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I would not state them as propositions from him, but as being my own ideas of what would be useful to both countries. (I interrupt myself here, to remind you of the obligation I must put you under not to mention this.) For this very interesting communication, which I had long laboured to get, he fixed the fourth day, which was last Saturday; but on Friday morning Mr. Oswald came, and having given me your letters, he went immediately to Franklin, to carry some to him. I kept my appointment at Passy the next morning, and in order to give Franklin the greatest confidence, at the same time, too, not knowing how much Mr. Oswald might have told him, I began with saying, that though under the difficulty which M. de Vergennes and he himself had made to my full power, it was not the moment, as a politician perhaps, to make further explanations till that difficulty should be relieved, yet to show him the confidence I put in him, I would begin by telling him, that I was authorised to offer the independence in the first instance, instead of making it an article of general treaty. He expressed great satisfaction at this, especially he said, because, by having done otherwise, we should have seemed to have considered America, as in the same degree of connection with France, which she had been under with us, whereas America wished to be considered as a power free and clear to all the world; but when I came to lead the discourse to the subject which he had promised four days before, I was a good deal mortified to find him put it off altogether till he should be more ready, and notwithstanding my reminding him of his promise, he only answered that it should be in some days. What passed between Mr. Oswald and me will explain to you the reason of this disappointment. Mr. Oswald told me that Lord Shelburne had proposed to him, when last in England, to take a commission to treat with the American Ministers; that upon his mentioning it to Franklin now, it seemed perfectly agreeable to him, and even to be what he had very much wished, Mr. Oswald adding that he wished only to assist the business, and had no other view; he mixed with this a few regrets that there should be any difference between the two offices, and when I asked upon what subject, he said owing to the Rockingham party being too ready to give up everything. You will observe thoughfor it is on that account that I give you this narrative-that this intended appointment has effectually stopped Franklin's mouth to me, and that when he is told that Mr. Oswald is to be the Commissioner to treat with him, it is but natural that he should reserve his confidence for the quarter so pointed out to him; nor does this secret seem only known to Franklin, as Lafayette said laughingly yesterday, that he had just left Lord Shelburne's ambassador at Passy. Indeed this is not the first moment of a separate negotiation, for Mr. Oswald, suspecting by something that I dropped that Franklin had talked to me about Canada (though, by the by, he never had) told me this circumstance as follows:-When he went to England the last time but one, he carried with him a paper entrusted to him by Franklin under condition that it should be shown only to Lord Shelburne and returned into his own hands at Passy. This paper, under the title of "Notes of a Conversation," contained an idea of Canada being spontaneously ceded by England to the thirteen provinces, in order that Congress might sell the unappropriated lands and make a fund thereby, in order to compensate the damages done by the English

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Army, and even those too sustained by the Royalists; this paper, given with many precautions for fear of its being known to the French Court, to whom it was supposed not to be agreeable, Mr. Oswald showed to Lord Shelburne, who, after keeping it a day as Mr. Oswald supposes, to show to the King, returned it to him, and it was by him brought back to Franklin. I say nothing to the proposition itself, to the impolicy of bringing a strange neighbourhood to the Newfoundland fishery, or to the little reason that England would naturally see, in having lost thirteen provinces, to give away a fourteenth; but I mention it to show you an early trace of separate negotiation which perhaps you did not before know.

Under these circumstances, I felt very much tempted to go over, and explain them to you viva voce rather than by letter, and I must say, with the farther intention of suggesting to you the only idea that seems likely to answer your purpose, and it is this: the Spanish Ambassador will, in a day or two, have the powers from his Court; the Americans are here, so are the French; why should you not, then, consider this as a Congress in full form, and send here a person of rank, such as Lord Fitzwilliam (if he would come), so as to have the whole negotiation in the hands of one person? You would by that means recover within your compass the essential part, which is now out of it; nor do I see how Lord Shelburne could object to such an appointment, which would, in every respect, much facilitate the business. Let me press this a little strongly to you, for another reason. You may depend upon it, people here have already got an idea of a difference between the two offices; and consider how much that idea will be assisted by the embarrassments arising from two people negotiating to the same purpose, but under different and differing authorities, concealing and disguising from each other what, with the best intentions, they could hardly make known, and common enough to each.

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Once more I tell you, I cannot fight a daily battle with Mr. Oswald and his secretary; it would be neither for the advantage of the business, for your interest or your credit, or mine, and even if it was, I could not do it.

Concluding, then, the American business as out of the question, which personally I cannot be sorry for, you surely have but one of two things to do; either to adopt the proposition of a new dignified Peer's appointment, which being single, may bring back the business to you by comprehending it all in one; or Lord Shelburne must have his minister here, and Mr. Fox his, by doing which Mr. Fox will be pretty near as much out of the secret-at least, of what is most essential-as if he had nobody here, and the only real gainers by it will be the other Ministers, who cannot fail to profit of such a jumble..

42 No. 32.-1782, June 5: Extract from Dr. Franklin's Journal.

Mr. Grenville came according to appointment. Our conversation began by my acquainting him that I had seen the Count de Vergennes, and had perused the copy left with him of the power to

treat. That after what he, Mr. Grenville, told me of its being to treat with France and her allies, I was a little surprised to find in it no mention of the allies, and that it was only to treat with the King of France and his ministers; that at Versailles there was some suspicion of its being intended to occasion delay, the professed desire of a speedy peace being, perhaps, abated in the British court since its late successes; but that I imagined the words relating to the allies might have been accidentally omitted in transcribing, or that perhaps he had a special power to treat with us distinct from the other. He answered that the copy was right, and that he had no such power in form, but that his instructions were full to that purpose, and he was sure the ministers had no desire of delay, nor any of excluding us from the treaty, since the greatest part of those instructions related to treating with me. That, to convince me of the sincerity of his court respecting us, he would acquaint me with one of his instructions, though, perhaps, the doing it now was premature, and therefore a little inconsistent with the character of a politician, but he had that confidence in me that he should not hesitate to inform me (though he wished that at present it should go no further), he was instructed to acknowledge the independence of America previous to the commencement of the treaty. And he said he could only account for the omission of America in the POWER by supposing that it was an old official form, copied from that given to Mr. Stanley when he came over hither before the last peace. Mr. Grenville added that he had, immediately after his interview with the Count de Vergennes, despatched a courier to London, and hoped that with his return the difficulty would be removed. . . .

Mr. Grenville then discoursed of our resolution not to treat without our allies. This, says he, can only properly relate to France, with whom you have a treaty of alliance, but you have none with Spain, you have none with Holland. If Spain and Holland, and even if France should insist on unreasonable terms of advantage to themselves, after you have obtained all you want, and are satisfied, can it be right that America should be dragged on in a war for their interest only? He stated this matter in various lights, and pressed it earnestly. I resolved from various reasons to evade the discussion, therefore answered, that the intended treaty not being yet begun, it appeared unnecessary to enter at present into considerations of that kind. The preliminaries being once settled, and the treaty commenced, if any of the other powers should make extravagant demands on England, and insist on our continuing the war till those were complied with, it would then be time enough to consider what our obligations were, and how far they extended. The first thing necessary was for him to procure the full powers, the next for us to assemble the plenipotentiaries of all the belligerent parties, and then propositions might be mutually made, received, considered, answered, or agreed to.

We then spoke of the reconciliation; but his full power not being yet come, I chose to defer entering upon that subject at present. told him I had thoughts of putting down in writing the particulars that I judged would conduce to that end, and of adding my reasons that this required a little time, and I had been hindered by accidents, which was true, for I had begun to write, but had postponed it on account of his defective power to treat; but I promised to finish it

as soon as possible. He pressed me earnestly to do it, saying an expression of mine in a former conversation, that there still remained roots of good will in America towards England, which, if properly taken care of, might produce a reconciliation, had made a great impression on his mind, and given him infinite pleasure, and he hoped I would not neglect furnishing him with the information of what would be necessary to nourish these roots, and could assure me that my advice would be greatly regarded.

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No. 33.-1782, June 5: Extract from Lord Shelburne's instructions to Sir Guy Carleton and Vice-Admiral Digby in America.

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It naturally therefore and necessarily became a chief consideration with His Majesty's Ministers to draw from the information they were possessed of, some probable clue by which the real disposition and views of the American Deputies might be discovered, in order to form a judgment how far the expectations of the House of Bourbon were well founded, and whether if the great ground of contention between Great Britain and the revolted Provinces was removed, either America or her Delegates would in such case be willing, or think themselves bound to risk the full enjoyment of their favorite Object by adhering to and supporting all the Demands of France and Spain. The Turn of Dr. Franklin's Conversation at several times both with Mr. Grenville and Mr. Oswald had encouraged a belief entirely negative to these suppositions, especially, when he had expressly said that "When we had allowed the Independence of America, the Treaty she had made with France for gaining it ended, and none

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remained but that of Commerce, which we too might make "if we pleased." He had also said at another time, that "there should, he thought, be a great Difference made in a Treaty "between England and America, and one between England and "France, which had been always at Enmity"; repeating frequently that great effects might be obtained by some things being done spontaneously from England.

Upon these and other considerations, his Majesty has been induced to give a striking proof of his royal magnanimity and disinterested wish for the restoration of peace, by commanding his Ministers to direct Mr. Grenville, that the independency of America should be proposed by him in the first instance, instead of making it a condition of a general Treaty.

Mr. Oswald was sent back to Paris on the 26th ult, with this important Commission, and Mr. Grenville is instructed to make all the advantage possible of the concession which His Majesty from His ardent Desire of Peace has been induced to make with respect to the Independency of the thirteen States, especially by pressing Dr. Franklin's own idea, that the object of the Treaty of Alliance with France being attained, the Treaty determined.

I have given a confidential information to you of these particulars, that you may take such measures as shall appear to you most advisable for making a direct communication of the substance of the same

92909°-S. Doc. 870, 61-3, vol 7—10

either immediately to Congress, or through the medium of General Washington, or in any other manner, which you may think most likely to impress the well-disposed part of America with the fairness and liberality of his Majesty's proceedings in such great and spontaneous concessions.

The advantages which we may expect from such communication are:-that America, once apprised of the King's disposition to acknowledge the independence of the thirteen States, and of the disinclination in the French Court to terminate the war, must see that it is from this moment to be carried on with a view of negotiating points in which she can have no concern, whether they regard France, or Spain and Holland, at the desire of France; but some of which, on the contrary, may be in future manifestly injurious to the interests of America herself-That if the negotiation is broke off, it will undoubtedly be for the sake of some of those Powers, and not of America, whose object is accomplished the instant she accepts of an independence, which is not merely held out to her in the way of negotiation by the Executive Power, but a distinct unconditional offer arising out of the resolutions of Parliament, and therefore warranted by the sense of the nation at large.

These facts being made notorious, it is scarcely conceivable that America, composed as it is, will continue efforts under French direction, and protract the distresses and calamities which it is well known the war has subjected her to. It is to be presumed that from that moment she will look with jealousy upon the French troops in her country, who may from allies become dangerous enemies.

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You must convince them that the great Object of this Country is, not only Peace, but Reconciliation with America on the noblest Terms and by the noblest Means.

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No. 34.-1782, June 9: Extract from letter, Mr. Oswald to Lord Shelburne.

I have nothing of business to trouble your Lordship with. Only that upon one occasion, since my last arrival, the doctor said, they, the Americans, had been totally left out in Mr. Grenville's powers, as they extended only to treating with the Minister of France. I told him the deficiency would, no doubt, be supplied in due time as might be supposed, since in the mean while they had been assured by Mr. Grenville, that His Majesty had agreed to grant Independence in the first instance. The Doctor said it was true, and he was glad of it, and supposed that was all that could be done until the Act depending in Parliament was passed. . .

No. 35.-1782, June 10: Extract from letter, Mr. Fox to Mr. Grenville.

I have taken upon me. . . . to show your letter to Lord Rockingham, the Duke of Richmond and Lord John [Cavendish], who are all as full of indignation at its contents as one might reason

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