766 
selves ebliged to put an end to our 
mission.”? 
The undersigned, on finding that 
no answer was made to these com- 
munications, persuaded himself that 
this delay might proceed from dispo- 
sitions favourable to the progress of 
the negotiation, and that he should 
be at length rewarded by an answer 
conformable to this expectation; 
even when he found that no answer 
arrived, he still persevered in acon- 
duét, which must have incontestibly 
proved the sincerity of the desire he 
had evinced, to receive explanations 
which might enable him to follow 
up the objeéts of his mission, But 
if, so early as the 14th instant, the 
undersigned, together with the earl 
of Yarmouth, found himself obliged 
to observe to his excellency, the mi- 
nister for foreign affairs, that he 
feared, (from the silence of their ex- 
cellencies, the French plenipotentia- 
ries) that no answer would be given 
on the subjeét; and if, at that pe- 
riod, they thought it incumbent on 
them to declare the necessity they 
were under, in pursuance of their 
sovercign’s orders, of demanding 
passports for their departure, the 
undersigned has no occasion to re- 
mark to his excellency the minister 
for foreign affairs, how imperiously 
the fresh delays that have taken 
place since that date, prescribed to 
the undersigned the pressing renew- 
al of this demand. 
The undersigned must at the same 
time add, that, net being able to 
persuade himself, that in casean un- 
favourable answer had been intend- 
ed, his excellency the minister for 
foreign affairs, would have so long 
deferred the adoption of the only 
alternative, namely, the sending 
passports, he does not even now 
, give up the hope of a renewal of the 
ANNUAL REGISTER, 
1806. 
proposal, such as the ministers of 
his Britanic majesty understood it to 
have been made on the part of the 
French government, since it is thus” 
alone that the expeétation of both” 
nations can at last be realized. Even 
if these hopes should not be well — 
founded, the undersigned will never — 
regret a delay which has afforded” 
him the opportunity of manifesting, © 
in an unequivocal manner, the sin-— 
cere desire of a solid and honoura- 
ble peace, which his majesty has 
never ceased to entertain, and of — 
which his majesty has given the most 
convincing proof, in authorizing the 
undersigned to negotiate on the basis 
proposed, in the first instance, by 
France. [t is with this view that 
the undersigned has borne so long a 
state of uncertainty, without making 
the least observation on the wanes 
countable delay. 
The undersigned, in now request. — 
ing his excellency, the minister for ~ 
foreign affairs, to transmit to him 
provisionally, and for the purpose 
of being made use of in the cases al. 
ready pointed out, passports for 
himself and his suite, conceives that 
he has adopted the only means for 
preventing the necessity he might ~ 
otherwise find himself under (if he 
was forced to repeat this demand) 
of accompanying it by representa-. 
tions, suchas would be authorised 
by the law of nations, and by the 
dignity of his sovercign. 
(Signed) Lauderdale. 
Second Inclosure (B.) 
Copy of a Note from the Earl of Lau. 
derdalé to M. Talleyrand, dated 
August 25, 1806. 
(Translation.) 
Paris, August 25, 1806. 
The silence still maintained by 
their excellencies the French pleni- 
potentiaries, 
