tigation of the important subjects brought under your consideration, in consequence of the severe pressure occasioned by the high price of corn. The beneficial effects of the measures you have suggested for the alleviation of this calamity, have afforded his majesty great consolation; and he has the utmost satisfaction in indulging the hope that, under the favour of providence, the blessings of plenty will be restored by the produce of the ensuing har vest. Gentlemen of the House of Commons, His majesty has directed us to return you his particular thanks for the liberal provision which you have made for the various branches of the public service. While he regrets the necessity of supplies so large, it is a relief to his majesty to observe, that the resources and continued prosperity of the country have enabled you to distribute the public burthens in such a manner, as to press with as little severity as possible on his faithful subjects. My Lords, and Gentlemen, The brilliant and repeated successes of his majesty's arms, by sea and land, important as they are in their immediate consequences, are not less satisfactory to his majesty's mind, as affording fresh and decisive proofs of that vigorous exertion, undaunted valour, and steady perseverance, which distinguish the national character, and on which the chief reliance must be placed for respect abroad, and for confidence and security at home. Events so honourable to the British name derive, at the present moment, peculiar value in his majesty's estimation, from their tendency to facilitate the attainment of the great object of his unceasing solicitude, the restoration of peace on fair and adequate terms. They furnish, at the same time, an additional pledge, that if the sentiments of moderation and justice, which will ever govern his majesty's conduct, should be rendered unavailing, in this instance, by unreasonable pretensions on the part of his enemies, the spirit and firmness of his people will continue to be manifested by such efforts and sacrifices as may be necessary for asserting the honour of his majesty's crown, and for maintaining the permanent interests of the empire. Then a commission for proroguing the parliament was read. After which the lord chancellor said, My lords, and Gentlemen, By virtue of his majesty's commission under the great seal, to us and other lords directed, and now read, We do, in his majesty's name, and in obedience to his commands, prorogue this parliament to Thursday the 6th day of August next, to be then here holden; and this parliament is accordingly prorogued to Thursday the 6th day of August next. His Majesty's Speech on the Meeting of Parliament, Thursday, Oct. 29. My Lords, and Gentlemen, I have the satisfaction to acquaint you, that the important negotiations in which I was engaged at the close of the last session of parliament are brought to a favourable conclusion. The differences with the northern powers have been adjusted by a convention with the emperor of Russia, to which the kings of Denmark and Sweden have expressed their readiness to accede. The essential rights for which we contended are thereby secured, and provision is made, that the exercise of of them shall be attended with as little molestation as possible to the subjects of the contracting parties. Preliminaries of peace have also been ratified between me and the French republic; and I trust that this important arrangement, whilst it manifests the justice and moderation of my views, will also be found conducive to the substantial interests of this country, and honourable to the British character. Copies of these papers shall forthwith be laid before you, and I carnestly hope that the transactions to which they refer, will meet with the approbation of my parliament. Gentlemen of the House of Com mons, I have directed such estimates to be prepared for the various demands of the public service, as appear to me to be best adapted to the situation in which we are now placed. It is painful to me to reflect, that provision cannot be made for defraying the expences which must unavoidably be continued for a time in different parts of the world, and for maintaining an adequate peace establishment, without large additional supplies. You may, however, be assured, that all possible attention shall be paid to such economical arrangements as may not be inconsistent with the great object of effectually providing for the security of all my dominions. My Lords, and Gentlemen, I cannot sufficiently describe the gratification and comfort I derive from the relief which the bounty of divine providence has afforded to my people, by the abundant produce of the late harvest. In contemplating the situation of the country at this important conjuncture, it is impossible for me to refrain from expressing the deep sense I enter tain of the temper and fortitude which have been manifested by all descriptions of my faithful subjects, under the various and complicated difficulties with which they have had to contend. The distinguished valour and eminent services of my forces by sea and land, which at no period have been surpassed; the unprecedented exertions of the militia and fencibles, and the zeal and perseverance of the volunteer corps of cavalry and infantry, are entitled to my warmest acknowledgements: and I am persuaded that you will join with me, in reflecting with peculiar satisfaction on the naval and military operations of the last campaign, and on the successful and glorious issue of the expedition to Egypt, which has been marked throughout by achievements tending in their consequences, and by their example, to produce lasting advantage and honour to this country. It is my first wish, and most fervent prayer, that my people may experience the reward they have so well merited, in a full enjoyment of the blessings of peace, in a progressive increase of the national commerce, credit, and resources, and, above all, in the undisturbed possession of their religion, laws, and liberties, under the safeguard and protection of that constitution which it has been the great object of all our efforts to preserve, and which it is our most sacred duty to transmit unimpaired to our descendents. STATE PAPERS. Note transmitted by Mr. Drummond to the Danish Minister for Foreign Affairs, dated 27th Dec. 1800. The court of London, informed that Denmark is carrying on with activity negotiations very hostile to the the interests of the British empire, thinks that it cannot better fulfil the duties which such a circumstance prescribes, than by addressing itself directly to the minister of his Danish majesty, to demand from him a frank and satisfactory explanation. In all the courts of Europe they speak openly of a confederacy between Denmark and some other powers, to oppose by force the exercise of those principles of maritime law on which the naval power of the British empire in a great measure rests, and which in all wars have been followed by the maritime states, and acknowledged by their tribunals. His Britannic majesty, relying with confidence upon the loyalty of his Danish majesty, and upon the faith of the engagements recently contracted between the two courts, has not demanded from him any explanation on this head. It was his wish to wait for the moment when the court of Denmark should think it its duty to contradict those reports, so injurious to its good faith, and so little compatible with the maintenance of the good understanding which had been re-established between the two countries. At present the conduct and the public declaration of one of the powers, which it is pretended have entered into this confederacy, do not permit his majesty to preserve any longer towards the rest the same silence which he has hitherto observed. The undersigned therefore finds himself bound to demand from his excellency count de Bernstorf, a plain, open, and satisfactory answer on the nature, object and extent of the obligations which his Danish majesty may have contracted, or the negotiations which he is carrying on with respect to a matter which so nearly concerns the dignity of his Britannic majesty, and the interests of his people. His Britannic majesty, always ready to return all the marks of friendship which he may receive on the part of his Danish majesty, hopes to find, in the answer of the court of Copenhagen to this request, only a new occasion of manifesting these dispositions. In transmitting this note to M. the secretary of state, the undersigned avails himself with pleasure, of this opportunity, to assure him of the high consideration with which he has the honour to be His very humble and very obedient servant, W. DRUMMOND. To his excellency the count de Bernstorf, secretary of state of his Danish majesty, &c. &c. Note in Answer. The undersigned secretary of state for foreign affairs, having given an account to the king his master of the contents of the note which Mr. Drummond has done him the honour to transmit to him on the 27th instant, is authorised to return the answer which follows: The court of London must have received very incorrect information, to have been able for a moment to presume that Denmark had conceived projects hostile against it, or incompatible with the maintenance of the good understanding which subsists between the two crowns; and the king is very much obliged to his Britannic majesty for having furnished him with the opportunity of contradicting, in the most positive manner, reports as ill founded, as contrary to his most decided sentiments. The The negotiation which is carrying on at St. Petersburg between Russia, Prussia, Sweden, and Denmark, has no other object than the renewal of the engagements which in the years 1780 and 1781 were contracted by the same powers for the safety of their navigation, and of which a communication was at that time made to all the courts of Europe. His majesty the emperor of Russia having proposed to the powers of the North to re-establish these engagements in their original form, Denmark has so much the less hesitated to consent to it, as, far from having ever abandoned the principles professed in 1780, she has thought it her duty to maintain them, and claim them upon all occasions, and not allow herself to admit in respect of them any other modifications than those which result from her treaties with the belligerent powers. Very far from wishing to interrupt those powers in the exercise of rights which the war gives them, Denmark introduces into the ne gotiation with her allies none but views absolutely defensive, pacific, and incapable of giving offence or provocation to any one. The engagements she will make will be founded upon the strictest fulfilment of the duties of neutrality, and of the obligations which her treaties impose upon her; and if she wishes to shelter her innocent navigation from the manifest abuses and violence which the maritime war produces but too easily, she thinks she pays respect to the belligerent powers by supposing, that, far from wishing to authorise or tolerate those abuses, they would, on their side, adopt measures best calculated to prevent or repress them. Denmark has not made a mys tery to any one of the object of her negotiation, upon the nature o which some suspicion has been infused into the court of London; but she has not thought that she departed from the usual forms, in wishing to wait the definitive result of it, in order to communicate an official account of it to the powers at war. The undersigned, not knowing that any of the powers engaged in this negotiation has made a declaration, or adopted measures relative to its object, at which Great Britain might take offence or umbrage, cannot without ulterior explanation reply to this point of Mr. Drummond's note. Much less does he conceive in what respect the engagement taken by the previous convention of the 29th of August last can be considered as contrary to those which Denmark is about to enter into with the neutral and united powers of the North; and in all cases in which he shall find himself called upon to combat or remove the doubts that shall have been conceived with respect to the good faith of the king, he shall consider his task to be very easy, as long as this good faith shall be introduced into the reproaches or the suspicions advanced against his majesty. He flatters himself that the English government, after having received the required explanations, will have the frankness to allow that the provisional and momentary abandonment, not of a principle the question with respect to which remained undecided, but of a measure whose right has never been nor ever can be contested, cannot be found at all in opposition to the general and permanent principles, relative to which the powers of the North are upon the point of establishing a cooperation, operation, which, so far from being calculated to compromise their neutrality, is destined only to strengthen it. The undersigned would fain believe that these explanations will appear satisfactory to the court of London; and that the latter will do justice to the intentions and sentiments of the king, and particularly to his majesty's invariable desire to maintain and cement, by all the means in his power, the friendship and good understanding which subsist between Denmark and Great Britain. He has the honour to offer to Mr. Drummond the assurance of his most distinguished consideration. Copenhagen, Dec. 31, 1800. (Signed) BERNSTORFF. CONVENTION OF THE Convention for the Re-establishment of an Armed Neutrality between His Majesty the King of Sweden, of the one Part, and His Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias, of the other Part, concluded and signed at St. Petersburg, the 4th (16th) of December, 1800, accepted and ratified by His Swedish Majesty on the 20th December, and by His Imperial Majesty of all the Russias on the 8th (20th) December, in the same Year. In the Name of the Most Holy and Undivided Trinity. In order that the freedom of the navigation and the security of the merchandise of the neutral powers may be established, and the principles of the laws of nations be fully ascertained, during the continuance of the present maritime war, his majesty the king of Sweden, and his majesty the emperor of all the Russias, actuated by their love of justice, and by a reciprocal desire to promote whatever may be for the public advantage of their respective states, have to that effect determined to give a new sanction to those principles of their neutrality, which are in their nature indissoluble, and to require that they may be respected by all powers interested in their preservation. With this view their majesties have, by their declaration of the 15th August to the northern courts, who are equally concerned in the maintenance of those general regulations anciently recognised, given them to understand how sincerely it is the object of their hearts to restore, in its full independence, the general right of all nations to convey their ships and merchandise freely, and without being subject to the control of the powers at war. His Swedish majesty imparted his wishes and his sentiments to his great allies, and an happy conformity of their mutual interests has induced them to adopt the resolution of re-establishing that system of an armed neutrality which was attended with such advantages during the American war, and to renew its beneficial principles in a convention adapted to the present circuinstances. To this end his majesty the king of Sweden, and his imperial majesty of all the Russias, have nominated as their plenipotentiaries, namely, his Swedish majesty, baron Curt von Stedingk, ambassador extraordinary to his imperial majesty of all the Russias, lieutenant-general, chamberlain of the queen dowager, colonel of a regiment of infantry, knight, and commander of the order of the sword, and knight of the French order pour les mérites militaires; and his imperial majesty of all the Russias, |