1799 AMERICAN STATES. HOWEVER expedient the president and his council might deem it to prepare for defence and for the maintenance of the honour of the state, they neglected no proper means for the preservation of peace. Consistently with their general principles of policy, on receiving assurances from the French government that their ministers would be received with due respect, envoys were again dispatched to France, with instructions to accommodate differences, and powers to conclude a treaty, subject to the constitutional advice and consent of the senate.' During these political transactions, every encouragement was given to trade, and every opportunity was embraced for the extension of it. This year, a new treaty was concluded with his Prussian majesty, which established a commercial intercourse between the subjects of the two powers upon the most liberal footing." GREAT a Annual Register. 299. Idem. 1800, 298. GREAT BRITAIN. 1800. ON the meeting of parliament, early in this year, † the attention of the two houses was called, by a message from his majesty, to a letter which Buonaparte, now first consul of France, had addressed to lord Grenville, on the subject of peace; earnestly intreating his Britannic majesty to unite with him in restoring that blessing to the world.-This letter was laid before parliament, together with the secretary's answer, expressing his sovereign's feelings in terms of much disdain.-After adverting to the origin of the war, and the calamities which had been brought on the world by the restless ambition of the French rulers, to their disregard of the most solemn treaties, and the necessity of resistance to such a power "for the preservation of whatever remains in Europe of stability for property, for personal liberty, for social order, or for the exercise of religion," he declares his sovereign's willingness to accede to overtures of peace when he shall be convinced of the sincerity of the French governors, and their capacity of maintaining those relations of amity in which their predecessors in office had proved themselves deficient. "the conviction of such a change," he said, "can result only from the " evidence of facts. The best and most natural pledge of its reality and permanence would be the restoration of that line of princes which for "so many centuries maintained the French nation in prosperity at home, " and in consideration and respect abroad: such an event would at once "have removed, and will, at any time, remove all obstacles in the way 66 of " But 1800 1800 66 "of negotiation and peace. It would confirm to France the unmolested "enjoyment of its ancient territory; and it would give to all the other "nations of Europe, in tranquillity and peace, that security which they are now compelled to seek by other means. But, desirable as such an " event must be both to France and to the world, it is not to this mode exclusively that his majesty limits the possibility of secure and solid pacification. His majesty makes no claim to prescribe to France what "shall be the form of her government, or in whose hands she shall "vest the authority necessary for conducting the affairs of a great and powerful nation. His majesty looks only to the security of his own "dominions and those of his allies, and to the general safety of Europe. Whenever he shall judge that security can in any manner "be attained, as resulting either from the internal situation of that country, from whose internal situation the danger has arisen, or from "such other circumstances, of whatever nature, as may produce the same "end, his majesty will eagerly embrace the opportunity to concert with " his allies the means of immediate and general pacification. Unhappily, "no such security hitherto exists; no such evidence of the principles by "which the new government will be directed; no reasonable ground by "which to judge of its stability. In this situation, it can, for the present, 46 only remain for his majesty to pursue, in conjunction with other powers, those exertions of just and defensive war which his regard to the hap piness of his subjects will never permit him either to continue beyond "the necessity in which they originate, or to terminate on any other grounds than such as may best contribute to the secure enjoyment. of their tranquillity, their constitution, and their independence." In answer to this letter, monsieur Talleyrand, French minister for foreign affairs, endeavoured to vindicate his government from the charge of aggression and imputed the blame of that war which had proved so calamitous to the unprovoked attack which the coalesced powers had made on the French frontier. He endeavoured to obviate the objections which his majesty had made to a treaty on the ground of the instability of the French government, by saying that he had treated with the republic when its constitutional system presented neither the strength nor the solidity which State Papers. 206. ap. Ann. Regist. "which it contains at present. And he again invited his majesty to open conferences for peace. In reply to this, the British secretary again insisted on the validity of what he had before assigned as the causes of the war; and repeated his declaration of his sovereign's disposition to pacific councils, whenever they could be adopted with a proper regard to the security of his own dominions and of all Europe. b Lord Grenville, in support of his motion for an address on his majesty's message, descanted on the unjust and unprincipled conduct of the French republic towards those monarchs and states which had made trial of its faith by entering into treaties with the governing powers in it; and on Buonaparte's breach of faith towards the Cisalpine republic, towards the Maltese, and towards the Porte. He argued hence that it might well be supposed that he did not at present act on more honest or disinterested principles: that he was desirous of a temporary cessation of hostilities as a mean for relieving the French government from the pressure of numerous and alarming difficulties; of deriving great benefit to their commerce by opening the ports of France, now blocked up by our fleets and cruisers; and of consolidating his own power by rendering the nation these services. The secretary was answered by a speech from the duke of Bedford, in which he pointedly condemned the conduct of administration in rejecting the overtures for a treaty; he derided the wild scheme, which he ascribed to the ministry, of restoring the French monarchy, as the preliminary of a negotiation; and he, in the most forcible language, deprecated the evils which must ensue from the continuance of war, when the people should be driven to despair by the enormous burthen of taxes. Upon these grounds he moved for a counter-address, recommending the renewal of a negotiation for peace. The prevailing sentiment in the two houses, however, was seen to be, that, great as were the evils of war, it was advisable to bear them with patience, rather than purchase a precarious peace by concession, which would enable our enemy to execute the design which he was insidiously meditating, of recommencing the war when he should be better prepared for it; and the result was that the motion for the address was supported by a majority of 79 to 6 in the house of lords, and 260 to 64 in the house of commons. " -- The 1800 1800 The administration were encouraged to pursue this resolute line of conduct by the disgust which several of the continental powers had conceived against the French government, and their subsequent change of councils. We have seen the king of Naples and other Italian powers crouching under the rod of Buonaparte, and the emperor frightened into a treaty of peace at Campo Formio, to save his German dominions from sharing the fate of the Milanese.-In consequence of this, a congress had been opened at Rastadt to negotiate a peace between the Germanic body and the French republic. This, however, failed of success. The parties had retired from Rastadt more incensed against each other by the incidents which had occurred during the conferences. The imperial Aulic council had vindicated themselves by a decree, in which it charged the French government with a notorious departure from the pacific principles on which it professed to act, pointing out the particular instances in which it had deviated from them. The emperor and king of Naples had entered into an alliance for their mutual defence against a power which had so grossly deceived them. † And the diet at Ratisbon passed a spirited conclusum, || wherein the German princes and states are called upon to join the emperor in vigorous preparations for the defence of the empire against the enterprises of their common enemy. These events were propitious to the views of the English ministry: and they did not neglect to avail themselves of them to renovate the confederacy against France.-The Germanic states had resumed their arms in the late year, as we have seen in the French history; but their resources were soon exhausted.—The emperor then, had recourse, for pecuniary aid, to that power whose alliance is seldom sought, and whose friendship is seldom remembered, but in the hour of distress: we need not say that the power applied to was his Britannic majesty: nor need we say that the suit was granted. To relieve the emperor's pressing financial exigencies, arising from the vast expences of the war, his Britannic majesty agreed, by a convention now entered into with him, t to advance him the sum of £.2,000,000, to be repaid by annual instalments of £.20,000 after the conclusion of peace. d May 19. 1799. In September 7. 1799. + June 20. State Papers. 234. |