723 
troops should occupy them the same 
day they retake possession of Han- 
over. Ona little further conversa- 
tion, I had little doubt that were 
England to provide in auy other 
manrer for his Sicilian majesty, the 
king might add the Hans Towns and 
their territories, in full sovereignty 
to his German dominions. 
The proposition about the Hans 
Towns being entirely new, I pro- 
mised to refer it without any com- 
ment to you for his majesty’s con- 
sideration. ; 
T have the honour to be, &c. 
(Signed) Yarmouth. 
No. XVIII. 
Extract from a Dispatch from Mr. 
Secretary Fox to the Earl of Yar- 
mouth, dated Downing-street, July 
5, 1806. 
Downing:street, July 5, 1806. 
My Lorp, 
Your lordship’s dispatches of the 
ist instant, were received here early 
yesterday morning, and I lose no 
time in apprizing you of his ma- 
jesty’s commands upon the present 
State of the discussion with the 
French government. 
The abandonment of Sicily isa 
point on which it is impossible for 
his majesty to concede. Your lord- 
ship has already stated unanswer- 
ably to M. Talleyrand, that this de- 
mand is inconsistent with his ex- 
press declarations, and with the 
whole principle on which the nego- 
tiation rests. I[tis, besides, a pro- 
posal in itself quite inadmissible. 
The king’s troops oceupy Sicily for 
its defence, but with no right to 
ecdeitto France. Itis not easy to 
contend, that the possession of Sicily 
can be necessary to that of Naples ; 
nor, if it were so, could that be as- 
sighed as a reason for his majesty’s 
ANNUAL REGISTER, 1806. 
consenting to abandon that island, ~ 
which he may justly hope his naval 
and military forces will be able to de- 
fend against all attacks. The Hans 
Towns could not, in the present 
circumstances, answer the purpose 
of an equivalent for Sicily, even if 
there were not other obvious ob- 
jections to such a proposal, Nor 
would it be possible that any solid 
basis for the public tranquillity of 
Europe could be established on the 
idea thrown out to you by M. 
Talleyrand, of leaving Great Britain 
and France at liberty to prosecute 
the war against the allies of each 
other; astate of things in which 
their respective fleets and armies 
would in fact be as much opposed to 
each other, as they are now, and the 
peace between them would be merely 
nominal. 
It is, therefore, to be hoped, that 
theFrench government will revert to 
its original proposals with which 
your lordship was charged by M. 
Talleyrand. To that basis of nego- 
tiation it must be your lordship’s 
endeavour to recal him; and if, un- 
fortunately, you should find this to 
be impracticable, nothing can re- 
main but that you should state, in 
perfectly civil, but decided terms, 
that you are not at liberty to treat 
on any other ground, and must 
therefore desire your passports to 
return to England. 
I have stated in my last letters the . 
different ideas that had occurred 
here for combining our negotiation 
with that of Russia; providing, at 
the same time, for the safety of 
Sweden and Portugal. 
Until we are informed what other 
proposal is made in this respect by 
M. Talicyrand, I can only desire 
that your lordship will keep this 
subject inview, so as not to admit 
of 
