The Paget Papers.
Letter from the Hon. Arthur Paget (Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the Court of Austria) to Lord St Helens.
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 55- 56.
From Lord Hawkesbury to the Hon. A. Paget.
Downing Street, June 10th 1802.
[Lord
Hawkesbury first mentions that Baron Nicolai * has spoken to him of difficulties
started by the Czar on the 10th and 9th Articles of the Treaty of Amiens.
Lord St. Helens has therefore been instructed to explain that the principal
objection urged by Russia-" viz., that the Election of a Grand Master which
had taken place under the Auspices of the Emperor of Russia was set aside-is
evidently founded on a Misconception of the 10th Article. The first Paragraph
stipulates that the Knights of the Order, whose Langues shall continue to
subsist after the Exchange of the Ratifications of the present Treaty, are
invited to return to Malta as soon as that exchange shall have taken place.
They shall there form a general Chapter, and shall proceed to the Election
of a Grand Master to be chosen from amongst the Natives which preserve Langues;
if no such Election shall have been already made since the Ratification of
the Preliminary Articles of Peace. These last words were intended to refer
to the Contingency of an Election having taken place on the Continent, in
consequence of the Proclamation of the Emperor of Russia, which Election,
if it should have happened, was to be considered as valid. His Majesty has
therefore no hesitation in saying that He shall be ready to consider the
Proceeding as a valid Election, and that any one of the Individuals who were
then named, and who may be selected by the Pope and confirmed as Grand Master,
His Majesty will acknowledge, and will be ready to put him in possession
of the Island of Malta, provided he will engage to carry into effect the
Stipulation of the 10th
Article."
Lord
Hawkesbury therefore hopes that the Emperor of Russia will be satisfied as
to "the only objection of Moment that has been offered, and will now readily
accept the Guaranty of the Island of Malta, and that the Emperor of Germany
will make no further difficulty in acceding to the invitation " which will
be oflicially sent (in conjunction with the French Minister) to become one
of the guaranteeing Powers. Lord Hawkesbury encloses "the Copy of a Dispatch
upon this Subject written to Mr. Merry," and has "reason to hope that the
French Government will interpret the 1st Paragraph of the 10th Article in
the same manner as His Majesty has done." If the Emperor consents to become
"a Guarantee to the arrangement respecting Malta," Intelligence is instantly
to be sent to Sir Alexander Ball, Minister Plenipotentiary to the Order of
S. John of Jerusalem, "as the Evacuation of the Island by His Majesty's troops
will depend on the Notification being made in the Island that the Two Imperial
Courts accede to the Guarantee."]
* Count Worontzow, angered at the neglect of Russia by England in the Treaty of Amiens, had taken a prolonged leave from his Embassy, and was replaced by the Chargé d'Affaires, Baron Nicolai.
