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JAY TO ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON. 59
I must now remind you that the King of Great
Britain had pledged himself, in Mr. Oswald's commission, to confirm and ratify, not what Mr. Oswald,
should verbally agree to, but what he should formally
sign his name and affix his seal to.
Had we communicated the articles, when ready for
signing, to the French Minister, he doubtless would
have complimented us on the terms of them ; but, at
the same time, he would have insisted on our postponing the signature until the articles then preparing
between France, Spain, and Britain should also be
ready for signing—he having often intimated to us
that we should all sign at the same time and place.
This would have exposed us to a disagreeable
dilemma. Had we agreed to postpone signing the
articles, the British Cabinet might, and probably would,
have taken advantage of it. They might, if better
prospects had offered, have insisted that the articles
were still res infectce—that Mr. Oswald had exceeded
the limits of his instructions—and, for both these
reasons, that they conceived themselves still at liberty
to depart from his opinions, and to forbid his executing, as their commissioner, a set of articles which they
could not approve of.
It is true that this might not have happened, but it
is equally true that it might; and therefore it was a
risk of too great importance to be run. The whole
business would, in that case, have been set afloat
again ; and the Minister of France would have had an
opportunity, at least, of approving the objections of
the British Court, and of advising us to recede from
| Title | The correspondence and public papers of John Jay - 3 |
| Creator | Jay, John |
| Publisher | G.P. Putnam's Sons |
| Place of Publication | New York, London |
| Date | [1890-93] |
| Language | eng |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Title | 00000094 |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Transcript | JAY TO ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON. 59 I must now remind you that the King of Great Britain had pledged himself, in Mr. Oswald's commission, to confirm and ratify, not what Mr. Oswald, should verbally agree to, but what he should formally sign his name and affix his seal to. Had we communicated the articles, when ready for signing, to the French Minister, he doubtless would have complimented us on the terms of them ; but, at the same time, he would have insisted on our postponing the signature until the articles then preparing between France, Spain, and Britain should also be ready for signing—he having often intimated to us that we should all sign at the same time and place. This would have exposed us to a disagreeable dilemma. Had we agreed to postpone signing the articles, the British Cabinet might, and probably would, have taken advantage of it. They might, if better prospects had offered, have insisted that the articles were still res infectce—that Mr. Oswald had exceeded the limits of his instructions—and, for both these reasons, that they conceived themselves still at liberty to depart from his opinions, and to forbid his executing, as their commissioner, a set of articles which they could not approve of. It is true that this might not have happened, but it is equally true that it might; and therefore it was a risk of too great importance to be run. The whole business would, in that case, have been set afloat again ; and the Minister of France would have had an opportunity, at least, of approving the objections of the British Court, and of advising us to recede from |
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