HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
-Iess liable to public observation ; and 
Correspondence, «and in_ conse- 
quence of the conciliatory manner 
in which it had been conducted, 
Mr. Fox had solicited as a personal 
favour the release of several of his 
private acquaintance prisoners at 
Verdun, the peculiar circumstances 
‘of whose detention had rendered 
any arrangement for their exchange 
impracticable, as it would have been 
derogatory to the dignity of the 
country to have acknowledged the 
principle on which they had been 
detained. The applications of Mr. 
Fox were in many instances success- 
ful, and among the persons named 
by him was the earl of Yarmouth, 
only son of the marquis of Hert- 
ford, who together with his wife 
and family, had been detained in 
France since the commencement of 
the war. On lord Yarmouth’s ar- 
rival in London, early in June, he 
communicated the substance of a 
conversation with M. ‘Talleyrand, 
which had passed at the desire of 
that minister, for the purpose of 
conveying through a secret and 
confidential channel, the sentiments 
and views of France, and the out- 
lines of the terms, on which peace 
might be restored between the two 
countries. The terms sketched out 
in the conversation seemed so fa- 
vourable, that the English cabi- 
net lost no time in conveying to M. 
‘Talleyrand their disposition to com- 
mence a negotiation, on the basis 
contained in them, ‘The bearer of 
the proposition was better able to 
judge of, and to enforce the adhe- 
rence to the terms proposed, than 
any other person whatever ; thé re- 
rendered Jord Yarmouth’s return 
177 
it was understood,* that excepting 
himself, no one would have been 
permitted to remain twelve hours in 
France, without producing full 
powers to negotiate a treaty of 
peace. These were probably the 
reasons, which induced the English 
cabinet to direct lord Yarmouth to 
return. Before his departure, Mr. 
Fox, with an observation that we 
were all mortal, requested him to 
commit to writing the heads of the 
proposals made by M. Talleyrand. 
His + memorandum of a conversa- 
tion with that minister, preserved 
in the secretary of state’s office, and 
afterwards laid before parliament, is 
the only written evidence of the 
proposals which induced Mr. Fox 
to treat directly for peace with the 
French government. As the un- 
willingness of France to adhere to 
her original offers not only occa- 
sioned the first departure from that 
spirit of conciliation, in which the 
former correspondence had been 
conducted; but was the real cause 
of the ultimate failure of the nego. 
tiation, the substance of those over- 
tures necessarily forms the most 
important part of the whole trans- 
action. Unfortunately Jord Yar- 
mouth could not foresee the neces» 
sity of the disclosure of so confiden. 
tial a paper. It consequently is not 
drawn up in that methodical style 
which is generally desirable in a 
public document. The want, how- 
ever, of official precision, and the 
omission of some inferior points 
were amply. supplied by his lord- 
ship’s comments and explanations 
in the house of commons, when the 
subject came into discussion, From 
* Lord Yarmouth’s speech in the House of Commons, Jan, 5, 1807. 
+ Papers relating to the negotiation with France, No. 12, 
| sidence of his family in France 
| 
| Vor. XLVI: 
N the 
