60 The Winning of the West 



which were never done. Great Britain agreed to 

 recognize the lakes as our northern boundary, but, 

 on the alleged ground that we did not fulfil certain 

 of our promises, she declined to fulfil this agree 

 ment, and the lake posts remained in her hands until 

 the Jay treaty was ratified. She likewise consented 

 to recognize the 3ist parallel as our southern boun 

 dary, but by a secret article it was agreed that if 

 by the negotiations she recovered West Florida, 

 then the boundary should run about a hundred miles 

 further north, ending at the mouth of the Yazoo. 

 The discovery of this secret article aroused great 

 indignation in Spain. As a matter of fact, the dis 

 puted territory, the land drained by the Gulf rivers, 

 was not England's to grant, for it had been con 

 quered and was then held by Spain. Nor was it 

 given up to us until we acquired it by Pinckney's 

 masterly diplomacy. The treaty represented a mere 

 promise which in part was not and in part could 

 not be fulfilled. All that it really did was to guar 

 antee what we already possessed that is, the Ohio 

 Valley and the Illinois, which we settled and con 

 quered during the years of warfare. Our boundary 

 lines were in reality left very vague. On the north 

 the basin of the Great Lakes remained British; on 

 the south the lands draining into the Gulf remained 

 Spanish, or under Spanish influence. The actual 

 boundaries we acquired can be roughly stated in 

 the north to have followed the divide between the 

 waters of the lake and the waters of the Ohio, 

 and in the south to have run across the heads of 



