az ANNUAL REGISTER, 17097. 
ftrongly at a moment when the two 
great authorities of thecountry were 
at variance, it muft naturally be- 
come ftronger and be exerted with 
more effeé& when all fpirit of divi- 
fion was fuppreffed, and when the 
government was ftrengthened by 
the perfect concord which now 
reigns between all its branches: 
That the firft and moft material 
point to be afcertained in every 
negotiation was the extent of the 
full powers with which the negoti- - 
ators are vefted: that I fhould find 
theirs to be very ample; and that, 
as it was neceflary to the fuccefs of 
eur difcuffions that mine fhould be 
equally fo, they had it in command 
to prefent a note, the object of 
which was to enquire, whether I 
was authorifed to treat on the prin- 
ciple of a general reftitution of ev- 
ery poffeflion remaining in his Ma- 
jefty’s hands, not only belonging to 
them, but to their allies; that I was 
not unacquainted with their laws 
and with their treaties; that a great 
country could not on any occa- 
fion act*in contradiétion to them; 
and that, aware as I muft be of this, 
I could not but expeét the queftion 
contained in the note, neither could 
T confider the requifition of an ex- 
plicit anfwer previous to entering 
upon the negotiation, as arifing from 
any other motive than that of the 
moft perfe& with, on the part of 
the Direétory, to bring it to a fuc- 
cefsful, and, above all, to a fpeedy 
conclufion.—I replied, that if after 
what I heard I could allow myfelf 
to hope for fuch an event as he 
feemed to think probable, or give 
any credit to the pacific difpofitions 
he announced on the part of the 
French government, fuch hope 
muft arife folely from the confi- 
dence I might place in his affur- 
ances; fince the meafure itfelf now 
adopted by the Directory was cer- 
tainly calculated to make a directly 
contrary impreffion on my mind; 
that I could not conceal from him, 
that far from expeéting fuch a quef- 
tion, its being now put furprifed me 
beyond meafure, and ftill more fo, 
when from his comment upon it I 
was to infer that he wifhed me to 
confider it as tending to promote a 
fpeedy pacification; that the quef- 
tion expreffed in the note he had 
delivered (for he had given it to 
me, and I had read it over as he 
ended his fpeech) was word for 
word the fame as that put to me by 
his predeceflors fo long agovas the 
14th July; that on the 15th [had, 
from my own authority, given an 
anfwer, and that this anfwer I con- 
firmed fully and diftinétly, by order 
of my court, on the 24th July; that 
thefe notes had to the prefent hour 
remained unnoticed, and a delay of 
two months had occurred; that the. 
reafons afligned for this delay were, 
as I was repeatedly told, a decided 
refolution on the part of the French 
government to liften to the reafon- 
able propofals made by his Majefty ; 
but that being bound by their en- 
gagements with the court of Ma- 
drid and the Batavian Republic, and 
wifhing to treat their allies with 
due confideration, they were defir- 
ous of confulting with them previ- 
ous to any pofitive declaration, and 
‘obtaining from them a voluntary 
releafe from thofe engagements fuf- 
ficient to enable the French Pleni- 
potentiaries here to admit the bafis 
his Majefty had eftablifhed, and to 
ground on it all future difcuffions 
which might arife in the courfe of 
the negotiation; that if he had read 
over the papers left, undoubtedly, 
in his poffeflion by his predeceffors, 
he 
