III. His Majefty alfo demands, that her Moft Faithful Majesty may be comprehended in this negotiation, and may return to a ftate of peace with France, without any ceffion or burthenfome condition on either fide.

IV. On thefe conditions his Majefty offers to France the entire and unreferved reftitution of all the conquests which he has made on that power in the East and Weft Indies, propofing at the fame time that a mutual understanding fhould be established as to the means of fecuring, for the future, the tranquillity of the two nations, and of confolidating, as much as poffible, the advantages of their respective poffeffions. His Majefty offers, in like manner, the reftitution of the iflands of St. Pierre and Miquelon, and of the fishery of Newfoundland, on the footing of the ftatus ante bellum.

But if, in addition to this, his Majefty were to wave the right given to him by the exprefs ftipulations of the treaty of Utrecht, of oppofing the ceffion of the Spanish part of St. Domingo to France, his Majefty would then demand, in return for this conceffion, a compenfation, which might fecure, at leaft in fome degree, the maintenance of the balance of the refpective poffeffions in that part of the world.

V. In all the cafes of ceffions or reftitutions which may come in question in the courfe of this negotiation, there should be granted on each fide to all individuals the most unlimited. right to withdraw with their families and their property, and to fell their land and other immoveable poffeffions; and adequate arrangements fhould be alfo made, in the courfe of this negotiation, for the removal of all fequeftrations, and for the fatisfaction of the juft claims, which individuals on either fide may have to make upon the refpective governments.

(Signed)

MALMESBURY.

No. 29.

Confidential Memorial on the Peace with Spain and Holland. THE allies of France not having hitherto expreffed any defire or difpofition to treat with the King, his Majesty might have forborne to enter into any detail on their account; but in order to avoid any delays prejudicial to the great object which the King has in view, and to accelerate the work of a general peace, his Majefty will not refufe to explain himself in the first inftance on the points which concern thofe powers. If then the Catholic King thould defire to be comprehended in this negotiation, or to be allowed to accede to the definitive treaty, this would meet with no obftacle on the part of his Majefly. Nothing

Nothing having hitherto been conquered by either of the two fovereigns from the other, no other point could, at the prefent moment, come into queftion but that of the re-eftablishment of peace fimply, and without any reftitution or compenfation whatever, except fuch as might poffibly refult from the application of the principle declared at the end of the fourth article of the mémorial already delivered to the minifter for foreign affairs.

But if, during the negotiation, any alteration fhould take place in the ftate of things in this refpect, it will then be proper to agree upon the reftitutions and compenfations to be made on each fide.

With regard to the Republic of the United Provinces, his Britannic Majefty and his allies find themselves too nearly interefted in the political fituation of thofe provinces to be able to confent in her favour to the re-establishment of the ftatus ante bellum as with respect to territorial poffeffions, unlefs France could, on her part, reinftate them in all refpects in the fame political fituation in which they stood before the war.

If at least it were poffible to re-establish in thofe provinces, agreeably to what is believed to be the wish of a great majority of the inhabitants, their ancient conftitution and form of government, his Majefty might then be difpofed to relax, in their favour, from a very confiderable part of the conditions on which the prefent ftate of things obliges him to infift.

But if, on the contrary, it is with the Republic of Holland, in its prefent state, that their Britannic and Imperial Majestics will have to treat, they will feel themfelves obliged to feek in territorial acquifitions thofe compenfations and that fecurity which such a state of things will have rendered indispensable to them.

Reftitutions of any kind, in favour of Holland, could in that cafe be admitted in fo far only as they fhall be compenfated by arrangements calculated to contribute to the fecurity of the Auftrian Netherlands. The means of accomplishing this object will be found in the ceffions which France has exacted in her treaty of peace with Holland, and the poffeffion of which by that power would in any cafe be abfolutely incompatible with the fecurity of the Austrian Netherlands in the hands of his Imperial Majefty.

It is on thefe principles that his Britannic Majefty would be ready to treat for the re-establishment of peace with the Republic of Holland in its prefent ftate.-The details of fuch a difcuffion muft neceffarily lead to the confideration of what would be due to the interefts and the rights of the houfe of Orange.

MY LORD,

Na. 30.

Paris, December 20, 1796.

MR. ELLIS returned here from London on Thursday laft the 15th inftant, at five P. M. and delivered to me the dispatches No. 11 and 12, with which he was charged by your lordship.

Although nothing can be clearer, more ably drawn up, or more fatisfactory than the inftructions they contain, yet as it was of the laft importance that I fhould be completely master of the fubject before I faw the French minifter, I delayed afking for a conference till late on Friday evening, with a view that it should not take place till Saturday morning.

He appointed the hour of eleven A. M. on that day, and it was near one before we parted. Although what is faid by M. Delacroix before he has communicated with the Directory cannot be confidered as officially binding, and probably may, in the event, be very different from what I fhall hear when he fpeaks to me in their name, yet as it is impoffible they fhould not nearly conjecture the nature of the overtures I fhould make, and of courfe be prepared in fome degree for them, it is material that your lordthip fhould be accurately acquainted with the first impreffions they appear to make on M. Delacroix.

I prefaced what I had to communicate with faying, that I now came authorized to enter with him into deliberation upon one of the most important fubjects that perhaps ever was brought into difcuffion-that as it's magnitude forbade all fineffe, excluded all prevarication, fufpended all prejudices, and that as I had it in command to fpeak and act with freedom and truth, I expected that he, on his part, would confider these as the only means which could or ought to be employed if he wished to fee a negotiation, in which the happinefs of millions was involved, terminate fuccefsfully. That, for greater precifion, and with a view to be clearly understood in what I was about to propose, I would give him a confidential memorial, accompanied by an official note, both which, when he had perufed them, would fpeak for themfelves. The memorial contained the conditions, on the accom plishment of which his Majefty confidered the restoration of peace to depend. The note was expreffive of his Majesty's readinefs to enter into any explanation required by the Directory on the fubject, or to receive any contre-projet, refting on the fame bafis, which the Directory might be difpofed to give in. That, moreover, I did not hesitate declaring to him, in conformity to the principles which I had laid down, and from which I certainly never should depart at any period of the pegotiation, that I was prepared to answer any questions, explain and elucidate any points, on which which it was poffible to forefee that doubts or mifconceptions could arife on the confideration of thefe papers. And

having faid thus much, I had only to remark, that I believed, in no fimilar negotiation which had ever taken place, any minister was authorized, in the first instance, to go fo fully into the difcuffion as I now was-That I was fure neither the truth of this remark, nor the manifeft conclufion to be drawn from it, would efcape M. Delacroix's obfervation.

I then put the two papers into his hands. He began by reading the note, on which of course he could only exprefs fatisfaction. After perusing the confidential memorial with all the attention it deferved, he, after a fhort pause, said, that it appeared to him to be liable to infurmountable objections; that it feemed to him to require much more than it conceded, and, in the event, not to leave France in a fituation of proportional great❤ nefs to the powers of Europe. He faid, the act of their conftitution, according to the manner in which it was interpreted by the beft publicifts, (and this phrafe is worthy remark) made it impoflible for the Republic to do what we required. The Auftrian Netherlands were annexed to it; they could not be difpofed of without flinging the nation into all the confufion which muft follow a convocation of the primary affemblies; and he faid, he was rather furprized that Great Britain fhould bring this forward as the governing condition of the treaty, fince he thought he had, in fome of our late converfations, fully explained the nature of their conftitution to me. I replied, that every thing I had heard from him on this point was perfectly in my recollection, as it probably was in his; that though I had liftened to him with that attention I always afforded to every thing he faid, yet I had never made him any fort of reply, and had neither admitted nor controverted this opinion: that although I believed I could eafily difprove this opinion from the spirit of the French conftituion itself, yet the difcuffion of that constitution was perfectly foreign to the object of my miffion; fince, even allowing his two pofitions, viz. that the retroceffion of the Auftrian Netherlands was incompatible with their laws, and that we ought to have known that beforehand, yet that there exifted a droit public in Europe paramount to any droit public they might think proper to establish within their own dominions; and that if their conftitution was publicly known, the treaties exifting between his Majesty and the Emperor were at least equally public, and in thefe it was clearly and diftinctly announced, that the contracting parties reciprocally promife not to lay down their arms without the reftitution of all the dominions, territories, &c. which may have belonged to either of them before the war. That the date of this ftipulation was previous to their annexing the Austrian Netherlands to France; and the notoriety of this ought, at the very moment when they had paffed that law, to have convinced them, that, if adhered to, it must prove an infurmountable

obstacle

obftacle to peace. I applied his maxim to the Weft India iflands, and to the fettlements in the East Indies; and afked him, whether it was expected that we were to wave our right of poffeffion, and be required ftill to confider them as integral parts of the French, Republic which must be restored, and on which no value was to be fet in the balance of compenfation. I alfo ftated the poffible cafe of France having loft part of what the deemed her integral dominions, inftead of having added to them, in the courfe of the war, and whether then, under the apprehenfion of ftill greater loffes, the government, as it was now compofed, fhould confider itself as not vested with powers fufficient to fave their country from the impending danger, by making peace on the conditions of facrificing a portion of their dominions to fave the remainder. M. Delacroix faid, this was ftating a cafe of neceflity, and fuch a mode of reafoning did not attach to the prefent circumftances. I readily admitted the nrft part of this propofition, but contended, that if the power existed in a cafe of neceffity, it equally exifted in all others, and particularly in the cafe before us, fince he himself had repeatedly told me that peace was what this country and it's government wifhed for, and even wanted.

..M. Delacroix, in reply, fhifted his ground, and, by a ftring of arguments founded on premifes calculated for this purpose, attempted to prove, that from the relative fituation of the adjacent countries, the prefent government of France would be reprehenfible in the extreme, and deferve impeachment, if they ever fuffered the Netherlands to be feparated from their dominions; that by the partition of Poland, Ruffia, Austria, and Pruffia, had increased their power to a moft formidable degree; that England, by its conquefts, and by the activity and judgment with which it governed its colonies, had redoubled its ftrength.-Your Indian empire alone, faid M. Delacroix with vehemence, has enabled you to fubfidize all the powers of Europe against us, and your monopoly of trade has put you in poffeffion of a fund of inexhaustible wealth. His words were, "Votre empire dans l'Inde vous a fourni les moyens de falarier toutes les puiffances contre nous, et vous avez accaparé le commerce de manière que toutes les richeffes du monde fe verfent dans vos coffres."

From the neceffity that France fhould keep the Netherlands and the left bank of the Rhine, for the purpofe of preferving its relative fituation in Europe, he paffed to the advantages which he contended would refult to the other powers by fuch an addition to the French dominions. Belgium (to ufe his word) by belonging to France, would remove what had been the fource of all wars for two centuries paft, and the Rhine, being the natural boundary! of France, would enfure the tranquillity of Europe for two centuries to come. I did not feel it neceffary to combat this pre

pofterous