George III sent a message to both houses of parliament regarding the situation with France. In March he advised them that as the French had begun to prepare their ports for war, he had arranged for precautions to be taken in order to ‘[support] the Honour of his Crown and the essential Interests of his People’. In May he informed them that discussions with the French had collapsed and that ambassadors had been recalled.

See The Times, 9 March and 17 May 1803.