‘730 
the demand of Sicily, in whatever 
shape it may be brought forward by 
France, isan express contradiction 
to the offers originally made to 
your lordship by M. Talleyrand. 
But it is material that this topic 
should never be lost sight ef in the 
course of these discussions ; and that 
your lordship should observe to M. 
Talleyrand that whatever difficulty 
now obstructs the conclusion of 
the negociation, arises solely from 
this unexpected departure from the 
basis originally established. 
An exchange is now offered for 
Sicily, and it isin that view, and 
not in that of an absolute and un- 
“compensated cession, that the questi- 
euis to beconsidered. In this shape 
of the business it is obvious that the 
value of that exchange must be to be 
judged of, not only by this country 
and by Russia, but also by his Sici- 
lian majesty. As the king, whose 
troops were admitted into Sicily for 
its defence and protection, naturally 
feels insuperable objections to any 
proposal for abandoning that island, 
unless with the free and full consent 
of its sovereign, and in consequence 
of such an arrangement as should 
.provide for his interests by acom- 
pensation really satisfactory both in 
point of value and of security. 
The plan of creating for him a 
new kingdom, to consist of Dalmatia, 
Ragusa, and Albania, dves not ap- 
pear likely to answer this description, 
Albania, which forms so large a part 
of this proposed sovereignty, is vow 
2 province of the Turkish empixe ; 
the dismemberment of which it is a 
principal object of the policy both 
of Great Britain and Russia to pre- 
vent. That province has indeed been 
frequently involved in the same sort 
of confusion which prevails in many 
other parts of thatempire, But this 
ANNUAL REGISTER, 
1806. 
circumstance only increases the diffi. 
culty ef giving any consistence ta 
a state to be formed ont of such 
materials. It does not lessen the 
other objections to such a plan, . 
There are in like manner many and 
strong objections to that part of the- 
proposal which respects Ragusa, an 
independent state whose territory 
has never been ceded to France by 
any treaty, and ef which she can 
cousequently have no right to dis- 
pose, her occupation of it being: 
indeed of very recent date. 
But even with Albania and Ragu-) 
sa and much more without them, bis 
majesty sees no hope that such a 
power could be formed in that quar 
ter as avould, either in extent of ter- 
ritory or in amount of revenue, af- 
ford the means of opposing any bar- 
rier for Austria, or Turkey, or 
even of maintaining its own inde- 
pendence. 
What advantage then could be 
gained io the allies by creating a 
nominal kingdom, without any suf. 
ficient power either to reduce the 
countries of which it would be com- 
posed under any uniform system of 
government, or to defend itself ar 
gainst the first attack which may be 
made upon it from without. 
If there could, with the consent of 
his Sicilian majesty, be any question 
of an exchange for Sicily, by the 
creation of a new state in that quar- 
ter, it is obvious that this could no 
otherwise be done than by annexing 
to Dalmatia not only the whole of 
Istria, brt also a very large propor- 
tion, if not the whole of the Veneti- 
an states, including, if possible, the 
city of Venice itself. In some such 
shape as this it is possible that the 
proposition might be rendered not 
wholly unacceptable to his Sicilian 
majesty, And although the inte 
rests 
