Page images
PDF
EPUB

The Prussians are very sore about the Louvre. The Austrians were driven from their work, the night before last, by the Duke of Luxemburg and the Garde du Corps; but, being thus justified in laying aside delicacy, they worked by day, under the protection of a strong force, and have safely removed the Venetian horses from the front of the Tuileries.

Canova was made happy last night by Austria, Prussia, and England, agreeing to support him in removing the Pope's property. The joint order is issued, and he begins to-morrow.

Both the Emperors are gone: the King of Prussia moves in two or three days. You will perceive and hear of a great deal of flirtation between the French and Russians. The Duke de Richelieu is certainly a bond; but I see no rational motive on either side, at least for the present, to form a connexion which is likely to change the state of affairs; nor should a jealousy of this, in my opinion, induce us to weaken the Duke of Richelieu's Government. The great object is to keep the King on his throne. A moderate system, I believe, is the best chance for doing so; and I do not believe that the Duke will give in to extravagant notions; but he will have great difficulties. I think, however, better of his prospects than I did.

I am, dear Liverpool, &c.,

CASTLEREAGH.

The Earl of Buckinghamshire to Lord Castlereagh.

October 1, 1815.

Dear Castlereagh-I write this line to apprise you that it has been determined to send a mission to China. The Court of Directors urgently represented the necessity of the measure, in order to counteract the impediments thrown in the way of their commerce by the local authorities at Canton, and proposed that the mission should consist of a person of high rank from this country, to whom their chief supercargo, Sir George Staunton, should be united. After much difficulty in finding

a proper person, Lord Amherst, with some hesitation, accepted, and is to be at the head of the embassy.

Without troubling you with anything further on this subject, at a time when you are so much occupied, I have only to add that, as Henry Ellis is to be Secretary to the mission, he will not avail himself of your kindness with regard to the appointment you had been so good as to intend for him.

Liverpool has informed me of the internal state of things at Paris, and says you are in good spirits, which I rejoice at, not only because I consider it an indication of your looking to a satisfactory termination of your labours, but because I hope it may be taken as a proof of your approaching recovery.

Yours most sincerely,

BUCKINGHAMSHIRE.

Lord Castlereagh to Lord Liverpool.

Paris, October 2, 1815.

My dear Lord-In reply to your private letter of the 29th, I beg leave to state that I shall again bring the wording of the article relative to the retrocession of the fortresses under the consideration of the Allied Ministers. I ought to apologise for having omitted before to state that I did not fail to call their attention to this point, and to lay before them the form of words suggested by the Lord Chancellor. After much discussion, their opinion was in favour of the simple expression, “héritiers et successeurs." They They were of opinion that, under this form of words, they never could be required to admit as heir a successor brought forward to the prejudice of the regular succession: whereas it was difficult to add descriptive terms to an heir which could render the legal idea more clear and precise, whilst an attempt to do so might unnecessarily lead, at the present moment, to inconvenient cavil. I shall have the point reconsidered, and ought, however, to add that the difficulty of translation was amongst the number of objections stated; nor have I yet found any French expression that renders satisfactorily the English words, "rightful inheritance."

With respect to the retrocession being contingent upon the previous completion of all the money payments, that is clearly and fully understood, and, I should hope, may be expressed in the separate Convention, by which the pecuniary arrangements are to be regulated, without implying any doubt as to the undoubted right of the Allies to consider the treaty as a whole, and to make each stipulation a security for the due performance of all its obligations.

The principle of considering the enclaves extra the French frontier as matters of exchange for those within, you will perceive, has not been overlooked. It was necessary, however, to take up a broader principle, to cover the cession of Saar-Louis and Monaco. It is some consolation for having found, upon the points of Condé and Givet, that we have got the whole arrangement introduced into the Treaty patent. In truth, the Secret Article could not have long escaped disclosure, and it would have done the King more mischief tenfold than an open avowal of the truth.

[blocks in formation]

Lord Liverpool to Lord Castlereagh.

Fife House, October 2, 1815.

My dear Castlereagh-I send you a letter I have received from Wilberforce, on the subject of the last communication between Mr. Vaughan and the Spanish Government, respecting the Slave Trade. I wish you would write to Vaughan on the subject, as soon as other more pressing business may permit. It can only be from perverseness that the French Government continue the trade north of the Line, and, if anything, even persist to decline agreeing to the general abolition in less than eight years. I should hope they might be induced to concur in a limited proposition, which can be of no real detriment to them, and is of such incalculable importance to the civilization of Northern Africa.

I have suggested to Mr. Wilberforce the advantage which might arise from his sending Mr. Macaulay, or some person conversant in their African concerns, to assist Mr. Vaughan in the negociation on this subject.

Believe me to be, &c., LIVERPOOL.

[Enclosure.]

W. Wilberforce, Esq., to Lord Liverpool.

Brighton, September 25, 1815.

My dear Lord Liverpool—I return your lordship many thanks for your obliging communication of Mr. Vaughan's despatches; and, forgive me if I say that they confirm the strong persuasion I before entertained, that Sir H. Wellesley cannot have pressed as he ought the extreme perverseness of the Spanish Government in selecting for their slaving ground the very district which the other Powers, though not consenting to give up the Slave Trade entirely, had agreed to abandon. Had Sir Henry seconded Lord Castlereagh's efforts with any share of the same intelligence and spirit, that point might at least have been carried.

I am rather of this opinion, because, when the topic was touched on at Vienna, Count Labrador's language rendered it clear that he thought the district ten degrees north of the Line had been specified by mistake; and Sir H. Wellesley's letter, to say the least, suggested the idea that it was a mistake in which he participated. But, with this persuasion, I had no doubt that the mistake would be rectified, on Count Labrador's, and still more Lord Castlereagh's, statements from Vienna. And it is a sad disappointment to find that, on the 23rd of August last, the British Minister at Madrid had advanced no farther than his despatch of that date indicates, and that the idea of the former arrangements having been a mistake seemed to be wholly lost sight of; as, if (which I fear must have been the case) the British Minister at Madrid had never read Count Labrador's declaration at Vienna, as I stated to Lord Castle

reagh in the spring, (though even then he had anticipated me; for I assure you, my dear lord, that I do feel justice both to his, and to your own, and to Lord Bathurst's procedures also, as far as I have been acquainted with them) the Spanish Court had far better be apprised that no restriction at all on the limits for carrying on the Slave Trade would be infinitely preferable to this.

That Spain will not give up the trade altogether I am so firmly convinced, that I myself should have questioned the policy of urging her on the new ground of the French aboli tion, unless on the principle (which is not, however, pressed as dexterously as perhaps it might have been) that if you will not give us all we ask, do not, however, render your withholding what you keep, doubly injurious and provoking. I cannot help most earnestly imploring your lordship to instruct our Minister at Madrid to be as explicit as possible on this point; I foresee that otherwise the northern shore of Africa will, ere long, swarm with slave ships. I trust your lordship will immediately execute your idea of sending a ship of war, to see to the execution of the Portuguese stipulation to give up the Slave Trade north of the Line. I presume that would be understood to prevent their suffering ships under the Spanish flag to slave in their settlements-at Bissao, for instance; because otherwise an easy opening would be provided for the carrying on the Slave Trade to as great an extent as before.

The letter in which the fact I before named to your lordship was specified, that, I mean, of the slaves which used to be shipped from the factories in the rivers near Sierra Leone, being now carried to and shipped from Bissao, is dated the 26th of May; and the writer stated that he had recently received the intelligence, not, as I said, through mistake, from a missionary, but from an English factor. It would have indicated greater than Portuguese celerity in any instance, more especially in a case in which they cannot be supposed to move from any strong stimulus, either of interest or feeling

« PreviousContinue »