e?2 Official Papers relative to the J^cgotiation "juith France, 



jnay be, it fuffices, that it made part of the 

 French empire at the tmie his Majefty took 

 the reins ot the government, to prevent his 

 ever (igcing a treaty in which the alienation 

 of that colony, or ot" any other which belongs 

 to him in the fame manner, (Tiall be com- 

 prized No reafonable En^lilhman can have 

 flattered himfelf with the contrary; and his 

 Blajefty, in the pofition in which he Hands, 

 would, by confcnting to it, lofe the efteem of 

 every brave and generaus pcrlbn, evenamonjj 

 his enemies. 



The undcrfigned is diref^cd to declare, that 

 Vis Majefty the Emperor ami King coiifidcrs 

 as a difgrace the very idea of a negotiation, 

 founded o\\ the ut'i ^ojjideUi. Jt is the more 

 contrary to his principles, inafmucli as his 

 Majefty has reftored his coni]uefts, and that 

 he ihnuld be naw reigning over a (jopuiation 

 the double of that which he in fait governs, 

 if, at the conclufion of the trc;ities o. peace 

 ■which he made at the expiration' of the feve- 

 lal coalitior^s, he had taken the uit pojfidcui 

 for liis only principle. 



The underfigned is alfo direfted to declare, 

 that the only conditions of negotiation which 

 his Majefty the Emperor and K.ing is willing 

 to adopt, are thofe propofcd in pjrt by his 

 Excellency Mr. Fox, c<jntiiir.ed in the letter 

 ■wliich was addrcfled to him on the 2d of June 

 by the JMinifter for Foreign Affairs, and re- 

 peated in the twelfth paragraph of the pre- 

 sent note. 



His Majefty the Emperor of the French, 

 King of Italy, requires notliing of Great 

 Britain which can be contrary to the interefts 

 of her allies. He is entitled to expect that 

 BOthing will be exafted of him, which can 

 be contrary to the interefts of his own allies. 



The underfigned is direfled to add, that 

 he refers to what had been prepared by the 

 mutual efforts of his Excellency the Karl of 

 Yarmouth, and the underfigned. 



If peace (hall not be re-eftabli(hcd, it is 

 not France who can be accufed of having 

 ehanged, but England : although peace be- 

 tween France and Ruflia, and other events 

 unfavourable to Great Britain have taken 

 place fince the negotiation was entered upon 

 and nearly brought to a conclufion, in con- 

 cert with his Excellency the Earl of Yar- 

 mouth. 



(Signed) Clarke. 



Cr/_y of a Note from the Earls of Lauderdale 



end Turn.cutb fo Gcneial Clarke, dated Paris, 



jiuguft 9, 1806. 



The underligned plenipotentiaries of his 

 Britannic Miijefly cannot allow themfelves to 

 enter into a detailed confideration or' the offi- 

 cial Note, dated the 8th of Auguft, which 

 jnftbetn delivered to them on the pait of his 

 Excellency General Clarke. From tlie man- 

 ner in which t'le diitereiit points which form 

 the fuhjert of this note are treated, it would 

 he impolhble for them to difcul's them with 

 jhac ci'.mnel's and tliiit regard to propriety, 



which the charafter with which their Sotf- 

 reign Iiai inverted them, demands. But the 

 fubjeft of this note is of a nature fo general, 

 and fo foreign to the object under difcuflioii, 

 that it would be perferlly ufclefs to take it 

 Into confideration at the prefent moment. 



ille underfigned the Earl of Lauderdale, 

 far from thiuking that the manner of difcufi- 

 iiig in writing the fundamental points of a ne- 

 gotiation can in any ihapc increafe the difTi- 

 Lulty of coming to an underftanding, is, on 

 the contrary, of opinion, that he already per- 

 ceives evident proofs of its utility, inafmuch 

 as the official note prcfentcd by him fince his 

 arrival has brought the negotiation to an un- 

 equivocal iflue, and put an end to thofe mif- 

 underftandings, Without doubt real, which 

 have taken place, and which never could have 

 occurred if the fame method had been adopted 

 at the commencement of the negotiation. 



The underfigned the Earl of Yarmoutll 

 finds himfelf compelled to recur to tlie man- 

 ner in which it has been ftatcd to him, that 

 he landed at Calais inveiled with a public 

 character to treat for peace. He only came 

 to give in perlon, and -uiva iioce, the anfwer to 

 a comniunic '.tion that he had been requeued 

 to nuke to the Engllrti government, founded 

 upon tlie bafis of the uri pr.jfdctis, in confor- 

 mity with the following words of his Excel- 

 lency M, Talleyrand: «« We a(k nothing 

 from you j" accompanied with pofitivc aflur- 

 ances that the reftitution of the poflcflions of 

 his Majefty in Germany would meet with no 

 oppofition. The fame fcntiment alfo recurs 

 in the letter from M. Talleyrand to Mr, 

 Fox of the firft of April in these terms, 

 " The Emperor covets nothing that England 

 pofiefrts." 



The Earl of Yarmouth feels himfelf under 

 an equal neceflity of not palling over in filentc 

 the remarks made by his Excellency General 

 Clarke, on the fubjcft or the delays of tlie 

 negotiation, and of the frequent communica- 

 tion by meffengers. The anfwers of his 

 Britannic Majefty have ever been frank and 

 prompt J and if the number of melTengets has 

 been confiderable, it can only be attributed 

 to motives foreign to the wifties of his Ma* 

 jefty. 



The underfigned the Earls of Lauderdale 

 and Yarmouth, c.<n by no means fubfcril'e to 

 tlie opinion held out by his Esce'lency Gene- 

 ral Clarke in the faid note, tliat the negotia- 

 tion "had been begun and nearly brought to 

 a conclufion" in the interval which elapfed 

 between the time when Lord Yarmouth offi- 

 cially communicated liis full powers, and the 

 arrival of Lord Lauderdale ; on the contrary, 

 they coafiderthe negotiation as having fc.irot.ly 

 commenced. The converfations to which 

 aljufion has been made, confifted, on the part 

 ot the French Plenipotentiaries, in making 

 demands whicli the underligned the Earl of 

 Yarmouth has uniformly declared to be inad- 

 iiiiuible i and, on the part of Lord Yarmouth, 



