§ Mr. Secretary Canning presented the following Message from his majesty:
845§ "G. R. His majesty thinks it proper to inform the house of commons, that he has concluded a Treaty of Alliance and Subsidy with his Sicilian majesty. His majesty has directed a Copy of this Treaty to be laid before the house of commons, and trusts that his faithful commons will enable his majesty to make good the engagements contained therein."
Mr. Secretary Canningthen moved, that his majesty's most gracious Message be referred to the Committee of Supply. He took this opportunity of stating, that though this Treaty was now for the first time brought forward, it was no new transaction, but one which the present ministry had found to have been in the contemplation of their predecessors, and that in the year 1805 it had been intended to conclude a treaty with the king of Sicily, by which a subsidy of 300,000l. per annum was to have been granted to that monarch. The events which occurred towards the end of that year, however, were sufficient to account for nothing being then done to bring the treaty to a completion. In the beginning of the following year, things continued in a similar state. In the autumn. Mr. Drummond had been sent for the purpose of adjusting the business, but on the return of the treaty, it was found to contain stipulations to which his majesty had been advised not to assent; and it was but lately that the business had been finally arranged. He had thought it necessary to say thus much, that the house might see that this was not a new measure.