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

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Chapter 8:

The king of Spain baffled by the backwoodsmen of Virginia.

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1778-1779.

while congress unwillingly gave up the hope of dis-

Chap. VIII.} 1778.

lodging England from the continent of North America, the negotiations between the elder and the younger branch of the house of Bourbon changed the attitude of the belligerent powers.

‘I observe with pain,’ so reported Count Montmorin in October, and so he was obliged continually

Oct.

to report, ‘that this government singularly fears the prosperity and progress of the Americans;¹ and this fear, which was in part the cause of its excessive illhumor at our engagements with them,² may often turn the scale to the side of the English. Spain will be much inclined to stipulate for such a form of independence as may leave divisions between England and her colonies.’³