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the French government would perform the same act of justice towards such Englishmen as might have property in France. The reasonable request contained in the latter part of this notification was urged more than once by Mr. Merry, but Lord Whitworth's despatch from Paris to Lord Hawkesbury, dated the 10th of May, 1803, explains with how little success these applications were entertained by the French government. "With regard," said his lordship, "to the numerous memorials and representations which I have had to make to this government in behalf of those of His Majesty's subjects who have suffered by the detention and confiscation of their vessels and property in French ports, I have only to observe that they have, with one or two exceptions, remained unanswered." Under circumstances so studiously insulting, the British government, to the surprise of its own people, persisted in a pacific, if not submissive, demeanour. Instead of resenting such conduct, the English ministers were content with making new efforts at conciliation. They removed all the prohibitions on French trade imposed during the war, placing her shipping in all respects on the same footing as the vessels of other states in amity with Great Britain, a course involving much injustice to many British subjects whose interests were thus postponed to the paramount exigencies of state necessity.

As every step of the First Consul indicated a desire to embarrass English commerce, it was impossible that friendly relations could be long maintained between France and England. Under the pretext of a renewal of arrangements formerly