244 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1800. 



Extract from the Reply of Count 

 Bcr7isforff. 



August 9.6. 

 If lord Whitworth thinks to de- 

 stroy the force of the arguments de- 

 veloped in tliat note (note to Mr. 

 Merry, of the 1 9th April) by the re- 

 flection, that, by the right of gua- 

 ranteeing from search merchant- 

 men, under the convoy of a ship of 

 war, the least powerful neutral state 

 would acquire the faculty of cover- 

 ing with impunity, with its flag, 

 an illicit commerce — the under- 

 signed entreats him to observe, that 

 the government which should de- 

 grade itself to the point of lending 

 its flag to such a fraud, would by 

 that conduct pass the bounds of 

 neutrality, and would in conse- 

 quence authorize the belligerent 

 power, to the prejudice of which 

 the fraud had been committed, to 

 adopt measures which ordinary cir- 

 cumstances would not admit. The 

 state which neglects its duties ex- 

 poses itself, without doubt, to the 

 risk of losing its rights; but the sus- 

 picion of degrading conduct would 

 be as injurious to the government 

 which should not deserve it, as it 

 would be little honourable to the 

 government which should advance 

 it without foundation ; but this 

 cause cannot exist between Den- 

 mark and Great Britain. The 

 English government is not ignorant, 

 without doubt, that the Danish of- 

 ficers who command convoys are 

 personally responsible that the car- 

 goes of the ships belonging to those 

 convoys do not contain articles pro- 

 hibited by the laws of nations, or 

 by the treaties subsisting between 

 Denmark and the belligerent 

 powers ; and it is easy to feel that 

 there must be incomparably more 

 difiiculty in eluding the vigilance of 



the officers than the researches of | 

 those who pretend to exercise on ' 

 these ships a right, as odious in its 

 principle, as delusive in its effect. 

 The essential difference between 

 the principles of the two courts in- 

 troducing into this discussion parti- 

 cular difficulties, there does not ap- 

 pear to be a more proper mean of 

 removing them than by having re- 

 course to the mediation of a third 

 power ; and the king hesitates the 

 less in proposing to his Britannic 

 majesty the mediation of the empe- 

 ror of Russia, as that monarch, the 

 friend and ally of both sovereigns, 

 will certainly have nothing more at 

 heart than to conciliate them, and to 

 prevent a fatal misunderstanding. I 

 The undersigned does not doubt 

 that lord Whitworth will see in the 

 proposition a new proof of the 

 moderation of the king, and of his 

 desire to preserve the friendship of 

 his Britannic majesty. The king 

 would the more regret seeing him 

 quit Copenhagen, because his ma- 

 jesty had considered his mission as a 

 pledge of the conciliatory in tentions 

 of the court of London, and because 

 he had flattered himself that his per- 

 sonal dispositions would contribute 

 to the accelerating an accommo- 

 dation for which he has offered him, 

 and still offers him, the greatest 

 facility. 



Bernstorff". 



Reply of Lord Whitworth. 



August 27. 

 Lord Whitworth requests the 

 count de Bernstorff" to observe, that 

 if he does not animadvert upon the 

 arguments he has made use of upon 

 this occasion, it is because he thinks 

 he shall render a much more essen- 

 tial service to his court, as well as 



