esirous of preserving,
if possible, the neutrality to which we had hitherto adhered, we
were fully determined, if the case arose, to give our utmost
support to our ally.

His answer was that he hoped nothing of the sort would happen;
that he believed there was no design of proceeding to
hostilities against Holland; and that it was much the wish of
the French Government to be on good terms with this country;
that they wished to _menager l'Angleterre_, and therefore to
_menager l'Hollande_; that these were the sentiments of M. le
Brun when he left Paris about 3 weeks ago; that he believed them
to be those of M. Dumouriez; and that, from the despatches of M.
Chauvelin, which he had seen while here, he believed they
continued to be those of the _Conseil Executif_; that he thought
a confidential explanation on this subject very desirable; and
would either go to Paris or write to M. le Brun, to state what
had passed in our conversation, and that he was persuaded they
would be disposed to [send?] some other person here to enter
privately into negotiations upon it. He afterwards dropped an
idea that some difficulty might perhaps arise from the _Conseil
Executif_ feeling itself pressed by the weight of public opinion
to propose to us to receive some person here in a formal
character. To this I observed that the circumstances would by no
means admit of any formal communication, and that they would
certainly see the necessity of avoiding the difficulties which
must arise from such a proposal, if they were sincere in wishing
an explanation with a view to remove obstacles.

Towards the end of the conversation, on his repeating his belief
that it would be the wish of the French Government to have such
an explanation and to remove, if possible, the grounds of
misunderstanding, I remarked to him that, if this was really
desired, there was another point which must be attended to--that
he must have seen the impression made here by the decree in
France avowing a design of endeavouring to extend their
principles of government by raising disturbances in other
countries; that, while this was professed or attempted, and till
we had full security on this point, no explanation could answer
its purpose, and that such a conduct must be considered as an
act of hostility to neutral nations. He an