He observes, that the Chevalier de la Luzerne will judge from this, that they affected much surprise at the counter propositions, and that they did not assent to them; neither on the other hand, have they yet refused them, but confine themselves to demanding explanations. That this was then the state of their negotiations; that Mr Oswald had presented his commission, to which Mr Franklin and Mr Jay had yet given no reply, suspending it till they knew his (the Count de Vergennes's) sentiments; that as yet he had formed no opinion, waiting the result of a conference, which he was to have the next day with those Ministers; that the commission was in the usual form, but speaks of the Americans as Colonies, without naming them rebels, or asserting any claims upon them. That he did not for his part believe, that Lord Shelburne would negotiate a general peace sincerely, till he lost all hopes of sowing dissensions and treating separately; that they were convinced, that neither France nor Spain were to be deceived, and that he (the Count de Vergennes,) entertained the same sentiments with respect to the Americans, but that the British Ministry, deceiving themselves, may continue to tempt them till a peace is signed; that the information they (the Court of France,) had received from him (the Minister of France,) had left them little doubt on that head; and that those doubts will be entirely removed when the States shall have respectively imitated the example of Maryland, Virginia, and New Jersey. That, however, good faith was not all that was required of an ally; that they must feel themselves in a situation to impose terms on the enemy; that unhappily the Americans had neglected this; that the Minister of France could not press this too closely upon us. He then proceeds to inform the Minister, that while the British had set on foot a direct negotiation, the Imperial Court renewed their instances with that of London to engage them to accept their mediation; that this gave birth to an answer, in which his Britannic Majesty, without taking notice of the negotiation begun at Paris, declared, that he was ready to receive through them, every pacific overture, and even to admit the Dutch and the Americans to the negotiation. This answer was dated on the 29th of April, when Mr Oswald was already in Paris. That they continued their negotiations, and sent Mr Grenville powers, which were dated on the 21st of May; that they did not conceal this from the Imperial Court, but pretended that it was at the instance of France.