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First knowledge of the "Canada paper."

Lord Shelburne's reti

his colleagues; and he thought best not to send any formal answer to it." *

It was from a casual remark of Mr. Oswald, in June, that the existence of the "Canada paper" became known to Mr. Grenville, then representative of the Foreign Office at Paris, who at once reported the matter to Mr. Fox, the Secretary for Foreign Affairs. In his reply, dated 10th June, Mr. Fox said, "The paper relative to Canada I never heard of till I received your letter; and it may be said that Lord Shelburne has withheld from our knowledge matters of importance to the negotiations." +

The reticence of Lord Shelburne in not disclosing to cence indefen- the Crown, or his colleagues, the secret and confidential

sible.

proposition for the cession of Canada and Nova Scotia, cannot be defended. In the opinion of Lord John Russell, "it is impossible to justify Lord Shelburne for his favourable reception of so important a paper as the one he had received from Franklin about Canada, without communicating the substance of it at least to his colleagues." § The "Canada paper" also dealt with the question of reparation for the towns and villages which had been burnt by the British and their Indian allies, and gave several arguments why Canada and Nova Scotia should be ceded to the United States, closing with the very tempting inducements that

Contents of the "Canada paper."

* Life of Lord Shelburne, v. 3, p. 183.

+ Life of Charles James Fox, by Lord John Russell, v. 1, p. 313. + Lord Shelburne subsequently declared in the House of Lords that "The great advantage of Monarchy in the British Constitution was that it trusted to the Crown the secrets which must necessarily attend all negotiations with Foreign Powers." Parliamentary History, v. 23, p. 309.

§ Memorials of Fox, v. 1, p. 384.

Great Britain should "in all times coming have and enjoy the right of Free Trade thither, unincumbered with any duties whatever; and that so much of the vacant lands there, shall be sold as will raise a sum sufficient to pay for the houses burnt by the British troops and their Indian allies, and also to indemnify the Royalists for the confiscation of their estates." *

burne's notes

Lord Shelburne's views respecting the "Canada Lord Shelpaper" appear in his "Memorandum for Mr. Oswald in on the "Canconversation," in which he thus outlined the ministerial ada paper." policy respecting Canada:

"The private paper desires Canada for three reasons:

"1st. By way of reparation. Answer: No reparation can be heard of.

"2nd. To prevent future wars. Answer: It is hoped that some more friendly method will be found.

"3rd. Loyalists, as a fund of indemnification to them. Answer: No independence to be acknowledged without their being taken care of. Penobscot to be always kept." +

None of these details of the policy above indicated Policy not was communicated to the Cabinet, or submitted for the cated to King sanction of the Crown; and it is even doubtful whether or Cabinet. this memorandum respecting the "Canada paper," was more than mere notes for conversation, or that the policy indicated was ever communicated to Mr. Oswald ; for Sir G. C. Lewis says: "The probability is that Lord Shelburne made no remark upon it (the Canada paper) to Oswald, fearing that it might offend Frank

communi

* Sparks's Franklin, v. 9, p. 252.

† Lewis's Administrations of Great Britain, p. 47; Life of Lord Shelburne, v. 3, p. 188. Penobscot was subsequently ceded.

comment on

lin; and that Oswald construed his silence into approbation." *

Dr. Franklin's This view appears to be sustained by the entry in Mr. Oswald's Dr. Franklin's diary that, on his return to Paris in report.

Cession of
Canada and

Nova Scotia
possible.

May, "Mr. Oswald reported to me his opinion that the affair of Canada would be settled to our satisfaction, and that it was his wish that it might not be mentioned till towards the end of the Treaty." + Lord Edmond Fitzmaurice confirms this by saying that when Mr. Oswald returned the Canada paper to Dr. Franklin, "he expressed his own personal conviction that it had made an impression; and that if the matter were not given undue prominence during the early stages of the negotiation, a settlement satisfactory to America might still be ultimately arrived at in regard to the cession of Canada and Nova Scotia."‡

Acting on such partial report of Mr. Oswald's ute appoint- mission as Lord Shelburne made to his colleagues, the Cabinet, on the 23rd April, 1782, 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." §

Cabinet min

ing Oswald to negotiate a

Treaty.

* Lewis's Administrations of Great Britain, p. 48.

+ Sparks's Franklin, v. 9, p. 269.

+ Life of Lord Shelburne, v. 3, p. 191.

§ Memorials of Fox, v. 1, p. 345.

France, of 1763, de

Canada's

This reference to the Treaty of 1763, and again in a Treaty with later Minute, dated 18th May, 1782, would lead to the 176 inference that Canada was to be retained; for its scribed cession by France to Great Britain, and the delimina- boundaries. tion of its boundaries along the Mississippi, had been settled by that Treaty; * and rendered it all the more incumbent upon Lord Shelburne to disclose to his colleagues Dr. Franklin's secret and confidential proposition for the cession of Canada.

Mr. Oswald was shorn of the Samson locks of his Mr. Oswald's

diplomatic strength when he confided to Dr. Franklin opinion that his personal opinion that the conquest of Canada by of Canada was injurious to Great Britain, had an injurious effect on the relations the Empire. of the American Colonies to the Empire, an opinion not shared by Dr. Franklin, as will presently appear. And when Dr. Franklin hinted that "England should make us a voluntary offer of Canada," he found that "Mr. Oswald much liked the idea, and promised that He favours Dr. Franklin's he should endeavour to persuade their doing it;" + idea of the which he fulfilled in the following report to Lord cession of Shelburne: "The Doctor touched upon Canada, as he generally does on like occasions, and said there could be no dependence on peace and good neighbourhood while that country continued under a different government, as it touched their States on so great a stretch

the conquest

* In the negotiations for this Treaty it was admitted that the Alleghanies (Appalachies) formed the western boundary of the then American Colonies; but the French contended that the valley of the Mississippi belonged to Louisiana, and formed no part of the territory of Canada, which France had agreed to cede. Great Britain maintained the contrary, and after nearly three years disputation, the French gave way, and Canada was ultimately ceded to Great Britain with the Mississippi River as its western boundary. + Sparks's Franklin, v. 9, p. 254.

Canada.

Mr. Oswald discloses confidential opinions of Ministers.

Lord Shelburne be

comes Premier.

Mr. Fox resigns.

And Mr.
Oswald's

of frontier. I told him I was sensible of that inconvenience; but having no orders, the consideration of that matter might possibly be taken up at some future time." *

Lord Shelburne's biographer relates how Mr. Oswald also indiscreetly disclosed to the American plenipotentiary the confidential and personal opinions of certain members of the Cabinet: "Oswald told Franklin that personally he agreed with him; and he also mentioned that he had not concealed his opinion when in England, but had urged the cession of Canada during an interview with Rockingham, Shelburne and Fox. The two former, he said, spoke reservedly on the point, but in his opinion did not seem very averse to it. Fox, however, seemed startled at the proposition." This statement is confirmed by an entry in Dr. Franklin's diary. The death of Lord Rockingham, and the succession of Lord Shelburne to the Premiership, led to the resignation of Mr. Fox, which was followed by the withdrawal of Mr. Grenville from Paris; and enabled Lord Shelburne to comply with Dr. Franklin's urgent request that Mr. Oswald should be sent to treat. Accordingly,

Lord Shelburne's "pacifical man" became the British

commission is plenipotentiary under a Commission, drafted for the drafted by British Ministry by Mr. Jay, "in his own handwritMr. Jay. ing," authorizing him to treat with the "Commis

* MS. Despatch, Oswald to the Foreign Secretary, Paris, 11th August, 1782.

+ Life of Lord Shelburne, v. 3, p. 206; Sparks's Franklin, v. 9, p.

316.

"It was a singular circumstance that one who had lately been regarded as a rebel-subject of the British Monarch should now prepare a Commission from that Monarch by which his late Colonies were to be acknowledged free and independent." Life of John Jay, v. 1, p. 143.

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