STATE PAPERS. 



243 



and satisfactory answer may be given 

 to the demand which his majestj'- 

 has directed to be made in his name 

 at Copenhagen, both of reparation 

 for what is past, and of security 

 against the repetition of these out- 

 rages. 



In order to give the greater 

 weight to his majesty's representa- 

 tions on this subject, and to afford 

 at the same time the means of such 

 explanations respecting it, as may 

 avert the necessity of those extre- 

 mities to which his majesty looks 

 with the greatest reluctance, his 

 majesty has chargedlordWhitwortli 

 with a special mission to the court 

 of Denmark, and that minister will 

 immediately sail for his destination. 



That court cannot but see in this 

 determination a new proof of the 

 king's desire to conciliate the pre- 

 servation of peace with the mainte- 

 nance of the fundamental rights 

 and interests of his empire. 



(Signed) Grenville. 



July 30, 1 800. 



Extract from the official Note trans- 

 mitted by Lord Whitworth to 

 Count Bcrnstorff. 



August 21, 1800. 



THE English minister supports 

 the principles which had been 

 established in the first note, and says, 

 that if the principle be once admit- 

 ted, that a Danish frigate may le- 

 gally guarantee from all search six 

 merchant-ships, it follows naturally 

 that that same power, or any other 

 power whatever, may, by means of 

 the smallest ship of war, extend the 

 same protection to all the com- 

 merce of the enemy, in all parts of 

 the world ; it will only be neces- 

 sary to find in the whole circle of the 

 universe a single neutral state, how- 



ever inconsiderable it may be, well 

 disposed enough towards our ene- 

 mies to lend them its flag, and to 

 cover all their commerce, without 

 running the least risk ; for when 

 examination can no longer take 

 place, fraud fears no discoverj'. In 

 the note which the count de Bern- 

 storffhasjust transmitted, theunder-i 

 signed perceives Avith pain, that, 

 far from wishing to satisfy the just 

 demand of the king his master, the 

 Danish government still persists in 

 supporting, not only the principle 

 upon which it founds its aggres- 

 sion, but also the right of defending 

 it by means of arms. In this state 

 of things, the undersigned has no 

 other alternative than to perform 

 strictly his duty, by insisting anew 

 on the satisfaction which the king 

 his master requires, and by decla- 

 ring to M. de Bernstorff^ that, in 

 spite of his sincere desire to be the 

 instrument of the reconciliation of 

 the two courts, he shall be obliged 

 to leave Copenhagen with all the 

 English mission in the space of a 

 week, reckoning from the day of 

 the signing of this note, unless, in 

 the interval, the Danish govern- 

 ment shall adopt counsels more con- 

 formable to the interests of the two 

 countries, and, above all, to those 

 of Denmark, with whom his ma- 

 jesty has constantly desired, andstill 

 desires, to live in terms of friend- 

 ship and alliance. The under- 

 signed, therefore, has the honour to 

 repeat to the count de Bernstorff, 

 that he is enjoined to quit Copen- 

 hagen with the king's mission in a 

 week, unless a satisi'actory reply be 

 given before the expiration of that 

 term. 



He requests the count de Bern- 

 storff to accept the assurances of hia 

 most distinguished consideration. 



R 2 



