The French Navy and the Seven Years' War

1760 Adversity and Revival

BOB — University of Nebraska Press / Page 164 / / French Navy and the Seven YearS’ War / Jonathan R. Dull 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 [First Page] [164], (1) Lines: 0 to 18 ——— 2.71pt PgVar ——— Normal Page PgEnds: TEX [164], (1) 7 1760 Adversity and Revival discussions at the hague French resolve was tested by the British and Prussian invitation of 25 November 1759 to send plenipotentiaries to a peace congress. Choiseul appears to have been surprised and puzzled. Suspicious of British intentions and sincerity, Choiseul responded cautiously; as he told Martin Hübner, a Danish agent being sent to England to discuss the seizure of Danish ships, he believed that Pitt did not really want peace, which would be his political ruin.1 Given the recent defeat of Conflans and near French governmental bankruptcy, France hardly could close the door to a serious discussion of peace, but Choiseul also wished to save the Spanish mediation and to protect France’s relations with Austria.2 To accomplish all these goals he made use of a formula that had appeared in the instructions he had given to his cousin upon leaving for Vienna and that he repeated in a letter to Voltaire: France was involved in two wars, one against Britain in which none of the other powers of Europe was involved, the other between Austria and Prussia in which France was only an auxiliary of Austria .3 Thus when Choiseul responded to Prince Louis on behalf of Louis XV he rejected submitting the Franco-British war to a peace conference because France already had accepted Spanish mediation and because none of the other European powers was involved in the war. On the other hand, he expressed a desire to see an end to the war on the continent and promised to consult France’s allies about a conference to discuss it. He then drafted and submitted to Austria and Russia a joint declaration accepting in principle a European peace congress provided that the Franco-British war not be discussed and that the rulers of Sweden and Saxony-Poland be invited, too. This also was a way of gaining time to sound out Britain. It was certain that Maria Theresa and Elizabeth would not agree quickly on a response, if for no other reason than BOB — University of Nebraska Press / Page 165 / / French Navy and the Seven YearS’ War / Jonathan R. Dull 1760 165 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 [165], (2) Lines: 18 to 24 ——— 0.0pt PgVar ——— Normal Page PgEnds: TEX [165], (2) the length of time required for communicating between Vienna and St. Petersburg .4 At the beginning of January 1760, Choiseul drafted on the king’s behalf a set of peace terms for Charles III to communicate to Britain under the pretext they had been written by Spain. These betrayed no signs of France’s difficulties and offered few concessions. France was willing to accept the territorial settlement in North America that Mirepoix had forwarded on 8 March 1755 (i.e., the French counterproposal of 19 February 1755) and would agree to a mutual exchange of conquests, returning Minorca in exchange for Guadeloupe, Louisbourg , Quebec, Senegal, and Gorée. India would be restored to its condition as of 26 December 1754, and the neutral islands of the Caribbean would be divided, St. Vincent and Tobago going to Britain, Dominica and St. Lucia to France. There would be an armistice in Germany (leaving France in control of Wesel and the surrounding Prussian territory), and France and Britain would provide neither troops nor munitions to their allies. Although, as we shall see, Spain did not forward these proposals, they demonstrate Louis and Choiseul’s firmness. On the other hand, the French leaders did not delude themselves about France’s difficulties. When Starhemberg objected to the proposals (which Choiseul told him had been drafted at Spain’s request), Choiseul admitted that France could not sustain the war for more than another year without Spanish help.5 On 1 February Charles received Britain’s refusal to accept Spanish mediation until France...