HISTORY OF EVROPE 
much pleased at the indication it 
manifests of the disposition of 
France to afford the explanation 
and satisfaction demanded on the 
subject of the report; but also ex- 
pressed a determination on the part 
of the English government to retain 
Malta, till substantial security had 
been provided for objects which 
might be materially endangered by 
the removal of the troops from thence 
‘Here for the first time are “ other 
objects” glanced at; and satisfac- 
tion and explanation are accompa- 
nied by the phrase “ substantial se- 
curity.” The language however, of 
lord Hawkesbury must be consi- 
dered conciliatory, and although 
of a nature which manifested a dis- 
position to delay the execution of 
the 10th article of the treaty of 
Amiens, and probably may be 
considered as looking prospectively 
to some advantages to be derived to 
England from the negotiation which 
might thence arise; it certainly 
did not indicate the decisive mea- 
sure which so rapidly followed ; 
and which almost precluded the 
possibility of a reply from Paris, 
The dispatch is dated on the 28th 
of February ; on the 7th of March, 
the king’s message to parliament, 
announcing the existence of arma- 
ments in the ports of France and 
Holland, and of important discus- 
sions in Paris, the result of which 
was uncertain; and the calling for 
the arming of the British empire,was 
_ delivered. On the state of the French 
armament we have already spoken; 
with respect to discussions, they sure- 
ly could not with propriety be said to 
exist, when the last dispatch of lord 
Hawkesbury gave to the French go- 
vernment for the first time the sub- 
ject on which discussion might indeed 
275 
most probably arise, but which cer™ 
tainly had not yet taken place. 
On the insults offered to the com- 
merce and the flag of Great Britain; 
on the sequestration of the proper- 
ty of English individuals in France, 
complaints had indeed more than 
once been made at Paris; they 
were unattended to, but there exist- 
ed no discussion upon their merits, 
On the interference in the affairs of 
Switzerland, the unanswered remon= 
strance thereon of the English go- 
vernment so far back as the Octo- 
ber of the last year, afforded at the 
present moment no matter of dis- 
cussion. The occupation of Hol- 
land was, notwithstanding the in- 
structions to lord Whitworth by. his 
government, never, except in the 
course of desultory conversation 
with M. Talleyrand, mentioned by - 
him; as had he remonstrated, both 
his lordship and the Batavian minis- 
ter agreed in opinion, that it would 
do no good! There, therefore was 
no subject of discussion. On the 
aggrandizement of France since the 
peace of Amiens, no complaint or 
notice had ever been taken by the 
British government; no discussion 
on that ground could therefore ex- 
ist.—The same reasoning applies to 
the affair of the imprisonment of the 
British subjectsin Paris; the inso- 
lent interference respecting the in- 
ternal government and the liberty of 
the press of Great Britain: all these 
points had long since passed over, 
unnoticed and unredressed: how 
then could they be the subjects of 
discussion ?—T'wo points there cer= 
tainly did exist, and both most 
barefaced infractions of the treaty 
of Amiens, on which if there had 
been discussion, it might have af- 
forded some slight degree of satis- 
T2 faction 
