"SIR,

TO JOHN ADAMS.

"Passy, 20 April, 1782,

"I hope your Excellency received the copy of our instructions, which I sent by the courier from Versailles, some weeks since. I wrote to you on the 13th, to go by Captain Smedley, and sent a packet of correspondence with Mr. Hartley. Smedley did not leave Paris so soon as I expected; but you should have it by this time.

"With this I send a fresh correspondence, which I have been drawn into, viz. 1st, A letter I sent to Lord Shelburne before he was a minister. 2dly, His answer since he was a minister, by Mr. Oswald. 3dly, A letter from Mr. Laurens. 4thly, My letter to M. de Vergennes. 5thly, My answer to Lord Shelburne. 6thly, My answer to Mr. Laurens. 7thly, Copy of Digges's report. These papers will inform you pretty well of what passed between me and Mr. Oswald, except that in a conversation at parting, I mentioned to him, that I observed they spoke much in England of obtaining a reconciliation with the colonies; that this was more than a peace; that the latter might possibly be obtained without the former; that the cruel injuries constantly done us by burning our towns, &c. had made deep impressions of resentment, that would long remain; that much of the advantage to the commerce of England from a peace would depend on a reconciliation; that the peace without reconciliation would probably not be durable; that after a quarrel between friends, nothing tended so much to conciliate, as offers made by the aggressor of reparation for injuries done by him in his passion. And I hinted, that, if England should make us a voluntary offer of

Canada, expressly for that purpose, it might have a good effect.

"Mr. Oswald liked much the idea, and said they were too much straitened for money to make us pecuniary reparation, but he should endeavour to persuade their doing it this way. He is furnished with a passport to go and return by Calais, and I expect him back in ten or twelve days. I wish you and Mr. Laurens could be here when he arrives, for I shall much want your advice, and cannot act without your concurrence. If the present crisis of your affairs prevents your coming, I hope, at least, Mr. Laurens will be here, and we must communicate with you by ex presses, for your letters to me by post are generally opened. I shall write by the next post, requesting Mr. Jay to be here also as soon as possible.

"I received your letter advising of your draft on me for a quarter's salary, which will be duly honored. With great esteem, I have the honor to be, &c. "B. FRANKLIN."

Supposing Mr. Laurens to be in Holland with Mr. Adams, I, at the same time, wrote to him the following letter.

TO HENRY LAURENS.

"Passy, 20 April, 1782.

"SIR,

"I received, by Mr. Oswald, the letter you did me the honor of writing to me on the 7th instant. He brought me also a letter from Lord Shelburne, which gave him the same good character that you do, adding. 'He is fully apprized of my mind, and you may give full credit to every thing he assures you of.' Mr. Oswald, however, could give me no other particulars of his Lordship's mind, but that he was sincerely dis

posed to peace. As the message seemed, therefore, rather intended to procure or receive propositions than to make any, I told Mr. Oswald that I could make none but in concurrence with my colleagues in the commission, and that, if we were together, we should not treat but in conjunction with France; and I proposed introducing him to M. de Vergennes, which he accepted.

"He made to that minister the same declaration of the disposition of England to peace; who replied, that France had assuredly the same good disposition; that a treaty might be immediately begun, but it must be for a general, not a particular peace. That, as to the place, he thought Paris might be the most convenient, as Spain had here already an ambassador, and the American Commissioners could easily be assembled here; this, upon a supposition of the parties treating directly with each other without the intervention of mediators; but, if the mediation was to be used, it might be at Vienna. The King, his master, however, was so truly disposed to peace, that he would agree to any place that the King of England should choose, and would, at the treaty, give proof of the confidence that might be placed in any engagements he should then enter into, by the fidelity and exactitude with which he should observe those he already had with his present allies.

"Mr. Oswald is returned with these general answers by the way of Calais, and expects to be here again in a few days. I wish it might be convenient for you and Mr. Adams to be here at the same time; but, if the present critical situation of affairs there, makes his being in Holland necessary just now, I hope you may, nevertheless, be here, bringing with you his opinion and advice. I have proposed to Lord Shelburne to

discharge you from the obligations you entered into at the time of your enlargement, that you may act more freely in the treaty he desires.

"I had done myself the honor of writing to you a few days before the arrival of Mr. Oswald. My letter went by Mr. Young, your secretary, and enclosed a copy of your commission, with an offer of money if you had occasion for any. Hoping that you will not return to England before you have been at Paris, I forbear enlarging on the state of our affairs here and in Spain. M. de Vergennes told me, he should be very glad to see you here. I found Mr. Oswald to answer perfectly the character you gave me of him, and was much pleased with him. I have the honor to be, &c.

"B. FRANKLIN."

Just after I had despatched these letters, I received the following from Mr. Adams.

FROM JOHN ADAMS TO B. FRANKLIN.

"Amsterdam, 16 April, 1782.

"SIR, "Yesterday noon, Mr. William Vaughan, of London, came to my house with Mr. Laurens, the son of the president, and brought me a line from the latter, and told me the President was at Haerlem, and desired to see me. I went to Haerlem and found my old friend at the Golden Lion. He told me, he was come partly for his health and the pleasure of seeing me, and partly to converse with me, and see if he had at present just ideas and views of things, at least to see if we agreed in sentiment, having been desired by several of the new ministry to do so. I asked him if he was at liberty? He said, No; that he was

still under parole, but at liberty to say what he pleased to me. I told him, that I could not communicate to him, being a prisoner, even his own instructions, nor enter into any consultation with him as one of our colleagues in the commission for peace; that all I should say to him would be as one private citizen conversing with another; but that, upon all such occasions, I should reserve a right to communicate whatever should pass to our colleagues and allies.

"He said, that Lord Shelburne, and others of the new ministers, were anxious to know, whether there was any authority to treat of a separate peace, and whether there could be an accommodation upon any terms short of independence; that he had ever answered them, that nothing short of an express or tacit acknowledgment of our independence, in his opinion, would ever be accepted, and that no treaty ever would, or could, be made separate from France. He asked. me, if his answers had been right. I told him, that I was fully of that opinion. He said, that the new ministers had received Digges's report, but his character was such, that they did not choose to depend upon it; that a person by the name of Oswald, I think, set off for Paris to see you, about the same time he came away to see me.

"I desired him, between him and me, to consider, without saying any thing of it to the ministry, whether we could ever have a real peace, with Canada or Nova Scotia in the hands of the English; and whether we ought not to insist, at least, upon a stipulation, that they should keep no standing army, or regular troops, nor erect any fortifications, upon the frontiers of either. That, at present, I saw no motive that we had to be anxious for a peace; and, if the nation