will consent, and the Treasury will hold him guiltless. He has not reported to the Custom House yet; but the officers at Deal know of the transaction, and will seize the vessel if he quits her. This is an unfortunate business, and I am at a loss what to recommend. Perhaps the quietest way would be to reward the captors, and let the vessel go. I dare say the smugglers have taken all advantage by loading a rich cargo. The officer seems extremely well disposed to let the vessel go, if I will desire him to do so; but such a step is beyond my authority, and might offend the Treasury, where the matter entirely rests; for Admirals have no share or interest in any contraband captures. I hope your lordship will get the business settled as soon as is convenient. Your lordship's, &c., KEITH. The officer of the Watchful proposes to take her out to sea, and there let her go; but perhaps we might be no better by doing so, as I have ordered a sharp look-out ever since the late Act passed. Lord Castlereagh to Baron Jacobi. November 12, 1805. Sir-Several masters of Prussian vessels having signified to the Transport Board their readiness to engage in the service of Government, provided the Prussian Consul, acting under your directions, should not feel himself called upon to object to the same, I take the liberty of laying these circumstances before you, with the expression of my hope and request that, as the British Government will be prepared, upon the requisition of the Court of Berlin, at any time, to release Prussian vessels from any engagement which, under the provisional acquiescence of the mission here, they may enter into, you will not feel yourself called upon to discountenance an arrangement which, I venture to hope, may eventually contribute to the interest of both Courts. CASTLEREAGH. Lord Castlereagh to Lord Keith. Downing Street, November 14, 1805. My dear Lord-I am rather apprehensive that Messrs. Rob and Muchett were more attentive to their smuggling concerns than any other objects during their very limited absence. I have consulted with the Treasury as to the mode of affording them any protection under the circumstances represented by your lordship. They are clearly of opinion that no interposition can take place between the seizure and condemnation; and that any relief to be afforded must be a subsequent and separate consideration, to be determined with reference to their actual losses, the services they may be deemed to have rendered, and the degree to which your lordship could be presumed, by sending them over, to countenance any commercial transaction, which, I conceive, could not be considered as going beyond what might be sufficient to cover the transaction. I very much lament the perverse state of the wind. I trust, however, our troops have reached the Elbe in safety. I am, &c., CASTLEREAGH. Draft. Lord Castlereagh to Count Münster. Downing Street, November 14, 1805. Sir-It being the King's intention, upon the arrival of the German Legion in Hanover, that its present establishment should be considerably augmented, for which purpose the necessary instructions have been issued; and it appearing to his Majesty's Government that the success of this measure, so important to the common cause, may be materially promoted by the countenance and co-operation of his Majesty's Electoral Administration, which they may feel it more consistent with their future as well as immediate interest and duty to afford, if assured of his Majesty's determination to restore, at a proper moment, to the service of the Electorate, all Hanoverian sub jects entering therein I have received the King's commands to acquaint you that, within three months after the conclusion of any peace to which his Majesty shall be a party (or sooner, if to his Majesty it shall seem expedient), his Majesty will, upon a requisition to that effect, transmitted through one of his principal Secretaries of State, cause the entire German Legion, both officers and men, to be moved, at the charge of Great Britain, into the Electorate (so far as the same is composed either of Hanoverians, or of persons having engaged in the Hanoverian service), there to be discharged from the British establishment, and to abide such orders as they may receive from his Majesty in his Electoral capacity. I am further directed to acquaint you that it is his Majesty's intentions that the officers and men liable, as above-stated, to service, in the Electoral army, should be delivered over as a corps in their then state of military equipment. I have the honour to be, &c., CASTLEREAGH. Lord Castlereagh to Count Münster. Downing Street, November 14, 1805. Sir-I trust the letter which I have the honour to address to you cannot fail to prove satisfactory to his Majesty's Electoral Government. The words of the Convention entered into with the Stadtholder in the course of the last war are evidently inapplicable to the present case. The Batavian troops then raised were to be restored, upon a requisition in one or other of two caseseither upon the actual restoration of the lawful Government of Holland, or on the conclusion of any arrangement in which his Majesty might have concurred. With respect to Hanover, we have the satisfaction to know that the first case has actually already happily occurred, the lawful Government being restored even before the proposed augmentation is begun. With regard to the second case, it is not difficult to conceive that circumstances might unfortunately arise such as to induce his Majesty, from a just regard to the separate interests of Hanover, to acquiesce in arrangements with respect to that country, in order to save it from greater evils, which might yet not justify his Majesty in depriving himself, at perhaps a critical period of the war, of the services of a valuable body of troops levied for the service, and at the expense of Great Britain; and, in such a state of things, a right existing in the Electoral Government to make the requisition would only expose that Government to be inconveniently pressed to make a demand which might be essentially injurious to the interest of both States. At present, the King's intentions of transferring, upon the conclusion of peace, the Legion to the service of the Electorate, is absolute; and it is open to his Majesty to judge of the propriety of doing so at any earlier period, upon a due consideration of all the circumstances bearing upon the interests of Hanover, as connected with those of Great Britain. I have the honour to be, &c., CASTLEREAGH. Lord Castlereagh to Lord Keith. Downing Street, November 19, 1805. My dear Lord—I trust this change of wind to the westward will enable the transports, laden with artillery and stores, at Portsmouth, to reach the Downs, as well as horse transports sufficient for embarking the remainder of the Light German Cavalry. I am, therefore, to desire that, so soon as this is effected, your lordship will forward everything then ready, with a proper convoy, to Bremerlehe, there to be disembarked: and, when this service is performed, unless the officer shall receive directions to the contrary from Lieutenant-General Don, he is to return with the transports to the Downs. I am, &c., CASTLEREAGH. Lord Castlereagh to Lord Harrowby. Downing Street, November 19, 1805. Dear Lord Harrowby-Since I last wrote, an uninterrupted series of easterly winds has very much impeded the progress of our military preparations. The troops embarked at Cork attempted to put to sea, but were obliged to return into port; and the cavalry transports, which are in readiness, both in the River and at the outports, have found it impossible to reach the Downs. As you may wish to know what our means are likely to be so soon as the wind enables me to apply them, I enclose the latest return of the state of our unappropriated transports, by which you will see that, exclusive of the cavalry ships with General Don, we have accommodation for about 2,400 horses nearly completed. We propose to appropriate them as follows: Horses. Two Regiments of Hanoverian Cavalry......... 1,300 Two troops Waggon Train...... Two skeleton regiments Hanoverian Cavalry 600 270 170 Total......... 2,340 There are two regiments of British cavalry held in readiness to embark; but, as the Duke of York considers the horses for the artillery and the waggon train to be even of more importance, their going must depend on the return of transports, as I fear we cannot now reckon upon any very considerable increase to our tonnage being engaged and fitted before the winter sets in. With respect to operations generally, my last letter, with its enclosure, will have apprized you that our decision must, in a great measure, depend upon what you are enabled to settle with the Court of Berlin. If Prussia will embark in the recovery of Holland, on however limited a scale, provided she |