68 APPENDIX TO BRITISH COUNTER CASE. 



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 sus- 

 picion 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 transcribing, or that per- 

 haps 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 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 instruc- 

 tions, though, perhaps, the doing it now was premature, and there- 

 fore 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. . . . 



Mr. Grenville then discoursed of our resolution not to treat with- 

 out 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 discus- 

 sion, therefore answered, that the intended treaty not being yet be- 

 gun, 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 de- 

 mands on England, and insist on our continuing the war till those 

 were complied with, it would then be time enough 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. ... 



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 it on 

 account of his defective power to treat; but I promised to finish it 



