The Sun.
London, England, 1807-01-06 00:00:00

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JANUARY 6, 1807.

[PR ',CE Sr

combined with a profound and comprehensive po-
licy, which would ever immortalize that illustrious
• Statesman, and which sufficiently proved that the
fond expedations which the Coontry entertained
from his unequalled genius and wisdom were not
disappointed. Those letters were the models of di,
plomatic correspondence; if it. were wished to hold
up a drntrast between the ,charader of this Country
and the charader of France, Ir. Fox's . letters
would satisfy that wish. He was glad to find that
on this subject, at least, there was something like a
general concurrence of sentiment. From the 20th of
April to the 4th of June we heard no more of Ne-
gotiation. On the-Atli of June a letter was received
from M. Talleyraid,. and ou the same day a Noble
Lord:arrived in England from Paris, charged' with
offers from the French Government. The letter
proposed two principles on which the Negotiation
might be undertaken ; and there was an attempt to
get rid of the difficulties of ajoint Negotiation by
a reference (however mistaken) to the transactions
during the Marquis of Rockingham's administra-
tion. But, aa..he before observed, at the same time
that this letter was received, came Lord Yarmouth,
who distinctly stated to • his Majesty's , Ministers
what had been confirmed by, that Noble Lord, in
his speech in that House, a -few ,evenings ago, that
he was authorized by the French Government to
propose .the commencement of a Negotiation on the
basis of salmi possession. Did Gentlemen dispute
.the fat ? He begged them not to form their judgtnent
on the precise words in the paper written by, Lord
Yarmouth, which was merely a memorandum, but
to take as evidence what was stated by Lord Yars
mouth to his Majesty's .Ministers, and subsequently
to tht House. On the ground
.that the basis of
• aqua' possession had been. offered; and on that
grounl alone, Lord Yarmouth was sent back to
His Lordship's assertion that thisbasis
had ben offered was surely sufficient ; but it was
suppa-ted by indiiputable evidence. In his first in-
terview 'with M. Talleyrand, after his return, he
stateafrom his notes his understanding of the ofier
wiiicti he had been empowered to make. Did M.
Talley-and deny it ? What was his answer ? Cir-
cumstances,are changed. I do not: deny the offer;
but crcutustances are changed., . Russia is more dis-
posed to treat with us. The King of Naples declares
the aLandonment of Sicily will be dangerous to him,"
In the next conference, when pressed by Lord Yar-
mouth, M. Talleymnd alloWed that which proved
• that the basis of the uti possidatis: had been offered,-
by declaring, that rimteal compensation must be
made for that which might be surrendered on both
sides. Lord Lauderdale also, maintained that the
French Negotiator, never direiilly denied the oiler,
although they tale a shuffling attempt to evade it.
These are , circumstances equivalent to a
,posi-
tive admission. It was t-tot possible, theretore,
that there could be
,any
,dispute of the fad.
—Ali Mr: Fox's letter, of al-se twenty-sixth of
June, to Lord Yarmouth, he speaks with indignatioti
of the retraction of the. French Government from
that basis on which alone his LordShiP had been sent
.to Paris. And here he had to apologise for an oinis
sion in the documents on the table ; for, in this let-
ter of the 26th of June, :be had thought Mr. Fox •
referred to the expression in M. Talieyrand'S letter,
`..` Nous ne vous demandons rim" But a person who.
had examined the documents with. considerable at-
tention (though
.he had himself bestowed as Much
attention on them as was in his power) had discover-
ed that these expressions. applied to a private letter
accompanyjng M. Talley rand's letter of the •Ist
in which it was stated that the Emperor had nothing
to desire from England, and he believed the greatness
of France was compatible with the greatness of
.England. He should like very much to know what
, • the Right_ Hon. Gentleman opposite would :have
done in the same circumstance. 'Receiving a verbal
communication from the French Government, that
they were ready to treat.on a basis oh which it was
desirable to treat, would they have rejected the offer?
A Noble Lord (Castlereagh) had said, with wonder-
ful solemnity, that loose yerbal communications were
not subjects for diplomatic proceedings, which re-
quired Something Written and sa tisfadorilypetnfanen t.
in'the history of all Negotiations had they not always
been preceded by something of an
,unofficial nature?
It must be so, because each party was unwilling ta
,commit itself, until it ascertained, in -some degree,
the temper and disposition of its opponent, and there-
!fore the dogmas of these experienced diplomatists
would only throw difficulties in the way of any Ne-
i. gotiation... He, had a stronger justification to urge :
ifit was wrong to receive Verbal. communications at
the, opening of a necrotiation for peace, surely, in a
solemn discussion hetween two countries yet at
peace, the ultimatum on which the question of peace
or war depended ought not to be verbal, He held
in his hand, however, an account of the unfortunate
negotiation which preCecW the present war. The
Gentlemen opposite agreelat any rate in these trans-
aaions. The Noble Lord was in the Cabinet at the
time. The learned Gentleman (Mr. Percival) was
Attorney General; and the Right Hon. Gentleman
(Mr. Canning), though certainly not friendly tO the
Administration, did not criticise the detail' of that
negotiation. And/ what did he find in this ac-
count ? Why—that .‘ Lord Whitworth stated' a
verbal ultimatum of three articles, and declared,. if'
they were not acceded tO in the course of a week, -
his mission would be terminated,' and he must re.-
turn. to London. Ou M. Talleyratid's demanding,
conrormably to the custom of all ages and countries,
that the ultimatum should be delivered in writing,
Lord. Whitworth replied; that he had not instruc-
tious so to do. In _Lord Hawkeabury's answer to
Lord Whitworth's application for instruaions, he
tells hini—" You were right, in the firstinstance, to
state the ultiMatum of your Court verbally ; but as
the French Government lay such stress up:m the
circumstance, his Majesty has no. objection to your
comprising it in a
~short note."-- The Gentlemen op-
posite-would scarcely recommend that we should say

, .
'to the Frerich—" Yoti are all rogue§ and liars
what communications we have from".you must be in
writing : but we are all honest. men and; there-
fbre,--such a precaution is unnecessary." Nye. had,
therefore, both.,the nature of the thing, and the ex-;
• perienCe of the Gentlemen opposite, to prove to us
that the'condudt of Government; in acting-upon a
verbal communication, was = just ifiLlble: No other
course could with propriety have been taken. To
M. TalleYrand's written letter Mr. Fox sent a Writ ta ii
answer.' To his verbal communication he dent a
! verbal an'swer, with instructions to the 'person who
Pwas the bearer of it to ascertain the sentiments of
the French Government. And here he must cora
re& a Misapprehension which had gone abroad front
an unintentional. mis-statement in • another place'.
Lord Yarinouth was not instrudled to obtain an
answer in writing, because he was not an accredited
Miniater2 He was ordered, ih the first- instance;
to ascertain the acknowledgthent of the basir,
When powers were ,to be sent to hiln which he wad
not to shew until that acknowledgment had been
confirmed. ' 'At the time when 'his Majesty's D -
claration Was iSS'aed, it was :his
„most anxiolfs
and earnest wish that it should be founded on fa;`:.ts.
But' now we were to sit down again to that Declara-
tion ;, after the.obje6lions that-had been thade, and
the investigations that had taken place, he did not-
F knoW how he could state the truth more completely
► than in the way in which it was stated in that Dada-
) ration, 'namely, that the offer of.the basis of aclual
possession was made by the Enemy, in which offer
the Negotiation originated. When Lord Yarmouth
got to Paris, he net with some unexpected obstacles;
4D'Oubril- arrived
.soon after. The hope whit 11
the French GoyernMent entertained of indueing hint
to-conclude a Treaty bettveen Russia and Francei
and the circumstances which related to Sicily, induced-
them to retract from their proposition. The aelual
signature of the Treaty by M. D'Oularil rendered
these obstacles of still More magnitude.- Lord Yar-
mouth then was placed in a.very difficult situation.
He.saw no prospect of' terminating the Negchiation
in Peace, but by producin„a- his powers. Hedid prd-
duce their : No man could doubt the sincere clksite-
which that Noble Lord felt of serving his Country;
but at the same time he must. be allowed to say that
this a& was 'contrary to his instructions, arid to the
intentions of GoveriVnent... 'The next step taken by
his Majesty's Ministers: was to Send Lord Lauder-
dale to Paris. The first thit g. he did, in conforMity
to his instrudtions, was to present a note, distinffly
requiring an acknowledgment of the basis of aaual
possession; and his orders were, should that not be
acknos.vledged, ,to quit Paris. The answer was, that
if Great Britain did not feel disposed to surrender
certain points, France would- reject the basis ;
if not, she would. adopt it. A most wonderful
Cutiousaeircurnstance was attached to this answer.
o§ome word had been. erased by the'stroke of ayert,
and the word adopte substituted._ What the erased
'word had been it-was impossible to discover; but as
t it occupied a longer space than the word written in
its room, it might probably have been reconnait.
Lord Lauderdale again insisted on a &red and
formal: admission of the-principle on which alone he
could treat, and this ,being withheld,-he demanded
his passports. Things continued thus until the end
of August. A new conference. was' required by the
FrenchNegotiators,which proved mc',st iinsatisfaelory,
and Lord Lauderdale declared Ile -mast quit Paris.—
!The 'intelligence, however, of the nonratitication of
the Russian Treaty changed the tone of the French;
but. still their terms were short Of those expeaed.-=
Thus the Negotiation went on 'to the -end of Septem-
ber, 'when tcird Lauderdale demanded his passports
in a more. Peremptory way, and they, Were granted.
If his Majesty's Ministers could be Justly accused-of
any negle-,I or omission in this transadtion, he should
feel the accusation :most painfully, but still it would
be deprived of much of its bitterness by the assertion,
which even the opponents of Government have been
competed to make, that the cause of the Country
was clear--ahat the Country was: in the right,---
-A Learned Gentleman oppoSite- had characterised
the Negotiation as an instance of artifice on the one
, side, pradising on credulity on the other. He in-
sinuated that his Majesty's Ministers hAd been dupes.
This was an assertion more easily made than proved.
—How dupes ? Were they dupes during the first
period of the sNegotiation ?' From the first offer
made by M. Talleyratid to the 0 h of April;
Was there any credulity sheWn•in that petiodl?':ln
the-continued refusal. by Mr. Fox to listen lb any.
terms of 'Negotiation lin 'which Russia was • not in-
cluded; was there any thing to shew that he was for
one moment duped ? Nor was there any thing in
-the transactions, from the'2oth of April to the 30th
of Atmust, which deserved' this insinuation. But,"
the Learned Gentleman might say, " after the.3oth
of Aug. the offers Of the French were false and Main-.
cere, and oughtnot to have been listened-to." And
yet, if his Majesty's Ministers had at that time en-
tertained the Opinion, of the truth of which expo'
rience had convinced the Learned Gentleman, -how
could they have a&ed otherwise ? If an enemy offers
terms of 'Peace; :and exhibits a conciliatory disposi---
tion, the Minister who would peremptorily reject
his advances, would subject himself to the re-
proaches of all Europe, and' what was of
con Sequence, to- those of his own Country;' ha
would fail in his duty. When France first manifested
conciliatory temper, it was impossible to adopt:any
course but to endeavour to ascertain the sincerity of
that manifestation. No delay had taken place in this
attempt but what arose from a few days indisposition
in Lord Lauderdale, and from the evasions' and al-
most refusal of the French Government to grant him.
passports. It had been said that the protraction of
the Neaotiation had prevented the British Govern-
ment from giving necessary aid to Prussia. No opa
portunity of doing so would have been lost, had not
Prussia, by the fatuity of her own councils, rendered
it Impossible to assist her. The good faith of the
Country had been most completely upheld by oat