shall be received, treated, and protected like the merchants and merchant ships of the Sovereign of the country. That is to say, the British merchants and merchant ships on the one hand shall enjoy in the United States, and in all places belonging to them, the same protection and commercial privileges, and be liable only to the same charges and duties as their own merchants and merchant ships, and on the other hand the merchants and merchant ships of the United States shall enjoy in all places belonging to His Britannic Majesty the same protection and commercial privileges, and be liable only to the same charges and duties as British merchants and merchant ships, saving always to the Chartered Trading Companies of Great Britain such exclusive use and trade, and the respective Ports and Establishments, as neither the other subjects of Great Britain nor any the most favoured nation participate in."[1]
Such was the draft treaty sent over by Oswald; in its terms very favourable to the Americans, but as he explained to Townshend avowedly drawn with that object, in order to lay the foundation of future good will, and to leave as few causes of future difference as possible, between the two nations. For the same reason Oswald said nothing on the subject of a future alliance with the States, as he had observed the extreme susceptibility of both Jay and Franklin on anything being mentioned which might seem even in the remotest degree derogatory to the complete independence of their country. He considered that the time to allude to such questions was after, not before, the signature of the treaty, which he urged ought to follow at once, knowing, as he told Shelburne and Townshend, how much it must influence the foreign treaties to the advantage of England, and also how much it had been the wish of the Ministers of France and Spain that the two treaties should only advance simultaneously.[2]
On the 6th of October, Vergennes handed to Fitzherbert two memorials, containing the demands of
