been able to obtain the propositions of the American Government, which I invited in my note of the 27th of last May. I this morning called upon Mr. Adams, for the purpose of making this observation to him; and I think that I have succeeded in obtaining what is nearly a promise from him that by the next mail I shall be enabled to send them to your lordship.

Mr. Adams protests that the delay has solely arisen from the mass of business which presses upon the President; but I cannot help thinking that there has been an object in it, and that, by deferring to make the proposition, which they know must be transmitted home for consideration, the American Government has hoped to carry the negociation into the next summer, and thus get a fair ground for asking a renewal of the suspension of the orders against their fishing-vessels until the matter is arranged.

I have very little to add to my public despatches by this mail. The affair of the Ontario appears to me to be a most extraordinary one; but your lordship need not be under any apprehension that I shall involve the Government in a second Nootka Sound business. I have thought it absolutely necessary to demand (though very temperately) explanation upon the subject; but, having received that explanation, I shall then take no further steps, until I can have received your lordship's instructions.

The Spanish Minister has informed me that I am to receive your lordship's instructions to offer to the American Government the mediation of England in the adjustment of their differences with Spain.

I have the honour to be, &c.,

CHARLES BAGOT.

Sir Charles Stuart to Lord Castlereagh.

Paris, December 4, 1817.

My dear Lord-The public opinion of this city has manifestly changed since the assembly of the Chambers, and I regret to acquaint your lordship that the change is by no

means favourable to the Government. The Ministers are so far sensible of this change that, upon several occasions, they have by indirect overtures endeavoured to conciliate the UltraRoyalist party, and, in consequence of the failure of these attempts, they lately came to the resolution of persuading Monsieur, as the principal supporter of their opponents, to undertake the mission to which I alluded in a former letter. The failure of this suggestion has created a natural irritation, which is the more prejudicial, as many questions are just now under the consideration of the Chambers, upon which the difference of opinion is very decisive.

Under these circumstances, the Ministers have contemplated the possibility of strengthening the Government by partial changes, and, though nothing has been hitherto definitively settled, the following are the heads of the arrangement which I have heard mentioned:-the suppression of the Ministry of the Police, or rather the union of that office with the department of the Interior-the Minister of the Interior to be M. de Molé, instead of M. Lainé, who has tendered his resignation-the Minister of the Household, M. de Cazes-the Minister of the Marine, M. Barante, in case the retreat of M. de Corvetto should not place the latter in the department of Finance.

Believe me, &c.,

CHARLES STUART.

Sir Charles Stuart to Lord Castlereagh.

Paris, December 8, 1817.

My dear Lord-It is with great regret that I feel myself compelled to announce to your lordship the failure of the negociation which has been entrusted to me, for the recovery of the moneys advanced by his Majesty's Government for the private use of the King of France in the year 1814, and the sums appropriated to the maintenance of French emigrants in 1815. With a view to facilitate the former payment, I had consented not to claim the sum of £48,000 paid to the emigrants in

1815, before the Chambers are finally called upon to vote the money which remains due on account of the liquidation.

This concession had induced the French Government to enter into an arrangement with the house of Rothschild, who agreed to advance the whole capital of £200,000 which are due to his Majesty's Government, upon receiving bonds signed by his most Christian Majesty for their reimbursement, payable in terms of six, twelve, and eighteen months; besides the sum of £45,000, forming the interest which will have accumulated from the period of the original payment in April, 1814. The accompanying agreement was accordingly drawn up, and it was determined that the bonds should be framed according to the model I likewise enclose.

The period had been fixed for the signature of the agreement and the delivery of the bonds, when M. de Richelieu informed me that the Marquis d'Osmond had called upon him, for the purpose of stating that he had received advices from M. de Caraman, the French Chargé d'Affaires in London, announcing, in consequence of the representations he had thought it his duty to address directly to the Treasury, that Mr. Vansittart had consented to limit his present demand to the sum of £100,000, to defer the payment of the remaining £100,000 until December, 1818, and to wave the claim for the interest, which M. de Pradel had admitted to be due.

I confess that I was somewhat startled at this information, which tallies so little with the several instructions I have received from your lordship; and expressing with some warmth my sense of the inconvenience which must result to both Courts, if our respective diplomatic agents are allowed to counteract each other by double negociation, I told M. de Richelieu that I should do nothing further, until I had referred the subject once more to your lordship. Whatever may be the determination of his Majesty's Government, as a payment which in the aggregate would have amounted to £293,000 is thus reduced to £100,000, I cannot refrain

from again manifesting my earnest hope that the future instructions I may receive upon pecuniary subjects may not be communicated to the French diplomatic agents in London, before I have had an opportunity of executing the commands of his Majesty's Government.

Believe me, &c.,

CHARLES STUART.

Sir Charles Stuart to Lord Castlereagh.

Paris, December 22, 1817.

My dear Lord-The unfavourable manifestation of public opinion in the late discussions of the Chamber has compelled the Ministers to abandon, for the present, all the arrangements which I stated some time since to be contemplated for the consolidation of the present Government, and to look forward rather to the possibility of changes which may give a decided colour to the Administration, and render the King's advisers the representatives of one of the great parties which divide the public opinion of this country. There is no doubt that, although this change will be delayed until it is absolutely forced upon the Government by the circumstances of the times, and that nothing less than successive defeats on several important questions can bring it about, considerable difference of opinion prevails among the King's Ministers concerning the mode in which it is desirable to attain such a result.

The well-known predilections of M. de Cazes will naturally induce him to remodel the Administration, by giving offices to the Members of the Council of State who have abandoned the cause of the present Government, and to the most moderate among the revolutionary party; while the leaders of the UltraRoyalists, namely, M. de Villèle, Corbières, and Bonald, will probably be supported by M. de Richelieu.

Though hints have been thrown out to me that a knowledge of the decisive opinion of his Majesty's Government may very materially influence the course which is pursued upon this occasion, upon the principle of the instructions I have

repeatedly received from your lordship, I have thought it my duty to abstain from interference, and to avoid even the expression of an opinion upon the subject. It is, perhaps, to be wished that all my colleagues had maintained the same

reserve.

Believe me, &c.,

CHARLES STUART.

Lord Clancarty to Lord Castlereagh.

The Hague, December 23, 1817.

My dear Lord-All seems tending towards a thorough reconciliation between the King and the Prince: they have dined each with the other; visitings and embracings have followed; and both seem again more pleased and in higher spirits than either could boast on the arrival of his Royal Highness at the Hague.

So far all is well-negociations are, however, briskly going on between them; on the Prince's side, no doubt for the purpose of being reinstated unconditionally in his superintendence of the army as Minister of War. I sincerely hope his Majesty will not be weak enough to give way upon this point. If he should, a complete triumph, at the expense of the royal authority, will be afforded to the Jacobinical crew at Bruxelles, who have already exerted more influence over his Royal Highness than is either consistent with his real interests or with good government.

I should be very sorry that, after what has passed, his Royal Highness should again be reinstated on any terms in the War Department. That there is, however, an intention of employing him somewhere I have no doubt: the Admiralty Department has been talked of, and in this he would, perhaps, be capable of doing less mischief than elsewhere; but, though I do not take it upon me to offer my opinions to his Majesty upon a point so delicate, yet, if I were to advise, it would be that, for some time at least, the Prince should be left altogether unemployed. Except dining with the King, and yesterday