vernment were now actually enjoying the fruits; and should it be said, or could it stand to reason, that no sacrifice whatever was to be made by the Dutch for the maintenance of their independence?

His Royal Highness said that he had no intention of placing me in a state of irksome responsibility, but of consulting with me on the expediency of a measure, and that he would not act, in this instance, in opposition to my opinion. I told him that, without caring much for responsibility in matters wherein I conceived myself at present in the right, I had no hesitation in giving it as my decided opinion to his Royal Highness that no terms ought to be offered to the commandant of Gorcum which should permit the garrison to return to France.

From what I have above written, you may judge whether it does not give me satisfaction to have heard that the garrison are to surrender prisoners of war on the 20th, and that, in the mean time, the digues are to be repaired.

Before the messenger who left Sir T. Graham with the note addressed to me, quoted in my despatch, quitted Merxem, which was at half-past twelve yesterday, he says that one of the great towers of the church had fallen in consequence of our fire. What credit is to be placed to this account I know not. The messenger is a Dutchman, otherwise unknown to me.

It was strongly reported at Rotterdam this morning that Buonaparte, immediately upon leaving Paris, visited the northern fortifications, and had been at Lisle. You will recollect that there have been considerable movements among the populace in these districts, on account of the conscriptions. CLANCARTY.

Mr. Edward Thornton to Lord Castlereagh.

Chatillon sur Seine, February 8, 1814. My Lord-I beg to transmit to your Lordship two papers which have been given to me for your Lordship by the Comte de Paoly Chaguy, who has been for some years past under the

protection of the British Government, and who receives a pension from it.

I did not promise that your lordship would read these two pieces, the first of which, however, the supposed letter of the Prince of Asturias to the King of Spain, contains some remarkable passages: but at least I acquit myself of my engagement, in transmitting them both to your lordship. They are the work of a man of considerable talents.

Mr. Edward Thornton to Lord Castlereagh.

Chatillon sur Seine, February 8, 1814.

My Lord-I think it right to mention to your lordship that I have, on repeated occasions, received from the Prince Royal of Sweden the most positive assurances that in case of the negociations for peace taking a favourable turn, the cession of the island of Guadeloupe to Sweden should never, for an instant, form an obstacle to the conclusion of that desirable work, and that Sweden would readily make this sacrifice to the general good. His Royal Highness did not even make any formal demand of any equivalent, but expressed his conviction that Great Britain would estimate the merit of this sacrifice, and would not fail to give it its due consideration, in her future transactions with Sweden.

I have the honour to be, &c.,

EDWARD THORNTON.

Mr. Hamilton to Lord Castlereagh.

Foreign Office, February 8, 1814.

My dear Lord-Enclosed are copies of the despatches from Sir H. Wellesley, to the 21st instant, communicating the last proceedings of the Cortes and Regency on the mission of San Carlos and the treaty with Bonaparte. You will also see that Fernau Nuñez is named Plenipotentiary to the expected Con

gress. He expresses himself very sorry at it, although evidently flattered by the nomination. He is in doubt what to do, whether to set out immediately, or to wait for events. Both he and his Government are afraid he should be left to be summoned by the higher Powers to attend, when all is ready for the smaller Powers, to assist and accede to the terms already agreed to; and yet he is equally fearful of not being received at all or, if received, not treated with equal confidence.

By a paragraph in the Madrid Gazette, it would seem that, since the Government arrived there, their ideas are very much raised. They seem shocked at giving to France the boundary of the Pyrenees, while they recollect how much on the north of that line has, in a succession of years, been conquered from Spain; and they add, the time is now come when it is equally necessary for the repose of Europe to strip France of the unjust conquests of Louis XIII. and XIV. as of those of Napoleon. They particularly mention the Basse Navarre and Roussillon.

Baron Wessenberg has presented a letter to Lord Liverpool, stating how much they were pleased at head-quarters by your arrival.

Lord Bathurst and Lord Liverpool feel so much the probability of Lord William Bentinck's being absent from Sicily, and the necessity of having a person of weight there, that it has been finally determined to send out A'Court with credentials to present, in that event, to remain there, on Lord W. Bentinck's coming away, until you dispose of him elsewhere: perhaps you may think of sending him hereafter to Turin. Casamajor (the eldest) has asked to be sent to Gottenburg. A civilian would be a more proper person.

Enclosed is a note from Foster, asking for Baker to be put as Secretary to the negociators with America.

Baron Jacobi asks me, on every arrival from Basle, if any thing more is heard of his letter of the 12th of October.

I have nothing more to add than that ninety-nine out of every hundred here hope that you will agree to nothing on the

other side of the water till you are at Paris, and Bonaparte

either above or below ground.

Your obedient servant,

W. HAMILTON.

Lord Clancarty to Lord Castlereagh.

The Hague, February 11, 1814.

My dear Lord-Your despatch, marked No. 2, Continent, reached me yesterday, with its three enclosures; that of the 4th of February, three days later dated, marked No. 3, arrived here the day before yesterday. My despatches to England and private letters to Lord Liverpool, which have been duly forwarded to you, will have acquainted you with what has passed here respecting his Royal Highness's attempts to raise the Pays Bas Autrichien in favour of his sovereignty, and that I had conceived it to be my duty to remonstrate against them. These have been very different from the steps you recommend should be taken by him, through the medium of " Emissaries, or other means, quietly to encourage the people of the Low Countries to look to him as their future sovereign ;" and, besides having been undertaken without the slightest communication with the British Government, or with you, have had the effect of unhinging the public mind in some parts of the Low Countries, and distracting the attention of the inhabitants from their almost unanimous hatred of French rule, by the agitation of disputed points of future sovereignty. To the quiet means recommended in your despatch No. 2, there can be no objection, and this I have told the Prince of Orange, and so far from checking, have encouraged him, by publications, &c., to set up the advantages enjoyed by the Dutch under his mild. Government, the benefits about to be conferred upon them by a fixed form of Government, and the liberality shown by the Prince in putting an end to all invidious distinctions arising from difference of religion. The manner in which his Royal Highness had been advised to act; the imprudent steps taken

by him; the effect of those steps in such parts of the Austrian Netherlands in which they had been taken; and the want of frankness with which all this had been conducted, with an effort of cautious concealment from my Government, had not only induced me very strongly to remonstrate with his Royal Highness and his Minister, (who, by the by, has been the mover in this instance) but also, as you had given me a discretion in your despatch No. 3, to withhold from his Royal Highness the communication authorized by that despatch.

I am most happy now to inform you, that on an interview yesterday had with the Prince, (who at bottom is really a very amiable person) he at once entered upon the subject of the difference which had arisen between us; assured me of his regrets that such difference had occurred; expressed his sense of the impolicy of the conduct he had been led to adopt, which he had taken effectual means to stop; and, in a manner really affectionate, and, I firmly believe, with the utmost sincerity, dwelt for a considerable time upon the numerous instances of kindness which he had received from the British Governmenton his entire gratitude for them; and added the most positive assurances that he would in future observe the most unreserved confidence towards his Majesty's Government in every proceeding of his in which they might have an interest.

In answer to this, I told him that I could not but place complete reliance on his professions; and, as an earnest of the frankness with which the British Government were inclined to act towards him, and of the extraordinary interest they took in his welfare, I communicated to him, in the strictest confidence, the object you had in view respecting the combination of an army to be placed under his orders, and the exertions you were making with the Allies to confer upon him the provisional administration of a part of the Austrian Netherlands; qualifying, however, this communication with the information that, as he might suppose, I had thought it my duty to acquaint my Government and you with all that had lately passed between