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conversation, desiring me to return the third day after. At the expiration of this time I waited upon him again, when he informed me that, considering the extreme stress which appeared to be laid upon this point, Hanover should make no difficulty. Authorized by the concession of that in which the honour of the king, and that of the nation appeared most interested, I enquired whether the possession of Sicily would be demanded, it having been so said, "* Vous l'avez, nous ne vous la demandons pas; si nous la ́ possédions elle pourroit augmenter de beaucoup les difficultés." Considering this to be very positive both from the words and the manner of delivering them, I conceived it, improper to make further questions.

Nous ne vous demandons rien" amounting to an admission of uti possidetis as applicable to his majesty's conquests.

M. Talleyrand mentioned strongly the recognition of the emperor and the different branches of his family as absolutely expected. On this I took occasion to state the solidity which the recognition of Great Britain would give to their establishment, and enquired whether the French government would guaran. tee the integrity of the Ottoman empire. The answer was Yes, but it must be soon" Beaucoup se prepare mais rien n'est fait." Reverting to the first conversation, I

desired to know whether a middle term might not be found at the same time to obtain the object desired by the French government, and that desired by Great Britain, of not treating in a manner unconnected with Russia.

To this he answered that they were entirely ready to give every facility to the arrangement of the respective interests of the two powers, or that a British minister should, being authorized by the emperor Alexander, stipulate for both.

The last words of M. Talleyrand were, "Les sentiments de la France sont entirement changés ; l'aigreur qui caracterisoit le com mencement de cette guerre n'existe plus, et ce que nous desirons le plus c'est de pouvoir vivre en bonne intelligence avec une aussi grande puissance que la Grande Bretagne."

(Signed)

Yarmouth.

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* You are in possession of it, we do not ask it of you; if we possessed it, it might very much augment our difficulties.

We ask nothing from you.

-A great deal is in preparation, but nothing is yet done.

The sentiments entertained in France are entirely different from what they were. The asperity which characterized the commencement of this war, no longer exists; and what we most desire is, to live in harmony with so great a power as Great Britain.

that, in obedience to your orders, I made all the haste in my power to arrive at Paris as soon as possible; calm at sea, however, prevented my getting here till the afternoon of the 16th.

I immediately waited upon M. Talleyrand to deliver to him the dispatches you entrusted to my care, and requested to put off any conversation on the subject of my journey till next day. I intended employing this interval to endea vour to see M. d'Oubril, if at Paris, and communicate with him previously to secing again M. Talleyrand, or at any rate to obtain some knowledge of his motions.

Previous, however, to my leav ing M. Talleyrand, he expressed to me that although the desire of peace was equally sincere now as it was when I quitted Paris, yet that some changes had taken place which he had hinted at the possibility of, when I last saw him, alluding to the readiness of Russia to treat separately; and further mentioned that the emperor had received reports from his brother and the general officers under his orders, stating that Naples could not be held without Sicily, and the probability they saw of gaining possession of that island. I answered him, that, being ordered to require the restoration of Naples to the King of Sicily as a necessary article of peace, there would be no question of their separation.

I conceive Sicily to be the great difficulty, though, perhaps, were there no other, it might be got over. M. Talleyrand often and seriously stated the absolute determination of the emperor not to consent to our

demands of Naples, Venice, Istria, and Dalmatia, or to alienate any part of his Italian states to form a provision for the king of Sardinia.

Against cessions in the West Indies or elsewhere I solemnly pro. tested; nor do I think they care sufficiently about these objects to give any sufficient continental equivalent for them.

M. Talleyrand often repeated that the emperor had enquired whe ther I had any powers, adding, * "qu' en politique on ne peut parler la même langue si on n'y est également autorisé;" and as frequently said that they considered that Hanover for the honour of the crown, Malta for the honour of the navy, and the Cape of Good Hope for the honour of British commerce, to be sufficient inducements to induce his majesty's ministers to make peace.

P.S. On Tuesday 17th June I waited upon M. Talleyrand, and begun the conversation by alluding to the changes he had hinted at the night before, and desired leave to repeat the substance of what had passed at my former interviews with him, and which I had by his desira communicated. He agreed that the statement was accurate.

No. XV.

Extract from a Dispatch from Mr. Secretary Fox to the Earl of Yar. mouth, dated Downing-street, June 26, 1806.

Downing-street, June 26, 1806.
MY LORD,

I had the honour on Saturday evening to receive your lordship's letters of the 19th, and should

sooner

"That in politics it is impossible to hold the same language, unless both partics are equally authorized,"

sooner have answered them, if I had not been for these three days past totally incapable of attending to business.

I am very happy to learn that M. Talleyrand acknowledges your accounts of former conversations to be accurately correct; but when he does acknowledge this, I have no conception on what ground he can recede from what he said so distinctly to your lordship before, upon the subject of Sicily: "* Vous l'avez, nous ne vous demandons rien," are words that made the more impression on me, because, those contained in the latter clause of the sentence had been used by his excellency in one of his letters to me. It was on the faith of the uti possidetis being to be strictly observed as the basis, and particularly Sicily, on which satisfaction had been given to your lordship, that his majesty was induced to authorize your lordship to hold further conferences with M. Talleyrand Any tergiversation or cavil therefore on that article, would be a breach of the principle of the proposed basis in its most essential part. To say that Hanover is an exception to the principle is in vain, inasmuch as Hanover is to be yielded expressly in honour of the crown; while, on the other hand, the recognitions proposed with regard to the French empire and its dependants, are not only in honour of the crown of France, but tend substantially to establish the solidity of her power. With regard to the complaint of the want of full powers; to avoid all pretence of cavil on that account, I am commanded by his majesty to transmit to you the instrument accompanying this letter.

But your lordship should fairly state to M. Talleyrand, that you are not authorized to make any use of them formally until M. Talleyrand returns to his former ground with respect to Sicily. Your lordship is directed further to acquaint that minister, that, if Russia offers to treat separately, it is only in the way in which we do; that is to say, separately in form, but in substance, in concert with each other. And here you will recollect that this very circumstance was canvassed in your former conversations with M.Talleyrand, when that minister expressed himself clearly that there would be no objection on the part of France to such preconcert.

The result of what I have stated to your lordship is this: 1st, That Sicily is a sine quâ non; on which subject, if the French minister recedes from his former answer, it is in vain that any further discussion should take place. It is clearly within his first opinion delivered to your lordship; it is clearly within his last description of places which are reciprocally possessed by the two countries, and cannot in all probability be recovered by war.

If, according to the hope conceived by your lordship, this matter should be arranged, you may open your full powers; stating at the same time the determination of this court not to come to any final agreement without the consent of Russia. You will of course again mention the questions of Naples and Istria. If we could attain either of them, it would be well; but if we cannot, your lordship will not state these points as conclusive reasons against agreeing on preliminary articles, provided

3A 3

*You are in possession of it; we ask nothing from you.

provided such articles be considered as provisional and subject to the approbation of Russia.

With regard to the mode of provisional agreement, two suggest themselves to my mind: The one, to send the agreement we shall have entered into, either to Petersburgh, or to some authorized agent of the emperor Alexander, at Vienna, Paris, or elsewhere, for his appro. bation; the other, to copy the precedent adopted by lord Lansdowne and doctor Franklin in the year 1782. At that time a provisional treaty was signed by the plenipotentiarics of Great Britain and the united states of America, with the reservation, that the said treaty should not have effect till a peace should be agreed upon between France and England. Of these two modes I should prefer the latter.

It does not appear that there has been any conversation between your lordship and M. Talleyrand on a point which was mentioned to you, and which appears to be of considerable importance; I mean, the future admission of Russia and Sweden to become partics in a de. finitive treaty. I do not say that this is a point that must be determined upon previous to your settling the basis proposed; but it is one which should not be lost sight of, but, on the contrary, urged as far as possible.

No. XVI.

Extract from a Dispatch from the Earl of Yarmouth to Mr. Secretary Fox, dated Paris July 1, 1806.-Received July 4.

SIR, Paris, July 1, 1806. I had the honour to receive, on Saturday night, the full powers with

which it has graciously pleased his majesty to entrust me, and your dis patch of the 26th of June.

I waited upon M. Talleyrand next morning, and stated to him in the strongest manner the impossibility of my conversing any further upon the general outlines of peace, until he should return to the former ground, and consider Sicily in its true and real situation, namely, a state not conquered by France, or likely to be so, and coming most strictly within the meaning of his own words; that it had been clearly expressed by him, and repeated to you in the first instance, that France did not intend to make Sicily an ob stacle to peace. M. Talleyrand answered, that whilst the war con tinued, and till terms were actually agreed upon, change of circum stances were always to be consider. ed as reasons for a partial change of terms; that Bonaparte had been bet lately convinced of the facility c taking Sicily at some future period of the war; but that, above all, he felt more and more its absolute necessity to make Naples and the neighbouring territories tenable: that had any confidential overtur: been made three months ago, they would have been ready to settle the question of Naples in the manner most satisfactory most satisfactory to Great Britain: the same a month later with regard to Holland. Those subjects were now arranged, and the emperor would consider any retrograde measure as equivalent to abdication. I observed to that minister, that however much good faith may be neces sary in every transaction of the world, yet that being more pecs. liarly so, when a communication is made secretly and verbally, I had a right to be doubly surprised at an

change

change of ground. He defended himself by his former argument about altered circumstances, and said, that when no change of disposition was manifested towards Great Britain herself, as to the restoration of Hanover, or the possession of Malta and the Cape, he thought we might suffer them to possess themselves of a part of the states of their enemy, necessary to the tenure of the rest, which no consideration would now induce France to restore.

M. Talleyrand then asked whether I had any powers, I told him that I must decline answering that question, until he should inform me that there would be no further discussion about Sicily; but that he might easily draw a conclusion that I had, from the honourable manner in which Great Britain endeavoured to remove every obstacle not in its own nature insurmountable.

The minister then mentioned his being obliged to go to St. Cloud, and asked, what I said, I answered, "That I was ordered to continue no conversation till I should be informed that this new demand, changing entirely the proposed basis, should be urged no more." He appointed next morning for me to receive an answer.

I accordingly returned to the office yesterday morning, when M. Talleyrand repeated the same demand, offering to desist from the recognition by Great Britain of any or all the new states, waving this concession to the honour of the powers created by France, and setting Hanover against Sicily, and pleading that no such recognition being demanded, Hanover would then appear a fair equivalent for that island. He read the draft of an ar

ticle to this effect: that Great Bri tain and France should not oppose each other's arms against such of the powers now at war, as should not be named in the preliminary ar ticles.

To this I declined making any answer, repeating my orders not to converse further till he should abandon this proposition, and return to the former basis. I added that, unless he did so, I could expect nothing but your order to return to England.

M. Talleyrand wished to revert to the old topic, on which I repeated to him that it was impossible for me to converse on any part of the subject, till he should entirely relinquish every mode of seeking for the possession of Sicily.

M. Talleyrand desired me to inform you, that on the 29th of June the French troops were to take possession of Cattaro.

No. XVII.

Extract from a Dispatch from the Earl of Yarmouth, to Mr. Secretary Fox, dated Paris, July 1, 1806.-Received July 4. Paris, July 1, 1806.—Midnight. SIR,

After closing the dispatch I had the honour to address to you this morning, I went for the passport M. Talleyrand had promised to have prepared for the messenger's return.

Instead of giving me the passport, he made many excuses for its having escaped his memory, requesting me to wait till he should come back from St. Cloud.

When I returned, M. Talleyrand proposed to me to offer the Hans Towns as an establishment for the king of Naples, and that the British 3 A 4

troops

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