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troops, had failed from the Black Sea, in Auguft, 1800, for the exprefs purpose of taking poffeffion of the place when it fhould furrender. No remonftrances were made when Paul affumed, ridiculoufly, the title of grand mafter of Malta: and when he pretended to make captain Home Popham a knight of that order, his right to do fo was recognized in the London Gazettee. When the original deflination of that fleet was fruftrated by the furrender of Malta, and its occupation by the English, it remained long at anchor in the canal of Conftantinople, waiting for orders how to act. The refentment of the emperor was, in the first inftance, as, ufual in fuch cafes, wreaked on a weak party, prefenting itfelf as a ready object for the gratification of his paflion. He demanded from the Grand Signior, the ally of England, a large fum, flipulated, he alleged, to be paid by the Turks for the maritime aid of the Ruffians. A fharp difpute arofe on this fubject. The Ruffian admiral refufed to return to the Crimea till the money. fhould be paid, and even threatened hoftile measures againft Conftantinople. The Porte was obliged to yield to the menaces of the enraged czar of Mufcovy. Nor

is it by any means unimportant, however ludicrous, on the prefent head, to mention, that Paul was highly offended by the caricatures of his perfon and character, publifhed in the streets of London; and which Buonaparte took special care to have tranfmitted to Petersburgh. On the irritable and irritated temper of the emperor, difgufted with Auftria,andmuch more with England, but as prone to fentiments of gratitude and generofity as to thofe of relentment, Buonaparte operated with confummate addrefs and complete fuccefs.

The world was not a little farprifed at the arrival of an embaffy in Paris from Paul I. not more than a year after his famous proclamation for reftoring the throne of the Bourbons. This embally confifted of the general baron de Sprengporten, an old Swedish refugee at the court of Ruffia, prince Jofeph Dolgorowki, the count de Tiflenhaveen, a captain in the Rufian army, Mr. de Scheping, fon of the grand marethal of Courland, and other gentlemen. This fiately company was met by general Clarke, at Bruffels, and by him conducted to Paris on the 18th of December. The oftenfible object of the embafly was, to treat for the releafe of the Ruffian prifoners

expulfion of the French from Egypt), make me for one inftant wish to relinquish the danger or honour of the undertaking: but the fame point of honour, the good of this country, and, I may add, the humanity which gives rife to thefe feeling, rendered it' impoffible for me to obey the particular inftruction concerning the introduction of a Ruffian force inter Malta." Mr. Dundas, having read this extract, faid, "I cannot, on this occafion, avoid remarking, that whilst we are accused of acting with infincerity towards Ruffia, the circumstance which led to this refignation, is a strong proof how anxious his majesty felt to offer to that power, though hund to it by no pofitive engagement whatever, participation in the advantages of that conqueft, in cafe Ruffia had remained faithful to her alliance, and to the bonds of amity then fubfifting between her and this country." Parliamentary Regifter, House of Commons, March 25, 1801. It is difficult to conceive, how the poffeffion of Malta could have been shared, with any tolerable prof. pect of continued harmony, between the English ard the Ruffians. But the prefent queftion is, whether Paul had any reafon to look for either the whole or a fhare of it?

that

was honoured with a body guard, It was artfully contrived hat petitions thould be prefented to hin from perfons under the profecution or the fentence of the law, imploring his interference in their behalf with the chief conful, and from others, foliciting favours. The protection of Kalichef was never extended to any one without effec: his applications to the confuls were never made in vain. But, what was confidered as the head and crown of all this climax of compliment to Paul, was, the affectation of granting, only through the intercefion of the emperor of Ruffia, peace and independence to the king of Naples. The queen of Naples, judging rightly of the character of Paul, governed more by private humours and caprices, than by views of found policy, or even of ambition, had gone to Peterburg. in November, 1800, to perfuade the emperor to continue the war, of if not, to continue, at leaft, his countenance to the royal family of Naples, and to exert his influence and authority for the fafety of the kingdom. A lady in diftrefs could not folicit in vain the protection of a knight errant, after fo long a journey in fuit of it. The emperor's zeal in the caufe of the Neapolitans was increased.

that had fallen into the hands of the French, to the number of 7000. For this body of Ruffians the British government had refuted to exchange an eunal number of French prifoners. The chief conful, in compliment to Paul, gave orders that all the Ruffian prisoners Could be newly clothed and accoutred in the uniforms of their refpective regiments, and refored freely without exchange or rantom. Each man was prefented with a fafil of French manufacture. The baron de Spengporten bore the title only of envoy. He was followed, in February, 1801, by an ambassador, accompanied by a rétine equally fplendid. The envoy with his train was treated with very maked refpe&t: bat fill greater marks of respect and reverence were imrelerve for the amballidor. When it was made known in France, that an ambalador from Rutia was on his way to Paris, his arrival was expeded in that city with the utmoft egernels, and every preparation potable was made to gratify the vanity of Paul, in the perfon of his ambaffador. This was the count Kalitcheff, a man of modeft, unaffaning, and courtly manners, who had before fuftained the character of Ruffian ambassador, at Berlin and other courts. The count muft doubtlefs have been astonished to find himself treated, by fo great and glorious a nation as the French, with a degree of magnificence and of adulation exceeding all the marks of honour and devotion that he had ever known to be paid to his own imperial mafter. On his entrance into Paris, he was faluted by a fire of all the cannon. A magnificent palace was appropriated to his refidence, and he was entertained at the expence of the republic. He

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of Naples, had induced the firft conful to bury in oblivion the innumerable injuries of all kinds, of which your government has been guilty towards the French people. After this opening towards a good understanding, we entertained the hope, that you would have remained a quiet fpectator of a conteft, in which you can be but of little confequence on one fide or other. Yet the king of Naples forgetting for the tenth time the dictates of found policy, and what was due to the generous conduct of the French government, dispatched his troops into Tufcany, where they came to be thrashed by general Miollis. But war is attended with fo many calamities, that the French government ftudies all poffible means of avoiding it. 1. Evacuate all the ecclefiaftical states, and the caftle of St. Angelo. 2. Make no farther claims of any benefits from the armistice of Trevifo, in which you are not included, nor at all mentioned, or on the influence of a power which muft no longer protect you. The only prince who has it now in his power to protect you, in confequence of the perfonal regard that is borne to him by the first conful, is, the emperor of all the Ruffias. Let it be the study, fir, of your government to merit a continuation of that prince's goodness; which cannot be done but by fhutting all the ports of Sicily and Naples againft the navigation of the Englith, and laying an embargo on all the fhips of that nation, which it is now high time to expel from all Ioints of the continent."

But the grand point on which Buonaparte's intrigues with Paul turned, was Malta. Malta was to

be Ruffia's whenever it could be wrefted, by arms or negotiation, from the English. It is almoft needlefs to mention, that, amidst so many acts of ftudied complaifance, orders were given by the French government for a cessation of all hoftilities against Ruffia. On the 19th of January, 1801, the confuls iffued a decree, by which, “All vessels of the republic, and all cruifers bearing the French flag, were forbidden to interrupt the fhips of war, or the commerce of the emperor of all the Ruffias, or of his fubjects; on the contrary, all French veffels were ordered to afford fuccour and aid to the hips of Ruffia.

Next to Ruffia, the power of most importance, in the formation of a confederation against England for the purpose juft mentioned, was Pruffia. Without the concurrence of the king of Pruffia, the hoftility of the northern powers could not be attended with any bad effects to us, very lafting. But it was in the power of the king of Pruffia, who commanded fo extenfive a maritime coaft, and the navigation of all the great rivers, from the Rhine to the Eider on the north of Germany, to render it truly formidable, and, at a time when Great Britain was hard preffed by fcarcity of provifions and menaced with famine, peculiarly diftreffing. No means, therefore, were neglected by Buonaparte to ftrengthen the confederacy by the acceffion of the Pruffian monarch. For the accomplishment of this important object, he fent his brother Lewis to Berlin; and a very happy opportunity occurred of intriguing for the fame end, in the miffion of the marquis de Lucchesini to Paris, to take care of the interefts of

Pruffia,

Yuba, during the negotiations at
Laseville, Lucchefini had for
me time maintained an ascendant
eter the mind of his royal mafter.
It was chiefly by his counfels that
theafairs of Pruffia were then di-
rected.

It was not by fecret intrigues
' that Buonaparte fet himself to
mile a general confederacy against
England. He avowed this inten-
tion, with the reafons on which it
was formed, before the whole world,
in a mellage to the legislative body,
the tribunate, and the conferva-
tive fenate, February 13, refpecting
the treaty that had been recently
made with Auftria; and which,
as his other meflages and mea-
lures, was printed and published.
"Why," fays he," is it, that this
treaty is not a treaty of general
pacification: This was the wifh of

[81

France! This was the conftant ob. ject of the efforts of its government. But all its efforts have been in vain. Europe knows all that the British miniftry have done, to prevent the fuccefs of the negotiations at Lunerized by the government, declare ville. In vain did an agent, authoto them; on the 9th of October, enter into a feparate negotiation 1800, that France was ready to with them. answered only by a refufal, under the pretext that England could not Its declaration was abandon her ally. Since that period, and after that ally had confented to treat without England, this government feeks for other is to neceffary to the whole world. means of postponing peace, which It violates a convention confecrated by humanity, and makes war on fishermen.t It advances pretenfions

It did not feem at all neceffary to enter into any history of the negotiations at Lune*. The bufinefs tranfacted with the Auftrians lay in a narrow compfs, and was, in fact, for the most part, tianfacted at Paris. The emperor refufed at firft to conclude any treaty for peace, but in conjunction with his aly, Great Britain. After the battle of Hobinlinden, the progrefs of the French armies in the hereditary dominons, and the pafage of the Mincio, and the Adige, by the army under general Brune, there was no lenger room for negotiation. The emperor was at the mercy of Buonaparte. Befides, the negotiations, whether at Luneville, or Paris, were not like thofe of Raftadt, in 1798, of a public, but of a fecret, nature. By the prefence of count Cobentzel, for fome time at Paris, inftead of Luneville, the delays that must have arifen, from the neceflity of an intermediate agent, were avoided. invefted at once with the character of prime minifter, and plenipotentiary. it was Buonaparte and count Cobentzel, that concluded the treaty of Campo Formio, The Auftrian negotiation was they had confiderable facilities in bringing the new arrangements to an iffe. there arrived, befides the Pruffian minister, ambassadors from the duke of Bavaria, the And, as margrave of Baden, the pope, and the duke of Parma. The count de Cobentzel, on At Paris, the 7th of November, accompanied by Jofeph Buonaparte, returned to Luneville, and again, after the armiftice of Steyer, to Paris. The appearance of a negotiation at Luneviile was tuents were fitted up in the caftle of Luneville for the Auftrian and the French minifters. not interrupted by the renewal of hoftilities. Magnificent apartA telegraph, for correfponding with Paris, was erected on the top of the caitle. The prefence of fo many diplomatic characters, gave an air of mystery and importance to matters; there was, however, very little done but what was public enough,, and of that there was, indeed, a great deal a never-ceafing fucceffion of public bals, dinners, and other entertainments. The politenefs, mutual civilities, and magrificence, that prevailed, feemed a triumph over the reign, of the committees of the Conventional affembly, and the directory.

† Orders had been given, January, 1800, to the English privateers to capture all French fifhermen: but, as full liberty of afhing on their coafts to all nations was allowed by VOL. XLII.

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the

82] ANNUAL REGISTER, 1801.

fions contrary to the dignity and
All the
the rights of all nations.
commerce of Afia, and immenfe
colonies, are no longer fufficient to
fatisfy its ambition. It is neceflary
tha, all the feas thould be fubje&ted
to the exclufive lovereignty of Eng-
land. It arms againft Ruflia, Den-
mark, and Sweden, because Ruffia,
Denmark, and Sweden; have, by
treaties mutually guarantied their
fovereignty, their independence,
and their flags. The powers of the
north,unjustly attacked, have a right
to rely on the affiftance of France.
The French government will, with

them, avenge an injury common le
all nations, without at any time for-
getting, that it ought to contend
In all
only for peace and the happiness of
the world." The fame language
was held by the tribunes.
"The liberty of the
the fong was,
their harangues the chief burden of
feas, and the repofe of Europe:" the
glory of all which, it was always
underflood, would be principally
due to the great nation.

Nor, in the great bufinefs of
routing a general confederacy
Many pieces
againft England, was the prefs
neglected.

were

the French, thefe orders, on the 30th of May, were revoked. There appeared, however, to the British miniftry, ground to believe that these fishermen were put into requifition and fent into Breft, to equip and arm the fleet, and that thofe who had been permitted to leave the prifons of this country, and return home, on the exprefs condition of not ferving in the navy, were alfo compiled in that requifition. Orders were therefore given, towards the end of January, 1801, that the orders which had been iffued in January, Sco, fhould avain he put in execution in every thing, relating to fishermen and their vefiels. And the commiffioners charged with the fervice of transports, and the care of prisoners of war, were ordered to require, in the ufeal mode of communication, that all thofe difcharged on their parcle, fhould be obliged to return to this country, and to fignify to them, as well as to the French government, that fuch of them as fhould neglect to obey thefe orders, fhould be treated with all the rigour of the laws of war, in cafe they fhould be made prifoners again in the fervice of the enemies of his majefty. This notice from the British government produced the recall of Mr. Otto, with the copy of a note from Talleyrand, by orders from the chief conful, which he (Mr. Otto), on his departure, was to addrefs to the British government. The note ftated, "That if, on one part, this act of the British government, contrary to all the ufages of civilized nations, and to the common law which regulated them even in time of war, gave to the prefent war a character of fury and violence, on the other it was impoffible for him not to acknowledge that the conduct of the English government refpecting the point in question, tended to exafperate the two rations more, and to remove the period of peace to a ftill greater diftance: that, in confequence, the undersigned could no longer remain in a The undersigned had therefore country, where the government not only abjured all difpofition for peace, but where the Jaws and ufages of war were defpifed and violated. orders to quit England, where his continuance was, in every refpect; ufelefs, and he was charged, at the fame time, to declare that the French government, whose first wish had always been to contribute to the general pacification, and with whom it had always been, to foften, as much as poflible, the calamities of war, cannot think of rendering miferable fishermen the victims of the prolongation of hoftilities; that it had ordered, on the contrary, that the French privateers or cruifers fhould continue to leave the fishery free and undisturbed." If the French government had fraudulently obtained the release of men from our prisons, as fishermen, who really were not fuch, our government had reafon On the other hand, it could fcarcely he fuppofed that the French fisherto complain. men fhould be exempted from being preffed, in order to be exempted from being cap. tured. The clafs of fishermen fupply hands for the British navy. The English miniftry, on a due confideration of all circumftances, gave up the harsh measure complained of; and Mr. Otto remained in England.

published

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