remove downloaded hotmail locally only

Hi,

I just got a macbook air, and knowing how many emails I have in hotmail, I was hesitant in adding hotmail to the mac mail.

Anyway, I had to for work and in the meantime downloaded all my mails from hotmail - some 3300 of them.

I would like to clear my mac mail up to this point, and use it for future messages.

So..I have perused the forum and found no definitive answer, this is what I'd like to do :

1. remove all emails up to this point on Mac mail, but keep them for referencing on the web based version.

2. continue to receive emails on mac and whatever editing choice I make locally - is reflected on the hotmail server.

I guess I need to complete 1 before I can setup 2, but I have no idea how to do this - first mac you see..

Thanks.