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Got A Pee PA’ BE BS, 749 
plenipotentiaries, and it appears 
highly improbable that any propo- 
sition should be made which can 
alter our resolution of Jeaving 
France, the moment the passports 
arrive. 
We have the honour to be, &c. 
(Signed) Lauderdale, 
Yarmouth, 
, First Inclosure (A.) 
Copy of a Note delivered by the Earl 
_ of Lauderdale to General Clarke,on 
the 7th of August, 1806. 
(Translation. ) 
Paris, August, 7, 1806. 
The undersigned plenipotentiary 
ef his Britannic majesty, previous 
to entering upon the negotiation 
actually pending between his so- 
yereign and the court of France, 
thinks it necessary briefly to retrace 
the circumstances in which it origi- 
nated. At the same time, he con- 
ceives it consistent with that cha- 
racter of openness and sincerity, 
which, as his Britannic majesty’s 
_ plenipotentiary, he is determined 
invariably to support, to declare 
the only basis upon which France 
herself originally laid down; and 
_ to define the nature of the discussion 
_ into which he is about to enter. 
‘ : 
The strong and energetic lan- 
guage in which the French govern- 
_ ment a few months since, expressed 
_ its desire for peace, whilst it inspir- 
ed his majesty with the confidence 
in the real sincerity of the wishes of 
* the court of France, left him only 
_ to regret that the proposal of treat- 
ing with his majesty separately 
_ from his allies, appeared to prevent 
_ both France and England from pro- 
fiting by that happy disposition of 
their respective governments ; it 
beiug at that time impossible’ for 
is majesty, confermably with the 
‘ 
good faith which he has ever evinc- 
ed, to treat otherwise than con- 
jointly with his ally the emperor of 
Russia. 
Since that time, his majesty hav. 
ing found that circumstances which 
it is unnecessary to detail here, 
permitted his majesty to negotiate 
separately : he received with great 
pleasure, the proposal of treating 
generally, upon the basis of utz 
possidetis, which was to be scru- 
pulously observed except in the 
.case of Hanover, which was pro- 
posed to be ceded to his majesty 
with all its dependencies, 
It is true, that this proposal was 
not made either directly, or through 
the channel of an accredited mi- 
nister: of its authenticity, however, 
no one could entertain the smallest 
doubt. 
Independently of the authority 
which it derived from the character 
of the person employed to commu- 
nicate it, it seemed to agree com- 
pletely with what had been pre- 
viously announced. For ‘ the 
emperor desires nothing that Eng- 
land possesses,”? (an avowal made 
at the commencement of the cor- 
respondence between the two 
courts) was a natural prelude to 
such a proposal. 
His majesty regarded the cession 
of Hanover as a proof of the spirit 
of justice in which the proposal 
was conceived,” because this electo- 
rate, although occupied on account 
of a supposed identity of interests . 
and of measures, in fact had no’ 
relation whatever with the disputes 
which produced the present war-; 
and his majesty saw in the principle 
hitherto acknowledged as the.gene- 
ral basis of negotiation, a basis 
peculiarly adapted to the relative 
situations of the two parties, which 
he 
