Official Papers relative to the Negotiation rrith France. G95 



fhould afford him frelTi motives to juftify fiich 

 a determin ition. 



In the the oHlcial note tranfmitted to tlieir 

 Excellencies the French plenipotentiaries on 

 the 12th of Auiniit, it wis obferved to them, 

 •' that the Britifh government, far from pre- 

 tending to exaift from the French govern- 

 ment, every r^ftitution which may fuit their 

 convenience, without being bound to make 

 any reftifution to France, never exprefied any 

 other wiffi than that of treating with the 

 French government on the bafis v/hich was 

 propofed to her by France herfelf; as it is ex- 

 preded in the note of Lo»d Lauderdale, viz. 

 •' to treat generally upon the bads of uti pojfi- 

 Jeris, which was to be fcrupuloully obfervcd, 

 except in the cafe of Hanover, which was 

 propofed to be ceded to his Britannic Majeity, 

 with all its dependencies." 



"That even if it were poflible to miftalte 

 the refult which would necclTarily follow from 

 this principle, the verbal difcullions which 

 took place on the 9th inftant, between the 

 French plenipotentiaries and the undcrfigned, 

 leave no room to doubt, whether the propofi- 

 tion thus laid down was perfedly underllood 

 by thofc plenipotentiaries. 



" The underfijjncd have therefore only to re- 

 peat, that they cannot confiftently v\iththe 

 inftruftions of tbcir government, du otherwife 

 than infift upon the i)revious recognition of 

 this principle. It is on this condition alone 

 that they are authorized to continue the ne- 

 gotiation." 



This note remained without anfwer till the 

 £5th of that month, when their Excellencies 

 the French plenipotentiaries informed the uii- 

 derfigned bya letter, that, '< the plenipoten- 

 tiaries of his Majefty the Emperor of the 

 French, King of Italy, wiftiingto confer with 

 his Excellency the Earl of Lauderdale, his 

 Britannic Majefty's plenipotentiary, upon the 

 fubjeft of the liift note his Excellency ad- 

 drefTed to them, requeft his Lordihip will call 

 at the ollicy of the minifter of the Interior to- 

 morrow about three o'clock in the afternoon, 

 where they will mex;t, provided the hour is 

 convenient to his Excellency." 



The underfigncd forbears making any ob- 

 fervations on the length of the interval which 

 clapfed between the fending the note of the 

 lull and tlie. period when it was anfwered ; 

 as well as on the manner in which their Ex- 

 cellencies avoided entering into difculhon in 

 writing on the contents of that note, accord- 

 ing to the ufa^e of all times, and of all coun- 

 tries, whivever artairs of fuch importance arc 

 in (jueftion. He confines himfflf to remark 

 that, when, after fo long a delay, the under- 

 figned accepted an invitation from their Ex- 

 cellencies to renew the difculilons, in the 

 hope of receiving at length the decilion of the 

 French government on the contents of the 

 othcial note of the Hth, the conl'crence ap- 

 f Bared to tend on tiie pait of their Exccl- 

 iciiciei the I'tcnch plenipotentiaries folely to 



cn!;age the underfigned to prefcnt the de- 

 tailed projcft of a tre ity 



The undcrfigned, jointly with the Earl of 

 Yarmouth, had already in the note of the 

 11th inibnt, formally declared, that, until 

 Fr.mce had adopted the bafis fuch as the Bri- 

 tilh government underftood it to have been 

 originally propofed by her, he could not en- 

 ter into a detailed negotiation. If indeed the 

 underfigned could have forgot hirafelf fo far 

 as to accede to the propofition midc at th< 

 laft conference by their Excellencies the 

 French plenipotentiaries, it woulJ not only 

 have been ncceflary for that purpofe, that he 

 ftiould have abandoned the only conditions 

 which his inftruffions autliurized him to ad- 

 mit, as the bafis of the negoti.-'.tion, but more- 

 over tliat he (hould expofe himfelf to a mani- 

 felt contnidiftion, in prefenting at firft an en- 

 tire projcil of a treaty, the details of which 

 were to refult from the negotiation itfclf; a 

 negotiation which the underligned had de- 

 clared that he could not enter upon till after 

 a previous acknowledgement of the bafis in 

 queftion. 



In this ftate of things the undcrfigned, after 

 having attended, conformably to the defi» of - 

 their Kxcellem-ies the French plenipotenti- 

 aries, at the conferences which they propofed 

 to him ; after having maturely reflcfted on 

 all the communications which he has re- 

 ceived from their Excellencies, and thus fully 

 convinced himfelf, that the prefcnt views of 

 the French governmont are far different from 

 thofe which his Britannic Majefty had a right 

 to expect from them ; in a word, that the con- 

 tinuance of the prefent negotiation can hince- 

 fortl»have no other effect than that o'' keep. 

 ing up, in both nations, a hope which CJnnot 

 be re'Iiz<;d, the underfigncd tiiinks it his duty 

 formally to declare to their Excellencies the 

 French plenipotentiaries, the refolution which 

 he has taken, in donformity to the inilruc- 

 tions of hfj fovercign, to put an end to his 

 million. The admiflion, in wri'.ing, of the 

 bafis fo often brought forward by the under- 

 figncd, can alone octalion a change in his de- 

 termination. 



(Signed) LAtTDERDALF,. 



ExtraB from a diifat^h from ihc Karl of Lau— 



dcrdale to Mr. Stcretart Fox, dated Paris, 



yiuguji 30th, 1806 RiCtived Septxmicr 3d. 



Sir, 



When I rcfleft on the contents of the dif- 

 patch I had the honor of m.ikmg up for you 

 yefterd.iy, I cannot help anticipating the fur- 

 prize with which you muft receive the intel- 

 ligence, that I am now under an eng:\;;ement 

 to renew the conference with the plenipoten- 

 tiaries 0/ France, on ThurlJay the 4lh of Sep- 

 tember. 



On going yeflerday, at three o'clock, to 

 the oihce of the niinifter of the interior, I 

 confefs I did not forelee the pollibility of any 

 thmg occurring that could prevent my execut- 

 ing the reloKition ] had formed, gf demanding 

 4 T ii pulijijits 



