HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
tory requisition he replied, that it 
precluded at once all farther nego~ 
ciction: that, if they disapproved of 
his propositions, or refused to take 
them into consideration, they ought 
to bring forward their own, that 
he might lay them _ before his 
constituents. But he received no 
other answer, than that they could 
listen to no terms inconsistent with 
the constitution, and the engage- 
ments formed by the republic. It 
was signified to him, at the same 
tine, that being obliged to consult 
the British ministry, previously to 
all r-plies and communications, it 
evidenily appeared that his powers 
were inadequate to the conducting 
of a treaty, which might, if the 
British ministry were inclined to pa- 
cific measures, and determined to 
treat on their present plan, be as 
well forwarded by anepistolary cor- 
respondence. Lord Malmsbury’s, 
they sarcastically observed, was a ne- 
gociation of couriers and messages. 
_ This republican rudeness strongly 
marked the subversion of the French 
monarchy. His residence therefore in 
Paris being totally unnecessary,they 
ordered him to depart in forty-eight 
hours, 'Thisinjunction was notified to 
him on the twentieth of December. 
Thus ended a negociation, of 
which no hopes had been entertain- 
ed, from the manner in which it 
commenced, and was carried on, 
Politicans thought that ‘too much 
was demanded of the French, and 
that they were disposed to grant too 
jWittle. The truth was, that neither 
the British, nor the French, govern- 
ment, were sincerely disposed to 
peace; though a shew of pacific 
inclinations was necessary to both, 
in order to preserve any tolerable 
degree of popularity, and even to 
the endurance of their sway among 
their respective nations. Circum= 
[igi 
stances greatly favoured the French, 
exclusively ot theirsuccessesinItaly, 
The German princes and_ states, 
alarmed at the re-assumption of its 
former loftiness of style by the court 
of Vienna, on the expulsion of the 
French from \the empire, were con- 
firmed in their adherence to Prussia, 
as a counterbalance to the power of 
Austria. Both the court of Berlin 
and Petersburgh had united, on this 
oceasion, in espousing their cause. 
Thus, though the emperor continued 
stedfast in his engagements with 
England, still the union formed 
against him, in the empire, dimi- 
nished considerably his importance. 
Spain too, at this period, was in 
league with I'rance, and preparinga 
formidable armament against Eng- 
land. The councils of the Batavian 
republic, the new style of the Seven 
United Provinces, were so firmly 
interwoven with those of the French 
republic, that a re-establishment of 
their former government was be- 
come inadmissible in any treaty. 
Notwithstanding these manifold 
advantages, numbers in France did 
not contentedly see the dismission 
of lord Malmsbury, thinking that 
possibly a fairer opportunity of con- 
cluding a beneficial peace, would 
not recur. The events of war bad 
hitherto been so much more pros- 
perous than could be expected, that 
they ought to have been improved, 
while their influence was in full 
strength from their being recent, 
and the fortune of the state should 
not have been committed to the 
future contingencies of war, the 
chances of which were so uncertain 
and precarious. 
In order to screen themselves 
from these strictures, which most 
people deemed not ill-founded, the 
directory published an elaborate 
apology for their conduct, wherein 
they 
