favourable terms from that power than they might otherwise be able to obtain, and they accordingly determined to act in that direction. Shelburne however did not expect that much would result from this manner of proceeding, or that France would be satisfied with the concession of American independence alone.
The paper of notes was communicated by Oswald to Shelburne, and was at his desire left with him for one night. Nobody else except Lord Ashburton was allowed to see it. At the time that Oswald accepted the paper from the hands of Franklin, he did not possess the formal character of a negotiator, nor had he any official commission. Franklin gave him the paper of notes "not as a proposition during a negotiation, but as a suggestion, or matter for consideration; the paper was treated as confidential, and Franklin evidently did not intend that it should go further than Shelburne himself."[1] There was nothing either in the contents of the paper or in the manner in which it came into his hands which rendered it incumbent on Shelburne to communicate it to his colleagues, and he thought best not to send any formal answer to it.
On the 23rd of April the Cabinet agreed to the following minute: "It is humbly submitted to His Majesty that Mr. Oswald shall return to Paris with authority to name Paris as the place, and to settle with Dr. Franklin the most convenient time for setting on foot a negotiation for a general peace, and to represent to him that the principal points in contemplation are, the allowance of independence to America upon Great Britain's being restored to the situation she was placed in by the treaty of 1763, and that Mr. Fox shall submit to the consideration of the King a proper person to make a similar communication to M. de Vergennes." The person selected by Mr. Fox in conformity with the above resolution was Mr. Thomas Grenville, brother of Lord Temple and son of Mr. George Grenville. The wits of the town, however friendly to Fox and Mr.
- ↑ See the observations of Sir G. C. Lewis. Administrations of Gt. Britain, 45.
