his allies, will consent to establish 
the negociations on the footing of 
these three principles, as well as 
to carry into the calculation of 
conditions that spirit of justice 
and moderation which animates 
them, in order that the arrange- 
ment may be brought to a con- 
clusion speedily, and with mutual 
satisfaction. 
_ If these bases should not be 
adopted, the undersigned are not 
authorised to receive or propose 
any other. 
REPLY OF THE MINISTERS OF 
THE ALLIED SOVEREIGNS. 
Paris, Sept. 22, 1815. 
The undersigned, &c. &c. have 
received the note in which Mes- 
sieurs the Plenipotentiaries of 
France have replied to the com- 
munications made to them in the 
conference of the 20th of this 
month, with reference to a defi- 
nitive arrangement. They have 
_ been surprised to find init a long 
series of observations on the right 
ofconquest, on the nature of those 
wars to which it is applicable, and 
on thereasons which should induce 
the Contracting Powers not to 
recur to itin the present instance. 
The undersigned considerthem- 
selves so much the more fully 
exempted from tlie necessity of 
following the Pleniy ctentiaries of 
France in their reasoning, inas- 
much as no one of the propo- 
sitions which they have made, by 
command of their august Sove- 
reigns, with a view to the regu. 
lation of the present and future 
relation between Europe and 
France, was founded on the right 
of conquest, and because they 
have carefully avoided in their 
Vou, LVII. 
STATE PAPERS OMITTED. 609 
communications whatever might 
lead to a discussion of that right. 
The Allied Powers always con- 
sidering the restoration of order, 
and the confirmation of the royal 
authority in France, as the prin- 
cipal object of their proceedings, 
but persuaded at the same-time 
that France cannot enjoy a solid 
peace whilst neighbouring nations 
continue to cherish with regard 
to her either bitter animosities or 
perpetual alarms, have recognised 
the principle of a just satisfac- 
tion for losses and past sacrifices, 
as well as that of a sufficient 
guarantee for the future security 
of neighbouring countries, as the 
only means of putting an end to 
all discontentsand apprehensions, 
and consequently as the only true 
bases of every solid and durable 
arrangement. 
It is only upon these two prin- 
ciples that the Allied Powers have 
fixed their propositions, and in 
drawing up the projet which the 
undersigned have had the honour 
to transmit to the Plenipotenti- 
aries of France, they were dis- 
tinctly expressed in every one of 
its articles. 
The Plenipotentiaries of France 
themselves admit the first of these 
principles, whilst they remain 
silent with respect to the second. 
It is, however, abundantly clear, 
that the necessity of guarantees 
for the future, has become more’ 
sensible and urgent than at the 
period of the signature of the — 
Treaty of Paris. The subsequent 
events have carried consternation 
and alarm to every part of Europe; 
at a moment when the Sovereigns’ 
and their people flattered them- 
selves that, after so many afilic- 
2R 
