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papers already inserted, and contained nothing new but the following letter from Colonel Hartley, his brother, viz.

DEAR SIR,

Soho Square, May 24, 1782.

It is with the greatest pleasure I take up my pen to acknowledge your remembrance of me in yours to my brother, and to thank you for those expressions of regard, which I can assure you are mutual. My brother has desired me to copy some letters and papers by way of sending you duplicates. I am particularly happy at the employment, because the greatest object of my parliamentary life has been to co-operate with him in his endeavours to put a period to this destructive war, and forward the blessed work of peace. I hope to see him again in that situation where he can so well serve his country with credit to himself, and while I have the honor of being in parliament, my attention will be continued to promote the effects, which will naturally flow from those principles of freedom and universal philanthropy you have both so much supported. While I copy his words, my own feelings and judgment are truly in unison, and I have but to add the most ardent wish that peace and happiness may crown the honest endeavours towards so desirable an end. I am, dear Sir, with the greatest respect and esteem, yours sincerely, W. H. HARTLEY.

Dr. Franklin.

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Wednesday, June 5. Mr. Oswald called again to acquaint me that Lord Cornwallis being very anxious to be discharged from his parole as soon as possible, has sent me a Major Ross hither to solicit it, supposing Mr. Laurens might be here with me. Mr. Oswald told me, what I had not before heard, that Mr. Laurens while prisoner in the Tower, had proposed obtaining the discharge of Lord Cornwallis in exchange for himself, and he had promised to use

his utmost endeavours to that purpose, in case he was set at liberty, not doubting the success. I communicated to Mr. Oswald what had already passed between Mr. Laurens and me respecting Lord Cornwallis; which appears in the preceding letters, and told him, I should have made less difficulty about the discharge of his parole, if Mr. Laurens had informed me of his being set at liberty in consequence of such an offer and promise; and I wished him to state this in a letter to me, that it might appear for my justification in what I might with Mr. Laurens do in the affair; and that he would procure for me from Major Ross a copy of the parole, that I might be better acquainted with the nature of it. He accordingly in the afternoon sent me the following letter.

SIR,

Paris, June 5, 1782..

While Mr. Laurens was under confinement in England, he promised, that on condition of his being liberated upon his parole, he would apply to you for an exchange in favor of my Lord Cornwallis, by a discharge of his Lordship's, granted upon the surrender of his garrison at the village of York in Virginia: and, in case of your being under any difficulty in making such exchange, he undertook to write to the Congress, and to request it of that Assembly; making no doubt of obtaining a favorable answer without loss of time.

This proposal, signed by. Mr. Laurens's hand, I carried and delivered, I think, in the month of December last, to his Majesty's then Secretaries of State, which was duly attended to; and in consequence thereof, Mr. Laurens was soon after set at full liberty. And though not a prisoner under parole, yet it is to be hoped a variation in the mode of discharge will not be supposed of any essential difference.

And with respect to Mr. Laurens, I am satisfied he will

consider himself as much interested in the success of this application as if his own discharge had been obtained under the form as proposed by the representation which I delivered to the Secretaries of State; and I make no doubt will sincerely join my Lord Cornwallis in an acknowledgment of your favor and good offices in granting his Lordship a full discharge of his parole abovementioned. I have the honor to be, with much respect, Sir, your most obedient, humble servant,

RICHARD OSWALD,

P. S. Major Ross has got no copy of Lord Cornwallis's parole. He says it was in the common form, as in like

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Since writing the above, I recollect I was under a mis take, as if the proposal of exchange came first from Mr. Laurens; whereas it was made by his Majesty's Secretaries of State to me, that Mr. Laurens should endeavour to procure the exchange of Lord Cornwallis, so as to be discharged himself. Which proposal I carried to Mr. Laurens, and had from him the obligation abovementioned, upon which the mode of his discharge was settled.

To the foregoing I wrote this answer,

SIR,

R.Q.

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Passy, June 6, 1782.

I received the letter you did me the honor of writing to me, respecting the parole of Lord Cornwallis. You are acquainted with what I wrote some time since to Mr. Laurens. To-morrow is post day from Holland, when possibly I may receive an answer, with a paper drawn up by him for the purpose of discharging that parole, to be signed by us jointly. I suppose the staying at Paris another day

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will not be very inconvenient to Major Ross; and if I do not hear to-morrow from Mr. Laurens, I will immediately, in compliance with your request, do what I can towards the liberation of Lord Cornwallis. I have the honor to be, with great respect, Sir, your most obedient humble servant, B. FRANKLIN.

R. Oswald, Esq.

Friday, June 7. Major Ross called upon me, to thank me for the favorable intentions I had expressed in my letter to Mr. Oswald respecting Lord Cornwallis, and to assure me his Lordship would for ever remember it with gratitude, &c. I told him it was our duty to alleviate as much as we could the calamities of war; that I expected letters from Mr. Laurens relating to the affair, after the receipt of which I would immediately complete it. Or if I did not hear from Mr. L. I would speak to the Marquis de la Fayette, get his approbation, and finish it without farther waiting.

Saturday, June 8. I received some newspapers from England, in one of which is the following paragraph.

Extract from the London Evening Post of May 30, 1782.

"If reports on the spot speak truth, Mr. Grenville, in his first visit to Dr. Franklin, gained a considerable point of information as to the powers America had retained for treating separately with Great Britain, in case her claims or demands were granted.

"The treaty of February 6, 1778, was made the basis of this conversation; and by the spirit and meaning of this treaty, there is no obligation on America not to treat separately for peace, after she is assured England will grant her independence, and a free commerce with all the world.

"The first article of that treaty engages America and France to be bound to each other as long as circumstances may

require; therefore the granting America all that she asks of England, is breaking the bond by which the circumstances may bind America to France.

"The second article says, the meaning and direct end of the alliance is, to ensure the freedom and independence of America. Surely, then, when freedom and independence are allowed by Britain, America may or may not, as she chuses, put an end to the present war between England and America, and leave France to war on through all her mad projects of reducing the power and greatness of England, while America feels herself possessed of what she wishes.

"By the eighth article of the treaty neither France or America can conclude peace without the assent of the other; and they engage not to lay down their arms, until the inde pendence of America is acknowledged; but this article does not exclude America from entering into a separate treaty for peace with England, and evinces more strongly than the former article, that America may enter into a separate treaty with England, when she is convinced that England has en sured to her, all that she can reasonably ask."

I conjecture that this must be an extract from a letter of Mr. Grenville's. But it carries an appearance as if he and I had agreed in these imaginary discourses of America's being at liberty to make peace without France, &c. Whereas my whole discourse in the strongest terms declared our deter minations to the contrary, and the impossibility of our acting not only contrary to the treaty, but the duties of gratitude and honor, of which nothing is mentioned. This young ne gociator seems to value himself on having obtained from mé a copy of the treaty. I gave it him freely, at his request; it being not so much a secret as he imagined, having been printed, first in all the American papers, soon after it was made; then at London in Almon's Remembrancer, which I wonder he did not know: and afterwards in a collection of

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