Everything with the army goes on well. I send you a very good and clear despatch from Burghersh.

Stewart will give you the information you require, but I know of none necessary. You are lodged close to us both, and I will take care that your rooms are well aired. We have agreed to divide you; or, rather, you must give yourself up as a victim to us alternately. They say there is a very bad prospect in France for quarters, there being nothing but very small towns, or rather villages, in this part.

Meerfeldt and Esterhazy only wait your arrival to be introduced to you, and they will depart instantly—the latter certainly the other will be regulated by you.

I have written a despatch, which I will, however, keep till you come, in which I think the affair of the Low Countries, so far as Austria is concerned, is satisfactorily managed. Difficulties had arisen, in consequence of the way in which the Dutch went to work. We had three at a time; and the Prince, being little accustomed to the conduct of business, had not managed matters adroitly. I fancy there will be now no more trouble. I have got from Metternich a formal renunciation of the claim of Austria, and a desire on her part that these countries should contribute to strengthen Holland.

Believe me ever most sincerely,

ABERDEEN.

Lord Castlereagh to Prince Metternich and Baron Hardenberg.

Basle, January 18, 1814, 5 P.M.

Lord Castlereagh presents his compliments to Prince Metternich-Chancellor Hardenberg-and, having received the Prince Regent's orders, as principal Secretary of State for the Foreign Department, to proceed to the Continent on his Majesty's especial affairs, Lord Castlereagh has the honour to notify his arrival to Prince Metternich, and will do himself the honour of paying his respects to his Excellency, at any hour to-morrow he may be pleased to appoint.

VOL. IX.

N

Lord Castlereagh to Lord Cathcart.

Basle, January 18, 5 P.M.

My dear Lord-Finding at Freiberg from Mr. Gentz that there was yet a chance of finding the Emperor at this place, I pushed on, and arrived in fifty hours from Frankfort.

I regret that the audience, with which his Imperial Majesty intended to honour me, is thus delayed; but I shall endeavour to accelerate it as much as possible, and hope to get away from hence the day after to-morrow. Your lordship may assure his Imperial Majesty that I shall form no decisive opinion on any of the great questions now pending, without availing myself of his Imperial Majesty's enlightened views upon them severally; and I hope I do not presume too far in entreating his Imperial Majesty to keep his mind as open to what I may feel it my duty to submit on the part of Great Britain.

I trust the Emperor will be persuaded that my first object is to cement an alliance which has led to results so auspicious to the world, and to preserve to Europe, in the firmest bonds of union, that great confederacy which has saved it from destruction.

Yours ever, my dear lord, &c.,

CASTLEREAGH.

Lord Castlereagh to Lord Cathcart.

Basle, January 20, 1814.

My dear Lord-I find I cannot well move from hence before Saturday. I wish to make myself independent in my movements by getting horses, &c.; and I yet wish to hear a little more, now I am here, before I join you.

I have been presented to the Sovereigns here, and I have conversed with their respective Ministers at considerable length. I have to all desired to be understood as forming no decisive opinion myself on any subject, much less as declaring any on the part of my Government, till I have paid my duty to the

Emperor of Russia, and informed myself of all his Imperial Majesty's sentiments, if I may be permitted to do so, from his

own mouth.

For the moment, my dear lord, I believe it is unnecessary to add more. I am too impatient, for many reasons, to join you speedily to waste unnecessarily a moment here.

Yours, my dear lord, &c.,

CASTLEREAGH.

Lord Castlereagh to Lord Burghersh.

Basle, January 21, 1814.

My Lord-I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your lordship's two despatches of the [blank]. In that of [blank] I observe that your lordship has detailed the substance of a communication, entirely of a political nature, made by Prince Schwarzenberg to you upon the subject of the restoration of the Bourbon family to the throne of France. As the instructions you have received from me relate simply to points of military detail, I have to request that, whenever information of a political nature reaches you, with which you think it advisable that I should be made acquainted, you will in future transmit it, through the medium of a private letter, to the Earl of Aberdeen, his Majesty's Ambassador at the Court of Vienna, instead of making it the subject of a public despatch to me.

You acted perfectly right in taking care that whatever passed between the Count Vincent and yourself should be considered as unofficial; but I am persuaded that you will easily comprehend how essential it is for the due execution of the public service that you should avoid as much as possible the appearance of being interested with any political character, and that all persons with whom circumstances may accidentally lead you to communicate upon such subjects should be most distinctly made to understand that your functions are entirely military; and I should wish, except under the most pressing circum

stances, that your lordship should altogether decline being addressed upon political topics.

I have, &c.,

CASTLEREAGH.

Lord Castlereagh to Lord Burghersh.

Basle, January 22, 1814.

My Lord-I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your lordship's different despatches containing the details of the recent military events, and I have particular pleasure in being authorized to signify to you his Royal Highness the Prince Regent's approbation of the very clear and satisfactory manner in which you have narrated such military operations as have taken place since your lordship has been attached to the army under the command of Prince Schwarzenberg.

Lord Castlereagh to the Earl of Aberdeen.

Basle, January 22, 1814.

My Lord-I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your lordship's letter of the 18th instant, marked separate, enclosing a copy of a letter addressed by Prince Metternich to Major-General Sir Robert Wilson, containing an offer, on the part of his Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty to confer upon that officer the Order of Maria Theresa.

I have great satisfaction in acquainting your lordship that his Royal Highness the Prince Regent has been graciously pleased to signify that he approves of Sir Robert Wilson's accepting the honour proposed to be conferred upon him, as a mark of the sense which his Imperial Majesty the Emperor of Austría entertains of the nature of the services which he has rendered in the late important events.

No. 1.

Lord Castlereagh to Lord Bathurst.

Basle, January 22, 1814. My Lord-I have the honour to acquaint your lordship, for the information of the Prince Regent, that I arrived at this place, in execution of his Royal Highness's instructions, on the 18th instant, and lost no time in presenting to the Emperor of Austria and to the King of Prussia the letters of credence with which his Royal Highness honoured me. I received from both their Majesties the most gratifying assurances of their persevering adherence to the interests of the Alliance, of their attachment to the Prince Regent, and of their grateful sense of the support they had received from Great Britain.

I took this occasion of announcing to both Monarchs, on the part of the Prince Regent, the auspicious marriage which was about to take place in his Royal Highness's illustrious family, together with the intended regulation of the succession to the Crown of Great Britain and Sovereignty of Holland. It is impossible too highly to paint the satisfaction both Monarchs expressed at this happy event, and the manner in which it was intended to be carried into execution.

Having had an opportunity of entering generally with the Ministers of Austria and Prussia upon the present state of affairs, and not deeming it consistent with the Prince Regent's intentions that I should deliver any opinion on his Royal Highness's part, till I have had an opportunity of presenting my letters of credence to the Emperor of Russia, and of possessing myself fully of his Imperial Majesty's sentiments, I propose to set out to-night for the headquarters of his Imperial Majesty, which I shall probably find at Langres.