Official Papers rdatke to the Negotiation unth Fr 



•ance. 6yi 



of them taken from Mr. Fox's letter of the 



26th of March, namtly ; " That the objcft 

 of the two powers (hoiild be a peace honour- 

 able to thcmfelves, and to their refped^ive 

 allies, at the fame time that this peace ihould 

 be of a nature to infuie, as tar as fhould lie 

 in their power, the future tranquillity of 

 Europe." 



Tiie fecond principle was, " An acknow- 

 ledgment in favour of both powers of the 

 right of interference and of ;^uarantce with 

 regard to continental affairs, ana with regard 

 to maritime affairs." 



Such was the bafis adopted by the Britiih 

 government, and agreed upon with it It 

 could never have entered into the mind of 

 His Majefty the Emperor of the French, King 

 of Italy, to take the uti fofuict.s as the 

 bafis of the negotiation. It fuch had been 

 his intention, he would have kept Moravia, 

 a part or" Hungary, Styria, Cariiiola, Croatia, 

 the whole of Auftria, as well as its capital— 

 Trlefte, and Flume, and tlie furrounding 

 coaft would ftill be in his power, as well as 

 Genoa and Venice. Hanover, Ofnaburgh, 

 and all th'; mouths of the great rivers of the 

 north of Germany would be fubjedt to his 

 dominion ; and, doubtlefs, his Majefty the 

 Emperor of the French, King of Italy, 

 might then without difficulty, have left his 

 Britannic jMajelly in pofleflion of the Cape, 

 Surinam, Tobago, St. Lucia, Pondicherry, &c. 

 • As to Sicily, in this very fuppofition his 

 Majefty the Emperor and King would not 

 have left it to his encmici j but his Majefty 

 would only have thouglit that the conqucft of 

 tftis idand flioiild have preceded the opening 

 of the negotiations; and while Pruiiia and 

 lluflla have either guaranteed or recognized 

 the changes which have ta.'cpn place in the 

 kingdom of the Two Sicilies, is it to be l"up- 

 pofed that England could iiave prevented the 

 cohqueft of Sicily, which. is feparated from 

 the continent only by a channel of lefs ti;an 

 two thoufanu toifes ? 



'And even fuppofing that the Cape, Suri- 

 nam, and other Dutch polTeflions could have 

 been finally det.iclied from the kingdom ot 

 Holland, is it not certain tiiat its exiftenceas 

 a "nation would become from that very caufe 

 irnpolliblc; -and that its incorporation with 

 tiie French empire would have been the necef- 

 fary co/ifcquence of a rcfufai given by Eng- 

 l.ind to reftofe to it'its colonies? What, in 

 faift, could be the mean; of maint.iining a 

 nation which would have nothing but debts, 

 a.":U from which, tl-.c total d.-privation of all 

 coriim^rce would take away the polTibility of 

 paying them ? Whatever their Excellencies 

 t)/c Plenipotciit'arics of his Britannic Majefty 

 may allege, it is impoffilile that they <hould 

 not be convinced, thai it is .i very difi'ercnc 

 thing for Grc;it Britain to fee ti;c Texcl and 

 the rrjouths of the Rhine and the Meufe in 

 tile jhiwei of the French revcnu." ofliccrs, or 

 r J fee lUcai in vh'. psvcr of the DatcJi. Thus, 



therefore, Holland, without the reftltution 

 of its colonies, would necefTarily become a 

 province of the Fren.h empire; for, on ac- 

 cepting the crown of Holland, Prince Lewis 

 formally declared his intention of renouncing 

 it, if the Dutch colonics were not reftored at: 

 the general peace. 



Ler Hanover become a province of France; 

 Jet Tricfte, Fiumc, and their territory like- 

 wife become provinces of the kingdom of 

 It.ity, and let Great Britain licep as a com- 

 penfation, the C?pe, Surinam, Malta, and 

 PonJichctry, Sec. France will confent to it, 

 and the grcar principle of ufi pojjidctis will be 

 applied in its full extent, both as to the pre- 

 fent and as to t!ie future. 



Let the new Mlnifter Plenipotentiary of 

 his Britannic M.ijefiy point out, in the hiilory 

 of tiie world, a negotiation terminated upon 

 the principle of tlie uri pojjidctis between two 

 great nations. Let liim examine whether 

 thii principle does not belong rather to an 

 armiftice than to a treaty of peace? It is im- 

 ]ioffible not to fay, that, in propofing to 

 France the ut\ pojfideth, particularly under the 

 prelent circumftances, a ftrange idea muit ' 

 have been formed of the charafter of the 

 Em|)eror Napoleon, and it muft have been . 

 believed that lie was reduced to a fingular 

 Itate of humiliation and diftrefs. 



But, in demanding the uti pojjldeth, his 

 Excellency the Earl of Lauderdale, Plenipo- 

 tentiary from his Britannic Majefty, without 

 regard to the principle which he advances, 

 wiihes to change entirely the deftiny of a con- 

 tinental Hate,, which gave '2.^,000 men to 

 En-;land, and furniftied her with a part of the 

 means which (he afforded in the Seven Years 

 W.ir, and even in the war of the French Re- 

 volution, to the armies of the JS'ortli. Thus, 

 therefore, it is wilhed to maintain the princi- • 

 pie of the uti fi.Jfidali, in order to deprive 

 France of all her commerce, and of all her 

 eftablilhments, and to ruin her allies; but it 

 is wifhed to violate the principle of the uti 

 ^offuiL:'.:, in order to oblige France to renounce 

 her en;j;^enients, to break her treaties; in a 

 word, to dilfohe her whole continental fyf- 

 tem ! Is not this to propofe a peace a thou- 

 fand tiimes more difaftious than the longeft 

 •war, and conditions calculated to excite the 

 indignation of eve'ry Frenchman' What', 

 fhall France have con^ucr;^ lU the powcrj 

 fabfiiized by England during three coalitions, 

 to fee impofed upon her co:idltions as unjuft 

 as they are difhonourable, notwithftanding 

 the moderation and gencroiity which flie has 

 ihcwn } 



His Excellency Mr. Fux hinif^lf, propofed 

 that " the peace fliould be honourable to both 

 courts, and to tlu-ir rcfpcttive allies " 



Ills Majefty the Emperor of the French, 

 King of Italy, coulJ not confidcr the peace 

 as h.u'-.O'arible, if, by one of its cunditioui, 

 he was to lufc X fiVigU fubjcft, and of how- 

 ever .'itrtc itr.pQr'.unce the colony of Tobago 



may 



