His immediate attention to my letter, and indeed the obliging manner of his reply, demand my best acknowledgments. His answer is as follows: (Translation.) "The Count de Caraman presents his compliments to Lord John Russell, and has the honour to inform him, that having written to M. le Baron Pasquier on the subject of his request, to be allowed to consult the dispatches of M. Barillon at the Archives, he has received for answer, that the regulations of the office of Foreign Affairs do not permit a communication of this nature, and reference is made to an antecedent decision taken by the Duc de Richlieu, and communicated to Lord John Russell. "The Count de Caraman deeply regrets not having been more fortunate in this little negociation, the success of which would have been agreeable to Lord John Russell; but if his object is to ascertain some fact, or to obtain some detail, the Count de Caraman would be happy to transmit to Paris the notes which Lord John might address to him, and to endeavour to acquire the information he desires. "He seizes this occasion to renew the assurance of his high consideration. "Portland Place, 24 June, 1820." To which I returned the following Answer: "Holland House, June 26. 1820. "Lord John Russell presents his compliments to M. le Comte de Caraman, and begs to return him his best thanks for the readiness with which he transmitted his request, and the manner in which he communicates the answer. "Lord John Russell, however, must be permitted to say, that he never received the previous decision of the Duc de Richlieu in answer to his application, and that on the contrary, he was told by Sir Charles Stuart, that the Duc de Richlieu had given a verbal assurance that it should be granted. The Duc de Richlieu was at the congress of Aix la Chapelle when the request was formally made to him, and his reply was never received. "It is with some surprise, therefore, as well as great regret, that Lord John Russell has learnt the decision of the Baron Pasquier, so opposite to the conduct of the French government to Sir John Dalrymple before the Revolution, and to Mr. Fox in 1802. And if there were any case in which a request of this nature might be properly granted, he should suppose it would be when the dispatches are already published, and when those dispatches, so published, are supposed to cast a stigma upon the ancestor of the person making the application. And he might expect that such a request would be favourably entertained at this time, as, if rightly informed, the Count de Hauterive, who presides over the Archives, is himself an author, and obtained the favour of Napoleon, then Emperor of France, by a very able pamphlet in support of the Continental System. "Lord John Russell feels very grateful to M. le Comte de Caraman for his obliging offers, but he has no farther request to make." I have only further to add, that unless I had been permitted to hunt Sir John Dalrymple through all his extracts, (some of which he allows himself to have been at first incorrect,) it would have been impossible for me to ascertain whether he had misquoted or omitted. But the truth is, the French gentleman who is entrusted with the care of the Archives, from which the charge against the Whigs was made, would not approve of the political tendency of the refut ation. |