How to Negotiate, 1597

The Somerset House Conference, 1604

"It is better dealing with men in appetite then with those which are where they would be... In dealing with cunning persons, we must ever consider their endes to interpret their speeches, and it is good to say little to them, and that which they least looke for." 

Francis Bacon, "Of Negotiating" (1597) 

Some timely advice for Washington -- although "cunning" seems like too generous a term for Congress.