other terms to propose, and that therefore, unless the First Consul could so far gain upon himself as to sacrifice a false punctilio to the certainty of a war, of which no one could foresee the consequence, nothing could possibly prevent my departure to-morrow night. He hoped, he said, this was not so near; that he would communicate my letter, and what I had said, to the First Consul immediately, and that in all probability I should hear from him this evening. I thought it, however, right to apprize him that it was quite impossible I could be induced to disobey his Majesty's orders, and protract a negotiation on terms so disadvantageous to ourselves, unless he should furnish me with such a justification as would leave me no room to hesitate; and that I did not see that any thing short of a full acquiescence in his Majesty's demands could have that effect. He repeated that he would report the conversation to the First Consul, and that I should shortly hear from him. In this state the business now rests; I am expecting either a proposition or my passports, and am consequently taking every measure for setting out to-morrow night.

to the negotiation. I had for some days past been preparing for my departure; every measure was taken for setting out at four o'clock this morning, and we were expecting only the passports which I had demanded, for the purpose of ordering the post horses. The day and the evening passed without the passports having been sent; and whilst we were deliberating on the motives of such a delay, about 12 o'clock at night, a gentleman who was with me received a communication which convinced me that it was not meant to give me my passports without another attempt, and I was, therefore, not surprized when about one o'clock I received the inclosed note from M. de Talleyrand. In this situation I am waiting the hour of rendezvous with M. de Talleyrand.

(First Inclosure referred to in No. 66.)— Translation.-The undersigned has reported to the First Consul the conversation which he had with his excellency Lord Whitworth on the 6th of this month, and in which his excellency announced, that his Britannic Majesty had ordered him to make, verbally, in his name, the following demands:-1st. That his Britannic Majesty should retain his troops at Malta for ten years. 2d. That the Island of Lampedosa should be ceded to him in full

should evacuate Holland. And that if no convention on this basis should have been signed within a week, his excellency Lord Whitworth had orders to terminate his mis

Paris, May 2, 1803. (Inclosure referred to in No. 65.)-Trunslation.-Sir, When I had the honour on Tuesday last of communicating to you off-posse sion. 3d. That the French troops cially the last propositions which I was instructed by my court to submit to the French government, for the sake of removing the present difficulties, I had the honour to announce to you, that in case the First Consulsion, and to return to London. On the demand should not consent to these propositions, I made by the undersigned, that Lord Whitshould find myself under the necessity of worth would, in conformity to the usage of leaving Paris in eight days. We are nearly all ages and of all countries, give in writing arrived at the end of this period, without my what he himself called the ultimatum of his having received any answer to this communi- government, his excellency declared, that cation. It remains for me only, therefore, to his instructions expressly forbad him to transobey the orders of the King my master to return mit on this object any written note. The into him; and for this purpose I entreat you, Sir, tentions of the First Consul being entirely pato have the goodness to furnish me with the ne- cific, the undersigned dispenses with making cessary passports. I seize this opportunity of any observation on so new and so strange a renewing to your excellency the assurances of manner of treating on affairs of this impermy high consideration. WHITWORTH. tance. And, in order to give a fresh testimony of the value which he attaches to the continuance of peace, the First Consul has directed the undersigned to make the following notification in the accustomed style and forms. As the Island of Lampedosa does not belong to France, it is not for the First Consul either to accede to or to refuse the desire testified by his Britannic Majesty, of having this Island in his possession. With regard to the Island of Malta, as the demand made respecting it by his Britannic Majesty would change a formal disposition in the treaty of Amiens, the First Consul cannot but převis ously communicate it to his Majesty the King of Spain, and to the Batavian Republic, con

His Excellency M. de Talleyrand. No. 66.-Extract of a dispatch from Lord Whitworth to Lord Hawkesbury, dated Paris, Wednesday morning, May 4, 1803.—Soon after I had dispatched the messenger the night before last, with my dispatches of the 3d, I received a communication from M. de Talleyrand, of which I inclose a copy, the purport of which was so completely short of every thing which could be satisfactory, that I did not think myself authorized to enter into any discussion upon it; and as early as I could on the following morning I returned the answer of which the inclosed is a copy. After this I concluded, of course, that there was an end

England shall have come to an agreement upon this article, they shall unite in their requisitions to engage the other powers, either contracting, or acceding to the treaty of Amiens, to consent to it. Were it possible that this proposition should not be accepted, it would be manifest not only that England never intended to comply with the terms of the treaty of Amiens, but that she has not been actuated by good faith in any of her demands, and that in proportion as France conceded one point, the British government advanced another. If this should be demonstrated, the First Consul will at least have given another proof of his sincerity, of his anxiety to devise the means of avoiding war, of his eagerness to embrace them, and of the value which he would place on their being adopted.

inadmissible. The French government pro pose that his Majesty should give up the Island of Malta to a Russian, Austrian, or Prussian garrison. If his Majesty could be disposed to waive his demand for a temporary occupation of the Island of Malta, the Emperor of Russia would be the only sovereign to whom, in the present state of Europe, he could consent that the Island should be assigned; and his Majesty has certain and authentic informa tion, that the Emperor of Russia would on no account consent to garrison Malta. Under these circumstances, his Majesty perseveres in his determination to adhere to the substance of his third project as his ultimatum : as, however, the principal objection stated by the French government to his Majesty's proposition is understood to be confined to the insertion of an article in a public treaty, by which his Majesty shall have a right to remain in the possession of the Island of Malta for a definitive number of years, his Majesty will consent that the number of years (being in no case less than ten) may be stated in a secret article; and the public articles may be

Downing-street, May 7, 1803. No. 68.-My Lord, Your excellency's dispatches have been received, and laid before the King. The propositions which have been made to you on the part of the French government, and which have induced your excellency to delay your departure un-agreed to conformably to the inclosed protil the return of the messenger Sylvester, are in every respect so loose, indefinite, and unsatisfactory, and fall so far short of the just pretensions of his Majesty, that it is impossible that the French government could have expected them to have been accepted. During the whole of the discussions which have lately occurred, his Majesty has had a right to consider himself in the character of the injured party. No means have been omitted on his part to induce the French government to make a full and early explanation of their views, and to afford to his Majesty that satisfaction and security to which he considered himself to be entitled. It was in consequence of the apparent determination of the French government to evade all discussion on the points of difference between the two countries, that his Majesty was induced to state the grounds on which, according to his views, an arrangement might be concluded satisfactory to both governments; and he accordingly authorized your excellency to communicate the three projects which at different times I had forwarded to you. Until the very moment when your excellency was about to leave Paris, the French government have avoided making any distinct proposition for the settlement of the differences between the two countries, and when at the very instant of your depar-panied by a short note in writing. I cannot ture, the French government felt themselves compelled to bring forward some proposition, they confined that proposition to a part only of the subject in discussion, and on that part of it, what they have brought forward is wholly

ject. By this expedient, the supposed point of honour of the French government might be saved. The independence of the Island of Malta would, in principle, be acknowledged, and the temporary occupation of his Majesty would be made to depend alone on the present state of the Island of Lampedosa. You may propose this idea to M. Talleyrand, at the same time assuring him, that his Majesty is determined to adhere to the substance of his ultimatum. And if you shall not be able to conclude the minute of an arrangement on this principle, you will on no account remain in Paris more than thirty-six hours after the receipt of this dispatch. I observe by your dispatch, you did not consider yourself as authorized to deliver to the French government any note or project in writing. The words of my dispatch were, that you were to communicate the terms officially, which left it at your own discretion to communicate them verbally or in writing, as you might judge most expedient. You were certainly right in communicating them, in the first instance, verbally; but as so much stress has been laid by M. Talleyrand on this distinction, it is important that I should inform you, that his Majesty neither had nor has any objection to your delivering the inclosed project as an ultimatum, accom

conclude this dispatch without recalling again your attention to the conduct of the French minister at Hamburgh, and referring you to my instructions, by which you should abstain from concluding the arrangement, unless you

have received from M. Talleyrand an assurauce that his conduct would be publicly disavowed, I have the honour to be, &c.

was brought to me, I believe by a servant, with a verbal message that as M. de Talleyrand was in the country it would be necessary that I should send it to him there. In order to defeat as much as depended upon me, their intention of quining time, I wrote again to M. de Talleyrand, recapitulating the steps I had taken since the return of the messengers; and desired Mr. Talbot, the secretary of the embassy, to take it himself at nine o'clock at night, when I thought M. de Talleyrand would be at home, to his house at Meudon. He was, however, not at home. Mr. Talbot was told that he was at St. Cloud, were he had been all day, and that he would not be back until very late. He therefore left my private letter, with his name, and returned with the packet. It was my intention to have

(Signed) HAWKESBURY. To his Excellency Lord Whitworth, K. B. &c. No. 69.-Extract of a Dispatch from Lord Whitworth to Lord Hawkesbury, dated Paris, May 9, 1803. The messenger Sylvester is arrived with your Lordship's dispatch, No. 15, of the 7th of May. As soon as I received your lordship's instructions, I prepared a translated copy of the project furnished me by your lordship, and a short note with which it is my intention to accompany the communication. I then sent a person to Monsieur de Talleyrand, to know when I could see him, and I was informed that he was at St. Cloud. I soon after learnt, that he was gone there in consequence of the accident which happened yes-sent it on the following morning to the bureau, terday to the First Consul. I understand that with orders that it should be left there; at one no bad consequences are likely to ensue, and o'clock in the morning I received a note from that he is able to transact business. I cannot, M. de Talleyrand accounting for his not havhowever, expect to see M. Talleyrand before ing been able to answer me sooner; and ap to-morrow morning. Although this circum-pointing me at twelve o'clock at the Bureau stance may cause a delay of a few hours, your lordship may be assured, that the execution of those instructions with which you have furnished me, shall not be protracted. I shall leave Paris most assuredly, or have concluded a satisfactory arrangement, within the time | specified by your lordship, reckoning from the moment of my being able to make an official communication, rather than from that of the receipt of your lordship's letter.

des Relations Extérieures. I went at the ap pointed time. He began by apologising for having so long postponed the interview, which he attributed to his having been the whole day with the First Consul. We then entered upon business. I told him that, limited as I was by your lordship's instructions, he could not be surprised at my impatience to acquit myself of my duty. I explained to him the nature of your lordship's observations on the No. 70.-Extract of a Dispatch from Lord proposal of the 4th, and that it was considered Whitworth to Lord Hawkesbury, dated Paris, as on one hand impracticable from the refusal May 12, 1803.-The messenger Sylvester, as of the emperor of Russia to take charge of I mentioned in my last dispatch, returned on Malta, and on the other, as being wholly inathe 9th at twelve o'clock; and I wrote to M. dequate to his Majesty's just pretensions. I de Talleyrand informing him of it, and desir- gave him the note in which this was expressed, ing him to name an hour when I might wait and the project, on which alone a satisfactory upon him in order to communicate to him the arrangement could be framed He read them purport of my instructions. To this letter I with apparent attention, and without many received no answer that evening or the fol- remarks; and after some time he asked me if lowing morning. Anxious to execute my I felt myself authorised by my instructions to orders, and to lose no time, I inclosed the pro-conclude with him a convention, framed on ject furnished me by your lordship, accompa- the basis of my project, or indeed extending nied by an official note and a private letter to that basis, since the first article of it would be M. de Talleyrand, and sent it to the foreign the perpetual possession of Malta to England, department by Mr. Mandeville, with direc-in return for a consideration. I told him Í tions to deliver it to M. de Talleyrand, or in most certainly was not authorised to enter his absence to the Chef du Bureau. He deli- into any engagement of such a nature, which vered it accordingly to M. Durand, who pro- would make the negotiation one of exchange, mised to give it to his chief as soon as he came instead of a demand of satisfaction and secuin, which he expected, he said, shortly. At rity. To this he replied, that the satisfaction half past four, having waited till that time in and security which we required was Malta, vain, I went myself to M. de Talleyrand; I and that this we obtained. That the First was told that the family was in the country, Consul could not accede to what he considerand that they did not know when the ministered, and what must be considered by the pubwould be in town. Half an hour after I had lic and by Europe, as the effect of coercion, returned home, the packet which Mr. Man-but if it were possible to make the draft pala devilly had given into the hands of M.Durand, table, did I think myself justifiable in refusing