And I rely upon it, this is the intention of the two Imperial Courts; because otherwise, they would have proposed the Congress upon the basis of the two British preliminaries, a rupture of the treaty with France, and a return of the Americans to their submission to Great Britain; and because I cannot suppose it possible, that the Imperial Courts could believe the Americans capable of such infinite baseness, as to appear upon the stage of the universe, acknowledge themselves guilty of rebellion, and supplicate for grace; nor can I suppose they meant to fix a brand of disgrace upon the Americans in the sight of all nations, or to pronounce judgment against them; one or all of which suppositions must be made, before it can be believed, that these Courts did not mean to protect the American Representative in the enjoyment of the privileges attached to the character he must assume; and because, otherwise, all their propositions would be to no effect, for no Congress at Vienna can make either the one or the other of the two proposed peaces, without the United States. But upon looking over again the words of the first article, there seems to be room for dispute, of which a British Minister, in the present state of his country, would be capable of taking advantage. The terms used seems to be justly exceptionable. There are no "American Colonies" at war with Great Britain. The power at war is the United States of America. No American Colonies have any Representative in Europe, unless Nova Scotia or Quebec, or some of the West India Islands, may have an agent in London. The word Colony, in its usual acceptation, implies a metropolis, a mother country, a superior political Governor, ideas which the United States have long since renounced forever. I am therefore clear in my opinion, that a more explicit declaration ought to be insisted on, and that no American Representative ought to appear, without an express assurance, that while the Congress lasts, and in going to it, and returning from it, he shall be considered as a Minister Plenipotentiary from the United States of America, and entitled to all the prerogatives of such a Minister from a sovereign power. The Congress might be to him and to his country but a snare, unless the substance of this is _bona fide_ intended, and if it is intended, there can be no sufficient reason for declining to express it in words.