STATE PAPERS, 
ef the ultimatum, which will at least 
convince him that we are in earnest, 
and that he has nothing to expect 
from protra¢tion. I shall not, how- 
ever, as I said before, make use of 
this officially, until I have tried its 
effect in a more conciliatory man- 
ner. 
I have the honour to be, &c. 
(Signed) § Whitworth. 
The Right Hon. Lord Hawkesbury, 
&c. &e, §c. 
P. S. Your lordship’s dispatches 
of the 23d, with their inclosures, 
were delivered to me, by Shaw, this 
evening at nine o’clock. I shall see 
M. de Talleyrand to-morrow morn- 
ing; and I trust your lordship will 
not disapprove my following the 
line of conduét I had proposed, and 
which I have mentioned to your 
lordship, of informing him of the 
nature of my instructions, a few 
hours before I carry them officially 
into execution, W. 
No. 63. 
Extract of a Dispatch from Lord 
Whitworth to Lord Hawkesbury, 
dated Paris, April 27, 1803. 
1 avail myself of the opportunity 
of a messenger passing through from 
Constantinople and Vienna, to in- 
form your lordship of the state of 
the negotiation at this moment. I 
' communicated to M. de Talleyrand 
the purport of my instruétions of the 
23d, yesterday at four o’clock. He 
immediately asked me if the posses- 
_ sion of Malta was stil! insisted upon. 
I told him most certainly it was ; 
and I repeated to him the particu- 
_ Jars-of the terms on which if was 
_ yet possible to conclude the busi- 
ness. That these were, the posses- 
sion of Malta for ten years, dur- 
_ ing which period the authority, civil 
and iilitary, was to remain solely 
in his majesty, and that at the ex- 
723 
piration of that term it was to be 
given up to the inhabitants, and not 
to the order; provided, also, that 
his Sicilian majesty shall be induced 
to cede to his majesty the island of 
Lampedosa; that Holland should be 
evacuated by the French troops 
within a month after the conclusion 
of a convention by which all these 
‘provision shall be secured; and that 
his majesty would consent to acs 
knowledge the new Italian states, 
provided stipulations were made in 
favour of. his Sardinian majesty and 
of Switzerland. 
] had no sooner made known these 
conditions than M. de Talleyrand told 
me it would be perfeéily unneces= 
sary to delay the official communica- 
tion; for, as the possession of Malta 
was still insisted upon, although for 
aterm, the first consul would not 
consent to them. I accordingly did 
repeat them to him-in the manner 
he desired ; when he told me that 
he comprehended perfectly what we 
required, but that, in similar cases, 
it was usual to state the demand in 
writing, and he desired I would give 
him a note upon the subject. fF told 
him that I would repeat to him once 
more, or as often as he pleased, the 
express terms which I had stated to 
him, and that as my communica- 
tion to him was verbal, I should, 
of course, be content with an an- 
swer in the same form. He con- 
sented, at length, to receive it, and 
to éovimiubieate to me the first con- 
sul’s answer as soon as possible. I 
desired that he would recolleét, that 
Tuesday next must be the day of my 
departure. 
No. 64. 
Extract ‘of a Dispatch hin Lord 
Whéteorth to Ld Hawkesbury, 
dated April 29, 1803. * 
My Jast letter to your lordship 
3A2 was 
