214] ANNUAL REGISTER, 1800. 



in a negociation for peace between 

 the emperor and the French re- 

 public, Mr. Otto, the French com- 

 missary, or agent for the exchange 

 of prisoners in England, was au- 

 thorized to demand an explanation 

 of the proposals of the court of 

 London, and to request that a truce 

 should immediately be concluded 

 between the French and British 

 forces, by sea and land. The Bri- 

 tish government declared its readi- 

 ness to send a plenipotentiary to 

 any place that might be appointed 

 for a congress; but, intimated at 

 the same time that an armistice 

 with regard to naval operations had 

 at no time been adjusted between 

 Britain and France, during a nego- 

 ciation for peace, or before preli- 

 minaries had been signed. That it 

 could not, therefore, be considered 

 as a step necessary to negociation; 

 and that, from the disputes to 

 which it might give rise, it might 

 even obstruct rather than promote 

 a pacification. Mr. Otto answered, 

 that France would insist on a truce 

 with Great Britain, and that, in- 

 deed, the continuance of the Ger- 

 man armistice would depend on the 

 conclusion of a similar agreement 

 with the English, as the advantages 

 that might be derived from the lat- 

 ter, would form an equivalent to 

 the French for the obvious disad- 

 vantages of the truce with Austria. 

 He afterwards presented a sketch 

 for an armistice, importing, that the 

 ships of Great Britain and France 

 should enjoy a freedom of naviga- 

 tion as before the war: that Belle- 

 isle, Malta, and Alexandria, should 

 be in a similar predicament with 

 LTm, Philipsburg, and Ingolstadt, 

 and,that,accordingly,all French and 

 neutral vessels should be permitted 



to supply each garrison with pro- 

 visions and stores; and, that the 

 squadrons which formed the block- 

 ade of Flushing, Brest, Cadiz, and 

 Toulon, should return into their 

 own harbours, or at least retire 

 from the respective coasts. This 

 plan, or in the language of the 

 French, projet, was objected to by 

 the British government, as repug- 

 nant to the obvious and established 

 principle of an armistice, by which 

 neither party ought to acquire fresh 

 advantages, or new means of an- 

 noying the enemy. Lord Gren- 

 ville, the British secretary for fo- 

 reign affairs, then offered a coun- 

 ter-sketch, more nearly correspond- 

 ing with that principle of equality, 

 on which alone his sovereign would 

 consent to treat. It prohibited all 

 means of defence from being con- 

 veyed into the island of Malta, or any 

 of the parts of Egypt, but allowed 

 the necessaries of life to be intro- 

 duced from time to time ; it provided 

 for the discontinuance of the block- 

 ade at Brest, Toulon, and other 

 French ports, but tended to prevent 

 all naval or military stores from 

 being conveyed thither by sea; and 

 the ships of war, in those ports, 

 from being removed to any other 

 station. The French government, 

 not satisfied with these propositions, 

 offered this alternative : If Great 

 Britain would agree to a separate 

 negociation, her scheme would be 

 adopted. But, if she should insist 

 on a general negociation, the French 

 projet must be accepted. Lord 

 Grenville insisted on the terms that 

 had been already offered by Great 

 Britain. Mr. Otto now delivered 

 a second projet: by which, among 

 other alterations, small ships of war 

 were to be allowed to go out of the 



