Lord Castlereagh to the Hon. F. Lamb.

London, December 19, 1816.

My dear Lamb-We are desirous here of bringing matters at Frankfort to a close, or, if that cannot be, of dissolving in appearance the grand Conference there, which holds out an idea of more to do there, or more being left undone, than the question with Baden justifies: but we shall, as soon as the Diet is organized, have occasion for a Minister there; and I wish for one who knows the carte du pays and the plan of the different Courts in latter times. As I flatter myself your gout is principally caused by the ennui of Munich, and that having nothing to do is as little agreeable to you as it is wholesome, I therefore propose to you credentials to the Diet, in addition to those which you now have to the King of Bavaria. You will have a Secretary of Legation at each residence. Your personal presence can be regulated as the service may require, leaving a Chargé d'Affaires where you

are not.

This union of functions is not new in the service: I flatter myself it will not be unacceptable to the King of Bavaria, and it will give you an active, ostensible, and creditable field for exertion, in which, from our past intercourse, I have no doubt of your doing yourself credit.

Lord Clancarty has received an official despatch to forward to you, in case he should find your assistance necessary. It is proposed that he should return to sign what he has arranged, presenting you to the Allied Ministers as our plenipotentiary ad interim; lest your health should not admit of undertaking this task, he has a dormant authority to call upon Mr. Taylor. In case you find an excursion to Italy necessary to your reestablishment, Lord C[lancarty] will give you full information and instructions before he leaves Frankfort for Brussels. CASTLEREAGH.

Believe me, &c.,

Lord Castlereagh to Count Fernan Nuñez.

December, 1816. The undersigned, his Majesty's Secretary of State, has the honour to acknowledge the two Notes received from the Count Fernan Nuñez, of October 17th and November 30th, during the whole of which interval the British Government has remained in the anxious expectation of receiving from the Court of Rio Janeiro the promised explanations of the late events which have been passing in the River Plate. It would have been peculiarly gratifying to the Prince Regent, had he felt himself enabled, through the active interposition of his Chargé d'Affaires at the Brazils, at once to allay the disquietude of his intimate ally, the King of Spain, as to the views of the Brazilian Government in that quarter.

After the full explanation afforded as well by the undersigned to his Excellency the Count Fernan Nuñez as to the Secretary of State of his Catholic Majesty at Madrid, of the protest made and the steps taken by the British Chargé d'Affaires at Rio Janeiro, all of which have received the full approbation of this Government, there remains only for the undersigned to assure his Excellency that, down to the present moment, no further information has been received which can throw light either upon the progress of affairs or upon the intentions of the Cabinet of Rio Janeiro.

His Royal Highness is happy to observe that the sentiments with which his Catholic Majesty might justly view an occupation of his territory by a foreign Power, without any explanation previously given, have not had the effect of turning aside his Majesty from the legitimate course of conduct which ought to be observed in all such cases, namely, the demand of explanation and satisfaction, accompanied with an appeal to friendly Powers, who have all an interest in the conservation of peace, to interpose their mediation and influence to preserve the general tranquillity by effectuating between the two States

such a settlement of all subsisting differences as may be consonant with justice, and with the ties as well of blood as of common interest which so intimately knit the two families.

The friendship and alliance which subsist between his Britannic Majesty and the august Sovereigns of both crowns, cemented, and, as it were, rendered sacred by their common exertions in the late war, must give to the Prince Regent the strongest possible motives to employ his utmost exertions to re-establish harmony and confidence between the Courts of Madrid and Rio Janeiro. It is peculiarly gratifying to his Royal Highness to have been invited to undertake this task in concert with those Powers to whom his Catholic Majesty has, with so much prudence and wisdom, thought fit to address himself on this important occasion. His Royal Highness, animated by the warmest sentiments of zeal to contribute to so just and laudable a purpose, has desired the undersigned to declare to the Count Fernan Nuñez that he accepts without hesitation the invitation of the Court of Madrid to interpose his good offices, in concert with the Courts of Vienna, Versailles, and St. Petersburg, on this occasion, and he is persuaded he shall find in their tried wisdom, zeal, and justice, the surest means of conducting their joint intervention to a happy issue.

If his Royal Highness might form an additional wish upon this subject, it would be that the Court of Berlin should be united with the Courts named in the same honourable responsibility as a Court not only specially associated with them by the Treaty of Vienna, for arranging other questions in which the pretensions of Spain are involved, but as being in itself a Court as deeply interested to preserve the peace of the world by its counsels, as it has contributed to its restoration by the efforts of its arms.

The undersigned is persuaded that his Excellency the Count Fernan Nuñez will be convinced that, at the outset of an amicable interposition of this nature, in which it is proposed to

combine the counsels of the Prince Regent with those of the august Sovereigns named in his Excellency's Note, for the purpose of terminating the subsisting differences, it would be highly unbecoming and impossible for him by anticipation to enter into the discussion of many of the topics which are treated of in his Excellency's Note.

It may be sufficient, at the present moment, to declare to his Excellency that in the event (a case which the Prince Regent will not permit himself to suppose possible) of the Court of Rio Janeiro pursuing, after due representation on the part of the mediating Powers, a course of policy which shall appear inconsistent with justice towards his Catholic Majesty, his Royal Highness will, in such case, consider that Court thereby to have forfeited all claim to demand, under her treaties, the guarantee by his Britannic Majesty of her territories in Europe.

The undersigned is further authorized to declare that this Government has no reason whatever to suppose that the Government of Portugal is employed either in extensive armaments, or in detaching force to her possessions in South America.

His Excellency must be aware that the British officers now in the service of Portugal have ceased to be paid by Great Britain, and that, in the present stage of the proceedings, it would be inconsistent with the attitude of a mediating Power to recall the officers from the service either of Spain or Portugal, however necessarily that measure must follow upon a refusal of justice. His Excellency may, however, rely that, as far as possible, the advice and endeavours of the British Government will be partially employed to dissuade both States from premature and irritating measures of military preparation, which might impede an amicable settlement, and must prove to both a severe, and, as it is to be hoped, an unnecessary expenditure of their resources.

The Prince Regent will lose no time in conferring with the

Powers invited to interpose with him on the present occasion; and the undersigned will take the earliest occasion of communicating with his Excellency the Count Fernan Nuñez on the subject.

Sir Charles Stuart to Lord Castlereagh.

Paris, December 23, 1816. My dear Lord-I have delivered to Prince Talleyrand the letter your lordship forwarded to me under flying seal. As I observe your lordship mentions that Prince Talleyrand's letter had been communicated to the French Ambassador in London, it is necessary I should state that, on the day it was read to me, I thought it my duty to apprise the Duke de Richelieu of the circumstance: it was not, however, in my power to communicate the letter, because Prince Talleyrand did not leave the copy in my possession, though he assured me that he called twice at my house, during my absence, for that purpose.

I think it very necessary to mention these facts, because M. de Talleyrand and his friends have endeavoured, since his disgrace at Court, to impress many people with the idea that his views are supported by the English Government and by this Embassy in particular, and that his quarrel with the Ministers is the result of intrigue on the part of the Russian Minister, of which your lordship, I am sure, concurs with me in disbelieving the existence, but of which reports may very possibly be circulated in London and Paris.

Believe me, my dear lord, truly yours,

CHARLES STUART.

Sir Charles Stuart to Lord Castlereagh.

Paris, December 23, 1816.

My dear Lord-Mr. Hamilton has made known to me your lordship's desire that I should state in what terms I have explained to the Allied Ministers the instructions I have received respecting the proposed reduction of the Army of Occupation,