772 
with which you must receive the 
intelligence, that I am now under 
an engagement to renew the con- 
ference with the plenipotentiaries 
‘of France on Thursday, the 4th of 
September. 
On going yesterday, at three 
o’clock, to the office of the minister 
of the interior, I confess { did not 
foresee the possibility of any thing 
occurring that could prevent my ex- 
ecuting the resolution I had formed, 
of demanding passports this morning, 
and of returning immediately to 
England. I trust I need scarcely 
assure you, that I haye as strong an 
impression as any man ¢an have, of 
the bad consequences that may at. 
tend exhibiting any thing which 
looks like versatility of conduct ; 
and yet, under the circumstances in 
which I found myself placed, [ am 
satisfied I had no choice, and that I 
¢ould not refuse, with propriety, the 
solicitations of the French plenipo- 
tentiaries to renew the conference. 
At the commencement of our in- 
terview I perceived a disposition to 
greater cordjality than I had hitherto 
experienced. To M. de Cham- 
pagny’s inquiry, whether they had 
been fortunate enough, by what they 
had said, to induce me to deliver the 
project of a treaty, I answered, by 
recalling to his recollection the rea- 
sons J had formerly stated, for de- 
clining such a proceeding, till the 
basis that had originally been pro- 
posed, was again formally recog- 
nized ; and I informed him, that, in 
order ta give them an accurate view 
ef my conception of the subject, I 
had prepared a nete which I wished 
to submit to them, delivering to 
them the note, a copy of which { 
had the honour of inclosing in my 
dispatch of August 29th. 
After reading this note, and ob- 
ANNUAL REGISTER, 1806, 
serving in general that they did not‘ 
know whether, if we should come to 
a particular explanation, we might 
not arrive at a conclusion coincident 
in its effect with the object I had in 
view, when I insisted on the general 
principle, they entered into a de- 
tail with respect to the necessity of 
some immediate determination on 
the subject of Hanover, and after- 
wards stated their views as to the 
French possessions in the East In- 
dies, the Dutch colonies, St. Lucie, 
and Tobago; on all of which they 
talked in a style so perfectly dif- 
ferent from any thing I had before 
heard, that I should not be more 
surprised if, at our next conference, 
they were to give them up, than I 
was at the change of tone manifested 
on this occasion. 
A great deal more passed in the 
way of general conversation ; all of 
which tended to shew me, that, al- 
though they were still at a wide dis- 
tance from such terms as I could ac- 
cede to, they had wonderfully re- 
laxed from the tone they had ante- 
cedently assumed, 
M. de Champagny then invited 
me to name a day for resuming our 
conference, To this I decidedly 
objected, admitting, at the same 
time, that they had made conces- 
sions in the course of our discus- 
sion; but adding, that they were 
still so far from agreeing to admit 
what the English government uni- 
formly conceived the original pro- 
position to have conveyed, that I 
could not yet indulge any hopes of 
our coming to an agreement, and 
should, therefore, feel it necessary 
to terminate my mission. 
M. de Champagnuy ‘asked me with 
some warmth, whether I wished for 
peace on the terms which I myself 
had stated? whether I thought my- 
self 
