248 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1800. 



Net'. Transmuted by the Swedish 

 Ministry to the Minister of his 

 Catholic Majesty at Stockholm, 

 in Answer to the Representations 

 of the Spanish Court, dated 11- 

 dephonso, September 17, 1800. 



HIS Swedish majestyhas under- 

 stood with the utmost con- 

 cern, the violence used by some 

 officers of the English navy, towards 

 a merchant-ship from Swedish Po- 

 merania, by employing the same in 

 a hostile enterprise against two fri- 

 gates in the road of Barcelona. 



He perfectly accords with his 

 Catholic majesty with respect to the 

 light in which this new abuse of 

 power is to be considered, and the 

 common danger which such exam- 

 ples must occasion both to neutral 

 and belligerent powers. His ma- 

 jesty will therefore immediately 

 make remonstrances to the court of 

 London, to which he is equally in- 

 duced by his friendly connections 

 with the Spanish court, and the vio- 

 lation of the neutrality of his flag. 



In these remonstrances, which 

 will have for their first object the 

 rights of the Swedish flag and of 

 Swedish subjects, his Catholic ma- 

 jesty will certainly admit it to be 

 right that the king should consider 

 himself as the principal party; but 

 while he attends to his own inter- 

 ests, he will not neglect those of 

 Spain. Justice i-equires that what 

 has been obtained in an unjustifiable 

 manner shall be restored. His ma- 

 jesty will demand, but without an- 

 swering for the consequence of this 

 measure. He will, when it shall 

 be time, make confidential commu- 

 nications to the Spanish court, with 

 respect to the dispositions which the 

 English government shall manifest 

 Qi\ the subject ; but the justice of 



his Catholic majesty will undoubt- 

 edly leave to him the free choice of 

 the forms and means to be employ- 

 ed in this negociation, nor attempt 

 to limit any precise time or mode of 

 restoration. Spain and all Europe 

 is acquainted with the long process 

 which Sweden, has carried on in 

 London on the subject of restora- 

 tion, and there can be no reason to 

 expect that speedier justice will be 

 done in a cause which requires res- 

 titution to be made to an enemy. 



In the mean time his Swedish 

 majesty cannot consider himself as 

 liable to any kind of responsibility 

 with respect to an affair to the 

 causes of which he was an entire 

 stranger. According to the state- 

 ment of the Spanish court itself, 

 it was, under the circumstances with 

 which it took place, not supposed 

 that the Swedish government and 

 nation were involved in it. It 

 would be much to be lamented, 

 should the injustice of a third power 

 be able to break connections which 

 several direct discussions during the 

 war have not altered. Unfortunate 

 events of this nature have frequent- 

 ly taken place, and some as if they 

 were peculiar to the Sjianish ports. 

 A Swedish ship which was taken In 

 the harbour of Passage itself, a se- 

 cond Swede plundered and entirely 

 destroyed by the French in Alicant, 

 and several others taken by the 

 French privateers at the entrance of 

 the harbour of Malaga, have occa- 

 sioned his Swedish majesty to make 

 friendly representations and remon- 

 strances to the court of Spain, to 

 procure respect and security to the 

 trade of his kingdom. His majesty 

 would have been happy to have then 

 seen the same energy with which 

 it now makes complaints; but the 

 fruitlessness of his remonstrances 



