Partager les pays-bas autrichiens, contenir la France: tâter les limites du langage diplomatique en août 1725

In this conference paper, I discuss a letter written by Horace Walpole, prominent British diplomat, to the duke of Newcastle, secretary of state for the Southern department. In the midst of diplomatic turmoil around the secret Spanish-Austrian "Ripperda" alliance of May 1725, Walpole suggests a partition of the Southern Netherlands. I place this in its broader legal context, having regard to the importance of international norms and the broader diplomatic system in directing individual state's freedom of action.