Monthly Chronicle.

Although nothing can be clearer , more ably drawn up , or more satisfactory than the instructions they contain , yet as it was of the last importance that I should be completely master of the subject before I saw the French Minister ,.. I delayed asking for a conference till late on Friday evening , with a view that it should not take place till 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 before 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 have conjectured the nature of the overtures I should make , and of course be prepared in some degree for them , it is material that your Lordship should be accurately acquainted with the first impressions the } ' appeared to make onM . Delacroix . I prefaced what I had to communicate with saying , that I now came authorized to enter with him into deliberation upon one of the most important

subjects that perhaps ever was brought into discussion : that its magnitude forbad all finesse , excluded all prevarication , suspended all prejudices , and that as I had it in command to speak and act with freedom 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 Pwas about to proposeI would give him a confidential Memorialaccompanied by an Official '

, , Note , both which , when he had perused them , would speak for themselves . The Memorial contained the conditions , on the accomplishment of which his Majesty considered the restoration of Peace to depend . The Note was expressive of his Majesty ' s readiness to enter into any explanation required by the Directory on the subject , or to receive any conlre-projci , resting on the same basis , which the Directory might be disposed to give in : That , moreover , I did not hesitate declaring to him , in conformity to . the principles which I had

laid down , and from which I certainly never should depart at any period of the Negotiation , that I was prepared to answer any questions , explain and elucidate any points , on which it was possible to foresee that doubts or misconceptions could arise on the consideration of those Papers . And having said thus much , I had only to remark , that I believed , in no sinhliar Negotiation which had ever taken place , any Minsiter was authorized , in the first instance , to go so fully into the discussion as I now was . That I was sure neither the truth of this remark , nor the manifest conclusion to be drawn

from it , would escape M . Delacroix ' s observation . I then put the two Papers into his hands . He began by reading the Note , on which of course he could only express satisfaction . After perusing the confidential Memorial with all the attention it deserved , he , after a short pause , said , that it appeared to him to be liable to insurmountable objections ; that it seemed to him to require much more than it conceded , and , in the event , not to leave France in a situation of proportional greatness to the Powers of Europe . He saidthe Act of their Constitutionaccording to the

man-, , ner in which it was interpreted by the best Publicists ( and this phrase is worthy remark ) made it impossible for the Republic to do what we required . The Austrian Netherlands were annexed to it ; they could not be disposed of without flinging the nation into all the confusion which must follow a convocation of the Primary Assemblies ; and he said , he was rather surprised that Great Britain should bring this forward as the governing condition of the Treatv , since lie thought he had , in some of our late conversations , fully explained tlie nature of their Constitution to me . I repliedthat every thing I had heard

, from him on this point was perfectly iu my recollection , as it probably was in his : that though 1 had listened to li ' un with that , attention I always afforded to every thing he said , yet I never had made him any sort of reply , and had neither admitted nor controverted his opinion : that although I believed I could easily disprove this opinion from the spirit of the French Constitution itself ; yet the dic-cusiioii oi that Constitution was perfectly foreign to ihe object of