. was bound by the "Family Compact" to maintain;' 3rd, France was exceedingly anxious about her right to the fisheries and hoped to get the good will of England in the settlement of that matter by standing with her on the boundary question.2 Means used by France and Spain to limit United States. 5 3 * * * * * Spain, on her side, taking advantage of the fact that her enemies were otherwise occupied, had captured some posts, taken formal possession of the country about St. Louis, and doubtless hoped to regain something of her old power and prestige by conquest as well as by treaty. There is no doubt, however, that Spain would have stood ready to limit the boundary of the United States under any circumstances, for she feared the example of a successful revolt of a colony from the mother country. To secure the desired limitation of the territory of the new republic, the ministers of France and Spain seem to have first tried their powers of persuasion and instruction upon our statesmen in Congress, but they did not neglect our statesmen who were abroad. The argument chiefly used was that the United States had absolutely no claim to anything west of "the ancient English establishments." To argument was added the threat "That in case we should not agree to divide with Spain then their court (France) would aid Spain in negotiating with Britain for the territory she wanted, and would agree that the residue should remain to Britain." " Before the French diplomats had given up their efforts to secure the promise of the United States that she would never push her boundaries beyond the proposed line, they attempted to form an alliance with the English which would secure such an extension of the British and Spanish ' claims as would cut off all possibility of our territorial growth. At first these appeals were not in vain. Lord North once even offered to let Canada go to France, on condition that she would make a separate treaty." But Lord Shelburne, to whom as prime minister the peace negotiations finally fell, was a man of broader views, as we shall see later, and the eagerness of France and Spain to secure territory in North America made him only the more ready to yield to the claims of the United States." Shelburne knew that regardless of the old colonial charters the western 8 1 Wenkii "Codex. Jus. Gen.," p. 278. John Adams' "Life and Works," Vol. VII, pp. 626-631, 650-651. Winsor, "Narrative and Critical History of America," Vol. VII. p. 148. Jay's "Correspondence and Public Papers," Vol. II, p. 398. Wharton, "International Law," III, appendix, pp. 909, 910. 2 Madison's "Works," Vol. III, p. 467. 3 Winsor, "Narrative and Critical History of America," Vol. VI, pp. 72-73. Spark's "Diplomatic Correspondence," Vol. VIII, pp. 77-78. Adams' "Life and Works," Vol. I, p. 370. 4 Adams' "Life and Works," Vol. III, p. 357. Bancroft's "History of the United States,” Vol. X, p. 216, et seq. 5 Letters and Despatches of Vergennes to Luzerne and Count de Montmoran quoted in Jay's "Address," appendix C. John Adams' "Life and Works," Vol. I, pp. 357 et seq., 370; Vol. III, pp. 303, 357. Jay's "Correspondence and Public Papers," Vol. II, p. 388, et seq. Franklin's" Life and Writings," Vol. IX, p. 204, et seq. Wharton's "International Law," appendix, Vol. III, 210 et seq. Letter of Oswald to Shelburne in Hale's "Franklin in France," Vol. II, p. 143. 6 Spark's "Diplomatic Correspondence," Vol. VIII, p. 158. Jay's "Correspondence and Public Papers," Vol. II, p. 395. Wharton's "International Law," appendix, Vol. III, p. 909, et seq. 7 Jay's "Correspondence and Public Papers," Vol. II, p. 399. 8 John Adams' "Life and Works," Vol. I, p. 366, et seq., Vol. III, pp. 303, et seq., 321. "Life of Shelburne," Vol. III, pp. 258-259, 263, et seq. 9 Franklin's "Life and Writings," Vol. IX, p. 210. John Adams' "Life and Works," Vol. I, p. 357. 10 Wharton's "International Law," Vol. III, appendix, 905. "Life of Shelburne," Vol. III, p. 267. 2 3 lands belonged to the revolted colonies by right of exploration, conquest and settlement,' and could be held against them, if at all, only at an immense expense. Lord Shelburne, too, had a knowledge of and love for his countrymen. He was enough of a political economist to realize that it would be far better for England to have the Mississippi in the hands of the United States than in those of Spain. Knowing thus that both the honor and interest of England lay in standing by the United States rather than by France and Spain in the division of the west, the British refused to heed the wishes of her old time rival on the new continent. They finally agreed to a boundary line which in the eyes of the French "surpassed all expectation" and gave to the United States "more than I could have believed possible," as Vergennes wrote to his secretary Rayneval." Claims of Up to almost the last moment England seems to have asserted her claims "to the lands between the Mississippi and the western boundary of the States, and to have brought forward the French boundary of Canada, which was more extensive at some points (i. e., between the Mississippi and the mountains), than that of the Proclamation of 1763." But the claim seems to have been made more for the purpose of securing other concessions than for the possession of the territory itself, or from a feeling of the justice of their claims. Indeed the French seem to have been much more interested in the legal aspect of the question than the English. Shelburne, writing to Oswald instructions with regard to the renewed negotiations in which Strachey was to aid him, says with regard to the "boundaries and back lands:" "Independently of all this nonsence of charters, I mean when they talk of extending as far as the sun sets, the soil is and has always been acknowledged to be the King's." In fact, whether from lack of confidence in their claims or because of a greater interest in other matters, the British seem not to have cared for much discussion of the boundaries. Whatever may have been the reason the subject of the boundaries received much less attention from both British and American commissioners than did the subject of the fate of the loyalists, the payment of the debts of British creditors, or the division of the fisheries. There seems to have been a feeling on both sides either that the boundaries were of comparatively little importance or could be easily adjusted when 10 1 State Papers, "Foreign Relations," Vol. VI, p. 868. C. I. Walker in "Michigan Pioneer Collections," Vol. III, p. 12. 2 Ibid, and Kingsford's "History of Canada," Vol. VII, p. 149. "Debates in Parliament." "Life of Shelburne," Vol. III, p. 347, et seq. 3 "Life of Shelburne," Vol. III, pp. 166, et sq, 348. 4 Luzerne to Vergennes, Winsor, Vol. VII, p. 158. 5 Jay's "Address," p. 107. 6 Instructions to Strachey, "Life of Shelburne," Vol. III, p. 281. 7 Ibid., p. 281-5. 8 "Life of Shelburne," Vol. III, p. 284. Rayneval's report on his conference with English ministers, quoted by Jay in his "Address," p. 159. 9 Of course they were discussed and urged, but apparently not so earnestly as by the French. Spark's "Diplomatic Correspondence," Vol. X, p. 188. 10 Jay's "Address," p. 68. * * * * other matters were out of the way. Franklin writes, in his journal, May 5, 1782, "Mr. Oswald repeated to me his opinion that the affair of Canada would be settled to our satisfaction, and his wish that it might not be mentioned till towards the end of the treaty."1 Oswald writes to Townsend, in August of the same year, "The Doctor (referring to Franklin) at last touched upon Canada and said there could be no peace and quiet in the neighborhood while that country continued under a different government, as it touched their states in so great a stretch of frontier. I told him I was sensible of that inconvenience, but having no orders, the consideration of that matter might possibly be taken up at some future time." 5 * * * That "future time" seems to have come on the following October when negotiations were renewed at Paris.3 Some time before this Franklin had drawn up a "plan of pacification" the third article of which provided for "A confinement of the boundaries of Canada at least to what they were before the last act of Parliament, if not to a still more contracted state." * This plan Oswald had sent to the ministry and he now returned to the negotiations authorized "to go to the full extent" of Franklin's proposals, on condition that the third article "be understood and expressed to be confined to the limits of Canada as before the act of 1774." But the effort to come to the required understanding soon caused the commissioners trouble from which Jay extricated them by proposing another boundary line, which seems to have differed from Franklin's chiefly in the eastern regions. Oswald accepted it. But when the draft of this treaty was presented to the ministry, matters in England were looking up. Its terms were, therefore, considered too liberal to the Americans, and the British ministry sent Strachey over to Paris to fortify Oswald.' Mr. Oswald, as we have seen, was instructed to assert claims to the western lands and the ancient boundaries of Canada, but "he was to urge their claims, not indeed for their * * * 8 own sake, but in order to gain some compensation for the refugees, either by a direct cession of territory in their favor, or by engaging some portion of what the back lands might produce when ; or by the grant of a favorable boundary of Nova Scotia," etc. But "It is understood," the instructions said, "that if nothing of this can be obtained, * * * it may be left to the commissioners sold * * * to settle." 999 * That the British ministry had little hope of overcoming the territorial demands of the American ministers, is evident from the instructions just 1 Bigelow's "Life of Franklin," Vol. III, p. 96. 2 Spark's" Franklin," Vol. IX, p. 388. 3 "Life of Shelburne," Vol. III, p. 269, et seq. "Life of Shelburne," Vol. III, pp. 243-4. Wharton's "International Law, "Vol. III, appendix. p 944. 5 Wharton's "International Law," Vol. III, appendix, 941. "Life of Shelburne," Vol. III, pp. 243-4. 6 "Life of Shelburne," Vol. III, p. 271, map 294. 7 "Life of Shelburne," Vol. III, p. 281. 8 Page 12. 9 Adams' "Diary, Life and Works," Vol. III, Im passim, 1782. Instructions to Strachey as given in Life of Shelburne," Vol. III, p. 282. |