by an English messenger, the answer which his majesty may command me to return to it.

I have the honour to be, with the highest consideration, &c.

GEORGE CANNING.

No. XIX.-Official Note, Dec. 9.

The undersigned, his majesty's principal secretary of state for foreign affairs, has laid before the king, his master, the note transmitted to him by his excellency M. de Cham-` pagny, dated the 28th of November.

He is especially commanded by his majesty to abstain from noticing any of those topics and expressions insulting to his majesty, to his allies, and to the Spanish nation, with which the official note transmitted by M. de Champagny abounds.

His majesty was desirous to have treated for a peace which might have arranged the respective interests of all the powers engaged in the war on principles of equal justice; and his majesty sincerely regrets that this desire of his majesty is disappointed.

But his majesty is determined not to abandon the cause of the Spanish nation, and of the legitimate monarchy of Spain; and the pretension of France to exclude from the negociation the central and supreme government, acting in the name of his catholic majesty, Ferdinand VII., is one which his majesty could not adnit, without acquiescing in an usurpation which has no parallel in the history of the world. GEORGE CANNING.

No. XX.-Letter from Count Nicolas de Romanzoff to Mr Canning. Paris, 1st (13th) Dec.

SIR,--The messenger which I had

dispatched to your excellency is returned to this place, and has brought me the letter which you did me the honour to write to me on the 7th of December. Some hours afterwards, the messenger whom your excellency has sent to Paris delivered to me, from your excellency, a letter without date, which was accompanied by a note, dated the 9th of December. I shall transmit the whole for the information of the emperor my master. I avail myself of this opportunity to renew to your excellency the assurances of the high consideration with which I have the honour to be, &c.

COUNT N. DE ROMANZOFF.

No XXI.-Letter from M. de Champagny to Mr Canning. Paris, December 13.

SIR, I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your excellency's letter of the 9th instant, together with the official note that accompanied it. I shall lose no time in laying this note before the emperor my master. of this opportunity to renew to your I avail myself excellency the assurances of the high

consideration with which I have the

honour to be, &c. CHAMPAGNY.

No. 42.-Rupture of the Negociation between England, France, and Russia-Declaration.

The overtures made to his majes. of France have not led to negocia ty by the governments of Russia and tion; and the intercourse to which those overtures gave rise being terminated, his majesty thinks it right thus promptly and publicly to make known its termination. The continued appearance of a negociation, when peace has been found to be ut terly unattainable, could be advantageous only to the enemy. It might

enable France to sow distrust and jealousy in the councils of those who are combined to resist her oppression: and if, among the nations which groan under the tyranny of French alliance, or among those which maintain against France a doubtful and precarious independence, there should be any which even are balancing between the certain ruin of a prolonged inactivity and the contingent dangers of an effort to save themselves from that ruin,-to nations so situated, the delusive prospect of a peace between Great Britain and France could not fail to be peculiarly injurious. Their preparations might be relaxed, by the vain hope of returning tranquillity, or their purpose shaken, by the apprehension of being left to contend alone. That such was, in fact, the main object of France in the proposals transmitted to his majesty from Erfurth, his majesty entertained a strong persuasion. But at a moment when results so awful from their importance, and so tremendous from their uncertainty, might be depending upon the decision of peace or war, the king felt it due to himself to ascertain, beyond the possibility of doubt, the views and intentions of his enemies.

It was difficult for his majesty to believe that the emperor of Russia had devoted himself so blindly and fatally to the violence and ambition of the power with which his imperial majesty had unfortunately become allied, as to be prepared openly to abet the usurpation of the Spanish monarchy, and to acknowledge and maintain the right assumed by France to depose and imprison friendly sovereigns, and forcibly to transfer to herself the allegiance of independent nations.

When, therefore, it was proposed to his majesty to enter into negociation for a general peace, in concert with his majesty's allies, and to treat either on the basis of the uti possidetis (heretofore the subject of so much controversy) or on any other basis consistent with justice, honour, and equality, his majesty determined to meet this seeming fairness and moderation with fairness and moderation on his majesty's part, real and sincere. The king professed his readiness to enter into such negociation in concurrence with his allies, and undertook forthwith to communicate to them the proposals which his majesty had received. But as his majesty was not connected with Spain by a formal treaty of alliance, his majesty thought it necessary to declare that the engagements which he had contracted, in the face of the world, with that nation, were considered by his majesty as no less sacred, and no less binding upon his majesty, than the most solemn treaties; and to express his majesty's just confidence that the government of Spain, acting in the name of his catholic majesty, Ferdinand the Seventh, was understood to be a party to the negociation. The reply returned by France to this proposition of his majesty casts off at once the thin disguise, which had been assumed for a momentary purpose, and displays, with less than ordinary reserve, the arrogance and injustice of that government. The universal Spanish nation is described by the degrading appellation of " the Spanish insurgents;" and the demand for the admission of the government of Spain as a party to any negociation is rejected, as inadmissible and insulting. With astonishment, as well as with grief, his majesty has recei

ved from the emperor of Russia a reply similar in effect, although less indecorous in tone and manner. The emperor of Russia also stigmatizes, as "insurrection" the glorious efforts, of the Spanish people in behalf of their legitimate sovereign, and in defence of the independence of their country; thus giving the sanction of his imperial majesty's authority to an usurpation which has no parallel in the history of the world. The king would readily have embraced an opportunity of negociation which might have afforded any hopes or prospect of a peace compatible with justice

and with honour. His majesty deeply laments an issue by which the sufferings of Europe are aggravated and prolonged. But neither the honour of his majesty, nor the generosity of the British nation, would admit of his majesty's consenting to commence a negociation by the abandonment of a brave and loyal people, who are contending for the preservation of all that is dear to man, and whose exertions, in a cause so unquestionably just, his majesty has solemnly pledged himself to sustain.

Westminster, Dec. 15, 1808.

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