precisely at the time of this decree, and since on several different occasions.

Yet notwithstanding all these proofs, supported by other circumstances which are but too notorious, it would have been with pleasure that we should have seen here such exsatisfied the dignity and honour of England planations and such a conduct as would have with respect to what has already passed; and would have offered a sufficient security in future for the maintenance of that respect towards the rights, the government, and the tranquillity of neutral powers, which they have on every account the right to expect.

Neither this satisfaction, nor this security, is found in the terms of an explanation which still declares to the promoters of sedition in every country, what are the cases in which they may count beforehand on the support and succour of France; and which reserves to that country the right of mixing herself in our internal affairs, whenever she shall judge it proper, and on principles incompatible with the political institutions of all the countries of Europe. No one can avoid perceiving how much a declaration like this is calculated to

I have received, Sir, from you a note, in which, styling yourself minister plenipotentiary of France, you communicate to me, as the king's secretary of state, the instructions which you state to have yourself received from the Executive Council of the French republic. You are not ignorant, that since the unhappy events of the 10th of August, the king has thought proper to suspend all official communication with France. You are yourself no otherwise accredited to the king, than in the name of his most Christian majesty. The proposition of receiving a minister accredited by any other authority or power in France, would be a new question, which, whenever it should occur, the king would have the right to decide according to the in-encourage disorder and revolt in every counterests of his subjects, his own dignity, and try. No one can be ignorant how contrary it the regard which he owes to his allies, and to is to the respect which is reciprocally due the general system of Europe. I am there- from independent nations, nor how repugnant fore to inform you, Sir, in express and formal to those principles which the king has folterms, that I acknowledge you in no other lowed on his part, by abstaining at all times public character than that of minister from from any interference whatever in the internal his most Christian majesty, and that conse-affairs of France; and this contrast is alone quently you cannot be admitted to treat with the king's ministers, in the quality and under the form stated in your note."

sufficient to show, not only that England cannot consider such an explanation as satisfactory, but that she must look upon it as a fresh avowal of those dispositions which she sees with so just an uneasiness and jealousy.

But observing that you have entered into explanations of some of the circumstances which have given to England such strong I proceed to the two other points of your grounds of uneasiness and jealousy, and that explanation, which concern the general dispoyou speak of these explanations as being of a sition of France with regard to the allies of nature to bring our two countries nearer, I Great Britain, and the conduct of the Conhave been unwilling to convey to you the noti-vention and its officers relative to the Scheldt. fication stated above, without, at the same time, explaining myself clearly and distinctly on the subject of what you have communicated to me, though under a form which is neither regular nor official.

Your explanations are confined to three points.

The first is that of the decree of the National Convention of the 19th November, in the expressions of which, all England saw the formal declaration of a design to extend universally the new principles of government adopted in France, and to encourage disorder and revolt in all countries, even in those which are neutral. If this interpretation, which you represent as injurious to the Convention, could admit of any doubt, it is but too well justified by the conduct of the Convention itself: and the application of these principles to the king's dominions has been shown unequivocally, by the public reception given to the promoters of sedition in this country, and by the speeches made to them

The declaration which you there make, that France will not attack Holland so long as that power shall observe an exact neutrality, is conceived nearly in the same terms with that which you were charged to make in the name of his most Christian majesty, in the month of June last. Since that first declaration was made, an officer, stating himself to be employed in the service of France, has openly violated both the territory and the neutrality of the republic, in going up the Scheldt to attack the citadel of Antwerp, notwithstanding the determination of the government not to grant this passage, and the formal protest by which they opposed it. Since the same declaration was made, the Convention has thought itself authorized to annul the rights of the republic exercised within the limits of its own territory, and enjoyed by virtue of the same treaties by which her independence is secured; and at the very moment when, under the name of an amicable explanation, you renew to me in the same terms the pro

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Copies of Correspondence between

mise of respecting the independence and the rights of England and her allies, you announce to me, that those in whose name you speak intend to maintain these open and injurious aggressions.

It is not, certainly, on such a declaration as this that any reliance can be placed for the continuance of public tranquillity.

But I am unwilling to leave, without a more particular reply, what you say on the subject of the Scheldt. If it were true that this question is in itself of little importance, this would only serve to prove more clearly, that it was brought forward only for the purpose of insulting the allies of England, by the infraction of their neutrality, and by the violation of their rights, which the faith of treaties obliges us to maintain. But you cannot be ignorant, that here the utmost importance is attached to those principles which France wishes to establish by this proceeding, and to those consequences which would naturally result from them, and that not only those will never principles and those consequences be admitted by England, but that she is, and ever will be, ready to oppose them with all her force

France can have no right to annul the stipulations relative to the Scheldt, unless she have also the right to set aside equally all the other treaties between all the powers of Europe, and all the other rights of England, or of her allies. She can even have no pretence to interfere in the question of opening the Scheldt, unless she were the sovereign of the Low Countries, or had the right to dictate laws to all Europe.

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| as may be real and solid, and consistent with the interests and dignity of his own dominions, and with the general security of Europe.

On the rest of your paper, I say nothing. As to what relates to me and my colleagues, the king's ministers owe to his majesty the account of their conduct, and I have no answer to give to you on this subject, any more than on that of the appeal which you propose to make to the English nation. This nation, according to that constitution by which its liberty and its prosperity are secured, and which it will always be able to defend against every attack, direct or indirect will never have with foreign powers connexion or correspondence, except through the organ of its king; of a king whom it loves and reveres, and who has never for an instant separated his rights, his interests, and his happiness, from the rights, the interests, and the happiness of his GRENVILLE. people. I have the honour to be, &c.

No. XV. Translation of a NOTE from M. Chauvelin to Lord Grenville, dated Jan. 7,1793. (Original returned.)

The undersigned minister plenipotentiary from the French republic has transmitted to the executive council the answer which his excellency lord Grenville has addressed to him on his note of the 27th December. He has thought it his duty not to wait for the instructions which will be the necessary result of it, in order to transmit to that minister the new orders which he has received from the Executive Council. The declaration which lord Grenville has made to him, that his Britannic majesty did not acknowledge him as minister plenipotentiary from the French republic, has not appeared to him as if it ought to prevent him. This declaration cannot in any respect alter or destroy the quality of delegate from the French government, with which the undersigned is evidently invested, or hinder him, in such decisive circumstances, from addressing to the ministers of his Britannic majesty, in the name of the French people, of which he is the organ, the following note:

England never will consent that France shall arrogate the power of annulling at her pleasure, and under the pretence of a pretended natural right, of which she makes herself the only judge, the political system of Europe, established by solemn treaties, and guaranteed by the consent of all the powers. This government, adhering to the maxims which it has followed for more than a century, will also never see with indifference, that France shall make herself, either directly or indirectly, sovereign of the Low Countries, or general arbitress of the rights and liberties The Executive Council of the French repubof Europe. If France is really desirous of maintaining friendship and peace with Eng-lic has been informed that the British parlia land, she must show herself disposed to renounce her views of aggression, and aggrandizement, and to confine herself within her own territory, without insulting other governments, without disturbing their tranquillity, without violating their rights.

With respect to that character of ill-will which is endeavoured to be found in the conduct of England towards France, I cannot discuss it, because you speak of it in general terms only, without alleging a single fact. All Europe has seen the justice and the generosity which have characterized the conduct of the king. His majesty has always been desirous of peace: he desires it still, but such ተ

ment is about to pass a law relative to foreigners, the rigorous provisions of which will subject them to measures the more arbitrary, as the secretaries of state of his Britannic majesty will have the liberty of restraining or extending them, according to their views and their pleasure. The Executive Council, knowing the religious fidelity of the English people in fulfilling their engagements, could not but suppose that the French would be expressly excepted from this law. The treaty of navigation and of commerce, concluded in 1786 between the states, ought formally to secure them from it. This treaty stipulates, Art. 4. "The subjects and inhabitants of the

respective dominions of the two sovereigns shall have liberty to come and go freely and securely, without licence or passport, general or special, by land or by sea, and to return from thence, to remain there, or to pass through the same, and therein to buy and purchase, as they please, all things necessary for their subsistence and use, and they shall mutually be treated with all kindness and favour. Provided however, &c. &c."

But instead of finding in the bill proposed a just exception in favour of France, the Executive Council has been convinced, by positive declarations made in the two Houses of Parliament, by ministerial explanations and interpretations, that this project of a law, under a general term of designation, was principally directed against the French.

When the British ministry has proposed a law which would so expressly violate the treaty of commerce, when they have openly announced their intention of putting it into execution against the French alone, their first care, must no doubt, have been to attempt to cover this extraordinary measure with an appearance of necessity, and to prepare before hand a justification, sooner or later necessary, by loading the French nation with reproaches; by representing it to the English people as an enemy of its constitution; by accusing it, without being able to furnish any proof, and in the most injurious terms, with having sought to foment troubles in England. The Executive Council has already repelled with indignation such suspicions. If some men, cast out from the bosom of France, have spread themselves in Great Britain with the criminal intention of agitating the people, of leading them to revolt, has not England laws to protect the public order? Could she not punish them? The republic would assuredly not have interposed in their favour.-Such men are not Frenchmen.

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subjected to an act of parliament, which would grant to the English government the most arbitrary latitude of authority against foreigners, which would subject them to the taking licenses or passports for coming, going, and remaining in England; which would allow the secretaries of state to subject them without reasons, and on a mere suspicion, to the most odious forms, to fix a circuit, the bounds of which they could not pass, and even to cast them out of the territory of Great Britain at their pleasure.

It is evident, that all these clauses are contrary to the letter of the treaty of commerce; the fourth article of which extends to alí Frenchmen without distinction; and it is too much to be feared, that in consequence of the determination which his Britannic majesty has thought it right to take, of breaking off all communication between the governments of the two countries, even the French merchants may find themselves frequently unable to avail themselves of the exception which the bill has made in favour of those who "shall prove that they came to England for affairs of commerce."

It is thus that the British government has first chosen to break a treaty to which England owes a great part of its actual prosperity, burthensome to France, wrested by address and ability from the unskilfulness or from the corruption of the agents of a government it has destroyed; a treaty which it has, however, never ceased to observe religiously; and it is at the very moment when France is accused in the British parliament of violating treaties, that the public conduct of the two governments offers a contrast so proper to justify the retorting the accusation.

All the powers of Europe would have a right, doubtless, to complain of the hardship of this bill, if ever it obtained the force of law; but it is France, especially the inhabitants of which, secured from its penalties by a solemn treaty, appear nevertheless to be exclusively menaced by them; it is France that has the right to pretend to a more speedy and more particular satisfaction.

Reproaches so little founded, imputations so insidious, will with difficulty succeed in justifying in the eyes of Europe a conduct, the comparison of which with that constantly held by France towards Great Britain will suffice to demonstrate its injustice and male- The Executive Council might immediately volence. The French nation become free, have accepted the rupture of the treaty which has not only not ceased to express in all forms the English government seems to have held its desire to strengthen its connexion with the out to it; but it was unwilling to precipitate English people, but it has realised this desire any of its measures; and it has chosen, bewith all its power, by receiving as allies, as fore it makes known its definitive resolution, brothers, all the individuals of the English to afford the British ministry the opportunity nation. In the midst of the combats of of a frank and candid explanation. The unliberty and of despotism, in the midst of the dersigned has received orders, in consequence, most violent agitations, it has honoured itself to demand of lord Grenville to inform him by by a religious respect for all foreigners re- a speedy, clear, and categorical answer, whesiding within it, and particularly for the Eng-ther under the general denomination of folish, whatever might be their opinions, their conduct, and their connexions with the enemies of liberty; every where they have been assisted, succoured with every kind of benevolence and favour; and it would be as the reward for this generous conduct that the French would find themselves perhaps alone [VOL. XXX. ]

reigners in the bill on which the Houses are occupied, the government of Great Britain means likewise to include the French.

(Signed) CHAUVELIN, Portman-square, Jan. 7, 1973. Second year of the French Republic,

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than an hostile partiality against France, if it No. XVI.-NOTE from Lord Grenville to M. is true that the custom-houses received orders Chauvelin, January 7, 1793.

After the formal notification which the undersigned has already had the honour of making to M. Chauvelin, he finds himself obliged to send back to him the inclosed paper, which he received from him this morning, and which he cannot but consider as being totally inadmissible, M. Chauvelin assuming therein a character which is not acknowledged. (Signed)

GRENVILLE.

Whitehall, Jan. 7, 1793.
No. XVII. LETTER from M. Chauvelin to
Lord Grenville, dated January 7, 1793,

received 9th.

Portman-square, January 7, 1793, 2d year of the French Republic. My lord; the king of England has prohibited, by a proclamation of the 15th of November, the exportation of grain and flour. Several vessels lawfully freighted, and ready to depart for France, the government whereof had ordered considerable purchases of those commodities in the ports of England, have been stopped, notwithstanding the law which enacts that the ports shall not be shut till fifteen days after the date of the proclamation; and the British ministry have themselves acknowledged the irregularity of some of their measures, by applying to parliament for an act of indemnity. However, the French government, relying at that time on the good dispositions of the British ministry, beheld in those measures of vigour only the effect of the foresight and wisdom of the English administration, and did not think it necessary to

remonstrate.

Another proclamation, which soon followed the first, except all foreign wheat from the prohibition of exportation; it was guarantecing to all Europe the security of transports, by removing, in an authentic and solemn manner, all the doubts to which the first proclamation might have given rise; it was insuring to the English commerce a considerable repository; it was above all distinguishing the ports of Great Britain as a sacred asylum for such vessels laden with grain, and destined for France, as, for their convenience, or by necessity, might be in the case of stopping in their course.

Four weeks after that declaration, some vessels laden with foreign grain, on account of France, were stopped in the English ports; and when the merchants who were commissioned made their claims, they were coldly answered, that it was by order of government. France, my lord, might still have persuaded herself that some recent and unexpected information upon the state of provisions in Great Britain had obliged administration to take such extraordinary measures; but the English government itself took care to prove to Europe that it had no other motive

to permit the exportation of foreign wheat to
all ports, except those of France.

This fact, my lord, has been attested to me by respectable authorities; and however accumulated may be the marks of malevolence and jealousy which France has seen for some time in the conduct of the British cabinet, I still harbour doubts of it. I should, the first moment of my knowing it, have waited upon you, my lord, to be assured from yourself of its certainty, or its falsehood, if the determination taken by his Britannic majesty, in the present circumstances, to break off all communication between the governments of the two countries, had not rendered friendly and open steps the more difficult, in proportion as they became the more necessary.

But I considered, my lord, that when the question of war or peace arose between two powerful nations, that which manifested the desire of attending to all explanations, that which strove the longest to preserve the last link of union and friendship, was the only one which appeared truly worthy, and truly great. I beseech you, my lord, in the name of public faith, in the name of justice and of humanity, to explain to me facts which I will not characterise, and which the French nation would take for granted by your silence only, or by the refusal of an answer.

Think, my lord, that in the bosom of peace, far from all appearance of war, the English government has profited of the good faith of the merchants of Europe, and of the security of a neighbouring and friendly nation, to bring into its ports those commodities of which it supposed or knew the want in that country, if now that same ministry should take advantage of the first hostile measures, which they had either taken themselves, or provoked, to detain such commodities, in the hope, perhaps, that, in the midst of the agitations of that country, it would suffice, to excite the fear of want, to create it; they would only obtain, as the reward of such an act of perfidy, even by the success of their enterprise, the shame of having employed means, which even in the midst of a terrible war, an enlightened and generous nation must abhor, and of having sunk the credit of the English commerce, by violating the sacred asylum of its markets. I have the F. CHAUVELIN. honour, &c.

No. XVIII.-LETTER from Lord Grenville to M. Chauvelin, Whitehall, 9th January,

1793.

It was not till to-day, Sir, that I received your letter of the 7th of this month, relative to certain measures taken here with respect to the exportation of grain.

In the private conversation which we had the 29th of November, in consequence of your desire, I informed you that the king's ministers would not decline receiving non