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

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Chapter 29:

Peace between the United States and Great Britain.

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1782.

de Grasse, as he passed through London on

Chap. XXIX.} 1782.

parole, brought from Shelburne to Vergennes suggestions, which left Spain as the only obstacle in the way of peace. To conciliate that power, Jay was invited to Versailles, where, on the fourth of Sep-

Sept. 4.

tember, Rayneval sought to persuade him to resign for his country all pretensions to the eastern valley of the Mississippi, and with it the right to the navigation of that stream. Jay was inflexible. On the sixth, Rayneval sent him a paper containing a long

6.

argument against the pretensions of America to touch the Mississippi, or the great lakes; and on the next morning, after an interview with the Spanish ambas-

7.

sador, he set off for England, to establish a good understanding with Shelburne.

On the ninth, the departure of Rayneval came to

9.

the knowledge of Jay. On the tenth, a translation

10.

of an intercepted despatch from Marbois, the French