first taken by the French, and afterwards re-taken by the English fquadron, and which ought to have been restored to me according to the Convention made between my Secretary of State and Lord St. Helens, Ambaffador from his Britannic Majefty; afterwards by the detention of all the ammunition which arrived in the Dutch fhips for the supply of my fquadrons, by affecting always different difficulties to put off the reftitution of them. Finally, I could no longer entertain a doubt of the bad faith of England, when I learnt the frequent landing from her fhips upon the coals of Chili and Peru, in order to carry on a contraband trade, and to reconnoitre the fhore under the pretence of fishing for whales, a privilege which the pretended to have granted her by the Convention of Nootka. Such were the proceedings of the British Minifter to cement the ties of friendship and reciprocal confidence, which he had engaged to maintain according to our Convention of the 25th May 1793. Since I have made peace with the French Republic, not only have I had stronger motives for fuppofing an intention on the part of England to attack my poffeffions in America, but I have alfo received direct infults, which perfuade me that the English Minister wishes to oblige me to adopt a part contrary to the interefts of humanity, torn by the bloody war which ravages Europe, for the termination of which I have not ceafed to offer my good offices, and to teftify my conftant folicitude. "In fact, England has developed her intentions, has clearly evinced her project of getting poffeflion of my territories, by fending to the Antilles a confiderable force, and particularly deftined againft St. Domingo, as the proclamations of her General in that Ifland clearly demonstrate. She has alfo made known her intentions by the establishments which her commercial companies have formed upon the banks of the Miffouri, in South America, with the defign of penetrating through thofe countries to the South Sea. Finally, by the conqueft which he has made of the Colony of Demarary, belonging to the Dutch, and whofe advantageous pofition puts her in a condition to get poffeffion of potts till more important. "But there can no longer remain any doubt of the hoftile nature of thefe projects, when I confider the frequent infults to my flag, the acts of violence committed in the Mediterranean by her frigates, which have carried away foldiers coming from Genoa to Barcelona, on board Spanish fhips, to complete my armies; the piracies and vexations which the Corsican and Anglo-Corsican corfairs, protected by the English Govern ment of that Island, exercise against the Spanish trade in the Mediterranean, and even upon the coafts of Catalonia, and the detention of different Spanish fhips, laden with Spanish property, and carried to England, under the molt frivolous pretences, and efpecially the rich cargo of the Spanish ship the Minerva, on which an embargo was laid in the most infulting manner to my flag, and the removal of which could not be obtained, though it was demonftrated before the competent tribunals, that this rich cargo was Spanish property. "The attack committed upon my Ambaffador, Don Simon de las Cafas, by a tribunal of London, which decreed his arreft, founded upon the demand of a very small fum, which was claimed by the undertaker of an embarkation. Finally, the Spanish territory has been violated in an intolerable manner upon the coafts of Galicia and Alicant by the English fhips the Cameleon and the Kanguroo. Moreover, Captain George Vaughan, Commodore of the Alarm, behaved in a manner equally infolent and scandalous in the Island of Trinity, where he landed with drums beating and flags flying, to attack the French, and to revenge the injuries which he pretended to have received, disturbing, by the the violation of the right of my Sovereignty, the tranquillity of the inhabitants of the Inland. "By all thefe infults, equally deep and unparelleled, that nation has proved to the univerfe, that the recognizes no other laws than the aggrandifement of her commerce; and by her defpotifm, which has exhaufted my patience and moderation, fhe has forced me, as well to fupport the honour of my crown, as to protest my people against her attacks, to declare war against the King of England, his kingdom and vaffals, and to give orders and take the neceffary meafures for the defence of my domains, and my subjects, and to repulse the enemy," Done at the Palace of St. Signed by the King and the Secretary of the Council of War. Laurenzo, O&. 5, 1796. On Saturday the 8th of October, war was proclaimed at Madrid in the ufual form. Treaty of Peace concluded between the French Republic and his Majefty the King of the two Sicilies. ΤΗ HE French Republic and his Majefty the King of the two Sicilies, equally animated with the defire to make the advantages of Peace fucceed to the misferies infeparable from War, have named, viz. the Executive Directory, in the name of the French Republic, the Citizen Charles Delacroix, Minister for Foreign Affairs; and his Majesty the King of the two Sicilies, the Prince Belmonte Pignatelli, Gentleman of the Chamber, and his Envoy Extraordinary, and Minifter Plenipotentiary to his Catholic Majefty, to treat, in their name, the claufes and conditions proper to re-ettablish good understanding and friendship between the two powers, who, after having exchanged their refpective full powers, have agreed on the following articles: Art. 1. There fhall be peace, friendship, and good understanding between the French Republic, and his Majesty the King of the two Sicilies: in confequence, all hoftilities fhall definitively ceafe, reckoning from the day of the exchange of the ratification of the prefent treaty. Meanwhile, and till that period, the conditions ftipulated by the Armiftice concluded on the 17th Prair al of the 4th year (5th of June,1796) fhall continue to have full power and effect. 2. Every anterior act, engagement, or convention on the one part or the other, of the two contracting parties, which are contrary to the prefent treaty, are revoked, and fhall be regarded as null, and of no effect; in confequence, during the courte of the prefent war, neither of the two powers thall furnish to the enemies of the other any fuccours in troops, thips, arms, warlike ftores, provifions, or money, under whatever title or denomination that may be. 3. His Majefty, the King of the two Sicilies, fhall obferve the most ftrict neutrality towards all the Belligerent Powers; in confequence, he pledges himself to prevent indifcriminately accefs to his ports to all armed thips of war belonging to the faid powers, which shall exceed four, according to the regulations acknowledged by the faid neutrality. All itores or merchandize known by the name of contraband, shall be refufed them. 4. All fecurity and protection shall be granted againft all perfons what ever, in the ports and roads of the two Sicilies, to all French merchant men, of whatfoever number they may be, and to all the fhips of war of the Republic, not exceeding the number specified in the above article. 5. The French Republic and the King of the two Sicilies engage to take off the fequeftration from all effects, revenues, goods feized, confifcated, and kept from the citizens or fubjects of both powers, in cen fequence of the prefent war, and to admit them refpectively to the legal exercife of all civil rights that may belong to them. 6. All 6. All prifoners made on one fide or the other, comprising marines and failors, fhall be reciprocally rettored within a month, reckoning from the exchange of the ratification of the prefent treaty, on paying the debts which they may have contracted during their captivity; the fick and wounded thall continue to be taken care of in their respective hofpitals, and thall be rettored upon their recovery. 7. To give a proof of his friendhip for the French Republic, and of his fincere defire to maintain the most perfet harmony between the two powers, his Majesty, the King of the two Sicilies, contents to fet at liberty every French Citizen who may have been arrested and detained in his ftates on account of his political opinions, refpecting the French Revolution; all goods and property, moveable or immoveable, which may have been fequeftrated on the fame account, fhall be restored to them. 8. From the fame motives which dictated the preceding articles, his Majefty, the King of the two Sicilies, engages to caufe all proper fearch to be made for discovering, by legal means, and for giving up to the rigour of the laws, the perfons who ftole, in 1793, the papers belonging to the laft Minifter of the French Republic. 9. The Ambaffadors or Minifters of the two contracting powers, fhall enjoy, in their respective states, the fame prerogatives and precedence which they enjoyed before the war, excepting those which were allowed them as Family Ambaffadors. 10. Every French Citizen, and all perfons belonging to the houshold of the Ambaffador or Minister, or to that of the confuls, and other authorized and acknowledged Agents of the French Republic, fhall enjoy, in the ftates of his Majesty the King of the two Sicilies, the fame freedom of Religious Worship, as is enjoyed by the individuals of thofe nations, not Catholics, which are the most favoured in that respect. 11. There fhall be negotiated and concluded, without delay, a treaty of commerce between the two powers, founded on the bafis of mutual utility, and fuch as fhall enfure to the French nation advantages equal to all those which are enjoyed in the kingdom of the two Sicilies by the most favoured nations. Until the completion of this treaty, the commercial and confular relations shall be reciprocally re-established on the fame footing as before the war. 12. In conformity with the 6th article of the treaty concluded at the Hague on the 27th Floreal, in the third year of the Republic, (16th May, 1795, old style), the fame peace, friendship, and good understanding, that are ftipulated in the prefent treaty, between the French Republic and his Majesty, the King of the two Sicilies, fhall fubfift between his Majefty and the Batavian Republic. 13. The prefent treaty fhall be ratified, and the ratifications exchanged, within forty days from the date thereof. Done at Paris, 19 Vendemiaire, in the fifth year of the French Re public, one and indivifible, correfponding with the 10th October, 1796 (Old Style). (Signed) CHARLES DELACROIX. The Prince of BELMONTE PIGNATELLI. The Executive Directory conclude and fign the prefent treaty of peace with his Sicilian Majefty, nogotiated in the name of the French Republic, by the Minifter for Foreign Affairs, appointed by the Executive Directory, by a decree of the 12th of the prefent month of Vendemiaire, and furnished with inftructions for that purpose. Done at the National Palace of the Executive Directory, 19th Vendemiaire, 5th year of the Republic, one and indivifible. This treaty was ratified by the Council of Five Hundred, on the 24th Vendemiaire, and approved by the Council of Elders on the 3d Brumaire following. TROUVE, Rédacteur en chef, Memorial delivered to the Minifter of the French Republic for Foreign H'S Britannis far depends on himfelf, to the re-establishment of TIS Britannic Majefty defiring, as he has already declared, to con public tranquillity, and to enfure by the means of juft, honourable, and folid conditions of peace, the future repofe of Europe; His Majefty is of opinion that the beft means of attaining, with all poffible expedition, that falutary end, will be to agree, at the beginning of the Negotiation, on the general principle which shall serve as a basis for the definitive arrangements. The first objects of the negotiation for peace, generally relate to the reftitution and ceffions which the refpective parties have naturally to demand, in confequence of the events of the war. Great Britain, after the uninterrupted fuccefs of her naval war, finds herfelf in a fituation to have no reftitution to demand of France, from which, on the contrary, the has taken establishments and colonies of the highest importance, and of a value almoft incalculable. But, on the other hand, France has made on the Continent of Europe, conquefts, to which his Majefty can be the lefs indifferent, as the moft important interefts of his people, and the most facred engagements of his crown, are effentially implicated therein. The magnanimity of the King, his inviolable good faith, and his defire to restore repose to so many nations, lead him, in this situation of affairs, to confider the means of procuring terms of peace just and equit able, for all the Belligerent powers, and calculated to ensure, in future, the general tranquillity. It is on this footing then, that he proposes to negotiate, by offering to compenfate France, by proportionable re.titutions, for those arrangements to which the will be called upon to confent, in order to fatisfy the juft demands of the King's allies, and to preserve the political balance of Europe. Having made this first overture, his Majefty will, in the sequel, explain himself in a more extensive manner, on the application of this principle to the different objects which may be difcuffed between the refpective parties. It is this application which will conftitute the fubject of those discusfions into which his Majefty has authorised his Minifter to enter, as foon as the principle to be adopted, as the general basis of the negotiation, is known. But his Majefty cannot dispense with declaring, that if this generous and equitable offer fhall not be accepted, or if, unfortunately, the difcuffions which may enfue, may fail in the defired effect, neither this general propofition, nor thofe more detailed which may refult from it, hall be regarded, in any cafe, as points agreed upon or accorded by his Majesty. (Signed) Paris, Oct. 24, 1796. MALMESBURY. Report to the Directory, by the Minifter for Foreign Affairs the 4th THE HE Executive Directory having furnished me with full powers to treat for peace with Great Britain, I had yesterday (3d Brumaire) my first conference with Lord Malmesbury, Plenipotentiary Minister to his Britannic Majefty. He prefented to me the original of his powers, fealed with the Seal of Great Britain, and certified the copy which he had before prefented to me unfigned; and which I had laid before the Directory. 1 Directory. I reciprocally exhibited to him my powers, and gave him a certified Copy. It was agreed, that the originals fhould be exchanged upon the definitive fettlement of the articles, and before their agnature. We entered into difcuffion:-Lord Malmesbury petented to me the Memorial which I laid before the Directory. I obferv.dio him thatr fpeaking in the name of the allies of Great Britain, and flipulating fʊ, their interests, he was, doubtlefs, furnished with their powers and inftructions. He answered me, that he was not, bur that when the Directory should have explained itself upon the principle laid down in his Memorial, he would expedite cour ers, to give o the different Courts an account of the Negotiations, and to receive h ir orders. Idemanded of him if he could, a att, fpecify the pr nciple of concellion in what concerned the Republic and the Governmen of Great Britain? He replied, that, after the Directory fhould have explained itself, he would fend a Courier and deman⚫ intructions on this point. I then thought it my duty to fay to Lord Malmbury, that I buld lay his Memorial before the Directory; that I would take its orders and impart to him its anf ser. (Signed) CHARLES DELACROIX. Anfwer of the Diretory. The Executive Directory orders the Minitter for Foreign Affairs to make the following Aufwer to Lord Malmesbury. HE Executive Directory fee, with pain, that at the moment when for retura peace the French Republic and His Britannic Majeny, the propofi tons of Lord Malmesbury offer nothing but dilatory, or very ditant means of bringing the Negoria on to a conclusion. The Directory oblerve, tha if Lord Malm fbury would have treated feparately, as he was formally authorized by the tenour of his Ciedentials. the Negotiations might have been con id rably abridged; that the neceflity of balancing with the interets of the two Powers, thofe of the Allies of Great Britain, multiplies th com' inations, increases the diffi. culties, tends to the formation of a Congrefs, the forms of which it is known are always tarey, and requires the accellon of powers, which hitherto have difplaved no delire of accommoda 'on, and have not given to Lord Malmetbury himielf, according to his own declaration, any power to ftipulate for them. Thus, without prejudging the intentions of Lord Malmesbury; without drawing any conclulion from the circumstance of his Declaration not appearing to accord it his Credentials; without fuppofing that he had received any fecret inftructions which would deftroy the ffect of his oftenible powers: without pretending, in fhort, to affert that the British Government have had a double object in view-to prevent, by general propofitions, the partial propofitions of o her powers, and to obtain from the People of England the means of con inuing the war, by throwing upon the Republic the odium of a delay occafioned by themfelves; the Executive Directory cannot but perceive, that the propofition of Lord Malmesbury is nothing more than a renewal, under more amicable forms, of the propofitions made laft year by M. Wickham, and that it prefents but a dilant hope of peace. The Executive Directory farther ob erve, with regard to the principle of ceffion advanced by Lord Malmesbury, that fuch principle, preTented in a vague and isolated manner, cannot ferve as the batis of Negotiation; that the first points of confideration are, the common neceffity of a juft and folid peace, the political equilibrium which abfolute ceifions might deftroy, and the means which then the Belligerent powers may pollefs -the |