Caufe of Freedom had extended itself over fuch a large number of People. Hc, however, was ready to confefs, that from the great loffes the Dutch Republic had sustained in its Colonies, and particularly from the weak manner in which they had defended them, it could not be expected that His MAJESTY Would confent to a full and complete reftitution of them, and that it was reasonable that fome fhould be facrificed; and he asked me if I could inform him how far our views extended on this point? I faid I had reafon to believe, that what His MAJESTY Would require would be poffeffions and fettlements which would not add either to the power or wealth of our Indian Dominions; but only tend to fecure to us their fafe and unmolefted poffeffion. You mean by this, faid M. DELACROIX, the Cape and Trincomale? I faid they certainly came under that defcription; and I faw little prospect of their being restored to the Dutch. M. DELACROIX launched forth on this into a most Jaboured differtation on the value of the Cape of Good Hope, which he did not confider at all as a port de relache, but as a poffeffion which, in our hands, would become one of the most fertile and moft productive Colonies in the Eaft; and, according to his estimation of it, he did not fcruple to affert, that it would ultimately be an acquifition of infinitely greater importance to England than that of the Netherlands to France; and, if acquiefced in, fhould be reckoned as a full and ample compenfation for them. He added, "If you are mafters of the Cape and Trincomale, we shall hold our fettlements in India, and the Iflands of France and Bourbon, entirely at the tenure of your will and pleasure; they will be ours only as long as you choofe we should retain them. You will be fole masters in India, and we fhall be entirely dependent upon you." I repeated to him, that it was as means of defence, not of offence, that thefe Poffeffions would be infifted on; and that, if the matter was fairly and difpaffionately difcuffed, he would find that they afforded us a great additional fecurity, but no additional power of attack, even if we were difpofed to difturb the peace of that part of the world. If thefe, and perhaps fome few other not very material Settlements belonging to the Dutch, were to be infifted upon, and if he would be pleafed to enumerate all we should ftill have to restore to them, while they had nothing to restore to England, it was impoffible not to confider the terms on which HIS MAJESTY proposed Peace to Holland as generous and liberal.

M. DELACROIX was not at all difpofed to agree with me on this point; and faid, HolJand, ftript of thefe poffeffions, would be ruined. He then held out, but as if the idea had juft croffed his mind, the poffibility of indemnifying the Dutch for their loffes in India, by giving them a Tract of Territory towards the Meufe (I could not find out whether he meant Aix-la-Chapelle, Liege, or the Countries of Jaliers and Berg), and hinted, that if this was not to be done, an additional

Sugar Inland might, perhaps, be ceded to the Dutch Republic. I told him all this might become a fubject of future difcuffion; and I conceived, that if we could agree upon the more effential points, the Treaty would not break off on thefe fecondary confiderations. Our converfation had now been extremely long, and M. DELACROIX ended by saying, that although he had taken upon himself to enter with me thus far upon the subject, yet I muft not confider any thing he faid as binding, or as pledging the Republic, till fuch time as he had laid the Papers I had given him before the Directory; and, in order to do this with more accuracy, he again asked me, Whether in his Report he was to ftate the difuniting Belgium from France as a fine qua non from which HIS MAJESTY Would not depart ? I replied, it moft certainly was a fine qua non from which HIS MAJESTY Would not depart; and that any propofal, which would leave the Netherlands annexed to France, would be attended with much greater benefit to that Power, and lofs to the Allies, than the prefent relative fituation of the Belligerent Powers could entitle the French Government to expect.

M. DELACROIX repeated his concern at the peremptory way in which I made this affertion, and asked, whether it would admit of no modification?I replied, If France could, in a Cong tre-projet, point out a practicable and adequate one, ftill keeping in view, that the Netherlands must not be French, or likely again to fail into the hands of France, fuch a proposal might certainly be taken into confideration.

M. DELACROIX by no means encouraged me to explain myself more fully; he repeatedly faid, that this difficulty relative to the Netherlands was one which could not be overcome.

Juft as I was taking leave of him, he begged me to explain what was meant by the words in the Memoire (A) in the fourth paragraph, beginning de s'entendre mutuellement fur les Moyens d'affurer, and ending at leurs poffeffios respectives. I told him, it referred to the destructive fyftem adopted by France in the West Indies, and went to exprefs a with, that the two Powers fhould agree on fome general and uniform fyftem of internal Police in the Settlements there, which would contribute to the fecurity of these Poffeffions to the respective Countries, and at the fame time to the happinefs of every defcription of inhabitants in them.

M. DELACROIX, a little hurt at my expreffion relative to the system adopted by France, endeavoured to recriminate upon us; but he ended by faying, that they should certainly be willing to concur in any arrangement relative to the Negroes, which did not militate against the principles of their Conftitution. Here our conference ended, and as, during the whole couurfe of it, I bore in my mind the poffibility, that although this our firft might be the only favourable opportunity I fhould ever have of speaking on the general principles on which HIS MAJESTY was difpoted to treat, I endeavoured, by adverting more or less to almost every point in my

Inftructions

Inftructions, to enable M. DELACROIX (if he reports faithfully) to state to the Directory what I faid, in such a manner as to put it out of their power to misconceive what were His MAJESTY's intentions; to remove all poffibility of cavil on this cafe, and to bring them to a clear and distinct answer, whether they would agree to open a Negociation on the principle of the Status ante Bellum, or on one differing from it only in form, not in fubftance. I hope, in attempting to do this, I did not, in the first inftance, commit myself, or discover more of my Inftructions, than it became me to do, and that, in the converfation with M. DELACROIX, nothing escaped me which might, at some subsequent period, hurt the progrefs of the Negocia tion. I have, I believe, given this conference nearly verbatim to your Lordship; and I was particularly anxious to do this correctly and minutely, as well that you may judge on the propriety of what I faid myself, as that what M. DELACROIX faid to me may be accurately known, and remain on record.

It muft, however, be remembered (as I obferved in the beginning of this Dispatch) that he fpoke from himself, as Minifter indeed, but

not under the immediate inftructions of the Directory; and this confideration will take a little away from the fingularity of fome of the pofitions he advanced.

I confefs, my Lord, from the civility of his manners, and from his apparent readiness to difcufs the fubject, the impreffion which remained on my mind on leaving him was, that the Negociation would go on, but be liable to so many difficulties, and fome of them fo nearly infurmountable, that knowing, as I do, the opinion of the Directory, I faw little profpect of its terminating fuccefsfully. But I did not expect the conduct of the Directory would immediately be fuch as to evince a manifeft inclination, and even determination, to break off on the first proposals; and I was not a little surprised at receiving on Sunday, at three, P.M. the inclosed Letter (A) from M. DELACROIX :-he fent it by the Principal Secretary of his Department (M. GUIRAUDET) who communicated to me the original of the Arrête of the Directory, of which this letter, abating the alteration in the form, is a literal Copy. After perufing it, I afked M. GUIRAUDET, whether he was informed of its contents, and this led to a short converfation on them. 1 told him that both the demands were fo unexpected, that I could not reply to them off hand: that as to the first, it was quite unusual to fign Memorials which were annexed to a Note actually figned, and that I forcely felt myself authorised to depart from what was, I believed, an invariable rule. That as to the fecond Demand, made in fo peremptory and unprecedented a way, I could, without much hefitation, fay at once, that it could not be complied with. Monf. GUIRAUDET lamented this much, and said, that this being the cafe, he feared our principles of Negociation would never coincide. I agreed with him in my expreffions of concern, We converfed together afterwards

for fome time, but nothing paffed at all worthy remark. I told him I fhould send my answer the next day. On reflecting more attentively on the request that I would fign the two Memorials which I had given in, it ftruck me that the complying with it pledged me to nothing, that it was merely gratifying them on a point infifted on peevishly, and that the doing it would put them still more in the wrong.

As to the strange demand of an Ultimatum, it was perfectly clear what it became me to fay, and I hope, that in the inclosed Answer, B. (which I fent yesterday morning at twelve o'clock) to M. DELACROIX, I fhall be found to have adhered as closely as poffible to the spirit of my Instructions.

Yesterday evening, at half paft nine, M. GuiRAUDET brought me the Note C. to which I immediately replied by the Note D. They res quire no comment; and as I intend leavin Paris to-morrow, and travelling with all convenient speed, I fhall fo foon have it in my power to say the little which remains to fay, relative to this fudden, though perhaps not unlooked-for, clofe to my miffion, that I need not trespass any farther on your Lordship's patience.

I have the Honour to be, &c,

MALMESBURY.

P. 3. I thought it would be proper for His Majefty's Minifter at Vienna to receive the earlieft intelligence of the Negociation being broken off; I therefore have dispatched a Meffenger to Vienna, with a Copy of the feveral Papers which have paffed between me and Monfieur DELACROIX fince our conference; and alfo a fuccinct account of what paffed on it. The Meffenger left this place to-day at Three, P. M. Right Hon. Lord Grenville, &c. &c. (No. 31.)

Paris, 28th Frimaire (Dec. 18) 5th year.
SIR,

The Executive Directory has heard the reading of the Official Note, figned by you, and of two Confidential Memorials, without Signatures, which were annexed to it, and which you gave in to me yesterday. I am charged expressly by the Directory to declare to you, that it cannot listen to any Confidential Note without a Signature, and to require of you to give in to me, officially, within four and twenty hours, your U!timatum, figned by you.

Accept, Sir, the affurance of my high confi deration. CH. DELACROIX. (No. 32. ) [ A. ]

Copy. (B,) Paris, 19th Dec. 1796. Lord MALMESBURY, in answer to the Letter which the Minifter for Foreign Affairs had the goodness to transmit to him through the hands of the Secretary General of his Department, muft remark, that in figning the Official Note, which he gave in to that Minifter, by order of his Court, he thought he had complied with all the ufual formalities, and had given the neceffary authenticity to the two Confidential Memorials which were annexed to it. Nevertheless, to remove all difficulties, as far as lies in his power, he willingly adopts the forms which are

pointed

pointed out by the Refolution of the Executive Directory, and haftens to end to the Minister for Foreign Affairs the two Memorials figned by his hand.

With refpect to the pofitive demand of an Ultimatum, Lord MALMESBURY obferves, that infifting on that point in fo peremptory a manner, before the two Powers fhall have communicated to each other their respective pretenfions, and that the Articles of the future Treaty fhall have been fubmitted to the difcuffions which the different interefts which are to be adjusted, neceffarily demand, is to shut the door againft all Negociation. He, therefore, can add nothing to the affurances which he has already given to the Minifter for Foreign Affairs, as well by word of mouth, as in his Official Note; and he repeats that he is ready to enter with that Minister into every explanation of which the state and progrefs of the Negociation may admit, and that he will not fail to enter into the difcuffion of the Proposals of his Court, or of any counter-project which may be detivered to him, on the part of the Executive Di rectory, with that candour and that fpirit of conciliation which correfpond with the juft and pacific fentiments of his Court.

Lord MALMESBURY requests the Minifters for Foreign Affairs to accept the affurances of his high confideration.

O. S) that the Executive Directory will liften to no Proposals, contrary to the Conftitution, to the Laws, and to the Treaties, which bind the Republic.

And as Lord MALMESBURY announces at every communication, that he is in want of the opinion of his Court, from which it refults that he acts a part merely paffive in the Negociation, which renders his prefence at Paris useless: the Underfigned is farther charged to give him notice to depart from Paris in eight and forty hours, with all the perfons who have accompanied and followed him, and to quit, as expeditiously as poffible, the Territory of the Republic. The Underfigned declares moreover, in the name of the Executive Directory, that if the British Cabinet is defirous of Peace, the Executive Directory is ready to follow the Negociations, according to the bafis laid down in the prefent Note, by the reciprocal channel of Couriers.

(Signed) CH. DELACROIX. Paris, 29th Frimaire (19th December) 5th Year of the French Republic, One and Indivifible.