S:TiAL Pe) BA PERS. 
attention to these proposals, but he 
was fearful of committing himself 
by any expression of approbation, 
and he dismissed the subject of the 
court of Madrid, by observing, 
that France never would forsake 
the interests of its allies. 
Our conversation on those of its 
other ally, Holland, was much 
longer, as the wording of the me- 
morial inevitably led at once deep 
inte the subject. 
M. Delacroix affected to treat 
any deviation from the treaty of 
peace concluded: between France 
and that country, or any restoration 
of territories acquired under that 
treaty to France, as quite imprac. 
ticable. He treated as equally im- 
practicable any attempt at restor- 
ing the ancient form of government 
in the Seven United Provinces, 
He talked with an air of triumph 
of the establishment of a national 
convention at the Hague, and with 
an affectation of feeling, that by it 
the cause of freedom had extended 
itself over such a large number of 
people. He, however, was ready 
to confess, that from the great 
losses the Dutch Republic had sus- 
tained in its colonies, and particu- 
larly from the weak manner in 
which they had defended them, it 
could not be expected that his ma- 
jesty would consent to a full and 
complete restitution of them, and 
that it was reasonable that some 
should be sacrificed ; and he asked 
me if I could imform him, how far 
our views extended on this point ? 
J said I had reason to believe that 
what his majesty would require 
would be possessions and_settle- 
ments which would not add either 
to the power or wealth of our In- 
dian dominions, but only tend to 
secure to us their safo and unmo- 
* 
[167 
lested possession. You mean by. 
this, said M. Delacroix, the Cape 
and Trincomale. I said they cer 
tainly came under that description, 
and I saw little prospect of their 
being restored to the Dutch. M. 
Delacroix launched forth on this 
into a most laboured dissertation 
on the value of the ape of Good 
Hope, which he did not consider 
at all as a port de relache, but as a 
possession which, in our hands, 
would become one of the most 
fertile and most productive colo-« 
nies in the east ; and, according to 
his estimation of it, he did not 
scruple to assert, that it would ul- 
timately be an acquisition of infi- 
nitely greater importance to Eng- 
land than that of the Netherlands 
to France ; and, if acquiesced in, 
should be reckoned as a full and 
ample compensation for them. He 
added, if you are masters of the 
Cape and Trincomale, we shall 
hold all our settlements in India, 
and the islands of France and Bour- 
bon, entirely at the tenure of your 
will and pleasure: they will be 
our’s only as long as you choose we 
should retain them. You will be 
sole masters in India, and we shalk 
be entirely dependent upon you. 
Irepeated to him, that it was as 
means of defence, and not of of- 
fence, that these possessions woul 
be insisted on, and that if the mat- 
ter was fairly and dispassionately 
discussed, he would find that they 
offered us a great additional secu- 
rity, but no additional power of 
attack, even if we were disposed 
to disturb the peace of that part of 
the world. If these, and perhaps 
some few other net very meterial 
settlements belonging to the Dutch, 
were to be insisted upon, and if 
he would be pleased to enumerate 
M4 all 
