George Bancroft, History of the United States from the Discovery of the American Continent, Vol. 10

[219] love of independence even to delirium. He added:

Chap. IX.} 1779.

‘There would seem to be a wish to break the connection of France with Spain; but I think I can say that, if the Americans should have the audacity to force the king of France to choose between the two alliances, his decision would not be in favor of the United States; he will certainly not expose himself to consume the remaining resources of the kingdom for many years, only to secure an increase of fortune to a few shipmasters of New England. I shall greatly regret on account of the Americans, should Spain enter into war without a convention with them.’¹

The interview lasted from eight o'clock in the evening till an hour after midnight; but the hearers of Gerard would not undertake to change the opinion of congress: and the result was, therefore, a new interview on the twelfth of July between him and

July 12.

that body in committee of the whole. Of the committee on foreign affairs, eight accepted the French policy. Jay, with other members, gained over votes from the ‘Anti-Gallican’ side; and, after long debates and many divisions, the question of the fisheries was reserved to find its place in a future treaty of commerce with Great Britain. The proposition to stipulate a right to them in the treaty of peace was indefinitely postponed by the votes of eight states against New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Pennsylvania; Georgia alone being absent.

The French minister desired to persuade congress to be willing to end the war by a truce, after the precedents of the Swiss cantons and the United