232 CORRESPONDENCE, ETC., PRIOR TO TREATY OE 1818 



Mr. Townshend to Mr. Oswald. 



Whitehall #-£"■• September 1782 

 R d Osward Esq 1 ". 



Sir, I now send you the Commission, which has met with no delay 

 more than was absolutely necessary for the forms through which 

 it was to pass. 



I hope that the frankness with which we deal will meet with a 

 suitable return. 



I have ordered the office to be searched for all Papers which can 

 give any Information concerning the Boundaries which you mention 

 in your Letter of the 11 th of this month ; but it has not been in my 

 power to have so exact a state of that Matter, made out, as may be 

 necessary for your direction in your Negotiation. 



I think it necessary to inform you that I received yesterday Dis- 

 patches from Sir Guy Carleton, and I enclose to you a copy of his 

 Letter to General Washington on the subject of M r . Grenville's 

 Proposal of Independence in the first instance, and not as a condi- 

 tional Article in the General Treaty, and also a Copy of a Paper 

 printed by the Congress in consequence of General Washington's 

 communication of that Letter to him. 



I am &c. 



T. Townshend. 



[Annex.] 



R Oswald Esq'.} Q R 



Commission J & 



Our Will and Pleasure is and We do hereby authorize and com- 

 mand you forthwith to prepare a Bill for our Signature to pass our 

 Great Seal of Great Britain in the words or to the following effect 

 viz: 



George the Third by the Grace of God, King of Great Britain, 

 France and Ireland, Defender of the Faith &c. To Our Trusty 

 and Wellbeloved Richard Oswald of the City of London Esquire, 

 Greeting. 



Whereas by Virtue of an Act passed in the last Session of Parlia- 

 ment intituled " An Act to enable His Majesty to conclude a Peace 

 or Truce with certain Colonies in North America therein men- 

 tioned," it is recited, " that it is essential to the Interest, Welfare 

 and Prosperity of Great Britain and the Colonies or Plantations 

 of New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island, Connecticut, 

 New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, the Lower Counties on 

 Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, 

 and Georgia in North America, that Peace, Intercourse, Trade and 

 Commerce should be restored between them " — Therefore, and for 

 a full manifestation of Our earnest wish and Desire, and of that of 

 our Parliament, to put an end to the Calamities of War, it is enacted, 

 that it might and should be law-full for Us to treat, consult of, agree 

 and conclude with any Commissioner or Commissioners named or to 

 be named by the said Colonies or Plantations, or any of them respec- 

 tively, or with any Body or Bodies, Corporate or Politic, or any 

 Assembly or Assemblies, or description of Men, or any Person or 

 Persons whatsoever a Peace or a Truce with the said Colonies or 



