FROM THOMAS POWNALL TO B. FRANKLIN.

DEAR SIR,

Proposition for Peace.

Richmond Hill, 5 July, 1782.

I have, by my friend Mr. Hobart, sent a printed copy of the three Memorials, which I published on the sub

burnt and destroyed. The whole might not exceed five or six hundred thousand pounds. I was struck at this. However, the Doctor said, though it was a large sum, it would not be ill bestowed, as it would conciliate the resentment of a multitude of poor sufferers, who could have no other remedy, and who, without some relief, would keep up a spirit of secret revenge and animosity for a long time to come against Great Britain; whereas a voluntary offer of such reparation would diffuse a universal calm and conciliation over the whole country.

"2dly. Some sort of acknowledgment, in some public act of Parliament or otherwise, of our error in distressing those countries so much as we had done. A few words of that kind, the Doctor said, would do more good than people could imagine.

"3dly. Colony ships and trade to be received, and have the same privileges in Britain and Ireland, as British ships and trade. I did not ask any explanation on that head for the present. British and Irish ships in the colonies to be in like manner on the same footing with their own ships.

"4thly. Giving up every part of Canada.

"If there were any other articles of either kind, I cannot now recollect them; but I do not think there were any of material consequence, and I perhaps was the less attentive in the enumeration, as it had been agreed to give me the whole in writing. But, after some reflection, the Doctor said, he did not like to give such writing out of his hands; and, hesitating a good deal about it, asked me if I had seen Mr. Jay, the other cominissioner, lately come from Madrid. I said, I had not. He then told me, it would be proper I should see him, and he would fix a time for our meeting, and seemed to think he should want to confer with him himself before he gave a final answer. I told him, if I had such final answer, and had leave, I would carry it over to England. He said that would be right, but that, as Mr. Grenville told him he expected another courier in four or five days, 1 had better wait so long, and he would write along with me.

"Upon the whole, the Doctor expresses himself in a friendly way towards England, and was not without hopes, that, if we should settle on this occasion in the way he wished, England would not only have a beneficial intercourse with the colonies, but at last it might end in a federal union between them. In the mean time we ought to take

ject of America, one addressed to the Sovereigns of Europe, and two others addressed to the Sovereign of Great Britain.

I hope you received my letter of May 13th, 1782, forwarded by Mr. Bridgen.

As it is possible you may see Mr. Hobart, he can inform you from me, as well as of his own knowledge,

care, not to force them into the hands of other people. He showed me a copy of the Enabling Bill, as it is called, and said, he observed the word, revolted,' was left out, and likewise added, that the purpose of it was to dispense with acts of Parliament, which they were indifferent about, and that now they were better prepared for war, and more able to carry it on than ever they were. That he had heard we entertained some expectation of retaining some sort of sovereignty over them, as his Majesty had of Ireland; and that, if we thought so, we should find ourselves much disappointed, for they would yield to nothing of that sort.

"From this conversation, I have some hopes, my Lord, that it is possible to put an end to the American quarrel in a short time, and when that is done, I have a notion that the treaty with the other powers will go more smoothly on. The Doctor did not, in the course of the above conversation, hesitate as to a conclusion with them, on account of any connexion with those other states; and in general seemed to think their American affairs must be ended by a separate commission. On these occasions I said, I supposed, in case of such a commission, he meant that the power of granting independence would be therein expressly mentioned. He said, 'No doubt.' I hinted this, thinking it better in the power of treating to include independence, than to grant independence separately, and then to treat about other matters with the commissioners of such independent States; who by such grant are on the same footing with ministers of other powers. I did not perceive he made any account of this distinction, and I did not think proper to say any thing more about it.

"I forgot one thing the Doctor said with respect to some provision, or reparation, to those called the loyal sufferers. It would be impossible to make any such provision. They were so numerous, and their cases so various, that he could not see that it could make any part of the treaty. There might be particular cases that deserved compassion. These being left to the several States, they might perhaps do something for them. But they, as Commissioners, could do nothing. He then read to me the orders in Carolina for confiscating and selling of estates under the direction of the military, by which so great a number of families had been ruined; and which the people there felt so much as would stifle their compassion for the sufferers on the other side." Paris, July 10th. MS. Letter.

of the steps we took upon the ground of your communications to him and me; "that there were persons authorized to treat of peace, and that such persons were willing to give to reasonable measures, taken to that end, every assistance in their power." He can inform you also of the circumstances which attended those steps; and of the effect which they missed in the direct line, as of the effect they actually have in an ob lique one. As from the beginning of this matter, of trying to bring on negotiation for peace, I considered him as joined with me, in our endeavours; so I have given to him a memorandum, which I made on the course of this business. He will communicate to you every thing, which is not improper for a man of honor to communicate to the minister of a people at war with us; nor will he abstain from communicating any thing, which that minister, wishing peace to our country, ought to be apprized of, respecting the effects of his friendly offers. He will do every thing which a man of honor ought to do, and he will do nothing that a man of honor ought not to do.

I have desired him to give a paper of queries respecting modes and terms of settling in America, which people of this old world, and of the old country, may in future be admitted to receive. I am, not only for my friends, but personally interested, to gain information on that head; and, as I wish that which will not deceive them or myself, I apply to you.

May God send peace on earth. I hope, among the general blessings it will bring, it will restore me to the communication and enjoyment of my old and long valued friendship with you. May you live to see, and have health to enjoy, the blessings which I hope it may please God to make you the instrument of communícating to mankind. I am, &c.

T. POWNALL.

TO JAMES HUTTON.

Moravian Indians.

MY OLD AND DEAR FRIEND,

Passy, 7 July, 1782.

A letter written by you to M. Bertin, Ministre d'Etat, containing an account of the abominable murders committed by some of the frontier people on the poor Moravian Indians, has given me infinite pain and vexation. The dispensations of Providence in this world puzzle my weak reason; I cannot comprehend, why cruel men should have been permitted thus to destroy their fellow creatures. Some of the Indians may be supposed to have committed sins, but one cannot think the little children had committed any worthy of death. Why has a single man in England, who happens to love blood and to hate Americans, been permitted to gratify that bad temper by hiring German murderers, and, joining them with his own, to destroy in a continued course of bloody years near one hundred thousand human creatures, many of them possessed of useful talents, virtues, and abilities, to which he has no pretension? It is he who has furnished the savages with hatchets and scalping knives, and engages them to fall upon our defenceless farmers, and murder them with their wives and children, paying for their scalps, of which the account kept in America already amounts, as I have heard, to near two thousand!

Perhaps the people of the frontiers, exasperated by the cruelties of the Indians, have been induced to kill all Indians that fall into their hands without distinction; so that even these horrid murders of our poor Moravians may be laid to his charge. And yet this man lives, enjoys all the good things this world can

afford, and is surrounded by flatterers, who keep even his conscience quiet by telling him he is the best of Princes! I wonder at this, but I cannot therefore part with the comfortable belief of a Divine Providence; and the more I see the impossibility, from the number and extent of his crimes, of giving equivalent punishment to a wicked man in this life, the more I am convinced of a future state, in which all that here appears to be wrong shall be set right, all that is crooked made straight. In this faith let you and me, my dear friend, comfort ourselves; it is the only comfort, in the present dark scene of things, that is allowed us.

I shall not fail to write to the government of America, urging that effectual care may be taken to protect and save the remainder of those unhappy people.

Since writing the above, I have received a Philadelphia paper, containing some account of the same horrid transaction, a little different, and some circumstances alleged as excuses or palliations, but extremely weak and insufficient. I send it to you enclosed. With great and sincere esteem, I am ever, my dear friend, yours most affectionately,

B. FRANKLIN.

FROM THE MARQUIS DE LAFAYETTE TO B. FRANKLIN. Paris, 9 July, 1782.

MY DEAR SIR,

I have the honor to inform you, that Mr. Grenville's express is arrived this morning, by way of Ostend. The gentleman is gone to Versailles. I fancy he will wait upon you, and I will be much obliged to you to let me know what your opinion is. I am going to St. Germain; but, if any intelligence comes to hand, I will communicate it as soon as possible. I rest respectfully and affectionately yours.

LAFAYETTE.