tion which evidently announces inten- | consideration. (Signed) G. L. GOWER. tions hostile towards Denmark. The ties His excellency general de Budberg, &c. of consanguinity and friendship which No. IV. Extract of a dispatch from Mr. unite his imperial majesty with the king of Secretary Canning to the right hon. Denmark not suffering him to view with lord Granville Leveson Gower, dated indifference any danger which might me- September 27th 1807.' Пace the dominions or the independence of that sovereign, the undersigned has receiv-turday the 19th with your excellency's ed commands to invite his excellency lord Granville Leveson Gower, to acquaint him with the motives which have induced the cabinet of St. James's to adopt proceedings so extraordinary against Denmark. The undersigned, &c.

or eventual, in which the interests of this country or its allies are in any degree concerned. In the same formal manner a communication should be required of the basis of peace proposed by France; upon which the Russian Minister does not appear to have offered any explanation.— The other two points are not so strictly connected with the question of mediation. But it is nevertheless perfectly reasonable that his majesty should require some ostensible proof of the good will of his august ally, to counteract the general impression which must have been created by late events, of a difference and disunion between them; before his majesty can with a good grace accept those offices at the emperor of Russia's hands, of which impartially should be the essential charac

easy for his imperial majesty to give, so grateful to his majesty to receive, so natural in the eyes of the world, and so little liable to exception on the part of France, as the renewal of the Treaty of Commerce.

as avowed. 2dły, A distinct explanation of the basis upon which France proposes to treat, and which appeared to his imperial majesty at Tilsit so just and honourable. These are the conditions directly stipulated in my note to M. Alopeus, and without which an acceptance of any mediation by his majesty could be nothing else than a complete surrender of his honour and his interest into the hands of the mediator, if not of the enemy. But to these are reasonably to be added, if not as conditions without which it would be impossible to consent to treat under the auspices of Russia, at least as those which his majesty has a right to require from a friendly power, before he commits himself to its guidance in a question affecting the immediate safety and the future welfare of his dominions; 1st, A disclosureter. No proof could be selected, at once so of the general views of policy of the emperor of Russia; and of any engagements into which he may have entered with resrect to the different powers in whose fortunes his majesty takes an interest; and 2dly, Some plain and decisive proof of With respect to the remaining point, the good understanding subsisting between which your excellency is instructed to his majesty and his august ally; such as urge-a communication on the part of shall satisfy, not his majesty only, but the Russian government of its general Europe and the world, of the impartiality views and policy for the future,-you will with which his imperial majesty has un- observe, that his imperial majesty himself dertaken, and proposes to administer, the annexed to his conditional acceptance of duties of his office as mediator.-With res- the mediation of the emperor of Austria, pect to the first of the two points which a similar demand of the communication I have stated as absolutely indispensable, of the general views of the court of Vienna general Budberg appears as yet to have respecting the future state of Europe. gone no farther than to give a verbal as- In the treaty of Bartenstein, concluded besurance that there is not any article, tween his imperial majesty and the king among the secret articles of the Treaty of of Prussia, and offered by them to the acTilsit, stipulating for the shutting of the ceptance of other powers as the basis of a Russian ports against Great Britain,But co-operation for the purpose of producing it will immediately have occurred to your a general pacific arrangement, a distinct excellency that a distinction might pro- and detailed exposition was entered into bably be taken in M. de Budberg's mind with respect not only to the powers inbetween a stipulation for the immediate tended to be comprehended as parties to and unconditional execution of a purpose, the treaty, but to all the other powers of and the agreement to resort to it eventu- Europe in whose fate any one of the prinally, under circumstances which may not cipal powers could be supposed to be inyet have occurred; and that, supposing terested. These examples of what his imthe former only to be the sense of M. de perial majesty has done, and what he has Budberg's assurance, that assurance might required, would sufficiently authorize his be literally true, without in fact convey- majesty's solicitude to obtain a similar exing any thing essentially satisfactory. The planation on the present occasion.-But inference to be drawn from this circum- there are other grounds for it in the very stance is, that the Russian minister should state and circumstances of Europe, as arisbe called upon by your excellency in an ing out of the Treaty of Tilsit, and the official note, not for a simple disavowal stipulations annexed to it; some of which only of any single article, but for the com- stipulations are already carrying into exemunication of the secret articles them-cution in a way to excite his majesty's selves, or at least of any agreement actual apprehensions, if not for his own interests,

for those of his allies.-Is it possible that general Budberg's note on the subject of his majesty should not think it essential to the operations at Copenhagen. I enclose be informed whether the public article of to your excellency a copy of the Declarathe Treaty of Tilsit, which recognizes the tion which his majesty has caused to be French king of Naples, only as king of published on that subject, in which your Naples, is, in effect, contradicted by a se- excellency will find the principles upon cret article, which adds to this title that of which his majesty has acted, clearly laid the two Sicilies? The movements in the down; and in which the disposition of his Mediterranean, and the surrender of Corfu, majesty to limit the measures of hostility naturally give rise to a variety of appre- to which he has unfortunately found himhensions, which it would be for the inte- seif compelled to have recourse, is anrest of both countries to quiet, or at least, nounced with that frankness and moderato reduce within the bounds of truth. tion which characterize his majesty's conHas not his majesty the right to require duct. In conversing upon this subject some explanation of the intentions of with the Russian minister, your excellency, Russia with respect to Turkey; a power in addition to the arguments so correctly with whom his majesty finds himself at stated in your note, and to those with war, and left alone in the war, for no other which his majesty's Declaration will furthan Russian interests, and from a quarrel nish you, will not hesitate to appeal to espoused by his majesty for the sake of his the Russian government itself for reaally?-These topics your excellency will sons in justification of the measures to urge in your conferences with M. de Bud- which his majesty has been under the neberg with all the earnestness which their cessity of resorting.-You will remind geimportance requires, but at the same time neral Budberg, not as matter of reproach, carefully avoiding a strain of reproach; but as matter of fact merely, that from the and even when you are obliged to confess conclusion of the peace of Tilsit down to the suspicion of engagements having been the hour at which your excellency's disentered into such as his majesty cannot patches by sir Robert Wilson were received but disapprove, conducting your inquiry in here, the British government were without such a manner as shall lead M. de Budberg one word of assurance as to the amicable to believe that his majesty is anxious ra- intentions of Russia towards Great Britain. ther to find the means of preventing or The offer of mediation, under all the cirremedying the evil, than to discover the cumstances which belonged to it, was calcugrounds of complaint againt Russia. Upon lated to excite any other feeling rather than the whole, your excellency will collect that of confidence in the emperor's goodfrom these instructions, that his majesty will; and every account that was received is as much desirous, as ever, to cultivate here of the temper in which that proposal the friendship and alliance of the emperor was made, and of the light in which it of Russia; that he conceives the only was viewed by the enemy, justified the bechance of safety for what remains of Eu-lief that it was intended by Russia rather rope to depend upon the renewal of a good understanding between them; that his majesty has never, even under appearances the most unfavourable, altogether despaired of such a recurrence, on the part of the emperor, to the counsels which are best calculated for his own glory, and for the security of his own dominions, as it is now hoped has taken place; and that his majesty, upon such a change, is eager to forget all that has passed of a nature contradictory to those counsels, or incon

sistent with them.

No. V. Extract of a Dispatch from
Mr. Secretary Canning to the Right
Honourable Lord Granville Leveson
Gower, dated Sept. 28, 1807.

Foreign Office, Sept. 28, 1807. His majesty entirely approves of the answer returned by your excellency to

as preparatory to hostility consequent upon his majesty's refusal, than as likely to lead to a pacific result through his acceptance. In the mean time, the publication of the Prussian peace, and the concealment of the Russian, and the intelligence of the plan brought forward in the conferences of Tilsit for a general confederacy againt this country, in which the navies of Denmark and Portugal were destined to co-operate (intelligence since confirmed by a frank and friendly communication from Portugal herself of such a proposal having been actually made to her by France, and enforced with threats of instant and destructive hostility in case of her declining to comply with it), these circumstances, coupled with the actual preparation for the reception of a large French force at Hamburgh, formed together such a body

whole situation of affairs with respect to Denmark. His majesty is perfectly willing that the pacification with the court of Denmark should be wholly the work of the emperor of Russia: that it should originate in his imperial majesty's counsels, be conducted under his auspices, and concluded under his guarantee. The situation of his imperial majesty, as the natural protector of the north, obviously points him out for such a task; which even France could not refuse to assign him, unless France were ripe for breaking with the court of Petersburgh. Denmark has unquestionably applied to the emperor of Russia for protection. How can that application be better answered than by the emperor of Russia's engaging to bring Great Britain to an arrangement upon such terms as are stated in the inclosed papers? And to such engagement on the part of the emperor of Russia, the emperor is beforehand assured of the consent of his majesty.

No. VI.-Extract of a Dispatch from the Right Honourable Lord Granville Leveson Gower to Mr. Secretary Canning, dated St. Petersburgh, Sept. 19, 1807. Received Oct. 7.

of evidence not only of the designs of Bonaparte, but of the connivance, if not of the participation, of Russia, that his majesty would have been wanting alike in what he owed to his own dignity and to the security of his dominions, if he had not taken the most effectual steps for breaking through the combination that was collecting round him: and it would have been idle, under such circumstances, to have waited the consent of Russia to measures calculated to repel a danger, of which Russia herself formed so large a part. It cannot be disguised, therefore, that the want of communication on the part of the Russian government has been in no small degree the cause of the very mischief which that government now laments. Confident as his majesty is in the justification of the vigorous and decisive steps to which the necessity of self-preservation obliged him to resort, he would yet more willingly have been spared the painful task of acting upon that necessity; had Russia been in a state to offer her guarantee of the neutrality of Denmark, instead of affording such strong ground of suspicion that she was prepared to countenance, if not to instigate, her hostility. But it is useless as well as painful to dwell upon what might have been the course of events, if the emperor of Russia had not unwaringly delivered himself over to the counsels of France, at a moment when it was of all others the most essential that a good understanding should be kept up between Russia and Great Britain. Your excellency will therefore dwell on these topicks no longer than may be necessary to impress upon the mind of the Russian minister, the conviction that the supposed unfriendliness of Russia must of itself have prevented his majesty from communicating with his imperial majesty on the subject of Denmark, before he proceeded to those strong but necessary measures, the result of which has dispelled all appre-pressed by his imperial majesty for the hension of danger from that quarter. It remains, now, according to the principle wisely established in your excellency's late conferences with general Budberg, to look forward to the probable consequences of what has taken place, and to endeavour to turn them to such account as may be most beneficial both to Russia and Great Britain, and to that cause which their reunion might yet afford a hope of conducting to a favourable issue. After the perusal of the papers which I inclose, your excellency will be fully informed of the

I have the honour to inform you, that on Tuesday last general Budberg gave up the portfeuille of the foreign affairs to count Soltykoff. I took an early opporunity after this notification of seeing count Soltykoff, and recapitulated to him what had passed in my last conference with general Budberg; I reminded him the promise made by his predecessor to bring under the immediate consideration of the emperor the points upon which I had been instructed to obtain an answer from this court, before I could signify the acceptance of his majesty to the proposed offer of mediation. I observed that the tardiness of this government upon this subject ill accorded with the anxiety ex

conclusion of peace between England and France. Count Soltykoff answered that he would on the following day take the emperor's orders with respect to the communication of the secret articles of the treaty of Tilsit; that without seeing his imperial majesty he could take upon himself to say that the Russian government was well disposed to enter into a negotiation upon the treaty of commerce; and. he repeated what I had heard before from general Budberg, that the Projet de Traité transmitted by M. Alopeus must in the.

first instance be submitted to the conside- | ration of the department which it pecuIn the course of our liarly concerned. conversation he gave me many general assurances of the amicable disposition of this court towards England, and of the satisfaction he should feel in contributing to the establishment of a footing of friendly snd confidential intercourse between our two governments. Count Solty koff being in the country yesterday, my endeavours to see him were unavailing; but I this morning obtained a conference, when, after some expressions of regret, at his first communication with me being of an unpleasant nature, he told me, that he was authorized by the emperor to inform me, that his imperial majesty did not think proper to communicate the secret articles. It is not, he said, on account of their contaming any stipulations prejudical to England; but having once determined that these articles should not be made public, the emperor sees no reason for receding from his determination.

Count

whom his majesty had not been able to obtain any mark whatever of friendship and confidence? I added, that I was the more surprised at this conduct, because, notwithstanding the grounds of dissatisfaction which the published articles of the treaty of Tilsit afforded to his majesty, such was his partiality towards his august ally, that he had been disposed to look upon them as forced upon his imperial majesty by the unfortunate circumstances of the moment; and I had, even since the knowledge of these public articles, been authorized to give fresh assurances of the desire of his majesty to renew the intimacy and confidence which had before subsisted between the two courts. Romanzow answered, that the emperor's. friendship for his majesty had been proved by his anxiety that peace should be concluded between England and France, and that his impartiality had been manifested by his offer of mediation; impartiality being the necessary attribute of a media tor. After giving the obvious answer to No. VII. Extract of a Dispatch from his novel mode of reasoning, I expressed the Right Honourable Lord Granville my hope that the union of the two departLeveson Gower to Mr. Secretary ments of commerce and foreign affairs in Canning, dated Saint Petersburgh, the same person would accelerate the ne9 Sept. 1807. Received Oct. 7. gotiation of the treaty of commerce. My last dispatches to you had scarcely Nearly a month had elapsed since the ar left Petersburgh, when I received informa- rival here of a projet of a treaty transmittion that the emperor had named count ted by M. Alopeus, and yet I have not Romanzow, minister for foreign affairs. been able to obtain an answer whether the This appointment was officially made stipulations of that projet of a treaty were known three days afterwards to the corps approved of here, or even whether the diplomatique by a circular note. Russian government were disposed to en ter at all into negotiations upon this subthought it my duty to lose no time in seeing count Romanzow; and the state of sus-ject, Count Romanzow assured me that pence in which I have been so long kept he never heard of this projêt hut from sir with respect to the negotiation of the re- Stephen Shairp; that since he had receivnewal of the treaty of commerce, justified ed the portefeuille of the foreign affairs, me in requesting an immediate conference he had enquired for it, but it could not be with the new minister. After the usual found, and that he supposed it must be compliments upon his appointment, I ex- among the papers of the emperor. I propressed to him the regret I felt at the ex-posed to send him a copy; which he detraordinary reserve of his court towards that of London, and my extreme disappointment at the refusal which had been signified to me by count Soltykoff to communicate to me the secret arrangements concluded at Tilsit. I observed that this refusal made it impossible for the king my master to avail himself of his imperial majesty's offer of mediation; for how, said I, could it be expected that his majesty would accept the mediation of a sovereign, between whom and Bonaparte there was every appearance of intimate union and secret understanding, and from

I

clined to accept, saying, that he would, in
the first instance, acquaint the emperor
that I had requested an answer from this
government upon the question of the re-
I took
newal of the treaty of commerce.
this opportunity of observing to him that
M. Alopeus had asked for this project;
and that therefore, unless a perfect change
had taken place in the friendly dispositions
of this court, the emperor would certainly
approve of our entering into negociation;
upon it, though it might happen that some
of the provisions of it might possibly be
considered here as not wholly free from