‘
[
213]
to the
United States the possessions which they
coveted.’
1
‘Besides; the extent of their territory rendered already a good administration difficult: so enormous an increase would cause their immense empire to crumble under its own weight.’
2 Gerard terminated his very long conversation by declaring the strongest desire, ‘that the
United States might never be more than thirteen, unless
Canada should one day be received as the fourteenth.’
The president of congress, still confiding in the triple alliance, avowed himself content with the boundary of the colonies at the breaking out of the revolution,
3 and the
French minister did not doubt of success in extorting the concessions required by
Spain.
On the fifteenth of February,
Gerard in a private
audience represented to congress that the price which
Spain put upon her friendship was
Pensacola and the exclusive navigation of the
Mississippi;
4 if her wishes were not complied with,
Spain and
England might make common cause against
America.
5
Two days after this private interview, congress re-
ferred the subject of the terms of peace to a special committee of five, composed of
Gouverneur Morris, of New York;
Burke, of
North Carolina;
Witherspoon, of
New Jersey;
Samuel Adams, of
Massachusetts; and
Smith, of
Virginia.
Of these,
Samuel Adams demanded the most territory; while
Morris would rather have had no increase than more lands at the south.
