Shelburne, you may be assured that I have no reservations upon that head respecting America, in any circumstances or condition whatever. You know all my thoughts upon that subject, and the principles upon which they are founded, and therefore that they are not changeable. It would give me the greatest pleasure if I could hope for any opportunity of seeing you. I could say many things which are otherwise incommunicable, and which perhaps would contribute to facilitate the road to peace. I think I see, in many parts, much matter to work with, out of which a peace, honorable to all parties, and upon durable prin ciples, might be established.-No degrading or mortifying conditions, to shorten peace, and rekindle war. Perhaps I might not say too much if I were to add that simply the adoption of reason among nations, and the mere rectification of obsolete and gothic absurdities, which carry no gratification, would afford a fund of remuneration to all parties for renouncing those objects of mutual contention, which, in the eye of reason, are no better than creatures of passion, jealousy and false pride. Until the principles of reason and equity shall be adopted in national transactions, peace will not be durable amongst men. These are reflections general to all nations. As to the mutual concerns between G. B. and N. A.,1 reconciliation is the touch stone, to prove those hearts which are without alloy. If I can be of any assistance to you in any communications or explanations conducive to peace, you may command my utmost services. Even if a French minister were to overhear such an offer, let him not take it in jealous part. Zealously and affectionately attached to my own country and to America, I am nevertheless most per 1 Initials for Great Britain and North America, and sometimes used as signatures by Mr. Hartley and Dr. Franklin in their correspondence. fectly of accord with you, that justice and honor should be observed towards all nations. Mr. Oswald will do me the favor to convey this to you. I heartily wish him success in his pacific embassy. Yours ever most affectionately, G. B. FROM LORD SHELBURNE TO B. FRANKLIN, Esq. I am honored with your letter of the 11th instant, and am very glad to find, that the conduct which the king has impowered me to observe towards Mr. Laurens and the American prisoners, has given you pleasure. I have signified to Mr. Oswald his Majesty's pleasure, that he shall continue at Paris till he receives orders from hence to return. In the present state of this business there is nothing left for me to add but my sincere wishes for a happy issue, and to repeat my assurances, that nothing shall be wanting on my part, which can contribute to it. I have the honor to be, with very great regard, Sir, your most obedient humble servant, SHELBURNE. FROM LORD SHELBURNE TO B. FRANKLIN, ESQ. SIR, Whitehall, May 26, 1782. 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 the 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 cooperate to so desirable an object. I have the honor to be, with very sincere respect and esteem, dear Sir, your most obedient humble servant, SHELBURNE. I had not then time to converse with Mr. Oswald, and he promised to come and breakfast with me on Monday. Saturday, June 1st, Mr. Grenville came according to appointment. Our conversation began by my acquainting him that I had seen M. de Vergennes, and had perused the copy left with him of the power to treat. That after what Mr. Grenville had told me, of its being to treat with France and her allies, I was a little surprized 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 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 special 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 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 poli tician, 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 farther,) 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 M. de Vergennes, dispatched 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 M. de Vergennes to complain of delay, 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 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. G. then discoursed of our resolution not to treat without our allies. This, says he, can properly only 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 of their interests 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 for us 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. 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 four 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 |