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it could not have been foreseen that the, right hon. gent. would turn out to be person of such transcendent talents and abilities, capable of holding the high and important situation which he now filled. The office he alluded to, however, did not certainly require such transcendent talents and abilities as the right hon. gent. possessed; for he believed it required little more abilities than were sufficient for counting the money arising from its emoluments into his own pocket. He confessed he thought any opposition to this bill was derogatory to the principles and opinions entertained by that house upon the subject; and he trusted the house would uphold its own honour and character, by again sending the bill up to the house of lords.

ment of that object; and, whether it should be deemed expedient as an ulterior measure to purchase the interests of the present reversioners, or to await the expiration of their terms, it was equally unfit that further grants in reversion should be made.-The question being put, leave was given to bring in the bill, with the single dissenting voice of Mr. W. Dundas. Mr. Bankes afterwards brought in the bill, which was read a first time.

HOUSE OF COMMONS.

Tuesday, January 26.

[MINUTES.] Petitions, complaining of undue returns, were presented from the following places, and ordered to be taken into consideration on the days annexed :

Poole, Feb. 2; Maldon, March 15; Bever

ley, March 15.

[PAPERS RELATING TO THe NegoTIATION WITH AUSTRIA AND RUSSIA.] Mr. Secretary Canning presented to the house, by his majesty's command, the Papers relative to the Negotiation with Austria and Russia, of which the following are copies:

PAPERS

RELATIVE TO THE NEGOTIATION
WITH AUSTRIA AND RUSSIA ;
PRESENTED, BY HIS MAJESTY'S
COMMAND, TO BOTH HOUSES OF
PARLIAMENT, JAN. 26, 1808.

PAPERS RELATIVE TO AUSTRIA.

No I.-Note from the Count de Starhemberg to Mr. Secretary Canning, dated London, April 18, 1807.

Sir John Newport thought it his duty to state a particular instance in which the reform of an office recommended by the committee of inquiry, in Ireland, could not be carried into effect, in consequence of its being granted in reversion. The office he alluded to was that of customer of the port of Dublin. It had been granted in reversion three deep. Two of the three had died while the reform was in agitation; but the right of the third barred the reform. Mr. Horner rose for the of repurpose pelling the aspersions which had been thrown upon the of one of the proudest memory ornaments of this or any other country, by the inconsiderate observations of the right hon. gent. The hon. gent. denied that the latter part of Mr. Burke's life went in any way to invalidate or contradict the sincerity of his earlier efforts. Those who were honoured with that great man's friendship, or those who were acquainted with his very His majesty the emperor of Austria, last work, knew that he took honour and king of Hungary and Bohemia, having recredit to himself for having pursued such solved upon offering to the principal powers measures as tended to every species of interested in the present war, his amicable economical reform; they knew that, to the mediation, in order by his intervention to . latest hour of his splendid career, he was bring on a negotiation for peace, the count as zealous and as sincere an enemy to ra- de Starhemberg, envoy extraordinary and pine and public malversation as he was in minister plenipotentiary, has received orders the most vigorous period of his memorable to transmit to the ministry of his Britanlife. He thought this measure the more va- nick majesty, the accompanying Note, conluable, not because it bore upon the pre- taining the offer of mediation which his rogative of the crown, but because it was a imperial and royal majesty has caused to ⚫ measure of reform; and that perhaps, was be presented in the same manner, and at the very reason of the right hon. gent.'s the same time, to the cabinets of Petersopposition to it. The bill was to be re-burgh and of the Thuilleries, as well as to spected, because it came from a committee that of Berlin. In acquitting himself of appointed by the house to consider the this commission, the undersigned requests means of reducing the public expenditure, his excellency Mr. Canning will have the and because it was the first step recom-goodness to lay this offer of mediation of his mended by the committee for the attain- imperial majesty before the king of Eng

land, and he ventures to hope that his excellency will not refuse to inform him as soon as possible of the resolutions taken by his Britannic majesty on this subject.-The count de Starhemberg embraces this opportunity to renew to his excellency the assurance of his high consideration.

(Note referred to in Number 1.) The emperor Francis II. could not bebold, without the deepest concern, the rupture which took place last autumn, between his majesty the emperor of the French, king of Italy, and his majesty the king of Prussia; and he was shortly afterwards still more painfully affected, by the extension of hostilities over a considerable part of Europe. If by observing a strict and scrupulous impartiality from the very commencement of the war, his imperial and royal apostolic majesty has had the satisfaction to maintain his system of neutrality in circumstances so critical, and to preserve his people from the ravages of war, he did not enter the less fully into the miseries which were multiplied around his states; and in his just solicitude for the tranquillity and the security of his monarchy, he could not but be sensible to the continually renewed alarms upon his frontiers, or to the fatal effects which they inevitably produced in various branches of his interior administration. The emperor, uniformly animated with the same dispositions, has had no other view from the commencement, and during the course of hostilities, than to endeavour to bring about a reconciliation, and to avail himself of every proper opportunity to put an end to the calamities of war. He judged he could not better effect this desirable result than by constantly impressing the belligerent powers with his sentiments of moderation and of conciliation, and in giving his whole attention towards producing in them a similar disposition. The reception which his first overtures to this effect have obtained, appears to announce that the moment of so desirable a reconciliation is not far distant. In the confidence inspired by so consolatory a prospect, the general wel fare and the interest of his own dominions call upon his imperial majesty to offer to the belligerent powers his friendly intervention; and in consequence of this, he does not hesitate to make to his Britannick majesty, the offer of his mediation, and of his good offices.-But, in considering how very complicated and extensive the present war is become, the emperor would think that he had but imperfectly expressed his fer

vent desire for peace, and the hope of its compleat and speedy re-establishment, if he did not at the same time state the entire conviction he feels, that it is only by the united endeavours of the powers principally concerned in the war, and by a negotiation in common, which should embrace the whole of their reciprocal interests, that permanent tranquillity and a secure and solid peace can be attained, a peace which should secure the future political relations of Europe.-His imperial majesty, from that firm persuasion (which the frankness of his sentiments will not permit him to dissemble) conceives that this pacific overture should be made by him in common to those cabinets which are, in the first instance, to take a part in the conferences; and it is therefore with earnestness that he equally invites the cabinets of Petersburgh, of Berlin, and of the Thuilleries, to adopt the same conciliatory views, and to enter into negotiations for a peace, in which the essential relations of all the parties interested should, as far as is practicable, be combined.--The emperor has thus generally testified his wish for peace. He will not take upon himself to suggest the particular mode of negotiation, and still less to anticipate, the intentions of other powers, or to decide upon those measures which it may be thought necessary previously to settle, in order to determine the principles of the preliminary overtures between the belligerent powers.-Nevertheless, in the hope that this friendly offer of his interposition will be appreciated in such a manner as the rectitude of his intentions authorises him to expect, his imperial majesty is eager to propose (in order that the opening of negotiations may be facilitated by his good offices) any place in his dominions, the situation and locality of which might be reciprocally convenient, and which, from this consideration, ought not to be too near the theatre of war; and, in this respect, as in every other point, the emperor will feel pleasure in contributing to accelerate the period of so desirable a meeting.

LOUIS COUNT DE STARHEMBERG. No. II.-Note from Mr. Secretary Canning to the count de Starhemberg,

dated April 25, 1807.

The undersigned, his majesty's principal secretary of state for foreign affairs, has laid before the king his master, the note delivered to him by the count de Starhemberg, envoy extraordinary, and minister plenipotentiary of his imperial majesty the

emperor of Austria, king of Hungary and Bohemia, in which his imperial majesty offers himself as the mediator of a general peace. The undersigned has received the orders of the king, to transmit to the count de Starbemberg, the inclosed official answer to the note of his imperial majesty. Rendering the fullest justice to the motives which have actuated his imperial majesty, in the proposal of such a mode of negotiation, as can alone, by embracing the interests of all parties, conduce to the establishment of a solid peace, and to the permanent tranquillity of Europe, the king accepts, so far as his majesty is concerned, the offer of his imperial majesty's mediation, subject only to the condition of a like acceptance of it on the part of all the other powers who are engaged in the present war.-In executing this duty, the undersigned is happy to seize the opportunity of renewing to the count de Starhemberg the assurance of his high consideration. GEORGE CANNING.

of his imperial majesty) it might be expedient previously to establish as the basis and foundation of a general discussion and arrangement. With respect to the place which should be selected as the seat of the negotiations; his majesty would not object to any place which, in addition to the indispensable qualification, proposed in the note of his imperial majesty, of being sufficiently remote from the immediate influence of the events of the war, should have that of afford. ing to his majesty, in an equal degree with all the other powers concerned, the opportunity of a prompt and uninterrupted communication with the plenipotentiaries who should be appointed to represent his majesty at the congress. GEORGE CANNING. Foreign Office, April 25, 1807.

No. III.-Note from the prince de Starhemberg to Mr. Secretary Canning, dated Nov. 20, 1807.

The undersigned has the honour to inform his excellency Mr. Canning, secretary of state for the department of foreign affairs, that he has received positive orders from his court, to make to the British ministry the most earnest representations on the importance of putting an end to the struggle which still exists between England and France; and the effects of which may produce to the rest of Europe the most fatal consequences. His majesty the emperor and king, animated by a constant desire to effect the restoration of repose and tranquillity, does not hesitate to request officially and earnestly his Britannick majesty to declare his intentions on this point in evinc

(Official Note, referred to in No. 2.) His majesty the king of the united kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, has received, with a just sense of the consideration which is due to every communication from his imperial majesty the emperor of Austria, king of Hungary and Bohemia, and of the motives by which, on this occasion, his imperial majesty has been actuated, the offer of his imperial majesty to become the mediator of a general peace.--The king, who has never ceased to consider a secure and durable peace as the only object of the war, in which his majesty is engaged, and who has never refused to listen to any sug-ing to him his disposition to enter into a gestions which appeared likely to conduce to the attainment of that object, cannot hesitate to declare his entire concurrence in the opinion expressed by the emperor and king, that a peace of such a description is only to be attained through negotiations which shall be common to all the powers principally engaged in the war.-To such negotiations, whenever the consent of the other powers interested in them shall be obtained, the king will willingly accede; and his majesty will lose no time in communicating with such of those powers as are connected with him by the bonds of amity and confidential intercourse, for the purpose of ascertaining their views; and if those views shall be favourable to his imperial majesty's proposal, of concerting with them the mode in which such negotiations should be opened, and of agreeing upon the principles which (according to the suggestion

negotiation for a maritime peace upon a basis suitable to the reciprocal interests of the powers who may take a part in it. The cabinet of St. James's has explained itself too often respecting its desire for the reestablishment of peace, for the undersigned not to flatter himself that he shall now obtain the formal assurance wished for by his court, which will completely prove to all the nations of Europe, the sincerity of the pacifick views of England.-The undersigned, &c. LOUIS PRINCE DE STARHEM

BERG.

No. IV. Note from Mr. Secretary Canning to the prince de Starhemberg,

dated Nov. 23, 1807.

The undersigned, his majesty's principal secretary of state for foreign affairs, has laid before the king his master the official note presented by the prince de Starhemberg, envoy extraordinary and minister ple

nipotentiary of his imperial majesty the emperor of Austria, in which the prince de Starhemberg expresses, by order of his court, the earnest desire of his imperial majesty for the termination of the present contest between Great Britain and France, and requires a sincere and formal declaration of his majesty's sentiments upon that subject. His majesty having repeatedly and recently declared his disposition and desire to enter into negotiation for a peace on secure and honourable terms, and this declaration having been made in the most regular and authentic manner to the Austrian government, in the answer which the undersigned was commanded to return to the official offer by the prince de Starhemberg (in the month of April last) of his imperial majesty's mediation; and in that which his majesty has since directed to be returned to a similar offer on the part of the emperor of Russia, and which has been communicated to the court of Vienna; his majesty cannot receive without surprize an application for a renewal of the declaration of sentiments of which the court of Vienna has been so long and so formally in possession.-His majesty will not believe that any farther declaration can be necessary for the purpose of proving to the nations of Europe a sincerity which the nations of Europe cannot question. But in compliance with the wishes of a friendly powerexpressed with so much earnestness and anxiety, his majesty is nevertheless willing to repeat once more the assurance, already so often repeated, that his majesty is now, as he has at all times been, prepared to enter into negotiation for the conclusion of such a peace as shall settle on equal terms the respective interests of the powers engaged in the war, as shall be consistent with his majesty's fidelity to his allies, and shall provide for the tranquillity and security of Europe. The undersigned, &c. GEORGE CANNING.

No. V.-Note from the prince de Starhemberg to Mr. Secretary Canning, dated Jan. 1, 1808.

The undersigned, obeying the orders of his court, in conforming to the desire of that of the Thuilleries, has the honour to inform his excellency the secretary of state for the foreign department, that, in consequence of the pacifick dispositions of his Britannick majesty, announced in the answer returned on the 23d of November last, to his official note of the 20th of the same month, he is charged to propose to the English ministry to send immediately

plenipotentiaries to Paris for the purpose of treating for the establishment of peace between all the powers at present at war with England. This explicit and frank invitation must furnish a proof of the good faith and of the sincere intention of France to put an end to the calamities of war; and his imperial majesty consents with eagerness to be the intermediary of a result so desireable. It is hoped, that the court of London will not hesitate to recognize on this occasion the importance of the proposal which is made to it, and that it will be disposed to give a fresh proof of that desire which it has so often expressed, to restore repose to the rest of Europe, by naming negotiators to be entrusted with the important interests to be discussed.-To avoid every species of delay, the undersigned is authorized by France to give passports to the ministers whom the cabinet of St. James's may appoint for this purpose. The mode in which these overtures are submitted to the court of London, and the measures which are taken towards realizing the execution of them with the least possible delay, will effectually demonstrate the spirit of conciliation by which they are dictated. The undersigned, &c.

LOUIS PRINCE DE STARHEMBERG. No. VI. Note from Mr. Secretary Canning to the prince de Starhemberg,

dated Jan. 8, 1808.

The undersigned, his majesty's principal secretary of state for foreign affairs, has laid before the king his master, the note delivered to him the second of this month by the prince de Starhemberg, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of his majesty the emperor of Austria.—In stating himself to be charged to propose to the British government the immediate sending of plenipotentiaries to Paris, the prince de Starhemberg has omitted to explain from whom he has received that commission, whether from his imperial master or from the government of France.-If the prince de Starhemberg has, in this instance, acted under the specific and immediate orders of his court, and if the proposal to his majesty to send plenipotentiaries to Paris is to be considered as originating at Vienna, the undersigned is commanded to express his majesty's concern that so little reference should appear to have been had, in framing the proposal now offered for his majesty's consideration, to the correspondence which has already taken place between the courts of London and Vienna, upon the subject of

companied as it is with any ostensible and unequivocal return on the part of France for the declarations already made in his majesty's name, is so far from being a proof of any such reciprocal disposition, that it can be construed no otherwise by his ma

a negotiation for peace.-After so long an, interval has been suffered to elapse since the acceptance by his majesty, in April last, of the offer of his imperial majesty's meditation, his majesty could hardly have expected that the same offer should now be repeated (if indeed the prince de Starhem-jesty than as implying an unjustifiable berg's note is to be construed as a repetition doubt of the sincerity of his majesty's proof it) without any notification of the accept- fessions.-Nor is the want of such formal ance of those conditions which were at that authority and of such reciprocal assurance, time stated by his majesty to be indispen- the only, or the most material defect in the sable preliminaries to the opening of a ne-prince de Starhemberg's communication.gotiation. And while the note of the un- His majesty is called upon to send plenipodersigned of the 23d of November last is tentiaries to Paris to negotiate for peace, cited by the prince de Starlemberg as the without the slightest intimation being given foundation of the present proposal, his ma- to his majesty of the basis on which it is jesty observes with surprize, that this pro- proposed that such negotiation should be posal nevertheless extends only to the founded.-If it could ever have been powers combined with France in the war matter of doubt whether the previous settleagainst Great Britain, and not to the ment of a basis of negotiation were necesallies of Great Britain in the war with sary to the hope of its successful termination, France. If, on the other hand, the court the experience of the last negotiation with of Vienna is no otherwise concerned in the France would have placed that question step which the prince de Starlemberg has beyond controversy. The experience of taken, than as having generally authorized the last negotiation has further demonstrathat minister to receive and to convey to ted the disadvantage and inconveniency of the British government whatever communi- a negotiation conducted at Paris. His macations the government of France might jesty is willing to treat with France: but he think fit to intrust to him, the undersigned will treat only on a footing of perfect equais commanded, in that case, to remark to lity. He is ready to treat with the allies of the prince de Starhemberg, that although France: but the negotiation must equally the character which the prince de Starhem- embrace the interests of the allies of Great berg holds from the court of Vienna, and Britain.-As soon as the basis of negotiathe formalities by which he is accredited to tion shall have been satisfactorily ascerhis majesty, entitle him to immediate and tained, and an unexceptionable place of neimplicit confidence in every exercise of his gotiation agreed upon, his majesty will be diplomatic functions, in the name and on prepared to name plenipotentiaries to meet the behalf of his imperial master; yet that those of the other powers engaged in the when he professes to speak in the name of war: but his majesty will not again consent another power, the statement of some pre- to send his plenipotentiaries to a hostile cacise authority, and the production of some pital.-But while his majesty has permitted specifick and authenticated document, could the undersigned to address this frank and alone justify the court to which he addresses unequivocal exposition of his majesty's sentihimself, in founding a publick and impor- ments to the minister of the emperor of tant measure upon such a communication. Austria, the undersigned is at the same From the tenour of the prince de Starhem-time charged to state distinctly to the berg's note it appears, that the note of the undersigned of the 23d of November has been communicated to the government of France. The government of France is therefore in possession of a solemn and authentick pledge of the pacifick dispositions of his majesty. It follows that a pledge equally solemn and authentick of the reciprocal dispositions of France, is reasonably to be expected by his majesty, before his majesty can be called upon to make any further advance. The proposal to his majesty to send negotiators to Paris, unac

prince de Starhemberg, that not having received any authentic proof of the prince de Starhemberg's commission to enter into any explanations in the name of the French government, or to afford any assurance by which that government could be bound, his majesty has not directed the undersigned to give any authority to the prince de Starhemberg to speak in the name of his majesty to the government of France. The undersigned has the honour to request the prince de Starhemberg to accept, &c. GEORGE CANNING.

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