French Minister, "pour être utile au genre humain"; and all through the letter his own individual wish for peace was apparent, tempered by a desire to satisfy the demands of Spain and the amour-propre of his own countrymen.[1] "The letter from M. de Vergennes," said the King on reading it, "is in the usual French style, and no judgment can be formed from it"; but he considered the arrival of M. de Vergennes' son a favourable omen for peace.[2] Shelburne however was disposed to believe in the personal sincerity of the French Minister, and he afterwards was said to have confessed that if the French Court had not so openly betrayed a desire for a pacification, he would not have ventured to have been so firm.[3]
Violent altercations took place between the members of the English Cabinet when the French and Spanish project came to be considered. Though unanimous in deciding to reject it, they could not agree what to ask in its place. Grafton wished to obtain Porto Rico and Trinidad in exchange for Gibraltar; the King and Shelburne wished to obtain Porto Rico and West Florida; Richmond and Keppel objected to any cession or exchange of the fortress.[4] So marked did their differences become that Shelburne said to Grafton subsequently to one of their meetings: "I will fairly tell you that as to Lord Keppel I should be happy to see him away from his Board. The Duke of Richmond also must take the part he judges proper; I shall see it with indifference; but though it would be very unpleasant to me, and give me great concern to differ from you, yet I must bear it, for I am resolved to stand by the King."[5]
On the 3rd of December the Cabinet at length settled, that "if France would agree to the Preliminaries as already drawn up, and that if Spain would besides Minorca restore the Bahamas, and allow a well-regulated establishment in some part of the coast of Honduras, the
