convinced that France and Spain intended to use the American alliance for extorting concessions for themselves. He therefore now demanded that the United States should be treated with as an independent Power. In this he was supported by Vergennes, who calculated that, the object of the alliance having thus been fulfilled, he could leave the Americans to look after themselves and play for his own hand.1 At present he desired delay in hopes of securing Gibraltar and the Mississippi for Spain, and establishing French claims in the East and West Indies and the Newfoundland fishery. A letter intercepted by the British Government from M. de Marbois to Vergennes, and a memorandum from M. Gérard de Rayneval, Chief Clerk of the French Foreign Office, demonstrating that the United States had no right to the Mississippi Valley, confirmed Jay in his distrust of his allies, whilst Oswald was frightened by the hint that the Americans were concluding a treaty of commerce with Spain. Both sides being anxious, it was therefore at length agreed that independence should be granted absolutely and irrevocably as an article in the treaty, and Franklin's four "necessary" articles were accepted as the basis of negotiations. Oswald had been instructed that the right of drying fish on the Newfoundland shore would not be ceded, and that payment of debts before 1775 and compensation for Loyalists must be stipulated in the treaty, but that the British claim to the ungranted domains and territory between the Mississippi and the Alleghanies might be waived in part to provide such compensation. But when Jay produced a draft treaty on 5 October, Oswald yielded on all these points.

The delimitation of the frontiers involved prolonged discussion. The limits of the thirteen colonies as fixed by the Proclamation of 1763 were, westwards, the Mississippi as far north as the southern boundary of the Hudson's Bay Company, and in the south the boundaries of Georgia and South Carolina. On the north-east, the Proclamation defined the Government of Quebec (Canada) as

bounded on the Labrador coast by the river St John, and from thence by a line drawn from the head of that river, through the lake St John to the south end of Lake Nippissim; from whence the said line crossing the river St Lawrence, and the lake Champlain in 45 degrees of north latitude, passes along the high lands which divide the rivers that empty themselves into the said river St Lawrence from those which fall into the sea, and also along the north coast of the Bay des Chaleurs, and the coast of the Gulf of St Lawrence, to Cape Rosiers, and from thence crossing the mouth of the river St Lawrence, by the west end of the island of Anticosty, terminates at the aforesaid river St John.

As to Nova Scotia, the western boundary after 1763 was defined by the River St Croix, and a line drawn due north from the source of that river to the southern boundary of Canada, that is, the line 1 Life of John Jay, 1, 142 seqq., II, 472; Vergennes to La Luzerne.

Amer. Dipl. Corr. VI, 483; Life of John Jay, 1, 144, 490; B. Vaughan to Shelburne, 12 Sept. 1782. Townshend to Oswald, 1 Sept. • Shelburne to Oswald, 31 July.

THE NORTH-WEST ANGLE

777

along the highlands described in the Proclamation. The angle formed by the junction of these two imaginary lines was known as the North-West angle of Nova Scotia, and was believed (for the country had never been accurately surveyed), to be near Lake Medousa, at the head of the branch of the St John River now called the Madawaska. That branch was then thought to be the main stream. Taking the St John River as the eastern boundary of Massachusetts which then included Maine, Jay proposed to place the North-West angle near Lake Medousa, and thence to draw the southern boundary of Canada, according to the Proclamation, along the highlands to the head of the Connecticut River, and along the middle of that river till the forty-fifth parallel was reached, following that line to the North-West bank of the St Lawrence and from there to the southern end of Lake Nippissim [Nipissing] and thence straight to the source of the Mississippi, a point not then definitely ascertained. This line, however, cut off a part of Nova Scotia to which, Jay admitted, Massachusetts was not entitled, and it was agreed that commissioners should be appointed to settle the eastern boundary of that State.1 A clause was added providing for the free navigation of the Mississippi. The improvement in the military situation owing to the relief of Gibraltar justified a firmer attitude on the part of the British.2 Henry Strachey, an able and experienced official, was therefore sent to Paris to press the points which Oswald had too readily conceded.3 John Adams had now joined his fellow-commissioners in Paris. He supported Jay against Franklin in his determination to conclude negotiations without consulting the French, and readily conceded the British demand that "honest debts should be honestly paid”. The St Croix was accepted as the boundary of Maine and Nova Scotia, and the "North-West angle" was defined as being formed by a line drawn due north from its source to the highlands, "which divide those rivers that empty themselves into the River St Lawrence, from those which fall into the Atlantic Ocean". The substitution of the phrase "Atlantic Ocean" for "the sea" was a source of future trouble. The line was to follow these highlands to the north-westernmost head of the Connecticut River, thence down the middle of that river to the forty-fifth parallel, and from there to run through the centre of the water communications of the Lakes Ontario, Erie, Huron, and Superior, and the Lake of the Woods, and through the centre of the lakes themselves. From the North-West point of the Lake of the Woods the line was to be drawn "on a due west course" to the Mississippi, and thence down the middle of that river to Lat. 31°. Thereafter, south, by a line drawn due east from that point to the middle of the River Chattahoochee (or Apalachicola), and along the 1 Oswald to Townshend, 5, 7, 8, 11 Oct. 1782. Shelburne to Oswald, 21 Oct.

3 Instructions to Strachey, 20 Oct.

Adams, John, Works, 1, 301 seqq.; Life of John Jay, 1, 152.

middle of that river to its junction with the Flint River, thence straight to the head of St Mary's River and down its centre to the Atlantic Ocean.

Strachey had thus secured an improvement upon Oswald's agreement both as regards Nova Scotia and Canada.1 He also obtained the abandonment of the American claim to dry fish on the Newfoundland shore, whilst conceding the right of fishing in the Gulf of St Lawrence and of drying fish on the unsettled parts of Nova Scotia. The navigation of the Mississippi was declared free to both countries. But no provision for the Loyalists could be extorted. Shelburne made one last effort. The Americans were informed that the treaty depended upon the restitution of their property. Franklin retorted by threatening to enter a counter-claim for damages by British troops. The situation was critical. At last it was agreed that a clause should be inserted in the treaty that there should be no further persecution of the Loyalists, and that Congress should recommend to the respective States the restitution of their confiscated property. The concession of the western lands was made, as Shelburne afterwards declared, not of necessity but of choice, with the idea of providing means for compensating the Loyalists. As Congress failed to induce the State Legislatures to respect the provisions of the treaty, the western forts were retained by Great Britain until 1797. A series of Acts and Treasury payments for twenty years show that Britain was not unmindful of the claims of those who had fought and suffered for their chosen loyalty.

To the nine Preliminary Articles of Peace signed at Paris on 30 November 1782, and embodying these agreements, a tenth and secret clause was added. It provided that if, at the close of the war, Great Britain should be, or should be put, in possession of West Florida, then the southern boundary of the United States should run due east from the confluence of the Yazoo and the Mississippi, instead of following the Proclamation line of Lat. 31° from the Mississippi to the Chattahoochee. Scenting the danger of an agreement between France and Spain for the division of the western lands, Jay had previously proposed to Oswald that the British army should be removed from New York to the south and used to drive the Spaniards out of Florida.

Vergennes concealed the annoyance he felt at the signing of the preliminary articles without the cognisance of France.5 The reservation therein that peace was not to be concluded until terms were agreed upon between France and Great Britain did not, in his opinion, excuse the infraction of the treaty. But at the same time his own protracted negotiations were drawing to a close. Rayneval had been sent to England in September under an assumed name and in Strachey to Townshend, 8 Nov. 1782. • Oswald to Shelburne, 29 Nov. 1782. Fitzmaurice, Life of Shelburne, 11, 202.

Oswald to Townshend, 2 Oct.; Townshend to Oswald, 26 Oct. 5 Vergennes to La Luzerne, 19 Dec.

DEMANDS OF FRANCE AND SPAIN

779

the guise of a man of business. Both the King and Jay warned Shelburne against the cunning beneath this "specious garb".1 The terms he propounded, however, were, with certain reservations, accepted as a basis for discussion. Shelburne suggested that a commercial treaty might be negotiated after peace was signed, aiming at a liberal agreement and putting an end to commercial monopoly, which he regarded as "an odious invention", but admitted that it was still "the catechism of the English merchants". Rayneval returned these confidences by revealing that France was strongly opposed to the American claims as regards both the Newfoundland fishery and the valleys of the Mississippi and Ohio. But when the French envoy added that there could be no peace without the surrender of Gibraltar, Shelburne replied that only an exchange for some valuable equivalent in the West Indies or Minorca was possible. When Rayneval demurred, he pointed out that in that case the responsibility for continuing the war would rest with Spain."

The day after Jay presented his draft treaty to Oswald, Vergennes communicated to Fitzherbert the demands of France and Spain (6 October). They were pitched in a higher key than the terms offered by Rayneval. France required the cession of St Lucia and Dominica, and of Senegal and Goree; the abrogation of all articles relating to Dunkirk; an exclusive right of fishery off Newfoundland from Cape St John to Cape Lahune, and one or more islands to be fortified for the protection of her fishermen there. In India, besides the restoration of the French factories in Bengal and Orissa, with the right of fortifying Chandernagore and the surrender of Pondicherry, Karikal and the comptoir at Surat, the whole of the Northern Circars and Masulipatam were demanded. Spain required the cession of Minorca, all Florida, the Bahamas, British possessions and rights in Honduras, Campeachy and the Moskito coast, as well as Gibraltar, for which she offered Oran and Mazalquiver in exchange. These terms could not in any case be accepted. The failure of the French. and Spanish attack upon Gibraltar enabled the British Cabinet to adopt a firm tone. France then consented to withdraw her demand of the Circars and Masulipatam and also of an exclusive right of fishery off a part of Newfoundland, requiring only that British governors should be instructed to secure French fishermen from interruption in their occupation. Dominica she still demanded. Spain, supported by Vergennes, adhered resolutely to the cession of Gibraltar, but was ready, as Aranda expressed it, "to give anything in exchange except the limbs of Spain". In the latter category he included Cuba and Porto Rico.

1 George III to Shelburne, 14 Sept. 1782.

2 Corr. of Geo. III, 1, 472; Fitzmaurice, Life of Shelburne, 11, 176–84.

* Fitzherbert to Grantham, 7 Oct.

Shelburne to Fitzherbert, 21 Oct.

• Fitzherbert to Shelburne, 5 Nov.

Ibid. 28 Oct.

Convinced that France would not continue to fight for the sake of Gibraltar, Shelburne threatened to break off negotiations. To Rayneval, who was sent to make new proposals, he outlined his views. He accepted the suggestion as to the fishery, and offered to extend French rights to Cape Ray instead of Cape George. Dominica and St Vincent were necessary for wood and water for British vessels, but an exchange for Dominica might be considered. He repeated his intention to promote free trade in the East Indies, and looked forward to their respective sovereigns entering into a mutual guarantee of peace and becoming the guardians of that of the whole world. In India France should have the territory round Pondicherry as far as Shalambar and Karikal with its ancient dependencies, and Mahé into the bargain, but Orissa could not be ceded. As to Spain, the King would accept no less than Porto Rico and the return of all British territory captured by the Spaniards. British merchants would insist upon the safeguarding of the logwood trade in Honduras and Campeachy.1 Spain now offered West Florida in exchange for Gibraltar, but France refused to cede Dominica.

The proposal to exchange Gibraltar provoked acute dissension in the Cabinet. One section, headed by Richmond and Keppel, would not hear of it. But with Shelburne and Grafton it was rather a question of the price, and now that the treaty with America was signed, the price could be raised. When alternative schemes were presented to the King, he expressed a preference for "getting rid of Gibraltar" in return for "as much possession in the West Indies as possible". For it was in that direction and in the East that he saw the only hope of recovery for British trade and the British Empire. But if adequate compensation in the West Indies could not be obtained, then, he proposed, Spain might be offered the two Floridas in order to satisfy her for our retention of Gibraltar. But Fox was thundering against the least suggestion of parting with the rockfortress, and the country, stirred by Elliot's heroic defence of it, was on his side. Shelburne was obliged to inform the court of Spain that the nation would not relinquish Gibraltar, and made the suggested offer of the two Floridas in its stead.4

Left in the lurch by their American friends, Louis and Vergennes with difficulty persuaded Charles III to accept. But in France, as in England, there was a party which preferred to continue the war rather than to make peace at the price to which it had now been raised. Each party insisted upon the retention of Dominica. Shelburne and Grantham at last induced the Cabinet to offer, as an ultimatum, Tobago in exchange, and the surrender by the Dutch of Trincomalee or Negapatam or Demerara and Essequibo. With equal difficulty 1 Shelburne to Rayneval, 13 Nov. 1782. From an unpublished letter, of which a copy is in the possession of Dr J. Holland Rose.

2 Grafton, Autobiography, p. 347.

4 Grantham to Fitzherbert, 18 Dec.

3 George III to Shelburne, 11 Dec.