, and that to obtain it good harbours and
navigable rivers are necessary, and therefore, as well as from principles
of justice, perhaps, declined the acceptance of a plunder, which, though
tempting, was contrary to the policy of the House of Brandenburgh.

According to a copy circulated among the members of our diplomatic corps,
this partition treaty excluded Prussia from all the Batavian seaports
except Delfzig, and those of the river Ems, but gave her extensive
territories on the side of Guelderland, and a rich country in Friesland.
Had it been acceded to by the Court of Berlin, with the annexed condition
of a defensive and offensive alliance with the Court of St. Cloud, the
Prussian monarchy would, within half a century, have been swallowed up in
the same gulf with the Batavian Commonwealth and the Republic of Poland;
and by some future scheme of some future Bonaparte or Talleyrand, be
divided in its turn, and serve as a pledge of reconciliation or
inducement of connection between some future rulers of the French and
Russian Empires.

Talleyrand must, indeed, have a very mean opinion of the capacity of the
Prussian Ministers, or a high notion of his own influence over them, if
he was serious in this overture. For my part, I am rather inclined to
think that it was merely thrown out to discover whether Frederick William
III. had entered into any engagement contrary to the interest of
Napoleon the First; or to allure His Prussian Majesty into a negotiation
which would suspend, or at least interfere with, those supposed to be
then on the carpet with Austria, Russia, or perhaps even with England.

The late Batavian Government had, ever since the beginning of the present
war with England, incurred the displeasure of Bonaparte. When it
apprehended a rupture from the turn which the discussion respecting the
occupation of Malta assumed, the Dutch Ambassadors at St. Petersburg and
Berlin were ordered to demand the interference of these two Cabinets for
the preservation of the neutrality of Holland, which your country had
promised to acknowledge, if respected by France. No sooner was Bonaparte
informed of this step, than he marched troops into the heart of the
Batavian Republic, and occupied its principal forts, ports, and arsenals.
When, some time afterwards, Count Markof received instructions from his
Court, according to the desire of the Batavian Directory, and demanded,
in consequence, an audience from Bonaparte, a map