152 
nished on the part of the executive 
directory ; and as soon as they shall 
have been exchanged, he wil! be 
ready to commence the negotiation 
with which he is charged. 
He requests the minister for fo- 
reign affairs to accept the assur- 
ances of bis high consideration. 
(Sigzned)  Masmeszury. 
Paris, October 23rd, 1796. 
No. 13. 
Extract from the Register of the De- 
crees of the Executive Directory. 
2 Brumaire, (22 Nov.) 
5th year of the French 
republic, ane and indi-~ 
visible. 
THE executive directory, after 
having heard the report of the mi- 
nister for foreign affairs. 
The citizen Charles Delacroix, 
minister for foreign affairs, is charg- 
ed to negotiate with lord Malmes- 
bury, commiussoner plenipotentiary 
of his Britannic majesty, furnished 
with full powers to prepare. and 
negotiate peace between the French 
republic and that power, and to 
conclude it definitively between 
them. The directory gives to the 
said minister all powers necessary for 
concluding and signing the treaty 
of peace to take place between the 
republic and his Britannic majesty, 
He shall conform himself to the 
instructions which shall be given 
him. He shall render a_ regular 
account, from time to time, of the 
progress and of the issue of the ne- 
gotiation. 
The present decree shall not be 
printed at this time. 
A true copye 
(Signed) L, R. REVELLIERE. 
LEPEAUX. 
a 
ANNUAL REGISTER, 
"no restitution to demand of France, 
‘majesty can be the less indifferent, 
1796. 
By the executive directory. 
The secretary general. 
(Signed) La Garpe. 
Copy. 
‘The minister for foreign affairs, 
(Signed) Cu. DELACROIX, 
By the minister 
(L.S.) J. Guirauper, sec. gen- 
No. 14. 
Memoria?.—IIS Britannic majes~ 
ty desiring, as he hasalready declar- 
ed, to contribute, as far as depends 
on him, tothe re-establishment off” 
public tranquillity, and to ensure 
by the means of just, honourable, 
and solid conditions of peace, the 
future repose of Europe ; his ma- 
jesty 1s of opinion, that the best 
means of attaining, with all possi- 
ble expedition, that salutary end, 
will be to agree, at the beginning 
of the negotiation, on the general — 
principle which shall serve as a’ 
basis for the definitive arrange- 
ments. 
The first object of negociations 
for peace generally relates to the 
restitutions and cessions which the 
respective parties have mutually 
to demand in consequence of the 
events of war. 
Great Britain, from the uninter- 
rupted success of her naval war, 
finds herself in asituation to have 
from which, on the contrary, she 
has taken establishments and co- 
lonies of the highest importance, 
and of a value almost incalcula- 
ble. 
But, on the other hand, France 
has made, on the continent of 
Europe, conquests to which his 
as the most important interests of 
his people, and the most sacred en- 
gagements 
