702 Official Papers relative to the Negotiation with France* 



which I have had to day with his Excel- 

 lency M. Oe Chatnpagny, unfortunately 

 leaves me no hope of being able to bring the 

 regotiation, on the part of Great Britain and 

 of RulTia, to a favorable iffue. 



In this ftate of things, and according to my 

 inftruflions, no part remains for me to take 

 but to addrefs myfelf to your Excellency for 

 padpotts, for my return into the prefence of 

 my Sovereign. 



Copy of a Note from M- Tallc/rand to the Earl of 

 Lauderdale, dated Mentr-,' Oaohcr \ji, 1806. 



His Majefty, after having, from a defire of 

 peace, lillcned to every proportion wiiich 

 could have rendered it durable and of recipro- 

 cal advantage to the two contrafting powers, 

 and to their allies, will fee with pain the rup- 

 ture of a negotiation, to which his own djf- 

 pofuion had led him to hope a more favora- 

 ble conclufion. If the Englilh Cabinet is re- 

 folved to forego the profpeft of a peace, and 

 if his Britannic Mjj-ftfs Minifler plenipo- 

 tcntiary muft depart from France, his Ma- 

 jefty ftill flatters himl"e!f that the Engli(h 

 Cabinet and Lord Lauicrdale will, when they 

 ihall meafure the fxtcnt of the facrifices 

 tvliich he was difpofcd to m.ike, in order to 

 facilitate the return of a fincere reconcilia- 

 tion, be convinced that his Majei^y, '" order 

 to proroote the hnppintfs of the world, would 

 not hcfitatc betwen any advantages in coni- 

 parifon with thofe to be cxpcflcd from peac: ; 

 and that thcdcfirc to infure i;s benefits tohij 

 people could alone have determined his pa- 

 ternal heart to make facrifices not only of 

 felf-love but of power, more confiderable 

 .t|ian even the opinion of the Englifti na- 

 tion could have pointed out in the midftof a 

 War, in which he had obtained conftant ad- 

 vaiitJges without any mixture of reverfe. If, 

 however', it is the deftiny of the Emperor 

 and of the French nation ftil to live in th« 

 midft of the wars and tumults, which the 

 policy and influence of Ensland have raif-d, 

 his .Majefty having done every thing to put a 

 ftop to the calamities of war, finding himfelf 

 deceived in his deareft hopes, relies on the 

 juftice of his caufe, on the courage, the affec- 

 tion, the power of his people. At the fame 

 time calling to mind the difpofitious whi«.li 

 he has ever cxprcfTed throughout the negotia- 

 tion, his Majefty cannct but fee with regret, 

 that England, who might have ftrengthened 

 and confirmed her vaft power by the blelTings 

 of peace, the want of which is felt by the 

 prefent generation, and by the Engli/h people 

 as well as all others, willingly fnffers the 

 moft faviirable opportunity of concluding it 

 to pjfs by ; the event will difclofe whether 

 a new coalition will be more difadvantageous 

 to France than thofe which have preceded 

 It. The event will alio difclofe whether 

 thofe who complain of the grandeur and am- 

 bition of France fhoiiM not impute to their 

 own hatred .nnd injuftice this very grandeur 

 and ambition of which tliey accufe her. 

 The power of France has only ber.i i?.- 

 crcafed by the reiterated effurts to ojiprefs 

 her. Neverthelefs whatever inferences for 

 he future may fas drawn ^um the examples 



of the paft, hli Majefty will be ready, {houtd 

 the negotiations with JEngland be broken o(F, 

 to renew them in the midft of any events. 

 lie will be ready to replace them on the ba» 

 fi6 laid in concert with the illuftriout Minif- 

 ter whom England has loft, who, having 

 nothing to add to his glory except the recon- 

 ciliation of the two nations, had conceived 

 the hope of accomplishing it, but was fnatch* 

 ed from the world in the midft of his work. 



The underfigneJ has the honor to inform 

 his Excellency the Earl of Lauderdale, that 

 M. De Champagny has been authorifed ta 

 deliver to him the pafl'ports which be has de- 

 manded. 



Cufy of a Note from the Earl of Lauderdale t» 

 M.Tallcyrand, dated Parts, O^lcier 6ih,lii06. 



The underfigned learning that his Excel- 

 lency M. De Champagny is authorized to 

 grant him the palTports which he hai de- 

 manded, and which he is on the point of re- 

 ceiving, cannot refrain from ohferving lo his 

 Excellency the Minifter for Foreign Affairs, 

 in anfwer to his note, that he has fome diffi' 

 culty in imagining from what circumftances 

 his Excellency has been able to infer, "that 

 the Britifti government have refolved to fore- 

 go the profpeft of peace." 



The underfigned was fent to France to n«» 

 gotiate peace, at a time when the illuftrious 

 Minifter, to whom his Excellency has paid 

 fo juft a tribute of praife, prcfided over the 

 department for foreign affairs. This great 

 man then afted under the full conviilion, 

 that he had received from France an offer of 

 peace on the bafis of uti fojfidetis, with the 

 fole exception of Hanover and of its depen- 

 dencies in favor of his Britannic Majefty. 

 And, notwithftandfng the fuccefs of the arms 

 of his Britannic Majefty, as well in Italy as 

 on the continent of Soutii America ; and the 

 refufal of his Majefty the Emperor of all the 

 Ruflias to ratify that treaty, which in the 

 eyes of the French government was equiva- 

 lent to the moft fplendid viflory j not one 

 new propofition has been advanced on the 

 part of his Majefty> incompatible with the 

 principle which was at firit propofed by the 

 French government, through the channel of 

 the Earl of Yarmouth, as the bafis of a nego- 

 tiation. It is not, furely, from fuch condu£l 

 that the inference can be drawn, " that the 

 Britiih government have refolved to foregs 

 the profpeft of a peace." 



Are the conditions which the underfigned 

 was ordered to propofe as the bafis of a puate 

 between his M ijefty the Emperor of all the 

 RuflTias and the French government more of 

 a nature to have given rife to th's fiifpicion ? 

 Quite the reverfe. If a folid and durable 

 peace wa.s the objeft of the the two powerd^ 

 thefe were fuch conditions as juftice and ex- 

 pediency demanded : — Jufiice ; becaufe car- 

 tainly nothing could be .more ecjUitafala than 

 to grant to his Sicilian Majefty and to^thc 

 King of Sardinia a compenfauon for their im- 

 mei fe lofi'cs on the Continent : — Ex{>tditmy ; 

 becaufe, in order to infure the duration of 

 peace, fuch an arrangement of boundaries as 



may pieVent difpuies inwll always be gteftra- 



