STAT # ) PAP. E/RS. 
- worth was instructed to accompany 
’ this representation by a declaration 
on the part of his majesty, that be- 
fore he could enter into any farther 
' discussions relative to that island, 
it was expected that satisfa¢tory 
explanations should be given up- 
on the various points respecting 
which his majesty had complained. 
This representation and this claim, 
founded on principles incontestibly 
just, and couched in terms the most 
temperate, appear to have been 
wholly disregarded by the French 
government ; no satisfaction has been 
_ afforded, no explanation whatever 
has been given; but, on the con- 
trary, his majesty’s suspicions of the 
views of the French government 
with respect to the Turkish empire 
have been confirmed and strengthen- 
ed by subsequent events. Under 
these circumstances his majesty feels 
that he has no alternative, and that 
a just regard to hisown honour, and 
to the interests of his people, makes 
it necessary for him to declare, that 
he cannot consent that his troops 
should evacuate the island of Malta, 
until substantial security has been 
provided for those objeéts which, 
under the present circumstances, 
might be materially endangered by 
their removal. 
With respeét to several of the po- 
sitions stated in the note, and 
grounded on the idea of the tenth 
article being executed in its literal 
Sense, they call for some observa- 
tions. By the tenth article of the 
treaty of Amiens, the island of Mal. 
ta was to be restored, by his ma-~ 
jesty, to the order of St. John,-upon 
certain conditions. The evacuation 
of the island, at a specified period, 
formed a part of these conditions ; 
and if the other stipulations had 
‘been in a due course of execution, 
701 
his majesty would have been bound, 
by the terms of the treaty, to have 
ordered his forces to evacuate the 
island: but these conditions must 
be considered as being all of equai 
effect ; and if any material parts of 
them should have been found in- 
capable of execution, or if the exe- 
cution of them should, from any cir- 
cumstances, have been retarded, his 
majesty would be warranted in de- 
ferring the evacuation of the island 
until such time as the other condi- 
tions of the article could beefiected; 
or until some new arrangement could 
be concluded, which should be judged 
satisfactory by the contratting par- 
ties. ‘The refusal of Russia to ac- 
cede to the arrangement, except on 
condition that the Maltese langue 
should be abolished; the silence of 
the court of Berlin, with respeét to 
the invitation that has been made to 
it, in consequence of the treaty, to 
become a guaranteeing power ; the 
abolition of the Spanish priories, in 
defiance of the treaty to which the 
king of Spain was a party; the de- 
claration of the Portuguese govern- 
ment, of their intention to seques- 
trate the property of the Portuguese 
priory, as forming a part of the 
Spanish langue, unless the property 
of the Spanish priories was restored 
to them :—these circumstances would 
have been sufficient, without any 
other special grounds, to have war- 
ranted his majesty in suspending the 
evacuation of the island. ‘The eva~ 
cuation of ‘Tarentum and Brundu- 
sium is, in no respect, connet¢ted 
with that of Malta. The French 
government were bound to eva- 
cuate the kingdom of Naples by 
their treaty of peace with the king of 
Naples, at a period antecedent to 
that at which this stipulation was 
carried into effect, 
The 
