amount to an appropriation of the services of four messengers during the winter, to the correspondence between the Foreign Office and the Courts of Berlin and St. Petersburgh.

We received yesterday, through Berlin, the account of the condemnation and execution of Ney. I most sincerely congratulate you, my dear lord, upon the treaty. I wait with impatience for the messenger you were so good as to promise me, with the copies of papers relating to that business, and such instructions in regard to the relations with France for my guidance, and for language on any part of them, as your lordship may deem necessary.

I fancy a more complicated or laborious task never presented itself to any sovereign than that now before the Emperor, of examining into the management of all the old. and new provinces of this Empire and the administration of its resources. Some irregularities, to a serious amount, have, it is said, been discovered in Volhynia, and have occasioned charges of a criminal nature against the Governor, which are to be examined by a special commission. The energy with which this matter has been taken up is thought to forebode very strict investigation in other quarters.

I at present augur favourably of the Persian business; that is, as far as is recommended in the memorandum enclosed in your lordship's No. 3. But, as I have no instructions to make any communication as to the fruits of Mr. Ellis's mission, I have said nothing either of Sir Gore Ouseley's engagement, or of any other arrangement that may have been made between the Courts of London and Tehran. I have already begun to urge the expediency of clearly defining the frontier; and, as this was not objected to, I trust there will be no difficulty in regard to the employment of Captain Monteith, of the Honourable India Company's service, who has been detained for that purpose by Mr. Morier. The Emperor assured me that the frontier, being once defined, will not be violated by the Russians.

The line of demarcation of the status ad præsentem of the territory of Talish, which had been occupied by both armies, was undefined at the period of the signature of the preliminary treaty, and was to be regulated by Commissioners, as provided in the 2nd Article; and it is in this quarter only that the encroachments noticed by Lord Walpole are stated to have occurred. The difficulty of dividing this territory is one of the arguments used by Mirza for the restitution of the whole to Persia.

I have the honour to remain, &c.,

CATHCART.

Lord Castlereagh to Mr. Rose.

Blickling, December 28, 1815.

My dear Sir-I take advantage of a bad day to spare the pheasants and to send you a despatch, which I shall probably make circular to all our missions.

I perceive in more than one quarter a tendency to alarm as to the designs of particular Powers, but especially of Russia, for which I have no reason to suppose there is the smallest foundation, but of the prudence of which I should equally doubt, were I apprehensive (which I am not) that the Emperor of Russia, after making such stupendous sacrifices for a peace, which in its provisions has met his cordial concurrence, was stupid enough to meditate new convulsions to pull his own work to pieces. His language, his engagements, and his proceedings, as far as they are known to me, are in direct opposition to such a conclusion; and it must be my duty to discourage a line of conduct, which, although unauthorized, may produce distrust and alienation between two Courts, whose counsels being in unison is perhaps more essential than any other circumstance that can be stated to the preservation of that state of relations in Europe, which is best calculated to preclude any serious interruption of peace.

When I thus express myself with respect to the views of

Russia, or indeed of any Court, I must be understood as not indulging that species of blind confidence which does not belong to the politics of any foreign State; but I wish to guard our missions abroad against the danger of accelerating, if not producing, a conflict for influence between the two States. The existing state of European relations may possibly not endure beyond the danger which originally gave them birth, and which has recently confirmed them; but it is our duty, as well as interest, to retard, if we cannot avert, the return of a more contentious order of things: and our insular situation places us sufficiently out of the reach of danger to admit of our pursuing a more generous and confiding policy.

In the present state of Europe, it is the province of Great Britain to turn the confidence she has inspired to the account of peace, by exercising a conciliatory influence between the Powers, rather than put herself at the head of any combinations of Courts to keep others in check. The necessity for such a system of connexion may recur, but this necessity should be no longer problematical when it is acted upon. The immediate object to be kept in view is to inspire the States of Europe, as long as we can, with a sense of the dangers which they have surmounted by their union, of the hazards they will incur by a relaxation of vigilance, to make them feel that the existing concert is their only perfect security against the revolutionary embers more or less existing in every State of Europe; and that their true wisdom is to keep down the petty contentions of ordinary times, and to stand together in support of the established principles of social order.

I have every reason to hope that the advantage of this course of policy is justly appreciated by the Allied Cabinets. The negociations at Paris were terminated with the utmost cordiality-whatever differences of opinion had existed either at Vienna, or in the early stage of our discussions at Paris, had ceased to disturb the general harmony; and there appeared

a general satisfaction in the results of our labours. I should say that the relations between Austria and Russia had become much more amicable, those of Russia with Prussia perhaps proportionably less intimate; but this I attribute not to any essential relaxation of friendly feeling, but to the manner in which the Prussian counsels were conducted at Paris being less congenial to the Emperor of Russia's feelings than the more moderate tone of the Austrian Cabinet. All, however, appeared to separate deeply impressed with the value of their common connexion to themselves and to the world; and I trust nothing may arise to shake this impression.

With respect to the particular Court to which you are accredited, every consideration of common interest must make me partial to the conservation of its preponderance as a great Power, inasmuch as Prussia must be the basis of every system in the north of Europe to preserve Holland as an independent State, and to keep France in check; but, with all that partiality and a grateful admiration of the conduct of that nation and its armies in the war, I fairly own that I look with considerable anxiety to the tendency of their politics. There certainly, at this moment, exists a great fermentation in all orders of the State; very free notions of Government, if not principles actually revolutionary, are prevalent, and the army is by no means subordinate to the civil authorities. It is impossible to say where these impulses may stop, when they find a representative system in which they may develop themselves.

I call your attention to these circumstances, not as any motive for interference on your part, but in order to impress your mind with the importance (and especially to Prussia herself) of keeping up a good understanding amongst the adjoining States, on which these disorganizing principles have made less impression, till the internal state both of France and of the north of Germany is more assured than it can now be considered to be. To this view of European policy, I can venture

to assure you, the Sovereigns themselves and their immediate Ministers are not insensible.

Your safest course at present will be to keep quiet; to cultivate the good will of your colleagues; to inspire them, as far as possible, with confidence in your Court, by making them feel that it is equally the ally of all; and, in order to do so with effect, you will avoid evincing distrust of theirs. Consistently with these suggestions, you will not neglect to cultivate suitable channels of intelligence, and to keep me accurately informed. I shall not neglect to put you in motion, when I see occasion to do so; but, in general, it is not my wish to encourage, on the part of this country, an unnecessary interference in the ordinary affairs of the Continent. The interposition of Great Britain will always be most authoritative in proportion as it is not compromised by being unduly mixed in the daily concerns of these States.

I trust you have found Prince Hardenberg return in good health. I regret his age does not present the prospect of his being long at the head of affairs in Prussia. I have always found him, although warm, alive to every honourable feeling, and incapable of long resisting an appeal to his reason upon any question. I beg to be remembered most cordially to him, and that you will believe me, dear sir, with great truth and regard, very faithfully yours,

CASTLEREAGH.

Memorandum.

For engagements prior to 1815

The Subsidies voted in 1815 are as follows:

: