my part which can contribute to it. I have the honor to be, with very great regard,

"SHELBURNE."*

* As the Earl of Shelburne was the principal minister concerned in negotiating the peace, and as it was a very important event in his official life, he retained among his private papers a copy of the entire correspondence between the ministry and Mr. Oswald, the British commissioner in Paris, during the whole of the negotiation. This valuable collection is now in the possession of the Marquis of Lansdown, by whose courtesy and liberality I was favored with a complete transcript of it, while I was pursuing my researches for materials relating to American history in the public offices of London; with permission to make such use of any parts of the correspondence, as would conduce to historical truth, or help to explain the transactions to which it relates. In Mr. Oswald's letters, he gives copious accounts of his conversations with Dr, Franklin, and the other commissioners, on the subject of the treaty; from which the views of the parties and their modes of proceeding are more or less clearly ascertained. These letters bear so directly on many points in Dr. Franklin's correspondence, while the negotiation was in progress, that I shall add in the notes a few extracts from them as occasions may offer, premising the above statement merely for the reader's information, as to their origin and authenticity.

From the Earl of Shelburne to Richard Oswald.—“I am sorry to observe, that the French minister gives very little reason to expect, that his court is likely to make good their professions, which they made, through so many channels, of a desire of peace upon terms becoming this country to accept, upon the strength of which Dr. Franklin invited the present negotiation. I have that entire confidence in Dr. Franklin's integrity and strict honor, that, if the court of France have other views, and that they have been throwing out false lures to support the appearance of moderation throughout Europe, and in the hope of misleading and the chance of dividing us, I am satisfied, that he must have been himself deceived; and, in such a case, I trust, that, if this shall be proved in the course of the present negotiation, he will consider himself and his constituents freed from the tie, which will appear to have been founded upon no ideas of common interest.

"We shall, however, I hope, speedily ascertain the real purposes of France by their conduct in the future progress of this negotiation, which the King will not suffer to go into any length. In the mean time, you will govern your conversation with the American Commissioners with all possible prudence, collecting their sentiments, and every other information, which you conceive may hereafter prove useful; and I have his Majesty's commands to acquaint you, that it is his pleasure you should continue at Paris, till you receive his orders to return, of which you will acquaint Dr. Franklin and Count de Vergennes."-Whitehall, May 21st. MS. Letter.

FROM THE EARL OF SHELBURNE TO B. FRANKLIN.

"Whitehall, 25 May, 1782.

“SIR, "I have the honor to receive your letter of the 13th of May, by Mr. Oswald. It gives me great pleasure to find my opinion of moderation, prudence, and judgment of that gentleman confirmed by your concurrence. For I am glad to assure you, that we likewise concur in hoping that those qualities may enable him to contribute to the speedy conclusion of a peace, and such a peace as may be firm and long lasting. In that hope, he has the King's orders to return immediately to Paris, and you will find him, I trust, properly instructed to coöperate in so desirable an object. I have the honor to be, &c.

"SHELBURNE."

I had not then time to converse much with Mr. Oswald, and he promised to come and breakfast with me on Monday.

Saturday, June 5th. 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 tran

scribing, 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 that 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 this 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. That he was perfectly assured their late success had made no change in the disposition of his court to peace, and that he had more reason than the Count de Vergennes to complain of delays, since five days were spent before he could obtain a passport for his courier, and then it was not to go and return by way of Calais, but to go by Ostend, which would occasion a delay of five days longer. Mr. Grenville then spoke much of the high opinion the present ministry had of me, and their great esteem for me, their desire of a perfect reconciliation

between the two countries, and the firm and general belief in England, that no man was so capable as myself of proposing the proper means of bringing about such a reconciliation; adding that, if the old ministers had formerly been too little attentive to my counsels, the present were very differently disposed, and he hoped that in treating with them, I would totally forget their predecessors.

The time has been when such flattering language, as from great men, might have made me vainer, and had more effect on my conduct, than it can at present, when I find myself so near the end of life as to esteem lightly all personal interests and concerns, except that of maintaining to the last, and leaving behind me the tolerably good character I have hitherto supported.

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 ob

ligations 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. In the mean time I would just mention to him, that, though we were yet under no obligations to Spain by treaty, we were under obligations of gratitude for the assistance she had afforded us; and as Mr. Adams had some weeks since commenced a treaty in Holland, the terms of which I was not yet acquainted with, I knew not but that we might have already some alliance and obligations contracted there. And perhaps we ought, however, to have some consideration for Holland on this account, that it was in vengeance for the friendly disposition shown by some of her people to make a treaty of commerce with us, that England had declared the war against her.

He said, it would be hard upon England, if, having given reasonable satisfaction to one or two of her enemies, she could not have peace with those till she had complied with whatever the others might demand, however unreasonable, for so she might be obliged to pay for every article fourfold. I observed, that when she made her propositions, the more advan tageous they were to each, the more it would be the interest of each to prevail with the others to accept those offered to them. We then spoke of the reconciliation; but, his full power not being yet come, I chose to defer entering upon that subject at present. I 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