"I know that the Marquis de la Fayette is one of your friends. It would have given me much pleasure to have met him here. I do not, however, complain of your diplomatic caution. I suppose that you did not wish to introduce to me at your table the general of Georgetown. I thank you for your kind intention, which I fully appreciate. But I hope that when we know each other better, we shall banish all reserve, and not act as diplomatists, but as men who sincerely desire to fulfill the wishes of their governments, and to arrive promptly at a solid peace. Moreover, the Marquis de la Fayette is one of those men whom we can not help loving. During his captivity I presented myself before the Emperor (of Germany) to implore his liberation, which I did not have the happiness of obtaining."
Cornwallis left Paris for Amiens. Joseph immediately after proceeded to the same place. As he alighted from his carriage in the court-yard of the hotel which had been prepared for him, one of the first persons whom he met was Lord Cornwallis. The English lord, disregarding the formalities of etiquette, advanced, and presenting his hand to Joseph, said,
"I hope that it is thus that you will deal with me, and that all our etiquette will not retard for a single hour the conclusion of peace. Such forms are not necessary where frankness and honest intentions rule. My Government would not have chosen me as an ambassador, if it had not been intended to restore peace to the world. The First Consul, in choosing his brother, has also proved his good intentions. The rest remains for us."
CORNWALLIS AND JOSEPH.
Anecdote.
Louis Napoleon gives the following rather amusing account of this incident. "When Joseph, plenipotentiary of the French Republic, journeyed with his colleagues toward Amiens, to conclude peace with England, in 1802, they were much occupied, he said, during the route, as to the ceremonial which should be observed with the English diplomatists. In the interests of their mission they desired not to fail in any proprieties. Still, being representatives of a republican state, they did not wish to show too much attention, prévenance, to the grand English lords with whom they were to treat.
"The French ambassadors were therefore much embarrassed in deciding to whom it belonged to make the first visit. Quite inexperienced, they were not aware that foreign diplomatists always conceal the inflexibility of their policy under the suppleness of forms. Thus they were promptly extricated from their embarrassment; for, to their great astonishment, they found, upon their arrival at Amiens, Lord Cornwallis waiting for them at the door of his hotel, and who, without any ceremony, himself opened for them the door of their carriage, giving them a cordial grasp of the hand."[J]
Hostility of the English Government.