STATE PAPERS. 
present state, that their Britdinie, 
and Imperial majesties will have to 
treat, they will feel themselves 
obliged to seek in territorial ac- 
quisitions those compensations and 
that security which such a state of 
things will have rendered indispen- 
sable to them. 
Restitutions of any kind, in fa- 
vour of Holland, could in that case 
be admitted in so far only as they 
shall be compensated by arrange- 
ments calculated to contribute to 
the security of the Austrian Ne- 
therlands. The means of accom- 
plishing this object will be found 
in the cessions which France has 
exacted in her treaty of peace with 
Holland, and the possession of 
_which by that power would in any 
case be absolutely incompatible 
with the security of the Austrian 
Netherlands in the hands of his 
Imperial majesty. 
It is on these principles that his 
Britannic majesty would be ready 
to treat for the re-establishment of 
peace with the republic of Hol- 
land in its present state.—The de- 
tails of such a discussion must ne- 
cessarily lead to the consideration 
of what would bé due to the inte- 
rests and the rights of the house of 
Orange. 
No. 30. 
My Lorp, 
Paris, December 20, 1796. 
MR. ELLIS returned here from 
London on Thursday last the 15th 
| instant, 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 satis- 
factory than the instructions they 
contain, yet as it was of the last 
importance that I. should be com. 
Vou. XXXVIII. 
[161 
pletely master of the subject before 
I saw the French minister, I de- 
Jayed asking for a conference tll 
late on Friday evening, with a view 
that it shouid not take place ull 
Saturday morning. 
He appointed the hour of eleven 
A.-M. on that day, and it was near 
one before we parted. Although 
what is said by M. Delacroix be- 
fore he has communicated with the 
directory cannot be considered as 
officially binding, and probably 
may, in the event, be very different 
from what I shall hear when he 
speaks to me in their name, yet as 
it is impossible they should not 
nearly conjecture the nature of the 
overtures I should make, and of 
course be prepared in some de- 
gree for them, itis material that 
your lordship should be accurately 
acquainted with the first impressions 
they appear to make on M. Dela- 
croix. 
I prefaced what I had to com- 
municate with saying, that I now 
came authorised to enter with him 
into deliberation upor one of the 
most important subjects that per- 
haps ever was brought into dis- 
cussion——that as its magnitude for- 
bade all finesse, excluded all pre- 
varication, suspended all preju- 
dices, and that as I had it in com- 
mand to speak and act with free- 
dom and truth, I expected that he, 
on his part, would consider these 
as the only means which could or 
ought to be employed if he wished 
to see a negotiation, in which the 
happiness of millions was involved, 
terminate successfully. That, for 
greater precision, and with a view 
to be clearly understood in what [ 
was about to propose, I would give 
him a confidential memorial, ac- 
companied by an official note, both 
M which, 
