Notice of it was given to the American government by the minister of France at Philadelphia, as well as by Mr.Arthur Lee, one of their agents in Europe; and congress was repeatedly urged by the former, to furnish those who might be authorized to represent them in the conferences for a general treaty, with ample powers and instructions to conclude it.

An extraordinary degree of solicitude was manifested to hasten the full powers, and to moderate the claims of the United States.
It seems to have been the policy of the cabinet of Versailles to exclude the American States from a share of the fisheries, and to limit their western boundary to the settlements then made.

Either from a real apprehension that the war might be protracted should the United States insist on the acknowledgment of their independence as a preliminary to any treaty, or from an opinion that such preliminary acknowledgment would leave the terms of the treaty less under the control of France, and the American plenipotentiaries more masters of their own conduct, Monsieur Girard laboured to persuade congress to recede from that demand.

If they could be independent in fact, he thought the form not worth contending for.[21] [Footnote 21: The author has seen notes taken by a member of congress, of communications made by Mr.Girard, when admitted to an audience, which avow these sentiments.

The secret journals of congress sustain this statement.] While congress was employed in debating the instructions to their ministers, the negotiation was brought to a close.