ings, public and private, and it will altogether remove any possible prejudice which might have resulted to the public service from misconception, as to my language not being sanctioned. I took occasion this morning to show it to the Emperor, saying everything that might protect Lieven against any unfavourable impression as to what had passed. I also read to his Imperial Majesty part of your private letter of the 12th, in order to satisfy him that our views have been consistent and essentially coincident throughout.

The discussions at Troyes were necessarily painful, and gave to my intercourse with the Emperor a more controversial character than I could have wished; and I had reason to know that he was not a little impatient of the opposition he had met with from me; but this is all gone by, and his Imperial Majesty now encourages me to come to him without form. I see him almost every day, and he receives me with great kindness, and converses with me freely on all subjects.

As it may be material that you should undeceive Wellington as to any reports of an armistice, I have thought it material to despatch a messenger, without waiting for intelligence from Blücher.

I don't know that the negociation, as it has turned out, has had any effect whatever upon the operations, however it may, from the extraordinary circumstances under which it was brought forward, have tempted the enemy to presume upon the Allies politically; and, in ending so, I hope we have so managed as to recover our position of authority, which has restored harmony and confidence amongst ourselves.

The Austrian reserves are now arriving daily, and as Winzingerode, Bülow, St. Priest, and the Saxons, are all either up, or at hand, our military position is essentially improved. I know of no other defect in it than the difficulty of bringing the two armies into more close connexion; Buonaparte having the advantage of the central position.

Lord Clancarty to Lord Liverpool.

The Hague, March 5, 1814.

My dear Lord-My despatch, No. 49, will give you a general aperçu of the state of the actual and probable military means of this country. I think the efforts I have made to obtain this information have been productive of the good effects of infusing a little more life into the exertions of this Government to put forth an army.

It is now in contemplation, in proportion as the several corps can be brought forward, to assemble them at and in the neighbourhood of Breda, and to place his Royal Highness, the Hereditary Prince, at their head. He, although only a Major-General in the army of Great Britain, bears the highest rank in the army here. How far this may produce embarrassment respecting command, or may create difficulty respecting combined operations, you are far better able to judge than I am.

You will also be able better than I am to determine whether, if it is at all in contemplation to follow up the communication made by me to the Prince of Orange, now some time since, respecting his having the command of the combined British, Hanoverian, and Dutch troops, which notification was also made through Mr. Thornton to the Crown Prince, the present is, or is not, the time to do it.

Mr. Johnson was so eager for a communication with Carnot on the subject of A[ntwerp], that he had determined, finding no person fit to employ upon such a mission, to have himself taken prisoner of war, and carried into the place. This I have written to dissuade him from doing, the chance of success being so remote, as not to come in competition, in my judgment, with the certainty of losing his services. His correspondent at Brussels, a M. de Ternois, writes me word that a reinforcement of from 5 to 6,000 Saxons have reached Brussels, on their way to join the Duke of Saxe-Weimar; that the Allies

had made themselves masters of Arras, and that the Cossacks had advanced six leagues beyond that town. He further writes of an insurrection of the peasantry in the neighbourhood of Ostend. I know not what corps of the Allies is alluded to as having taken possession of Arras: that of the Duke of Saxe-Weimar was in that direction at Ath; but, if it had been this corps, as the Duke had repaired to Brussels, for the purpose of reviewing the troops just arrived here to reinforce him, it is probable he would have sent official intelligence here.

General Sir Thomas Graham moved yesterday his quarters to Calmhout, and has advanced in force, so as to cut off the communications between Antwerp and Bergen-op-Zoom.

PS. The messenger Grey has arrived from Chaumont since writing the above: he is the bearer of despatches to me, which will be copied and sent by this mail in an additional official despatch from me, according to Lord Castlereagh's desire. Grey will go by this mail, with all the despatches from Chaumont and from hence.

Lord Castlereagh to Edward Thornton, Esq.

Chaumont, March 7, 1814. Sir-Your despatches, Nos. 19 and 20, have reached me this morning. I regret extremely the intelligence contained in No. 19, of the turn which affairs have taken in Norway. You may repeat to the Prince Royal the assurance which you have already given him, of the entire disposition of the Prince Regent's Government to act towards his Royal Highness with perfect good faith; and that nothing can be further from the truth, than any notion that the British Government feels the slightest inclination to support or connive at the independence of Norway.

As a proof of the sincerity of the British Government in

this respect, you will state that I have this morning received intelligence from England, that, in consequence of a representation made by M. de Rehausen, with regard to the state of affairs in Norway, immediate orders had been given, in compliance with his request, that the communication with that. country, which had been opened after the signature of the peace, should again be closed. Upon the subject of exchanging the ratifications, I think it right, under the circumstances stated in your letter, to instruct you to suspend that measure until further orders, or until satisfactory explanations shall have been received on this subject.

Lord Castlereagh to the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury. Chaumont, March 7, 1814.

My Lords-I have the honour to inform your lordships that, in consequence of the renewed representation of the Chevalier Pizarro, Spanish Minister at the Court of Berlin, of the destitute condition in which he has found several Spanish officers and members of Juntas, who have escaped from confinement in France, and of his total inability to afford them any relief, I have thought it right again to furnish M. Pizarro with the sum of two hundred and fifty pounds sterling, for this service; and I have accordingly this day drawn on your lordships a bill in triplicate for that sum, at thirty days after sight, in favour of the Chevalier Pizarro, which I request your lordships will direct to be paid when due. These sums should, in my opinion, be placed to the account of the subsidy furnished to the Spanish Government.

Lord Clancarty to Lord Castlereagh.

The Hague, March 7, 1814.

My dear Lord-My despatch by this messenger will acquaint you with the ready manner in which his Royal High

ness the Prince of Orange has met and assented to the decision of the Allied Sovereigns, respecting the chief command of his troops in the field, in conjunction with those in British pay, and those enumerated in your despatch No. 7.

In my conversation with the Baron de Hogendorp last night, after he had without reserve, in the most unqualified manner, announced to me the determination of his Royal Highness on this point, he expressed to me the wishes of his Royal Highness: first, that he should be immediately placed in the Provisional Government of the departments allotted to him, and this previous, if possible, to the assumption of the command of the troops in the field by the Prince Royal; secondly, that, if possible, the other departments composing those countries over which it is intended that he should hereafter permanently rule, should be added to those already allotted and entrusted to his provisional administration; thirdly, that, at least, the department de la Dyle, which contains Brussels, the capital of the former Pays Bas Autrichien, should be added to the provisional administration already designed for him; and, fourthly, that, in the line of demarcation between the command of the army in the Prince Royal's hands, and the civil authority of whatever departments may be placed under the provisional administration of his Royal Highness, it should be expressly stated that the levies of troops, contributions for their pay, clothing, &c., in short, all that relates to the civil branch of the army, should fall under the management of the Prince of Orange.

Upon the first of these topics I should conceive little difficulty can occur indeed, as you will have already perceived by my letters by the last courier, we conceive some mistake has occurred, from which we have been prevented from already seeing his Royal Highness in the actual exercise of the provisional government of the departments stated in M. de Stein's note; and this supposition is fortified by several expressions in your last despatches.