had reached Europe. The
terms of the treaty of peace were speedily settled, one of the
stipulations being, that Spain should preserve her old limits; and,
"moreover," says Earl Stanhope, "it was agreed that any conquests that
might meanwhile have been made by any of the parties in any quarter of
the globe, but which were not yet known, (words comprising at that
period of the negotiation both the Havana and the Philippines,) should
be restored without compensation." Had the preliminary articles been
signed at once, the Spaniards would have recovered all they had lost in
Cuba, without further trouble or cost; but their negotiator, the
celebrated Grimaldi, was so confident that the invaders of Cuba would be
beaten, that he played the waiting game, and was beaten himself. When
intelligence of English success arrived at Paris, where the treaty was
making, Grimaldi was suddenly found as ready to sign as formerly he had
been backward; but now the English negotiator, the Duke of Bedford,
became backward in his turn, as representing the unwillingness of his
Government to give up the Havana without an equivalent. Lord Bute would
have given up the conquest without a word said, but all his colleagues
were not so blind to the advantages which that conquest had placed at
the command of England; and finally it was agreed that the Duke of
Bedford should demand the cession of Florida or Porto Rico as the price
of the restoration of that portion of Cuba which was in English hands.
The Spaniards gladly complied with the British demand, and gave Florida
in exchange for Cuba. At one time it was supposed that the victory of
Albemarle and Pocock would lead to the continuance of the war. Horace
Walpole wrote to his friend Conway that the Havana was more likely to
break off the peace than to advance it, and that the English were not in
a humor to give up the world, but were much more disposed to conquer the
rest of it. He added, "We shall have some cannonading here, I believe,
if we sign the peace." But the King and the Premier were
peace-at-any-price men, and the way to their purpose was smoothed
completely; yet Lord Bute wrote to the Duke of Bedford, on the 24th of
October, "Such is the change made here by the conquest of the Havana,
that I solemnly declare, I don't meet with one man, let his attachment
be never so strong to the service of the King, his wishes for peace
never so great, that does not positively affirm, this rich acquisition
mus