Eylau: Precis Des Travaux de la Grande Armée
Letter from Lauderdale to Talleyrand Offering to Serve as a Mediator between France and Russia: 15 September 1806
No XXXI. The undersigned plenipotentiary of H. M. of the British transmitted without delay, at his court, the communication which was made to him by his Exc. the Minister of Foreign Relations, Thursday the 4th of this months, and now he hastens to answer this communication by intimating to his Exc. the path that H. M. deemed for him in connection with it and to prescribe his control in the current circumstances.
H. M. of Britain, always attentive to the maintenance of intimate connections, and of the alliance which remain with H. M. the emperor of all the Russias, finds naturally in the recent behavior of his illustrious ally, and in testimonies which he has just given, the interest that he takes in the well being of Great Britain, and with the general happiness of Europe, new reasons not to separate in any case his interests with those of the court of Petersburg.
However, H. M. does not claim to carry this principle further than he had already made to the Count of Yarmouth, according to the instructions of Mr. Fox, in the communications of his signatory with the French Government. Nothing prevents the interests of Great Britain and France from not being treated separately; only H. M. does not authorize the undersigned with signing a treaty differently than temporarily; this treaty having to have its full effect only if peace is achieved, between this faithful ally of Great Britain and France; it is in these conditions only that the undersigned is currently authorized to negotiate.
The undersigned was order to add that H. M. of the British, perfectly informed of the desire of court of Petersburg, for peace, on basis reciprocally honorable and advantageous, and compatible at the same time with the interests of Europe, has authorized to share with the French plenipotentiary the conditions to which Russia (according to the intimate and full knowledge that H. M. of the British has of the intentions of this court), would be ready to negotiate with the French Government; to write them in the form of a treaty, if they would be authorized on both sides; and to insert in the provisional treaty between Great Britain and France, an article according to which H. M. of the British would be committed to employing his mediation to obtain to the accession of H. M. the emperor of all Russias to this treaty.
The undersigned is not unaware of that it is the French plenipotentiary that must make the official communication of the conditions. While waiting, and for the satisfaction of his Exc. the Minister of Foreign Relations, he does not have any difficulty of saying to him, they will be in substance the same ones which were already communicated to his Exc. by his Exc. the Baron of Budberg.
The undersigned will await, with an acute impatience, the answer that his Exc. the Minister of Foreign Relations will want to make to him by this good communication. It is all the more essential for him to obtain it in this form, that his court noticed on this, that the communications already made by the undersigned, several times remain unanswered in writing.
The undersigned has the honor of renewing to his Exc. the Minister for External Relations, the insurances of his high consideration.
LAUDERDALE.
Paris, this 15 September 1806.
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