S.D8 
FRANCE. 
be made in the interim, for the eftablifhment of the order 
of St. John in Come other part of Europe.” 
On the 2d of May, a 1 'pecific anfwer from the French 
government was given to all the articles of th.efe final pro- 
pofitions of the Englifli court. With ref'peCt to Lampe- 
dofa, the fir(h conful alleged, that as it did not belong to 
France, he could neither accede to, nor refufe, the detire 
of the acquit!tion of that ifland by his Britannic majefty. 
But neverthelefs, in the hope of preventing a renewal of 
the war, he would content to Malta being placed in 
the hands of one of the three powers who had guaranteed 
its independence, either Auftria, RulTia, or Prufiia. On 
this propofition (dated the 4th of May), the obvious in¬ 
tention of which was to give Malta to the emperor of 
Ruffia, the Englifh government, without a moment’s de¬ 
lay, put a decided negative. The difpatch however, an¬ 
nouncing this refufal, contained yet another ultimatum, 
which, if not acceded to by the French government, lord 
Whitworth was inftruCted to quit Paris in thirty-fix hours. 
This new project differed only from the lafi, in its placing 
the ifland of Malta in the hands of Great Britain for an 
indefinite term, until Lampedofa could be occupied as a 
naval flation ; that then Malta fiiould be reftored to the 
inhabitants, and acknowledged an independent (fate. With 
this propofition the firft conful peremptorily refufed to 
comply, and lord Whitworth again demanded the necef- 
fary paffports ; with which being furnifhed, he departed 
from Paris, and arrived in London on the night of the 
19th of May, 1803. His Britannic majefty’s declaration 
of war againft France was laid before parliament on the 
day preceding. Tims after a peace of barely one year 
and fifty days, did Europe again fee her quiet difturbed, 
and her tranquillity threatened, by the renewal of a con- 
teft between hergreateft continental and her greateft ma¬ 
ritime power ; and in which, fooner or later, her other 
Hates would molt probably be involved. 
The activity of the French government was immediately 
alive to every exertion of renewed warfare. Admiral 
Linois failed for the Eafl Indies with a llrong fquadron, 
having fix thoufand troops on-board, who were deftined 
not only to (Lengthen the garrifons of.the French colonies 
in the eaft, but alfo to put the Cape of Good Hope in fuch 
a condition as to refill any attack made upon it by Great 
Britain, The army of Italy was flrongly reinforced, and 
pufhed forward a very large detachment upon Tarentum, 
and all the ftrong pods in the kingdom of Naples which 
lie on the Adriatic. The French generals, charged with 
the execution of tliofe orders, exprefled in their procla¬ 
mations, that it was neceffary, while England retained 
Malta, France fiiould occupy thofe important pofitions. 
In Germany, the French government was no leis active. 
On the 25th of May, general Mortier, from his head¬ 
quarters at Coeverden, lummoned the Hanoverian electo¬ 
rate to furrend’er to his army. In this attack of Hanover, 
Bonaparte formally profelfed that he wifhed to occupy 
that country, merely as a pledge for the reftoration of 
Malta, agreeably to the conditions of the treaty of Amiens. 
3t was not poffible.that th.e electorate alone could pretend 
to oppofe itfelf with effeCt to the immenfe power of France; 
yet his royal highnefs the duke of Cambridge was lent 
over from England as commander in chief, and procla¬ 
mations were publifned in his name, and that of the Ha¬ 
noverian government, calling upon all the inhabitants 
capable of bearing arms, to defend their country to the 
la ft drop of their blood. But to unequal were they to the 
talk of oppofing the French with effect,that they pofitively 
refufed to rife in mafs, and tamely fubmitted to their 
fate. On the 26th of May, the invading army, entered 
the town of Bentheim, where the Hanoverian garrifon, 
confiding of an officer and thirty-fix men, furrendered 
thernlclves prifoners of war. On the 28th, the French 
force palfed the river Ems at Mippen, and the next day 
a body of 10,000 entered the principality of Ofnaburgh. 
The maii| body of the Hanoverian army, commanded 
fcy general Walmoden,- amounting to near 18,000 regu¬ 
lars, appeared determined to make a (land in their pofition 
on the Hunte ; and general Hammerfiein occupied the 
town of Diepholtz, with a confiderable force of infantry, 
cavalry, and artillery. The French immediately prepared 
to dillodge them : a divifion of their infantry, under ge¬ 
neral Schiner, and another of cavalry, under general Nan- 
fouty, forced the paffage of the Hunte, and directed their 
march to Sublingen, with a view of cutting off whatever 
force might be Rationed between that town and Diepholtz. 
General Hammerfiein, finding his right turned by this ma¬ 
noeuvre, was obliged to retreat in the night, to Borftoen. 
On the 1 ft of June there was a (mart fkirmilh, between a 
Hanoverian rear guard and the French advanced pickets. 
On the 2d, notwithfianding a fevere cannonade from the 
Hanoverian artillery, general Drouet, who commanded 
the French advanced army, attacked them, and after a 
charge of cavalry, obliged them to retire. The Wefcr 
was now the laft line of defence for the Hanoverian army ; 
the banks of it were well planted with artillery, and it 
appeared as if the paffage of it would be attended with 
fome difficulty. The town of Nieubourg was the Hano¬ 
verian head-quarters, againft which Mortier was in full 
march, when a deputation arrived from the civil and mi¬ 
litary authorities of the regency of Hanover, to intreat 
him to fufpend his march; which he pofitively refufed, 
until they had figned a convention, agreeing to put him 
in poirdlion of the entire electorate, and all the flrong 
places dependent upon it, together with all the artillery, 
arms, and ammunition. The Hanoverian army were, by 
the conditions of this convention, to retire behind the 
Elbe, and to engage not to ferve during the war, againft 
France or her allies, until,regularly exchanged. The 
terms of the convention were, however, conditional, de¬ 
pending entirely on the ratification of it by the firft conful 
and his Britannic majefty. It was evident, however, that 
his majefty could not ratify this convention, as king of 
Great Britain ; and as eleCtor of Hanover, it would have 
amounted almoft to a renunciation of his fovereignty, were 
he to confent to fuch terms as tiiofe. On the 5th of June 
the French took polfeflion of the city of Hanover, where 
they found a prodigious quantity of artillery and ammuni¬ 
tion. Befides the abfolute value of the electorate as a 
conqueft, which enabled them to remount their cavalry 
and recruit their treafury, the French were now mailers 
of the navigation of the Elbe and Wefer, and were de¬ 
termined to ufe their power to the injury of the Britifh 
commerce in Germany. Being now in the immediate 
neighbourhood of the rich commercial Hanfe-towns of 
Hamburgh and Bremen, they were alfo enabled, under 
the fhape of loans, to levy confiderable fums of money 
upon them. 
The terms of the convention at Sublingen placed the 
French general in pofleffion of the whole of the electorate 
of Hanover lying on the fouth fide of the Elbe, the Ha¬ 
noverian army having retired acrof's the Elbe to the duchy 
of Lauenburgh : but as this convention was only condi¬ 
tional, and required to be ratified by the Britifh and 
French governments ; fo foon as it was knowm in Paris 
that the courier had arrived, announcing his Britannic 
majeltyV refufal to ratify it, Bonaparte lent exprefs or¬ 
ders to his generals to re-commenee the campaign. Ge¬ 
neral Mortier thereupon fent a letter to field-marfhal 
count Walmoden, the Hanoverian general, informing him 
that the refufal of his Britannic majefty to ratify the con¬ 
vention, had rendered it null and void. He therefore 
lent him a frefh propofition to furrendcr with his army 
prifoners of war, to be fent into France. The field-mar- 
ihal replied, that thofe terms were fo very humiliating, 
that his army preferred perifhing with their arms in their 
hands ; that they had already made fufficient facrifices 
for their country ; and that they muff now defend their 
own honour. The officer, however, who carried this 
anfwer, was empowered to ftate, that if any acceptable 
terms were offered, they would probably not be rejected. 
Mortier refufed to make any other propofitions, and im¬ 
mediately 
