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 65 - 66.
From Mr. Thos. Jackson to the Hon. A. Paget.
Rome, October 30th 1802.
My
Dear Sir,- . . . I should wish much to know a little of the history of the
late important changes at Petersburg & I shall be much obliged if you
will take the trouble to enlighten my darkness : I wish there may be a change
of measures as well as men as I shall have no hope of any check to
the insatiable ambition of Bonaparte until I see a real and cordial union
between the two Imperial Courts & England.*
You
will see that the poor innocent Infant of Parma has been sent to his long
home & the french have laid their clutches upon his dominions:†
we are in trembling expectation of seeing Tuscany, the States of Rome &
Naples share the same fate.
On
the election of the Grand Master of Malta the Pope sent a Knight & a
Messenger to England to inform the Balio Ruspoli that the choice had fallen
upon him : upon their arrival at Paris they were told by M. Talleyrand that
their proceeding to London was unnecessary as the first Consul wd send a
messenger of his own to inform the B. Ruspoli. The Knight of Malta &
the Pope's Legate were at the same time told that they might write to the
Grand Master by Bonaparte's Courier & enjoin him to come without delay
to Paris from whence he might proceed to Toulon where a french Squadron was
ready to convey him to his destination and that he was above all to avoid
having any communication with the British Ministers previous to his departure
! ! !-Believe me most sincerely yours,
Thomas Jackson.
* The Czar held that England in the Peace of Amiens had separated
her interests from those of the Continent.
† On October II, I8oz, on the death of Ferdinand de Bourbon, Duke of
Parma, father of the King of Etruria, the French seized Parma.. A French
Resident had governed since May 1801.
