Ministry of the Colonies on the over- throw of the North cabinet, Shelburne opened unoffi- cial negotiations through a Mr. Oswald, who came to Paris early in 1782.
I have already noticed that John Adams had been designated and commissioned to negotiate a treaty of peace with Great Britain as early as 1778, and was in Paris biding a favorable opportunity when he incurred the wrath of Count Vergennes. Following this event, Luzerne, the French minister to the Colonies, criticised, to the Continental Congress, the appointment of Adams, representing that he was too obstinate for a diplomat, and that he ought to be instructed to abide the advice of France, who could procure better terms than it were possible for such a headstrong commissioner to secure. The French minister's communication was referred by Congress to a committee, who brought in a report re- commending the addition of four members to the Peace Commission, and, by a vote of Congress, Benjamin Franklin, John Jay, Henry Laurens, and Thomas Jef- ferson were appointed in June, 1781. Bancroft, in noting the action of Congress, says : " It had been the proudest moment of his (Adams's) life when he received from Congress the commission of sole plenipotentiary for negotiating peace and commerce between the United States and Great Britain. The year in which he was deprived of it he has himself described ' as the most anxious and mortifying year of my whole life.' He
THE TREATY OF PEACE AND INDEPENDENCE. 55
ascribed the change in part to the French government, in part to Franklin."
The instructions given by Congress to the commis- sioners as to the treaty to be negotiated contained only two positive conditions : first, that the independence of the Colonies should be recognized; and, second, that the existing treaties with France should be preserved. The details of the treaty, as to boundaries, fisheries, and all other matters, were left to the discretion of the commissioners, having in view to secure the interests of the United States as circumstances would allow; but they were directed " to make the most candid and confidential communications upon all subjects to the ministers of our generous ally, the king of France; to undertake nothing in the negotiations for peace or truce without their knowledge or concurrence; and ultimately to govern yourselves by their advice and opinion." 1
The question of the boundaries, the fisheries, the navigation of the Mississippi, and other matters had been the subject of lengthy discussions in Congress, and Adams had been instructed regarding them, but all these matters were now left to the discretion of the new commission.
Jefferson, named as one of the commissioners, was not able to leave his post as governor of Virginia, Lau- rens was still a prisoner in London, Adams was actively prosecuting his negotiations in Holland, and Jay at Madrid, so that the early steps of the negotiations were conducted by Franklin alone.
1 4 Dip. Cor. Rev. 505 … ' … _
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It is well, at the outset, to note the condition of the nations concerned in the negotiations. The Colonies had entered into an alliance with France, the terms of which required that peace should only be made with the independence of the Colonies, but no peace should be agreed upon except by joint agreement of the allies. Spain was at war with Great Britain, but hostile to the designs of the Colonies. France and Spain, joined by close family ties of the House of Bourbon, had com- mon interests not in harmony with those of the Colo- nies. Holland was at war with England, loaning money to the Colonies, but suspicious of France. In England the North ministry, which had conducted the war against the Colonies, had recently been overthrown and was succeeded by a composite ministry, whose members were divided as to the policy to be pursued in the negotiations. The House of Commons had de- clared in favor of peace, even at the price of independ- ence, but King George was still obstinately refusing such conditions.
Between the appointment of the commissioners and the conclusion of the negotiations, three important military events occurred which had an important influ- ence on the final result. The first, the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown, in October, 1781, practically decided the independence of the Colonies. The sec- ond, the victory of Rodney in the West Indies over the French fleet, in May, 1782, and, third, the raising of the siege of Gibraltar by the English, in September, 1782, made less exacting the demands of France and Spain, and enabled the American commissioners more
THE TREATY OF PEACE AND INDEPENDENCE. 57
easily to counteract their plans for dwarfing the young nation.
Mr. Richard Oswald was sent to Paris in April, 1782, by Shelburne, Minister of the Colonies, on a pre- liminary and confidential mission to Franklin. As he was the person who ultimately signed the provisional treaty of peace, it will be of interest to know more of the man. He was possessed of no diplomatic experi- ence, and was not even in public life. At one time he had held a subordinate position in the Ministry of Commerce (Board of Trade), but was then a retired Scotch merchant, and by marriage and purchase had acquired large interests in America. Having spent several years in business there, he was frequently con- sulted during the war by the British ministry. His sympathy for the Colonies may be inferred from the fact that he furnished bail to the amount of $250,000 for Henry Laurens, one of the Peace Commissioners, then confined in the Tower of London. At the time of his appointment he was seventy-seven years old, just Frank- lin's age. He was a disciple of Adam Smith, he had won the esteem of Shelburne, and had by correspond- ence continued a warm friendship with Franklin formed during the latter's long residence in England. Shel- burne, responding to Franklin's letter, to which refer- ence has already been made, writes : " Your letter … has made me send to you Mr. Oswald. I have had a longer acquaintance with him, than I even had the pleasure to have with you. I believe him an honest man, and, after consulting some of our common friends, I have thought him the fittest for the purpose. He is a paci-
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fical man and conversant in these negotiations, which are most interesting to mankind. This has made me prefer him to any of our speculative friends, or to any person of higher rank. He is fully apprised of my mind, and you may give full credit to everything he assures you of. At the same time, if any other chan- nel occurs to you, I am ready to embrace it. I wish to retain the same simplicity and good faith which sub- sisted between us in transactions of less importance." 1
It is due to the British minister and negotiator to say that throughout the negotiations the spirit expressed in this letter was maintained, and their conduct was in marked contrast to that of the Colonies' allies, France and Spain. There existed, however, a divergence of views in the British cabinet, and while Oswald was designated by Shelburne to confer with Franklin, Fox, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, sent Grenville over to Paris to watch the proceedings on his behalf. As the British government had no diplomatic representative in Paris, Grenville resorted to the good offices of Franklin to secure him an audience with the Minister for Foreign Affairs. Accompanying him to Versailles, says Ban- croft, " The dismissed Postmaster-General for America, at the request of the British Secretary of State, intro- duced the son of the author of the American Stamp Act as the British plenipotentiary to the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Bourbon king. Statesmen at Paris and Vienna were amused on hearing that the envoy of the ' rebel ' olonies was become ' the introducer ' of the representative of Great Britain at the court of Ver- sailles." 2
5 Dip. Cor. Rev. 536. 2 10 Bancroft's U. S. (ed. 1874) p. 542.
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Oswald carried back with him to London the views of Franklin respecting terms of peace, and a memoran- dum suggesting the cession of Canada to the United States and compensation to the loyalists out of the sale of its public lands. 1 This proposition as to Canada is cited as an evidence of the great foresight of Franklin, and it has been said that if he had been properly sup- ported by his colleagues, Adams and Jay, Canada would have been then included in American territory; but I have been unable to find any substantial basis for such a statement in the history of the negotiations. It ap- pears that
