however anxious to meet the wishes of the King of England on this subject. He also added that as the foundation of a good and durable peace should be laid in justice, he should have several demands to make of "justice" from England, whenever a treaty was entered upon. "Of this," he said, "I give you previous notice": at the same time he did not specify what these demands would be, and when Oswald attempted to obtain from him some general propositions to take back to England, he refused on the ground that France could do nothing without consulting all her allies, which she was not then in a position to do. As they returned to Versailles, Oswald again took occasion to impress upon Franklin that if England were driven to extremities by unreasonable demands on the part of France, the whole nation, which was now divided on the subject of the war, would unite as one man to continue it, and that resistance would be carried on with the energy of desperation.[1]
Next day there was some further conversation between Franklin and Oswald, previous to the departure of the latter for England. Franklin considered the opportunity favourable for putting forward the idea of the cession of Canada and Nova Scotia to the United States. In a previous conversation with Oswald, the latter had maintained the opinion, in which indeed he was not singular, that the cession of those countries by France in 1763 had materially hastened the outbreak of a rebellion, and had thereby been injurious to England. Franklin now insisted on the dangers which their retention might cause, amongst which he specified the temptation it would offer to the United States to strengthen their union with France, instead of cultivating those friendly relations which he believed were now heartily desired by England and were certainly his own wish. He also alluded to the necessity of England treating America with generosity. "The party," he said, "which had been the aggressors, and had cruelly treated the other, should show some marks of concern for what was passed, and some dis-
- ↑ Franklin's Private Journal, 1782; Works, viii. 464.
