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118 leave previously obtained of the other, as imposing a moral and legal obligation on his countrymen to follow the policy which he believed their interests required them to adopt. Meanwhile the King of France congratulated Congress on having entrusted to his care the interests of the United States, and warned them that if France was to be asked to continue hostilities for purely American objects it was impossible to say what the result might be, for the system of France depended not merely on America, but also on the other powers at war.

About the period when the Administration of Lord North was tottering to its fall, Lord Cholmondeley, then on his way to England, called upon Franklin, the only member or the American Commission then in Paris, and knowing his previous acquaintance with Shelburne, offered to become the bearer of a letter to him. Franklin foreseeing the probability of a Ministerial change in England, and of Shelburne once more returning to official life, accepted the offer and wrote to Shelburne as follows:

"Lord Cholmondeley having kindly offered to take a letter from me to your Lordship, I embrace the opportunity of assuring you of the continuance of my ancient respect for your talents and virtues, and of congratulating you on the returning good disposition of your country in favour of America, which appears in the late resolutions of the Commons. I am persuaded it will have good effects. I hope it will tend to produce a general peace, which I am sure your Lordship with all good men desires, which I wish to see before I die, and to which I shall with infinite pleasure contribute everything in my power."

The above letter arriving almost simultaneously with the formation of the Rockingham Cabinet, was shown by Shelburne to his leading colleagues, and they decided, with the evidence before them of the friendly disposition of Franklin, to open an informal negotiation with him.

It was first proposed to send Mr. Hodgson a London