 King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette ordered the comte de Vergennes, the Foreign Minister, to convey to General Washington their desire that a young life be spared.Since Asgill was protected by the 14th Article of Capitulation in the document of Cornwallis's surrender, safeguarding prisoners of war, such an unjustified execution would have reflected badly on the newly emerging independent nation of America.Congress agreed, and young Asgill was released on parole to return to England in December 1782.