<635> close of the first paragraph these words:1L'on ne saurait douter de son2 inclination de se prêter aux vues de l' Angleterre, and I observed that the natural sense of these words seemed to bear that England had first thought of peace, and that, His Prussian Majesty had only yielded or acceded to their views. The King of Prussia answered that, when he wrote the letter of the 28th of December 1760, he had not reflected so far back, and that, having about that time received letters from his ministers in England in which they expressed in very strong terms that the English ministers were become extremely desirous of peace, he had, in his answer, made use of the phrase se prêter aux vues de l'Angleterre as proper to express his agreeing with them in opinion, without however imagining that it could have been misunderstood.
To this I made no reply, but proceeded to point out to him another phrase in the same paper, thought to be exceptionable, where the succour the King may be induced to give His Prussian Majesty is called a compensation d'un traité séparé entre la Grande-Bretagne et la France, and I took notice that the word compensation was certainly improper, as the first and every step towards peace had been taken at his request and for his advantage. The King of Prussia replied that, perhaps, another word might have been more proper, that it was a dispute about words, and said laughing to me: « You are now becoming a great critic. » I answered that I still thought the remark well founded.
I then pointed out to His Prussian Majesty another passage in the same paper, viz. que le Roi voulait s' engager à fournir toutes les troupes allemandes qui se trouvaient à l'armée alliée, which, I said, did not agrée with the précis of the 12th of December 1760, where the words are pour vous aider à entretenir les troupes allemandes qui pourront passer à votre solde. His Prussian Majesty answered that the word toutes had been inserted in that paper because his ministers in England had, again and again, assured him that it was the King's intention he should have the whole German troops. To this I replied that I was now authorized to say that it never was His Majesty's intention that all or any of the foreign troops which compose the King's army in Germany should remain, after a peace with France, in the pay of England and act as an army of Great Britain; nor was it in the power of England to determine that the troops belonging to other Princes should enter directly into the service of the King of Prussia, nor had His Majesty any right to convey them over into the service of another Prince; that the true intent of the précis is absolutely confined to a secours
1 Diese und die übrigen von Mitchell herausgehobenen Stellen finden sich nur in dem von Knyphausen und Michell aufgesetzten und dem englischen Ministerium übergebenen „Extrait“ , nicht in dem Schreiben des Königs vom 28. December selbst (Nr. 12608). — Vergl. dazu Nr. 12651.
2 D. h. des Königs von Preussen.