DOCUMENTS BEARING ON TREATY OF 1183. 137 



the session of Parliament to attack his lordship on this point ; it was. 

 therefore, inevitable to acknowledge our independence, and no min- 

 ister could have stood his ground without it. But still I doubt 

 whether his lordship means to make a general peace. To express 

 myself more clearly, I fully believe he intends to try another cam- 

 paign, and that he will finally refuse to come to any definitive 

 agreement with us upon articles to be inserted in the general peace. 



We have gone the utmost lengths in our power to favour the nego- 

 tiations. We have at last agreed to boundaries with the greatest 

 moderation. We have offered them the choice of a line through the 

 middle of all the great lakes, or the line of 45 degrees of latitude, the 

 Mississippi, with a free navigation of it at one end and the river St. 

 Croix at the other. We have agreed that the courts of justice be 

 opened for the recovery of British debts due before the war, to a 

 general amnesty for all the loyalists against whom there is no judg- 

 ment rendered or prosecution commenced. We have agreed that all 

 the royalists who may remain at the evacuation of the States shall 

 have six months to sell their effects and to remove with them. 



These are such immense advantages to the minister that one would 

 think he could not refuse them. The agreement to pay British debts 

 will silence the clamors of all the body of creditors and separate 

 them from the tories, with whom they have hitherto made common 

 cause. The amnesty and the term of six months will silence all the 

 tories except those who have been condemned, banished, and con- 

 fiscated ; yet I dp not believe they will be accepted. 



I fear they will insist a little longer upon a complete indemnifica- 

 tion to all the refugees, a point which, without express instructions 

 from all the States, neither we nor Congress can give up; and how 

 the States can ever agree to it I know not, as it seems an implicit 

 concession of all the religion and morality of the war. They will 

 also insist upon Penobscot as the eastern boundary. I am not sure 

 that the tories and the ministry and the nation are not secretly 

 stimulated by French emissaries to insist upon Penobscot and a full 

 indemnification to the tories. It is easy to see that the French min- 

 ister, the Spanish and the Dutch ministers would not be very fond 

 of having it known through the world that all points for a general 

 peace were settled between Great Britain and America before all 

 parties are ready. It is easy to comprehend how French, Spanish, 

 and Dutch emissaries in London, in Paris and Versailles, may in- 

 sinuate that the support of the tories is a point of national and 

 royal honor, and propagate so many popular arguments in favor of 

 it as to embarrass the British minister. It is easy to see that the 

 French may naturally revive their old assertions that Penobscot and 

 Kennebec are the boundry of Nova Scotia, although against the 

 whole stream of British authorities and the most authentic acts of 

 the governors, Shirley, Pownall, Bernard, and Hutchinson. Mr. 

 Fitzherbert, who is constantly at Versailles, is very sanguine for the 

 refugees. Nevertheless, if my lord Shelburne should not agree with 

 us these will be only ostensible points. He cares little for either. 

 It will be to avoid giving any certain weapons against himself to 

 the friends of Lord North and the old ministry. 



The negociations at Versailles between the Count de Vergennes and 

 Mr. Fitzherbert are kept secret, not only from us but from the Dutch 

 ministers, and we hear nothing about Spain. In general, I learn that 



