. THE FISHERIES. 227 



also on the coasts, bays, and creeks of all other of His Britannic 

 Majesty's dominions in America ; and that the American fish- 

 ermen shall have liberty to dry and cure fish in any of the un- 

 settled bays, harbors, and creeks of Nova Scotia, Magdalen Isl- 

 ands, and Labrador, so long as the same shall remain unsettled ; 

 but so soon as the same or either of them shall be settled, it 

 shall not be lawful for the said fishermen to dry or cure fish at 

 the said settlement, without a previous agreement for that pur- 

 pose with the inliabitants, proprietors, or possessors of the 

 ground." 



NotwithstaDding the absolute terms of this treaty 

 in regard to the question of peace, there survived on 

 both sides so much of irritation, and so many points 

 of mutual relation remained uncertain, that the treaty 

 was in some respects little more than a truce. We 

 had special cause to comj^lain of the persistent occu- 

 pation of northwestern posts by Great Britain, and its 

 effect on the Indians within our lines. On the other 

 hand, to say nothing of minor matters, when the wars 

 of the French Revolution commenced, and the French 

 Republic undertook to use our ports as the base of 

 naval operations against Great Britain, the latter 

 Power took umbrage of course ; and it was only the 

 firm attachment of President Washingt'on to peace, 

 which prevented these difficulties from fatally em- 

 broilinsc the two countries, and which led to the con- 

 elusion of the Treaty of December 19, 1794, as the 

 similar spirit of President Grant led to the conclusion 

 of the Treaty of Washington. 



During the next ten years, the United States labor- 

 ed to maintain their neutrality in the presence of the 

 universal war by land and sea which raged between 

 the great European Powers. Both France and En- 



