Alexandria Advertiser And Commercial Intelligencer

PAPERS
Relative to the commencement of
NEGOCIATIONS OF PEACE
WITH
FRANCE.

(Continued.)

(No. 16.)
Downing-street, September 4, 1800.

SIR,

It appearing by a note received this day from M. Otto, that the French government has determined to make the continuance of the armistice between Austria and France, and the commencement of the negotiations for peace, depended on the conclusion of an armistice with this country it is just proper, in order that the ultimate decision on so important and extensive a question, may be taken with the fullest knowledge of all the considerations by which it ought to be governed that you should see M. Otto, and inquire of him, whether [as his note of the 30th ult. appears to intimate] he is furnished with a project of a treaty or naval truce; and in that case whether he is willing to communicate it to you for the information of his majesty's government.

You will further enquire, whether he is empowered and instructed to include in such treaty, his allies.

And lastly if his project should contain no article applicable to the question of moving the French and Spanish ships now in Brest, to any other station in or out of Europe, you will enquire whether M. Otto is authorised to enter into negotiation for the purpose of including proper stipulations on that subject in a treaty of the nature which his government has proposed,

I am, &c.

Signed,
GRENVILLE.

Evan Nepean, esquire.

(No. 17.)
London, September 4, 1800.

My Lord,

Since I had the honor of communicating to your lordship the conversation that had passed between me and M. Otto on the subject of the proposal for a naval armistice and the readiness he had expressed of furnishing me with a copy of the project, I have received from him the enclosed note and the project therein referred to.

I have the honor to be, &c.

Signed,
EVAN NEPEAN.

Lord Grenville.

(No. 18.)
TRANSLATION.

Project.

1. There shall be a suspension of hostilities between the fleets and armies of the French republic and those of Great Britain.

2. The ships of war and merchant vessels of each nation shall enjoy a free navigation, without being subject to any search. and shall observe the usage established previous to the war.

3. All vessels of either nation, captured after the -- Fructidor, shall be restored.

4. The places of Malta, Alexandria, and Belleisle, shall be assimilated to the places of Ulm, of Philipsburgh, and of Ingolstadt; that is to say, all neutral or French vessels shall have permission freely to enter them in order to furnish them with provisions.

5. The squadrons which blockade Brest, Cadiz, Toulon, and Flushing, shall return into their own harbors, or at least shall keep out of sight of the coast.

6. Three English officers shall be dispatched, one directly to the admiral commanding in the Mediterranean, another to the commander of the squadron before Malta, the third to the commander of the blockade of Alexandria, to notify to them the present armistice, and to convey to them orders to conform themselves thereto. The said officers shall pass through France, in order the more expeditiously to arrive at their destination.

7. His Catholic Majesty and the Batavian republic are included in the present armistice.

(No. 19.)
Note.

The only motive which could lead this court to entertain the discussion of a proposal so unusual in itself, and so disadvantageous to the interests of Great-Britain, as that of a maritime truce to precede negotiation, is the desire of contributing to facilitate the conclusion of a general peace; and the termination of the armistice on the continent, by an act of the French government, would put an end to all inducements to such a measure on the part of this country.

The necessity of receiving the King's commands on the project communicated by M. Otto, must prevent the undersigned from transmitting any reply to that paper before Sunday next. It is, therefore, for M. Otto to determine whether he will not think it proper immediately to write to his government to remark, that if France has proposed an armistice with Great-Britain, for the purpose of its leading to a general negotiation for peace, that object can only be attained by at least such a prolongation of the continental armistice, as will allow the time required for receiving the answer to the proposal made here.

Signed,
GRENVILLE.

Downing-street, Sept. 5, 1800.

(No. 20.)
Thursday evening, Sept. 4, 1800.

Citizen Otto presents his compliments to Mr. Nepean, and according to his desire, encloses a sketch of the treaty proposed by his government.

No. 21 contains a letter from Mr. Otto, dated Sept. 5, stating that the necessary passports shall be granted to Mr. Grenville and Mr. Garlike.

(No. 22.)
Translation

The undersigned received yesterday at four o'clock in the afternoon, the note which his excellency lord Grenville did him the honor to address him. It appeared to him to be of such high importance, that at the same hour he transmitted it by an extraordinary message to his government.

He hopes that it may arrive in time to produce the effect which his excellency has had in view; and if it serve to prolong for a few days the continental armistices, he will congratulate himself very much on having had it in his power to contribute thereunto.

He begs his excellency to accept the homage of his respectful consideration.

Signed,
OTTO.

Hereford-street, Sept. 6, 1800.

(No. 23.)
Note.

Lord Grenville presents his compliments to M. Otto, and sends him herewith the official answer to his last communication, on the subject of an armistice, together with the counter project therein referred to.

He requests M. Otto to accept the assurance of his high consideration.

Downing-street, Sept.7, 1800.

(No. 24.)
Note.

The undersigned has had the honor to lay before the king the official answer of the French government which he received from M. Otto on the 4th instant, and also the project of an armistice, communicated on the same day.

The spirit of that answer is unhappily but little consonant with those appearances of a conciliatory disposition which had before been manifested. If it be really practicable in the present moment to restore permanent tranquility to Europe, this object must be effected by very different means than those of such a controversy as that paper is calculated to produce.

Some reply is, however, indispensibly necessary to the assertions there advanced which, if now passed over, might hereafter be considered as admitted.

The articles which an Austrian officer, charged with no such commission persuaded to sign at Paris, do indeed appear to his majesty little calculated to terminate the calamities of Europe. But whatever be the tendency of the conditions which the French government has there specified, there can be no pretence for representing them as preliminaries concluded by Austria, or annulled by the intervention of his majesty.

The engagements by which the courts of London and Vienna have agreed not to treat except in concert with each other. were concluded before there was any question of those pretended preliminaries of
peace. And the first intimations which his anxiety received of their signatures, were accompanied by the express declaration of his ally that they were wholly unauthorized, and must be considered as absolutely null.

The French government could indeed expect no other determination to be taken by his Imperial Majesty. The want of all powers or instructions for such a treaty, on the part of the Austrian officer, was at the time distinctly notified by him to those who treated with him and is declared even on the very face of the paper which he signed.

With respect therefore to the supposed demand of his Majesty to be admitted to those negotiations, nothing more is necessary to be said. The note delivered to M. De Thugut, by Lord Minto, sufficiently explains the part which his Majesty is really disposed to take in any negotiation which may be regularly set on foot for a general peace.

The King has always been persuaded that the result of such a negotiation can alone effectually re-establish the tranquility of Europe.

Experience has confirmed this opinion, and it is only from the conviction of its truth that his Majesty has now been induced to waive his objection to the first proposal of a naval armistice, and to enter into the discussion of the conditions on which it may be established.

His Majesty judging from the experience of so many former negotiations considers such an armistice as in no degree likely either to expedite or facilitate an arrangement of the direct interests of Great Britain and France.

He views it in no other light than as a temporary advantage which it is proposed to him to yield to his enemy, in order to prevent the renewal of continental hostilities, and thereby to contribute to the conclusion of a general peace.

And on this ground notwithstanding the many disadvantages which he is sensible must result to the country, from such a measure, he is resolved to give to his allies and to all Europe this new pledge of the sentiments by which he is actuated, provided that his enemies are disposed to regulate the conditions of such an armistice, as far as the nature of the case will allow, in conformity to the obvious and established principle of such arrangements.

This principle is, that the respective position of the two parties should remain during the continuance of the armistice such as it was at its commencement; and that neither of them should by its operation acquire fresh advantages or new means of annoying his enemy; such as he could not otherwise obtain. The difficulty of doing this with the same precision in the case of naval operations, as by land, has already been adverted to in a former note; and it constitutes a leading objection to the measure itself.

But the French project instead of attempting to remove or lessen these difficulties, departs at once, and in every article from the principle itself, although expressly recognized and studiously maintained in the continental armistice, which is here reverted to as the foundation and model of this transaction.

It is proposed, in effect that the blockade of the naval ports and arsenals of the king's enemies should be raised; that they should be enabled to remove their fleets to any other stations, and to divide or collect their forces as they may judge most advantageous to their future plans: the importation both of provisions and of naval and military stores is to be wholly unrestrained. Even Malta and the ports of Egypt, though expressly stated to be now blockaded, are to be freely victualled, and for an unlimited period, in direct contradiction to the stipulations of the German armistice respecting Ulm and Ingolstadt, to which places it is nevertheless professed to assimilate them: and this government is expected to bind itself towards the allies of France even before any reciprocal engagement can be received from them; while, at the same time, all mention of the king's allies is, on the other hand, totally omitted.

To a proposal so manifestly repugnant to justice and equality; and so injurious not only to his Majesty's interests, but also those of his allies, it cannot be expected that any motive should induce the King to accede.

The counter-project which the undersigned has the honor to transmit to M. Otto contains regulations in this respect more nearly corresponding with that principle of equality on which alone his Majesty can consent to treat.

Even these articles are, in many important points, and particularly in what relates to the actual stations of his Majesty's squadrons, very far short of what his Majesty might justly demand from a reference to the general principle above stated, from analogy to the conditions of the continental armistice, or from the relative situation of naval force; and a confidence is reposed in the good faith of his enemies, which, although it can never be claimed in transactions between belligerent powers, his Majesty is nevertheless willing to hope he shall not find to have been misplaced on the present occasion.

If M. Otto is empowered to accede to these stipulations, a proper person will immediately be authorized to sign them on his Majesty's part; if not, he is requested to transmit them, without delay, to his government.

Signed,
GRENVILLE.
Downing-street, Sept. 7, 1800.
(No. 25.)
COUNTER PROJECT.

It having been agreed that negotiations for a general peace be immediately set on foot between the Emperor of Germany, his Britannic Majesty and the French Republic, and an armistice having been already concluded between the forces of his Imperial Majesty and those of the French Republic, it is agreed that an armistice shall also take place between the forces of his Britannic Majesty and those of the French Republic, on the terms and in the manner following, that is to say:

Article 1. All hostilities, both by sea and land, between the forces of the two contracting parties shall be suspended, and shall not be renewed until after 14 days notice given of the termination of the armistice. This notice, so far as relates to the parts of Europe north of Cape St. Vincent, must be given by one of the two governments to the other, and is to be reckoned from the day in which the same shall be received by the government to whom it is given. In the Mediterranean or other parts of the world, the notice must be given by the respective commanding officers. But in case of the renewal of hostilities between Austria and France, the armistice between Great Britain and France is likely to be considered as terminated, so soon as such renewal of hostilities shall be known to the officer commanding the British forces; except only so far as relates to prizes of merchant vessels, which shall be regulated by the third article of this convention.

Art. 2. Orders shall be immediately sent by the two governments to their officers in the different parts of the world, to conform themselves to this agreement; sea passes shall be given to the ships which are to carry these orders; and his Britannic Majesty's officers sent for that purpose through France shall be furnished with the necessary passports and facilities to expedite their journey.

Art. 3. All prizes made in any part of the world during the continuance and operations of the armistice, by any officers having actually received due notice of this agreement, shall be restored; and generally; whether such notice shall have been received or not, all prizes made in the Channel, or in the North Seas, after 12 days (to be reckoned from the exchange of the ratifications of this convention) shall be restored: and the same periods shall be allowed in this respect for the other parts of the world, as were stipulated by the 22d article of the preliminaries of the last peace.

Art. 4. Malta, and the maritime towns and ports of Egypt, shall be placed on the same footing as those places which, though comprised within the demarcation of the French army in Germany, are occupied by the Austrian troops, consequently nothing shall be admitted by sea which can give additional means of defence; and provisions only for fourteen days at a time, in proportion to the consumption, as it shall be ascertained by commissioners to be named for that purpose, who shall have power to establish the necessary regulations for giving effect to this stipulation, conformable to the principles of the 4th article of the convention concluded between the Austrian and the French general in Germany.

Art. 5. The blockade of Brest, Toulon, and any other of the ports of France, by his Majesty's fleets, shall be discontinued, and all British ships shall be instructed not to interrupt or obstruct the trade or navigation of any ships sailing to or from the coasts of France, except in the article of naval or military stores, which are not to be brought thither by sea during the present armistice. None of the ships of war now stationed in the said ports, respectively shall, before the renewal of hostilities be removed to any other station.

Art.6. The allies of the two parties shall severally be at liberty to accede to this armistice, if they so think fit; provided that they also engage to observe a like armistice, on conditions similar to those here specified, towards such of the allies on the other side as shall also accede to it.

The periods or terms to be fixed for the commencement of the armistice in the different quarters of the world as with respect to each of the said allies, are to be regulated in conformity to the stipulations contained in the third article of this convention as between Great Britain and France; and the said periods or terms are to be reckoned from the day on which the accession of such power to the armistice shall have been duly notified by such power to the party with whom it was at war. Such notification duly authenticated by the government on whose part it is made, may either be transmitted directly by couriers or flags of truce, or through the channel of the two contracting parties to each other reciprocally. The naval ports and arsenals of the allies of France are, during such armistice, to be placed on the same footing with those of France; and the notices which are to precede the renewal of hostilities, as well as all matters relating to such armistice, are to be regulated according to the terms of this Convention.

Article 7. This convention shall be ratified, and the ratifications shall be exchanged within the term of ten days, or sooner if the same be practicable.

(No. 26.)
TRANSLATION.
Hereford-street, September 8, 1800.
My Lord,

I received yesterday, at eleven o'clock at night, the note and the counter project which your excellency did me the honor to address to me. The principles contained in these two pieces are, in several respects so little analogous to the proposals which I have been directed to make, and the object of which was to compensate by a British armistice, the inconveniences which might result to France from the eventual prolongation of the German armistice, that I cannot take upon myself to admit them without previously receiving farther instructions. I have therefore complied with your excellency's intentions by transmitting to my government those two pieces, with as little delay as possible.

I have the honor to be, &c.
Signed
OTTO.

(No. 27.)
TRANSLATION.
Hereford-street, November 16, 1800.
My Lord,

I have the honor to address to your excellency the answer which my government has directed me to make to the note which you did me the honor to address to me. The First Consul, hoping that it is still possible to approximate the interests of the two governments, and their wishes for a speedy and solid peace, and being willing to give, on his part, a fresh proof of his pacific dispositions, has dispatched orders for deferring for some days longer, the attack which the French army had been directed to make upon the whole line.

I shall give verbally, either to your excellency, or to such person as you shall judge proper to appoint for that purpose satisfactory explanations, respecting the principal objections contained in your note of the 7th of this month, and I flatter myself, that they will produce the effect your excellency had in view, by making known to me, the intentions of his Majesty. The high importance of these communications, authorizes me to entreat, that you would give them every facility in your power.

I have the honor to be, with the most respectful consideration, my lord, your excellency's most obedient, and most humble servant,
Signed,
OTTO.

[To be Continued.]