718 
perpetuity ; but after some conver- 
sation, | gave him to understand, 
that I would not refuse to admit the 
demand, sub speraii, on the condi- 
tion that the cession should be made 
for a considerable term of years ; 
that Holland and Switzerland should 
be evacuated ; and that a suitable 
provision should be made for the 
king of Sardinia. He seemed to 
think there could be no difhiculty in 
this arrangement; and I left him in 
the persuasion, that I should the 
next day, yesterday, or this morn- 
ing, receive the summons trom M. 
de Talleyrand, which he had given 
me reason to expect. 
Lam sorry to say, that no such 
summons has been received by me, 
neither has any further notice been 
taken of the business. So that I 
feel that I should betray the confi- 
dence your lordship may place in 
me, were I to delay any longer re- 
questing, that I may be immediately 
furnished with the terms on which 
his majesty’s ministers would be wil- 
fing to conclude, and which pro- 
bably will not differ much trom those 
above stated, in order that I may 
propose them in the form of an 
ultimatum; and that, at the ex- 
piration of the period allowed for 
deliberation, | may be authorised, 
not only to declare that Iam to 
feave Paris, but a¢tually so to do, 
unless, in the intermediate time, the 
French government should accede to 
our demands. 
I have the honour to be, &c. 
(Signed) Whitworth. 
Right Honourable Lord Hawkesbury, 
Sc. §c. Sc. 
No. 60. 
Dispatch from Lord Hawkesbury to 
Lord Whitworth, dated April 23, 
1803. 
ANNUAL REGISTER, 1803. 
My lord, 
Your excellency’s dispatches of 
the 18th and 20th instant have 
been received, and laid before the 
king. 
It is necessary for me to do little 
more on the present occasion than 
to refer you to my dispatch of the 
13th of April, in which I stated to 
you theseveral propositions on which 
alone, in the judgment of his ma- 
jesty, the differences between this 
country and France could be satis« 
factorily adjusted. 
If, upon the receipt of this diss 
patch, it shall not have been in your 
power to bring the negotiation to 4 
conclusion on any of the proposi- 
tions to which L have above re- 
ferred, it is his majesty’s pleasure 
that you should communicate, offi- 
cially, to the French government, 
that you have gone, in point of con- 
cession, to the full extent of your 
instructions ; and that, if an ar- 
rangement, founded upon one of 
these propositions, cannot be con- 
cluded, without further delay, you 
have received his majesty’s com- 
mands to return to England. 
His majesty can only consent to 
relinquish the permanent occupation 
of Malta by his forces, on the con- 
ditions that the temporary posses« 
sion shall not be less than ten years ; 
that the authority, civil and mili- 
tary, shall, during that period, re- 
main solely in his majesty ; and that, 
at the expiration of that period, the 
island shall be given up to the in- 
habitants, and not to the order 3 
and provided likewise, that ‘his Si- 
cilian majesty shall be induced to 
cede to his majesty the island of 
Lampedosa. It is indispensible that, 
as a part of this arrangement, Hol- 
land should be evacuated by the 
French troops within a shert pe- 
riod 
