ending the struggle between him and Shelburne no
advance could be made at Paris. Grenville and Oswald could not work in
unison. Franklin and de Vergennes became puzzled and suspicious, having
only an imperfect inkling by report and gossip concerning the true state
of affairs. They suspected, with good show of evidence, that the real
object of English diplomacy was to drive in a wedge between the allies.
Amid these perplexities, on April 22, Franklin wrote to Jay, begging him
to come to Paris: "Here you are greatly wanted, for messengers begin to
come and go, ... and I can neither make nor agree to conditions of peace
without the assistance of my colleagues.... I wish therefore you would
... render yourself here as soon as possible. You would be of infinite
service." Jay arrived on June 23, to Franklin's "great satisfaction,"
and the meeting was cordial. Jay was thirty-seven years old, and
Franklin was seventy-six, but Jay says: "His mind appears more vigorous
than that of any man of his age I have known. He certainly is a valuable
minister and an agreeable companion."

The deadlock continued. Grenville showed a commission to treat with
France and "any other prince or state." But the "enabling act," giving
the king authority to acknowledge the independence of the States, had
not yet been passed by Parliament; and it did not appear that England
recognized the ex-colonies as constituting either a prince or a state.
Oswald had no commission at all. Franklin, though he found himself "in
some perplexity with regard to these two negotiations," strove to set
things in motion. He preferred Oswald to Grenville, and intimated to
Lord Shelburne his wish that Oswald should receive exclusive authority
to treat with the American commissioners. He at the same time suggested
sundry _necessary_ articles to be disposed of by the treaty, namely:
independence, boundaries, and the fisheries; and sundry _advisable_
articles, namely: an indemnity to be granted by England to the sufferers
by the war; an acknowledgment of her error by England, and the cession
of Canada.

But the duel between Shelburne and Fox must first be settled, and it was
now about to be settled suddenly and in an unexpected manner. On July
1, 1782, Lord Rockingham died, and the crown, as Walpole facetiously
remarked, thereby descended to the king of England. The monarch at once,
though very reluctantly, requested Shelburne to accept the post of prime
minister, regarding hi