1796-] State Papers relative to the late Negaciation with France. 929. 
he has communicated with the DireCtory cannot 
be confidered as officially binding. and probably 
may, in the event. be very different from what 
I thall hear when he ipeaks to me in their 
name, yet as it is impoflible they fhould not 
nearly conje€ture the nature of the overtures I 
fhould make, and of courfe be prepared in fome 
‘degree for them, it is material that your Lord- 
thip fhould be accurately acquainted vich th : firft 
impreffions they appear to make on M. DEta- 
CROIX. 
T prefaced what I had to communicate with 
faying, that I now came authorized to enter 
with him into adeliberation upon one of the moft 
important {ubjeéts that perhaps ever was brought 
into difcuffion—that its magnitude forbade all 
fineffe, excluded ail prevarication, fufpended all 
prejudices, and thar as I had it in command to 
{peak and aét wich freedom and truth, I expect- 
ed that he, on his part, would confider thefe as 
the only means which could or ought to be em- 
ployed, if he withed to fee a Negotiation, in 
which the happinets of millions was involved, 
terminate fuccefsfully. That for greater pre- 
cifion, and with a view to be clearly underitood 
in what 1 was about to propofe, I would give 
him a Confidential Memori:l, accompanied by 
an Official Note, bozh of which, when he had pe- 
rufed them, would {peak for themfelves. The 
Memorial contained the conditions, on the ac- 
complifhment of which His Majesty con- 
fidered the reftoration of Peace to depend. The 
Nate was expreffive of His Majesty's readi-” 
nefs to enter into any explanation required by 
_ the Direétory on the fubjeSt, or to receive any 
Contre-frojet, vetting on the fame bafis, which 
the Directory might be difpofed to give in. 
Fhat, moreover, I did not hefitate declaring to 
him, in conformity to the principles which I 
had laid down, and from which | certainly never 
fhou'd depart, at any period of the Negociation, 
that I was prepared to aniwer any queftions, ex- 
plain and elucidate any points, en which it wis 
peffible to forefee that doubts or mifconceptions 
could aiife on the confideration of thefe Papers. 
—-And having faid thus much, I had only to 
remark, that i’believed, in no fimilar Negocia~- 
tion which had ever taken place, any Minifter 
‘was authorifed, in the firft infance, to go fo 
fully into the difcuffion as I now was —Vhat 
I was fure neither the truth of this remark, nor 
the manifett conclufion to be drawn from it, 
would efcape M. DELacrotx’s obfervation, 
I then put the two Papers into his hands, He 
began by reading the Note, on which of courfe 
he could only exprefs fatisfaétion. After perufing 
the Confidential Me~ orial with all the atrention 
it deferved, he, after a fhort paufe, faid, that -it 
appeared to him to be liable to infurmountable 
objections ; that it feemed to him to require much 
more than it conceded, and, in the event, not to 
leave France in a fituation of proportional great- 
nefs tothe Powers of Europe. He faid, the A& 
of their Conftitution, according to the manner in 
which it ws interpreted py the beft Publicifts (and 
this phrafe is worthy remark) made it impoflible 
for the Republic to do what we required. The 
Aufrian Netherlands were annexed to it; they - 
could not be difpofed of withour flinging the 
Nation into all the confuGen which muft tollew - 
a convocation of the Primary Affembles ; and, 
he faid, he was rather furprifed that Great Britain, 
fhould bring this forward as the governing condi-= 
tion of the Treaty, fince he thought ke had, in 
forne of our late converfations, fully explained 
the nature of their Conftitution to me. IT re- 
plied, that every thing [ had heard from him on 
this point was perfectly in my recolleétion, as it 
probably was in his, that though I had liftened | 
to him with that attention I always afforde4 to 
every thing he faid, yet I had never made hiss 
amy fort of reply, and had neither admitted nor 
controverted his eve: that although I be- 
lieved I could eafily difprove this opinion, from 
the fpirit of the French Conftitution itfelf, yet 
the difcuffion of that Conftitution was perfely 
foreiga to the objet of my miffion ; fince, even — 
allowing his two pofitions, viz. that the retro- 
ceffion of the Auftrian Netherlands was incom- 
patible with their Laws, and that we ought to 
have known that beforehand; yet, that there 
exifted a droit public in Europe, paramount to 
any doit public they might think proper to 
eftablith wichin their own Dominions; and that 
if their Conftitution was publicly known, the 
Treaties exifting between His Majesty and 
the Emperor were at leaft equally public, 
and in thefe it was clearly and diftinétly enounc- 
ed, that the Two Contracting Parties recipro- 
cally promife n t to lay down their arms with- 
out the reftitution of all the Dominions, ‘Tervi- 
tories, &c. which may have belonged to either 
of them before the War. That the date of thie 
ftipulation was previous to their annexing the 
Autivian Netherlands to France 5 and the noto- 
riety of this ought, at the very moment when 
they had paffed that Law, to have convinces 
them, that, if adhered to, it muft prove an in- 
furmountable obftacle to Peace. I applied his 
maxim to the Weit India Iflands, and to the 
Settlements in the Eaft Indies ; and afked him, 
Whether it was expected that we were to wave 
our right of poffeffien, and be required ftill to 
confider them as integral parts of the French 
Republic which mu/? be reftored, and on whicis 
no value was to be fet in the balance of Com- 
penfation? I alfo ftated the poffible cafe of 
France having loft part of what fhe deemed her 
integral Dominions, inftead of having added te 
them in the courfe of the War? and whether 
then, under the apprehenfion of fill greater 
loffes, the Government, as it was now compofed, 
fhould contider itfelf as not vefted with powers 
fufficient to fave their Country from the im- 
pending danger, by making Peace on the con 
ditions of facrificing a portion of their Dominions 
to fave the remainder? M. Detracrorx faid, 
this was ftating a cafe of neceffity, and {uch a 
mode of reafoning did not attach to the prefent 
circumftances. J readily admitted the nrft part 
of this propefition, but contended, that if the 
power exifted in a cafe of necellity, it equally 
exitted in all others, and particularly in the cafe 
before us, fince he himfelf had repeatedly told 
me that Peace was what this Country and its 
Gavernmeat withed for, and even wanted, 
