25 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1805. 



<^ jesty has been adrised to wave the 

 <' exercise of this right, in order to 

 ^' neffociate with Spain, for the 

 " maintenance of her neutrality ; 

 <' and that^ without taking upon 

 " ourselves to decide in the present 

 *' moment upon a question of policy 

 «' depending so much upon circum- 

 *' st mces, of which we are still unin- 

 <' formed, we acknowledge with 

 *' gratitude this proof of his ma- 

 «' jesty's paternal desire to have pre- 

 *' vented the further extension of the 

 «' calamities of war. But that we 

 <' beg leave humbly to represent to 

 <• his majesty, that the execution of 

 <' these his benevolent wishes, indis- 

 ^' pensably required from his mini- 

 " sters the adoption of some just, 

 " intelligible, and uniform princi- 

 " pie of negociation, declared in tho 

 *' outset with frankness, and stea- 

 " dily pursued to its conclusion, 

 " followed by an unremitting at- 

 " tention to every new circumstance 

 " arising in the progress of the dis- 

 " cussion, and accompanied by the 

 *' most scrupulous care that all en- 

 *' gageraents resulting from it 

 *' should, on the part of Great 

 " Britain, be defined with precision, 

 *' and performed with good faith, 

 *' moderation, and integrity. That 

 ^' we have, on the contrary, seen, 

 " with regret, in the whole conduct 

 *' of this t/ansaction, the clashing 

 ♦"eifects of undecided, equivocal, 

 *' and contradictory policy. That 

 *' the wishes for peace professed in 

 " the outset, by his majesty's mini- 

 '' sters, have uniformly been coun- 

 " teracted by their studious endea- 

 *' vpurs to keep alive both the cause 

 *' and the menace of the war ; a 

 *' purpose equally inconsistent with 

 '' justice and with svisdom, destnic- 

 " tive of all confidence on tho part 

 *' of the power with whom they 



" treated, and incompatible with 

 " the object for which they were 

 " negociating. That, during the 

 " whole course of these discussions, 

 "^ while they were continually soli- 

 " citing from Spain unreserved 

 " communications, on points of 

 " mutual interest, their own inde- 

 " cision prevented them, in return, 

 " from returning a distinct state- 

 " ment of the terms on which Great 

 " Britain would con-sent to ac- 

 " knowledge the neutrality of that 

 " power. That their ground of 

 " negociation was frequently shift- 

 " ed, their demands varie4» and 

 " their concessions undefined ; and 

 " that although some agreement 

 " appears at last to have been con- 

 </ eluded, neither its date nor con- 

 " ditions were asccrt lined with pre- 

 " cisron ; yet both are repeatedly 

 " referred to, by the British, as 

 " well as the Si)anish minister, and 

 " the breach of these very conditions 

 *' is alledgcd as the motive, on the 

 <' part of Great Britain, for her 

 " actual commencement of hostili- 

 " ties. That the omissions and de- 

 " fects which distinguish these 

 '• transactions, as well as the fatal 

 " consequences to which it has led, 

 " c.^n only be ascribed to the erro- 

 " neous principle on which it was 

 '• grounded, and to the criminal and 

 " almost incredible negligence with 

 " which it has been conducted. That 

 " it is particularly our duty to repre- 

 " sent to his majesty, that, in a nego- 

 " elation for peace or war between 

 " Great Britain and Spain, carried 

 *' on principally at Madrid, no ia- 

 " structions were sent to his ma- 

 " jesty's minister at that court, 

 "from the 2d of June to the 24th 

 " of November, in the year 1803 ; 

 " from thence to the 2 1st of Janu- 

 *' ary, in the year following ; and 



" agaia 



