[162] See above, p. 182.
[163] Preface to Annual Register for 1782.
[164] Horace Walpole to the Rev. William Mason, April 25, 1781.
CHAPTER IV
THE TREATY OF 1783 AND THE UNITED EMPIRE LOYALISTS
In the War of American Independence the English had no one to match against Washington. In the negotiations for the peace which ended the war they had no The Treaty of 1783. one to match against Benjamin Franklin. The outcome of Franklin’s astuteness was the Treaty of 1783,[165] by which Great Britain acknowledged the independence of the thirteen United States, and which alike for Great Britain and for Canada was rather the beginning than the end of troubles.
The first words of the second article of the treaty, which purported to determine the boundaries of the United States, were as follows, ‘That all disputes which might arise in future on the subject of the boundaries of the said United States may be prevented, it is hereby agreed and declared that the following are and shall be their boundaries.’
The boundary disputes.
The words were no doubt used in good faith; but, as a matter of fact, nowhere in the world has there been such a long series of boundary disputes between two nations, as in North America between Great Britain and the United States.
In 1783 the geography of North America was little known.