The Paget Papers.

Letter from Lord St Helens to the Hon. Arthur Paget (Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the King of the two Sicilies).

Source: Paget, Right Hon. Sir Augustus B. Paget, G.C.B. The Paget Papers, Diplomatic and other Correspondence of the Right Hon Sir A. Paget. G.C.B., 1794-1807, 2 Vols. Longmans, Green and Co. New York 1896. Vol 2.  Pages 22 - 25.

From Lord St Helens to the Hon. A. Paget.

Moscow, 29th October 1801.

My Dear Sir,—. . . I have had of late a great deal of business upon my hands, but of a most uninteresting kind, as it related solely to the adjustment o£ some points of Maritime Law, which had been left for ulterior arrangement by the Convention of the 17 June ; and which I have at length settled, tant bien que mal, in the shape of some additional articles. I dispatched these to England last Night by Messenger, together with the accession of the Court of Denmark, † which has at length consented, tho' with a very ill grace, to adopt the whole of what has been arranged here without any undue reserves or restrictions. Sweden, however, contmues to run sulky ; tho' it is difficult to ascertain the motives of a backwardness so evidently prejudicial to her own Interests, and by which too she is the only sufferer. ‡
I am very sorry that m the Postscript to my last, I led you into an error relative to the state of the negociations between this Country and Austria ; which I now find to be by no means so far advanced as I had been induced to suppose. Had Count Panin indeed remained in 0ffice, there can be no doubt that the two Courts would very soon have re-established their former connexion and Intimacy, (N.B. The Overtures and Advances made to this Court by the Austrian Government have not amounted to a direct proposal for the renewal of former Treaties, so that in that respect they have kept their dignity unimpaired) and that upon this basis a system of Alliances might generally have been formed which might have furnished an effectual counter-poise to the Power of France. But the Change which has taken place in this Government has naturally altered these voluntary dispositions, since the language held both to Count Sauran and myself by the present Ministers has uniformly been that in the present unsettled state of the Politics of Europe, the Emperor wishes to see his way more clearly into the Dispositions of the several Powers before he can venture to contract any positive engagements, and the only specifick object that M. de Sauran has obtained has been the promise of the good offices of this Court in engaging the K. of Prussia to accommodate upon reasonable terms his differences with Austria relative to the affairs of Munster and Cologne. # It is impossible however to suppose that this Court can long persevere in their present system of inactivity and irresolution, as the course of events must ultimately point out to them the necessity of their adopting a line of conduct more suitable to the Emperor's situation and his real Interests and Dignity, but the first impulse to this change must come from without, and in this respect perhaps the reports of Count Razumofsky may be essentially useful, as he appears to entertain very just notions respecting the part which this Country ought to take in the general concerns of Europe, and his opinions and advice would naturally have very great weight with the Comte de Kotschoubei, with whom he is very closely connected in Alliance and Friendship. In mentioning this, however, I must particularly request (tho' the caution is probably superfluous) that you will not let Count Razumofsky perceive that I have expressed myself in any respect to the disadvantage of the Emperor's present Ministers, as it would certainly be repeated to them, and the intimiation, however delicately conveyed, would necessarily prevent my being as well with them in future as I now am, and naturally wish to continue. In truth, they are both (namely P. Kourakin & M. de Kotschoubei) very well disposed men, and the latter is by no means deficient in political talents ; so that it may be hoped that he will improve as he becomes more practised in business, and more awake to the importance of the Functions that he has undertaken.
You will be able to form some notion of the fearful interval that separates us here from the rest of the habitable world, when I inform you that we have but just received the news of the signature of the Preliminaries between England and France, and are still ignorant of the particulars of them. The only articles of which I have any knowledge are those relative to Malta, the outlines of which were transmitted to me some time ago with an Instruction to propose to this Court an eventual arrangement, in virtue of which, on our relinquishing the Island to the Order of St John of Jerusalem, the Emperor was to take upon himself (moyennant Finance) the care of providing the requisite means for its defence against any sudden Invasion, and for maintaining the Order in a state of Independence. I accordingly set on foot a Negociation to that effect, which was on the eve of being concluded agreeably to the wishes of H.M.'s Government, when the unfortunate event of Count Panin's Resignation produced the above mentioned revolution in the polity of this Court ; § in consequence of which I was informed that H.I.M. had determined to decline entirely the proposal in question ; ¤ partly on account of the difliculty of maintaining a body of his Troops in so distant a Quarter, and partly from his apprehension of the political embarrassments in which this measure would probably involve him from the umbrage & jealousies which it was likely to excite in France and Spain, as well as at Constantinople. We must therefore now bethink ourselves of some other expedient, and perhaps the least ineligible will be our endeavouring, thro' the influence of this Court, to cause the nomination of a new Grand Master to fall upon some trustworthy person, and furnish him on his reinstatement with such supplementary means, as, added to the resources of the Order, might enable him to maintain his Island in a respectable state of defence. For the rest, I am sensible that this is but a part, and a very small part, of the numerous list of objects which it will be necessary to secure in order to consolidate this same Peace, which has burst in upon us thus unexpectedly, and which I sincerely hope will be lasting ; tho' I am afraid it will be a long time before we reap the full benefits of it by the rednction of our Force and Expenses within the compass of the Ordinary Peace Establishment.

* French Envoy at Vienna.
† Signed October 23, 1801.
‡ This was the English view The Convention was practically dictated by Lord St. Helens. Prussia had abandoned her pledge only to negotiate in concert with Sweden.
# See letter of Lord St. Helens, February 9, 1802.
§ Panin desired to gnarantee the integrity of the Turkish Empire. The Emperor and Kotschubey were opposed to him on this point.
¤ The Emperor had already definitely refused in July. He had proposed the neutrality of Malta, or its occupation by the King of Naples, until the restoration of the Order. Panin had already lost influence in July.

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