184 
would have been destroyed, and the 
two powers would have incurred, 
both in appearance and effect, the 
disadvantage of contending with 
France for objects essentially dif- 
ferent, and upon distinct and sepa- 
rate prounds, The obvious policy 
of France, when she despaired of 
any separate peace with Great Bri- 
tain, was to induce her to admit in 
the project of a treaty such terms 
as she foresaw would alienate the 
affections, and shake the confidence 
of her ally the emperor of Russia. 
The honourable determination -of 
our cabinet, and the firm but tem- 
perate conduct of our negotiator 
defeated this design, and his ear- 
nest and peremptory demand of 
passports was at length granted, 
though they were accompanied with 
a note* evidently composed under 
the immediate direction of Bona- 
parte. This paper insinuates that 
the principles of Mr. Fox had been 
abandoned by his colleagues and 
successors ; that a departure from 
the basis laid down by him had 
thrown the first obstacle in the way 
of pacification, and that to the loss 
of that great man alone was to be 
ascribed ihe further continuance of 
the calamities of war. To these 
charges Jord Lauderdale delivered 
a spirited, manly, and convincing 
reply. | Indeed no impartial person 
can peruse the early part of the 
negotiation, without being per- 
suaded, that if the French had con- 
ducted themselves towards Mr. Fox 
as they did towards his successors, 
the result must have been precisely 
the same. Whether, if the life of 
Mr. Fox had been fortunately pre- 
served, confidence in that great cha- 
ANNUAL REGISTER, 
1806. 
racter, reliance on the stability and 
permanence of his power at home, 
and- apprehension of the authority 
of his name throughout Europe, and 
in France in particular, might not 
have induced Bonaparte to relax in 
his pretensions, and to revert to the 
councils of moderation which seem 
to have dictated M. Talleyrand’s 
first correspondence, is mere matter 
of speculation. We have good rea- 
son to believe that Mr. Fox himself 
despaired of any such event, and 
if our confidence in the weight of 
his character is greater than his own, 
it can in no degree affect the merits 
of his successors and colleagues who 
met with no such forbearance or mo- 
deration in the councils of the ene- 
my. The charge, ‘* that + the Bri- 
tish government had resolved to 
forego the prospect of a peace,’” 
though probably intended by Bona. 
parte to inflame the English public 
against the administration, was little 
calculated to produce that effect. 
Through the industry of those most 
hostile to the ministry, the public 
were more prepared to censure the 
terms of a peace than to lament the 
continuance of war, and the rup- 
ture of a negotiation was the last ° 
accusation whicha court party would 
have thought it prudent, at that 
time, to urge against the servants of 
the crown. ‘The animosity so, stu- 
diously excited at the commence. 
ment of the war, was by no means 
extinguished in the public, and an 
incident soon occurred to shew that 
motives yet more inexcusable con- 
tributed to the general sentiment in 
fav or of the rupture of the negotia- 
tion® Though the grounds upon 
which the discussions had been bro- 
* Papers, (Enclosure B, in No. 55.) 
‘i Papers, atoms B, in No. 55.) 
ken 
