28 The Fishery Qicestion. 



Vereennes. Grenvllle's communications to 

 his principal soon precipitated a misunder- 

 standine in the EnorHsh cabinet, that finally, 

 on the formation of the Shelburne ministry, 

 resulted in the secession of Fox to the opposi- 

 tion. 



On the 27th of July Oswald had been 

 authorized to modify the original English 

 position, and on the 7th of August he had 

 received his commission to treat separately 

 with the representatives of the colonies. At 

 this stage of the negotiation, Jay arrived from 

 Spain. With the exception of Franklin, he 

 was the first of the Americans on the ground, 

 under the commission for a peace, issued by 

 Congress on the 8th of June. Jay's opinion 

 of French and Spanish policy had undergone 

 a radical change. Formerly the advocate of 

 a triple alliance between America, France and 

 Spain, his experience during an official resi- 

 dence at Madrid had convinced him that 

 neither France nor Spain desired to see the 

 United States a dominating force at home 

 or abroad, however ready they might be to 

 use American pretensions for their own 

 advantage, in the terms of a general peace. 

 With the arrival of Jay began the diminution 



