DOCUMENTS BEARING ON TBEATY OP 1183. 97 



interfere with the plan of such preliminary and regular settlement. 

 And I hope the same will be followed out in such manner as to show 

 to the Americans, that all such concessions as are required and can be 

 reasonably granted, do actually flow from a desire of His Majesty 

 and His Ministers of laying this foundation on the most just and 

 equitable principles, and in a mutual relation to the benefit of one 

 party as well as the other. 



After that is done, and consequently every pretence and occasion 



of jealousy is obviated, and constitutionally out of the question, I 



must take the liberty to say, that it will concern the interest of 



Great Britain in the most sensible degree, as well in the hopes 



59 of returning benefit, as in that of avoiding contingencies of 



critical danger, to concert, from this time every possible 



method of facilitating and perpetuating a friendly correspondence 



with those countries. 



The second thing the doctor touched upon was independence. He 

 said by the quotations of Acts of Parliament, he saw it was included 

 in the commission, but that Mr. Grenville had orders to grant it in 

 the first instance. I replied, it was true, and that though supposed 

 to be granted under this commission, and in the course of the treaty, 

 I hoped it would make no difference with gentlemen who vrere so well 

 disposed to put an end to this unhappy business, as I knew him to 

 be. He then asked if I had instructions. I said I had, and that 

 they were under His Majesty's hand and seal; and that by them it 

 appeared that independence, unconditional in every sense, would be 

 granted; and that I saw no reason why it should not make the first 

 article of the settlement or treaty; that I was sorry that Mr. Jay 

 should have hesitated so much on that head, as it ought to have been 

 done separately and by Act of Parliament, and now, Parliament be- 

 ing up, that the grant should be made by proclamation; that I did 

 not pretend to judge whether the right and authority of a grant of 

 that kind so conveyed, would be proper and effectual. There seemed, 

 however, to be one inconveniency in it. That a proclamation became 

 an address to the Congress and to every part of their provinces 

 jointly and separately, and might in so far interfere with the prog- 

 ress of the present commission, under which we hoped that all pre- 

 tentions would be properly and expeditiously settled. That in this 

 matter he was a better judge than I could pretend to be. I was only 

 sure of one thing that the affair might be as effectually done as in 

 the way proposed by Mr. Jay. The doctor replied, that Mr. Jay 

 was a lawyer, and might think of things that did not occur to those 

 who were not lawyers, and at last spoke as if he did not see much or 

 any difference, but still in such mode of expression as I could not 

 positively say would preclude him from insisting on Mr. Jay's propo- 

 sition, or some previous and separate acknowledgment. I was glad 

 to get clear of the subject without pushing for further explanation 

 or discussion, or yielding farther, as I have mentioned, than to a 

 preliminary acknowledgment in the course of the treaty. 



I then said, after that was done I hoped there would not be many 

 things to settle, and that the articles called necessary, which he speci- 

 fied on the 10th July, would pretty nearly end the business. And 

 that those called advisable, which, as a friend to Britain and to recon- 

 ciliation, he had then recommended, would be dropped or modi- 

 fied in a proper manner ; that I had fairly stated the case at home ; 



