Page:The Marquess Cornwallis and the Consolidation of British Rule.djvu/179

Rh wanted for his country, which had entirely lost its commerce, and in a great degree exhausted its pecuniary resources, adding, "You see that I conceal nothing, et que je parle franchement": he desired only to adhere, in the arrangement of the Definitive Treaty, to the full intent and meaning of the preliminary articles, and as I should find M. Joseph Bonaparte a just and fair man, he made no doubt that everything would be speedily adjusted.'

The remainder of this memorable interview was occupied with the principal matters in dispute: the departure of the French fleet for St. Domingo, and the chagrin of the First Consul at our remonstrances on this expedition: the indemnity to the Stadtholder and the House of Orange: a suggested provision for the King of Sardinia: the strange proposal to admit a Russian garrison into Malta, which Bonaparte justly characterised as equally mischievous and detrimental to England and France: the cession of the island of Tobago: the charge for the maintenance of prisoners: and the desire of the First Consul to negotiate with a Nawáb for the cession of a 'few leagues of territory round Pondicherry.' To this latter proposal Cornwallis at once replied by stating that there was no Nawáb with whom the French could treat, and that any such addition of territory would only tend to embroil the two nations. Vous êtes bien dur, was Bonaparte's reply. He added that if there could be a mutual agreement for the removal of disaffected or