he rt ae ae Wee wae Se 
fe es A AE 2 RS Sag AN ss 
eee —— ee ee 
472 Correfpondence between Great Britain and France, 
en the part of the French Government. On 
the fubje& of Malta, the Firft Conful main- 
tains that he cannot liften to any compromife ; 
with regard to Egypt he is willing to enter 
into any engagement which may be thought 
fofficient. - 
I told him that he had departed from th 
letter and the fenfe of your Lordfhip’s note, 
by confining the queftion to Malta alone. That 
note had comprehended other moft important 
confiderations. That the beft method of 
bringing the difcuffion to a fpeedy conclu- 
fion, fuch as his Majefty’s Government ap- 
peared to wifh, was to take it up on 4 broader 
{cale. But that at the fame time his Majefty’s 
Government would not refufe to lend itfelf 
to any thing reafonable which might be fug- 
gefted. There was, however, I told him, 
one diftinétion to be made in the fituation of 
the two Governments, in the difcuifion of 
this queftion. By our poffeffion of Malta, 
France was not threatened; but the reverfe 
was the cafe, fhould the accefs to Egypt be 
opened by its evacuation. 
WHITWORTH. 
The Rt. Hon. Lord Hawkefbury. 
No. 48. 
D:wning-fireet, March 22, 1303. 
My Lord, 
With refpect to the fubject of your Excel- 
Jency’s difpatch of March 14, I have it in 
command to fignify to you his Majefty’s plea- 
fure, that you take the eariieft opportunity 
to reprefent to Monfieur de Talleyram, the 
furprife with which his Majefty has learnt the 
condu& which the Firft Conful had obferved 
towards your Excellency in the inftance to 
which that difpatch refers; and you will add, 
that as his Majefty has a right to expect that 
his Ambaffador fhould be treated with the re- 
fpe&t and attention due to the dignity of the 
Sovereign whom he reprefents, it will te im- 
poffible for you to prefent yourfelf on any 
days of ceremony to the Firlt Conful, unlefs 
you receiye an aflurance that you will never 
be expofed to a repetition of the treatment 
which you experienced on the occafion. 
HAWKESBURY. 
His Excellency Lord Whitworth, K.B. 
; No 49. : 
The underfigned General of Divifion, Am- 
baffador and Minifter Plenipotentiary from 
the French Republic, has laid before his 
Government the note addreffed to him by his 
Excellency Lo:d Hawkefbury. He has re- 
ceived orders to make the following anfwer 
to the obfervations therein contained. 
The obje& of this note appears to be to 
explain his Britannic Majefty’s meffage; and 
to give fome elucidations which. had been de- 
manded refpecting the execution of the Treaty 
of Amiens. j 
The Firft Conful will not make any com- 
piaint relative to the extraordinary and unex- 
pected affertions of this aét iffued by his Bri- 
tannic Majefty. Not one of them is founded. 
His Britannic Majefty believes that his 
2 “4 3 
[June 1, 
kingdom is menaced by preparations made in 
the ports of Holland and France. He’ hag 
been deceived: the Fir Conful has made no 
preparation. 
There were, at the time of the mefluge, 
but two frigates in the roads of Holland, 
and but three corvettes in the road of Dun- 
kirk. 
How can his Britannic Majefty’s Minifters 
have been'deceived on faéts fo evident? His 
Britannic Majefty’s Ambaffadors at Paris, and 
at the Hague, have ferioufly to reproach them- 
felves, if they have credited information fo 
evidently falfe, and if they did not forefee 
that they thereby expofed their Government 
to err in the moft important deliberations,  ~ 
Was it not conformable to the ufage prac- 
tifed among nations, firft to demand explana. 
tions, and thus to take means for being con- 
vinced of the falfehood of the intelligence 
which the Miniflers might have received ? 
Muft not the leaft effe&ts of the omiflion of 
this practice be, to bring on the ruin of fa- 
milies, and carry confufion, uncertainty, and 
diforder into aH the commercial affairs of both 
nations ? The Firft Conful’knows, both from 
his own fentiments, and judging of other 
people by the French, that a great nation 
can never be terrified. He believes that good 
policy, and the feelings of true dignity, ever 
infpire the fentiment of efteem for a rival 
nation, and never the defign of menacing, 
her. A great nation may be déftroyed, but 
not intimidated. 
The fecond part of his Majefty’s meflage 
confiits of another affertion no better founded. 
His Britannic Majefty makes mention of 
difcuffions, the fuccefs of which is doubtful. 
What are thefe difcuffions? What official 
notes, what protocole prove the opening, the 
progrefs, the viciffitudes of a debate ? Can a 
ftate cf difficulties, which leads to an alterna-_ 
tive of peace or war, {pring up unawares, with- 
out commencement, without progreffion, and 
lead without diftin€tion, to an appeal ta.arms 
before all the means of conciliation have 
been exhaufted. ; 
In this cafe, the appeal has been publicly 
made, before it could be known that there wes 
room for mifunderftanding. The termination 
of the difcufsions was announced before they 
had begun. ‘The iffue of a difficult difcufsion 
has been declared before it arofe.. What would 
Europe, what would both nations think, if 
they knew that thefe difcufsions, announced. — 
by his Britannic Majefty as fo difficult to 
terminate, were unknown to the French 
Government; and that the Firft Conful, on 
reading the meflage, could not comprehend 
the meaning of either of the declarations 
therein contained. ; 
He has alfo abftained from any oftenfible 
ftep; and whatever may have been the cla- 
mour, the activity, the provocations of wary 
which have taken place in England fince 
that meffage, he has given no orders, he has 
made no difpofitions, no preparations. He 
places 
