, come and take them." The undersigned, minister for fo.. reign affairs, has the honour to renew to his excellency the earl of Lauderdale the assurance of his high consideration. (Signed) Ch. Mau. Talleyrand, Second Inclosure (B) (Translation.) Paris, September 19, 1806. The undersigned plenipotentiary of his majesty the king of Great Britain, in answering the official note of his excellency the minister for foreign affairs, dated the 18th instant, which has been received to day, begins by remarking, that he purposely abstains as much as possible from all observation upon those points contained in it, which are foreign to the immediate object in question. By this means, he will avoid discussions of a nature to lead him to forget that tone of modera. tion which it is his duty to observe in the whole course of his mission. He will thus maintain the line of conduct which is conformable to that love of peace, which characterizes all the proceedings of the king his master. When the undersigned reflects, that he came to Paris, authorized te conclude peace upon terms understood to have been proposed by France; that notwithstanding the refusal of his imperial majesty of all the Russias to ratify the treaty signed by M. d'Oubril, and the splendid successes obtained by his majesty's arms in Spanish America, he was authorized to give assurances (as he had the honour of doing to his excellency the minister for foreign affairs) that the demands of his court, in its own favour, would not in consequence of these successes, be materially increased; the undersigned had reason to be surprised at finding his government charged with manifesting an “imperious and exaggerating disposition." He is not less astonished, that his excellency, in replying to a note in which lord Lauderdale had the ho. nour of explaining distinctly to him, that the conditions pointed out by his excellency baron de Budberg, were in substance what would be insisted upou by Great Britain in favour of Russia, should have thought it necessary to reprobate so strongly conditions proposed by M. de Novosiltzoff under totally differ. ent circumstances, and of the nature of which, the undersigned is entirely ignorant. Nevertheless, after the explana tions given by the undersigned to his excellency the miuister for foreign affairs, affairs, and the declaration made by him to his excellency, that the undersigned is not authorised to negotiate otherwise than so as to ensure the conclusion of a peace with Great Britain and with Russia at the same moment; and, after having received, in the official note of yes. terday's date, assurances that the French government does not refuse the admission of an article, the design of which shall be to provide for this indispensable object, the undersigned will make no difficulty in resuming the conferences with their excellencies the French plenipotentiaries, as soon as their excellencies shall be duly authorised for this purpose. The undersigued has the honour, &c. (Signed) Lauderdale. No. LI. Extract from a Dispatch from the Earl of Lauderdale to Earl Spencer, dated Paris, September 26, 1806, Received September 28. Nothing material happened after the conference with M. Talleyrand, which I detailed in my dispatch of the 19th instant, till the 22d, when I received from him a communication, informing me that the emperor having thought General Clarke's services near his person necessary in a journey he was about to undertake immediately, M. de Champagny would be instructed to conduct singly, on the part of France, the business of the negotiation in future. This communication was made in a letter which I enclose (marked A) together with a copy of my answer (marked B.) On the 23d, being anxious that the negotiation should proceed as soon as possible, I took the opportunity of M. de Champagny's sending to enquire after my health, to urge him, in writing, to renew 2 the conference without farther loss of time. Your lordship will find a copy of my letter (marked C.) together with his answer (marked D.) enclosed. On the 24th, I received from M. Talleyrand an answer to the demand 1 had made for an explanation on the subject of passports, in my letter of the 22d. This communication (marked E.) I think it proper also to transmit to your lordship. On the 25th, at one o'clock, M. de Champagny called on me, as had been previously agreed, for the purpose of renewing the conferences. After the usual interchange of civilities, he proceeded to say, that, to secure peace, the emperor had determined to make great sacrifices. 1st, That Hanover with its depen dencies should be restored to his majesty. 2d, That the possession of Malta should be confirmed to Great Bri tain. 3d, That France would interfere with Holland to confirm to his majesty the absolute possession of the Cape. 4th, That the emperor would confirm to his majesty the possession of Pondicherry, Chandernagore, Mahee, and the other dependent comptoirs. 5th, That as Tobago was originally settled by the English, it was meant also to give that island to the crown of Great Britain. To all this he added, that what he had now said, proceeded on the supposition, that Sicily was to be ceded, and that the French government proposed that his Sicilian majesty should have, as indemnity, not only the Balearic Islands, but should also receive an annuity from the court of Spain to enable him to support his dignity. I here |