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Article MONTHLY CHRONICLE. ← Page 12 of 20 →
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Monthly Chronicle.
now-adopted by the Directory , was certainly calculated to make a directly contrary impression on my mind ; that I could not conceal from him , that far from expecting such a question , its being now put , surprized me beyond measure , and still more so , when from his comment upon it I was to infer , that he wished me to consider it as tending to promote a speedy pacification ; that the question expressed in the note he had delivered ( for he had given it to me , and I had read it over as he ended his speech ) was word for word the same as that put to me by his predecessors so long ago as the 14 th July ; that on the 15 th , I had from my and that this confirmed and dis
own authority given an answer , answer I fully - tinctly , by order of my court , on the 24 th July ; that these notes had to the present hour remained unnoticed , and a delay of two months had occurred ; that the reasons assigned for this delay were , as I was repeatedly told , a decided resolution on the part of the French Government to listen to the reasonable proposals made by his Majesty ; but that being bound by their engagements with the court of Madrid and the Batavian republic , and wishing to treat their Allies with due consideration , they were desirous of consulting with them previous to any
positive declaration , and obtaining from them a voluntary release from those engagements , sufficient to enable the French Plenipotentiares here to admit the basis his Majesty had established , and to ground on it all future discussions wjiich might arise in the course of the Negociation ; that if he had read over the papers left , undoubtedly , in his possession by his predecessors , he would find what I stated to be strictly true ; and that of course it could not be difficult to account fot my surprise , when , after being told that he and his colleagues were to take up the Negociation preciselwhere i ' -y found itit now . became evident that it was to be
y ~ , tiling back to the very point from which we started , and flung back in a way which seemed to threaten a conclusion very different from that he foretold . ' ( shall not attempt to follow the French Minister through the very elaborate and certainly able speech he made in reply , with'a view to convince me tint the enquiry into the extent of my full powers was the strongest proof the Directory could furnish of their pacific intention , and the shortest road they could take to
accomplish the desirable end . It was in order to give activity to the Negociation , ¦ ( activer was his word ) and to prevent its stagnating , that this demand was made so specifically ; and he intimated to me , that it was impossible for the Directory to proceed til ! a full and satisfactory answer had been given to it . I interrupted him here , by saying , their manner of acting appeared to me calculated to decide the Negociation at once , not to give it activity , since it must be known , I could not have powers of the description he alluded to ; and even supposing I had , the admitting it would be in fact neither more nor less than a complete avowal of the
principle itself , which once agreed on , nothing would be left to negociate about . The other French Plenipotentiary interposed here , by saying , that would not be the case ; many articles would still remain to be proposed , and many * points for important discussion . I said , every word I heardseemed to present fresh difficulties . Without replying to me , the first mentioned Minister went on by endeavouring to prove , that the avowal of having powers to a certain extent , did not imply the necessity of exercising them ; that it was the avowal alone for which they contended , in order to determine al once the form the Negociation was to
take ; that the note , and the time-prescribed in it , were in consequence of the most positive orders from the Directory ; and that if I drew from it a conclusion different from the assurances they had made me in the name of the Directory , I did not make the true inference . I replied , that , although the prescribing Ihe day on which the question was put to me as the term within which I was to give my answer to it , was both a very unusual and abrupt mode of proceeding , yet as a day was much more than sufficient for the purpose , I should forbear makingany particular remark on this circumstance ; that as to the inference to be drawn
from the positive manner in which they appeared to maintain the question put to me , I really could not make it different from that I had already expressed ; that the reverting , after an interval of two months , to a question already answered , and which question involved the fate of the Negociation , certainly could not be considered as wearing a very conciliatory appearance : that in regard to my answer , it could not be different from that I had given before ; that my full
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Monthly Chronicle.
now-adopted by the Directory , was certainly calculated to make a directly contrary impression on my mind ; that I could not conceal from him , that far from expecting such a question , its being now put , surprized me beyond measure , and still more so , when from his comment upon it I was to infer , that he wished me to consider it as tending to promote a speedy pacification ; that the question expressed in the note he had delivered ( for he had given it to me , and I had read it over as he ended his speech ) was word for word the same as that put to me by his predecessors so long ago as the 14 th July ; that on the 15 th , I had from my and that this confirmed and dis
own authority given an answer , answer I fully - tinctly , by order of my court , on the 24 th July ; that these notes had to the present hour remained unnoticed , and a delay of two months had occurred ; that the reasons assigned for this delay were , as I was repeatedly told , a decided resolution on the part of the French Government to listen to the reasonable proposals made by his Majesty ; but that being bound by their engagements with the court of Madrid and the Batavian republic , and wishing to treat their Allies with due consideration , they were desirous of consulting with them previous to any
positive declaration , and obtaining from them a voluntary release from those engagements , sufficient to enable the French Plenipotentiares here to admit the basis his Majesty had established , and to ground on it all future discussions wjiich might arise in the course of the Negociation ; that if he had read over the papers left , undoubtedly , in his possession by his predecessors , he would find what I stated to be strictly true ; and that of course it could not be difficult to account fot my surprise , when , after being told that he and his colleagues were to take up the Negociation preciselwhere i ' -y found itit now . became evident that it was to be
y ~ , tiling back to the very point from which we started , and flung back in a way which seemed to threaten a conclusion very different from that he foretold . ' ( shall not attempt to follow the French Minister through the very elaborate and certainly able speech he made in reply , with'a view to convince me tint the enquiry into the extent of my full powers was the strongest proof the Directory could furnish of their pacific intention , and the shortest road they could take to
accomplish the desirable end . It was in order to give activity to the Negociation , ¦ ( activer was his word ) and to prevent its stagnating , that this demand was made so specifically ; and he intimated to me , that it was impossible for the Directory to proceed til ! a full and satisfactory answer had been given to it . I interrupted him here , by saying , their manner of acting appeared to me calculated to decide the Negociation at once , not to give it activity , since it must be known , I could not have powers of the description he alluded to ; and even supposing I had , the admitting it would be in fact neither more nor less than a complete avowal of the
principle itself , which once agreed on , nothing would be left to negociate about . The other French Plenipotentiary interposed here , by saying , that would not be the case ; many articles would still remain to be proposed , and many * points for important discussion . I said , every word I heardseemed to present fresh difficulties . Without replying to me , the first mentioned Minister went on by endeavouring to prove , that the avowal of having powers to a certain extent , did not imply the necessity of exercising them ; that it was the avowal alone for which they contended , in order to determine al once the form the Negociation was to
take ; that the note , and the time-prescribed in it , were in consequence of the most positive orders from the Directory ; and that if I drew from it a conclusion different from the assurances they had made me in the name of the Directory , I did not make the true inference . I replied , that , although the prescribing Ihe day on which the question was put to me as the term within which I was to give my answer to it , was both a very unusual and abrupt mode of proceeding , yet as a day was much more than sufficient for the purpose , I should forbear makingany particular remark on this circumstance ; that as to the inference to be drawn
from the positive manner in which they appeared to maintain the question put to me , I really could not make it different from that I had already expressed ; that the reverting , after an interval of two months , to a question already answered , and which question involved the fate of the Negociation , certainly could not be considered as wearing a very conciliatory appearance : that in regard to my answer , it could not be different from that I had given before ; that my full