had found their
property confiscated and their persons banished. But from the first Dr.
Franklin held out no hopes of any satisfaction on that point. 'The
Commissioners,' he said, 'had no such power, nor had even Congress.'[61]
They were willing that Congress should, with certain modifications,
recommend those indemnities to the several States; and, as one of the
negotiators from England tells us, they to the last 'continued to assert
that the recommendation of Congress would have the effect we proposed.'
The British diplomatists persevered in their original demand, and at one
time there seemed a probability that the negotiations might break off,
chiefly on this ground. Twice was Mr. Strachey, the Undersecretary of
State, an able and experienced man, dispatched to Paris to aid Mr.
Oswald with his counsel and co-operation. But at last the mind of
Franklin, ever ingenious and fertile of resources, devised a counter
scheme. He said that he would allow the losses which the Loyalists had
suffered, provided another account were opened of the mischief they had
done, as of slaves carried off, or houses burned; new Commissioners to
be appointed to strike a balance between the two computations. At this
formidable proposal, involving an endless train of discussions and
disputes, the negotiators from England finally gave way."[62]

This account of the negotiation in regard to the United Empire
Loyalists, taken from Lord Mahon's impartial history, is corroborated in
all essential particulars by American historians. Mr. Bancroft says that
"Franklin having already explained that nothing could be done for the
Loyalists by the United States, as their estates had been confiscated by
laws of particular States, which Congress had no power to repeal, he
further demonstrates that Great Britain had forfeited every right to
intercede for them by its conduct and example, to which end he read to
Oswald the orders of the British in Carolina for confiscating and
selling the lands and property of all patriots under the direction of
the military; and he declared definitely that, though the separate
governments might show compassion where it was deserved, the American
Commissioners for Peace could not make compensation of refugees a part
of the treaty."

"This last demand (adequate indemnity for the confiscated property of
loyal refugees) touched alike the sympathy and the sense of honour of
England. The previous answer, that the Commissioners had n