game motives by which his majesty 
_ was actuated during the negotiations 
“for peace, have since invariably go- 
be his conduct. As soon as the 
reaty of Amiens was concluded, his 
“™majesty’s courts were open to the 
yeople of France for every purpose 
legal redress ; all sequestrations 
“were taken off their property ; all 
‘prohibitions on their trade, which 
ad been imposed during the war, 
were removed, and they were placed, 
in every respect, on the same footing 
with regard to commerce and inter- 
course, as the inhabitants of any 
other state in amity with his majesty, 
commerce. 
_ To a system of conduét thus 
open, liberal, and friendly, the pro- 
“ceedings of the French government 
affords the most striking contrast, 
The prohibitions which had been 
dlaced on the commerce of his ma- 
: jesty’s subjects during the war, have 
been enforced with increased striét- 
“ness and severity ; violence has been 
offered in several instances to their 
“vessels and their property ; and, in 
Do case, has justice been afforded 
o those who may have been ag- 
grieved in consequence of such ats, 
nor has any satisfactory answer becn 
given to the repeated representations 
“made by his majesty’s ministers or 
ambassador at Paris. Under such 
“circumstances, when his majesty’ s 
s ubjects were not suffered to enjoy 
}"the common advantages of peace 
within the territories of thé French 
epublic, and the countries depen. 
lent upon it, the French govern- 
ment had recourse to the extraor- 
inary measure of sending over to 
his country a number of persons 
or the professed purpose of residing 
the most considerable sea- -port 
owns of Great Britain and Ireland, 
1 
S T ACRE’ P AP ERS. 
with which there existed no treaty of 
739 
in the charaéter of commercial agents 
or consuls. These persons could 
have no pretensions to be acknow- 
Jedged in that character, as the right 
of being so acknowledged, as well 
as all the privileges attached to such 
a situation, could only be derived 
from a commercial treaty ; and as 
no treaty of that description was in 
existence between his majesty and 
the French republic. 
There was consequently too much 
reason to suppose, that the real ob- 
jeét of their mission was by no 
means of a commercial nature; and 
this suspicion was coniirmed, not 
only by the circumstance that some 
of them were military men, but by 
the actual discovery, that several of 
them were furnished with instruc. 
tions to obtain the soundings of the 
harbours, and to procure military 
surveys of the places where it was 
irended they should reside—His ma- 
jesty felt it to be his duty to prevent 
their departure to their respective 
places of destination, and presented 
to the French government the neces- 
sity of withdrawing them; and it 
cannot be denied, that the circum- 
stances under which they were sent, 
and the instructions which were given 
to them, ought to be considered as 
decisive indications of the disposi- 
tions and intentions of the govern- 
ment by whom they were em- 
ployed. 
The conduct of the French go- 
vernment, with respect to the com- 
mercial intercourse between the two 
countries, must, therefore, be con- 
sidered as ill suited to a state of 
peace, and their proceedings in their - 
more general political relations, as 
well as in those which immediately 
concern his majesty’s dominions, ap- 
pears to have been altogether incon- 
sistent with every principle of good 
faith 
