W. ALEXANDER.
Paris, March 19th, 1780.
I do hereby certify whom it may concern, that I was with Mr Pultney and Dr Franklin at Paris, when in a conversation between them, on the subject of certain propositions for a reconciliation with America, offered by Mr Pultney, Dr Franklin said, he did not approve of them, nor did he think they would be approved in America, but that he would communicate them to his colleagues and the French ministry. This Mr Pultney opposed, saying that it would answer no good end, as he was persuaded, that what weighed with Dr Franklin would weigh also with them, and therefore desired, that no mention might be made of his having offered such propositions, or even of his having been here on such business, but that the whole might be buried in oblivion, agreeable to what had been stipulated by Mr Pultney, and agreed to by Dr Franklin, before the propositions were produced, which Dr Franklin accordingly promised.
W. ALEXANDER
[22] Draft of a proposed Bill for Conciliation with America.
A Bill to invest the Crown with sufficient Powers to treat, consult, and finally to agree upon the Means of restoring Peace with the Provinces of North America.
Whereas many unfortunate subjects of contest have of late years subsisted between Great Britain and the several Provinces of North America, hereinafter recited, viz. New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, the three lower counties on Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, which have brought on the calamities of war between Great Britain and the aforesaid provinces, to the end therefore that the further effusion of blood may be prevented, and that peace may be restored, may it please your Majesty that it be enacted, and be it enacted by the King's Most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords spiritual and temporal, and Commons in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, that it shall and may be lawful for his Majesty, by letters patent, under the great seal of Great Britain, to authorise and empower any person or persons, to treat, consult, and finally to agree with any person or persons properly authorised on the part of the aforesaid provinces of North America, upon the means of restoring peace between Great Britain and the aforesaid provinces, according to the powers in this act contained.
And be it further enacted, that in order to facilitate the good purposes of this act, his Majesty may lawfully enable any such person or persons, so appointed by his Majesty's letters patent, as aforesaid, to order and proclaim a cessation of hostilities, on the part of his Majesty's forces, by sea and land, for any time, and under any conditions or restrictions.
And be it further enacted, that in order to lay a good foundation for a cordial reconciliation and lasting peace between Great Britain and the aforesaid provinces of North America, by restoring an amicable intercourse between the same as soon as possible his Majesty may lawfully enable any such person or persons, so appointed by his Majesty's letters patent, as aforesaid, to enter into and to ratify from time to time, any article or articles of intercourse and pacification, which article or articles, so entered into and ratified from time to time, shall remain in full force and effect for the certain term of ten years, from the first day of August, one thousand seven hundred and eighty.