[Footnote: At the north this boundary was to follow the upper Ohio, and end towards the foot of Lake Erie.

See maps at end of volume.] France was the ally of America; but as between America and Spain, she favored the latter.
Moreover, she wished us to remain weak enough to be dependent upon her further good graces.

The French court, therefore, proposed that the United States should content themselves with so much of the trans-Alleghany territory as lay round the head-waters of the Tennessee and between the Cumberland and Ohio.

This area contained the bulk of the land that was already settled [Footnote: Excluding only so much of Robertson's settlement as lay south of the Cumberland, and Clark's conquest.]; and the proposal showed how important the French court deemed the fact of actual settlement.
Thus the two allies of America were hostile to her interests.

The open foe, England, on the contrary was anxious to conclude a separate treaty, so that she might herself be in better condition to carry on negotiations with France and Spain; she cared much less to keep the west than she did to keep Gibraltar, and an agreement with the United States about the former left her free to insist on the retention of the latter.
Congress, in a spirit of slavish subserviency, had instructed the American commissioners to take no steps without the knowledge and advice of France.