dependence of the islands of Malta, Gozo, and Comino, and of the other arrangements of that article.

No. 33. Extract of a Dispatch from Sir John Borlase Warren to Lord Hackesbury, dated St. Petersburgh, Nov. 18, 1802.

On the 3d instant, I waited upon the chancellor with general Hedouville, when the note of invitation for his imperial majesty's guarantee of the tenth article of the treaty of Amiens was presented by each of

us.

General de Hedouville entered into various reasons to induce the Russian government to grant the guarantee; the principal of which was to prove, that, without the guarantee of Russia, either of the two powers, upon the first difference between them, would look upon themselves at liberty to seize upon the island, which was only important in a military point of view; and the only alteration he should make in his invitation was, that the island might be delivered up to the Neapolitan troops.-He added, that the act of guarantee would not be considered as affecting the arrangement of any particular power with the order, or of any alteration that power might wish to make in the baillages, or that part belonging to itself, as Spain had already done.

No. 34. Extract of a Dispatch from Sir John Borlase Warren to Lord Hawkesbury, dated St. Petersburgh, Nov. 25, 1802.

The chancellor appointed yesterday evening for delivering to me, and to the French minister, the answer of the Russian government to

his majesty's invitation for his imperial majesty's accession to the tenth article of the treaty of Amiens.

Inclosure referred to in No. 34. Conditions upon which his imperial majesty of all the Russias is willing to accede to the stipulations of the 10th article of the treaty of Amiens.

I. The acknowledgment of the sovereignty of the order of St. John of Jerusalemover the island of Malta and its dependencies; the acknowledgment of the grand master, and of the civil government of the order, according to its ancient institutions, with the admission into it of native Maltese. Upon this point, as well as upon every other that may relate to its interior organization, the legal government of the order shall have the power to enact and prescribe such regulations as it may judge hest calculated to promote the future welfare and prosperity of the order.

11. The rights of the king of the Two Sicilies, as suzerain of the island, shall remain upon the same footing as they were previous to the war which is now terminated by the treaty of Amiens.

III. The independence and neutrality of the island of Malta, its ports and dependencies, shall be secured and guaranteed by the respective contracting powers, who shall mutually engage to acknowledge and maintain that neutrality in all cases of war; whether between each other, or between any of them, and any other power, not excepting his Sicilian majesty, whose right of suzerainty shall not extend so as to enable him to cause a departure from the neutrality of the

island,

island, as guaranteed by the present

act.

IV. Until the order shall be in a situation to provide, by its own resources, for the maintenance of its independence and neutrality, as secured by the preceding article, as well as for the defence of their principal residence, the different forts shall be occupied by his Sicilian majesty's troops, who shall send a sufficient force for the defence of the island and its dependencies, the number of which shall be agreed upon by his said majesty and the two contracting powers, who shall take upon themselves, conjointly, the expence of maintaining the whole of the said troops, so long as the defence of the island shall continue to be entrusted to them, during which period, the said troops shall be under the authority of the grand master of his government.

V. The present additional act shall be considered as forming an integral part of the treaty of Amiens, the same as if it had been inserted therein, word for word, and shall be executed in like manner.

VI. Their majesties the emperor of all the Russias, the emperor of the Romans, the king of Spain, the king of the Two Sicilies, and the king of Prussia, shall be invited to accede to this act as guarantees.

(Signed) Comte Alexandre de Woronzow.

vited me, some days ago, for this. purpose. The communication he had to make to me related to two points, both equally important, as he said, to the maintenance of good harmony between the two countries; with this difference, however, that the one originated with himself, and was dictated by his anxiety to do away every thing which might feed the mutual irritation of the two countries; and the other, by the express order of the first consul. That which came from himself related to the English newspapers, against which he pronounced a most bitter philippic, assuring me, that the first consul was extremely hurt to find that his endeavours to conci. liate, had hitherto produced no other effect, than to increase the abuse with which the papers in England continually loaded him. He expatiated much upon this topic, and endeavoured to establish a fact, which I assured him a reference to any one newspaper in Paris would instantly refute, that, during four months, not a word of provocation had appeared in any French journal, which could justify a retort from those published in England. For the rest, he advanced nothing but what has been said, on more than one occasion to Mr. Merry, and reported by him to your lordship. I was, however, given to understand, that the first consul was, in fact, highly incensed, and the more so, he was pleased to say, as it came from a country of whose good opinion he was so very ambi

but as a national retaliation for what was published in the French papers-secondly, that what was officially published here, was by no means so in England-and, thirdly, that although the government possessed a control over the press in France, the English government neither had, nor could have, unless they purchased it at the same price, any whatever in England. Upon this, he endeavoured to prove to me, that there were papers in England attached to different parties, and went over their names and supposed connection with great preci sion; and that, consequently, his majesty's ministers might so far control those, at least, which depended upon them, as to prevent their inserting that abuse which must be considered as having their sanction. I endeavoured to explain to him what the influence was, which he supposed ministers to possess in England; that it amounted to nothing more than a preference which your lordship, for instance, might give to one paper rather than to another, by sending to it any articles of news which it might be wished to make public; but that your lordship's influence went no far. ther; and that, if the editor of such a paper conceived it more for his interest to continue to write after his own fancy, and uncontrolled, than to be the publisher of such occasional articles, in that case, all influence was at an end. I told him, that if he had remarked any abusive article in any paper of such a description, it was natural and fair to conclude, that it did not depend upon government to prevent it. He persisted in his opinion, that his majesty's ministers might keep certain papers in order, as I did, in assuring him,

that, until the first consul could so far master his feelings, ás to be indifferent to the scurrility of the English prints, as the English government was to that which daily appeared in the French, this state of irritation was irremediable. I told him, however, that I would report the substance of this communication to your lordship, although I could assure him that your lordship could add nothing to the expla nation which had been given, and in such detail, by Mr. Merry from your lordship.

M. Talleyrand, with great solemnity, required of me to inform him, and this by the express order of the first consul, what were his majesty's intentions with regard to the evacuation of Malta. He again, on this occasion, made great professions of his sincere desire to set aside every thing which could interrupt the good understanding between the two governments; adding, that it was absolutely necessary that the French government should know what it was meant to do, when that clause in the treaty of Amiens, which stipulates the cession of Malta, should be fully accomplished. He said that another grand master would now be very soon elected ; that all the powers of Europe, invited so to do, with the exception of Russia, whose difficulties it was easy to remove, and without whom the guarantee would be equally complete, were ready to come forward; and that, consequently, the term would very soon arrive, when Great Britain could have no pretext for keeping longer possession. I informed him that I would report his conversation to your lordship, and would have the honour of communicating to him your lordship's

answer

In answer to your excellency's dispatch of January 27, relative to the enquiry made of you, by the French government, on the subject of Malta, I can have no difliculty in assuring you, that his majesty has entertained a most sincere desire that the treaty of Amiens might be executed in a full and complete manner; but it has not been possible for him to consider this treaty as having been founded on principles different from those which have been invariably applied to every other antecedent treaty of convention, namely, that they were negociated with reference to the actual state of possession of the different partics, and of the treaties of public engagements by which they were bound at the time of its conclusion; and that if that state of possession, and of engagements, was so materially altered by the act of either of the parties, as to affect the nature of the compact itself, the other party has a right, according to the law of nations, to interfere for the purpose of obtaining satisfaction or compensation for any essential difference which such acts may have subsequently made in their relative situation; that, if there ever was a case to which this principle might be applied with peculiar propriety, it was that of the late treaty of peace; for

the negociation was conducted on a basis not merely proposed by his majesty, but specially agreed to in an official note by the French government, viz. that his majesty should keep a compensation out of his conquests for the important ac quisitions of territory made by France upon the continent. This is a sufficient proof that the compact was understood to have been conIcluded with reference to the then existing state of things; for the measure of his majesty's compensation was to be calculated with reference to the acquisitions of France at that time; and if the interference of the French government in the general affairs of Europe, since that period; if their interposition with respect to Switzerland and Holland, whose independence was guaranteed by them at the time of the conclusion of the treaty of peace; if the annexations which have been made to France in various quarters, but particularly those in Italy, have extended the territory, and increased the power of the French government; his majesty would be war. ranted, consistently with the spirit of the treaty of peace, in claiming equivalents for these acquisitions, as a counterpoise to the augmentation of the power of France. His majesty, however, anxious to pre.. vent all ground of misunderstanding, and desirous of consolidating the general peace of Europe, as far as might be in his power, was willing to have waved the pretensions he might have a right to advance of this nature; and as the other articles of the definitive treaty have been in a course of execution on his part, so he would have been ready to have carried into effect the true intent and spirit of the 10th article, the

execution