American Treaty were the boundary line between the two countries throughout its whole length, the clause relating to the fisheries, and the alleged neglect of the Loyalists. In the French and Spanish Treaties hardly a clause except that relating to Minorca remained unchallenged. The national interests, it was declared, had been entirely abandoned; the fleet it was alleged, especially by Keppel, had never been in so efficient a condition, and the glorious recollections of 1763 were evoked to put to shame the negotiators and the Ministers of 1782, who it was further asserted had no right to sign the treaty without consulting Parliament. The condition of the finances of the country was too prosaic a subject to be deemed worthy of much attention by the excited critics of the day.
The debate in the House of Lords continued till a very early hour of the following morning. Late at night Shelburne rose to reply to the objections which had been urged against the treaty. He began by dwelling on the difficulty of the position at the moment he was called to the head of affairs, and pointed out how numerous and intricate the questions were which he had had to consider; on all these questions he had sought the best advice, and consulted those persons whose opinions were generally regarded as authoritative. As to the cession of the back lands of Canada, he showed that considering the small annual value of their exports and imports, it was preposterous to argue that their loss would ruin the trade of England, while it should be recollected that the best fur districts were in the country which was retained, and that the preservation of the English monopoly in those countries had cost no less than £750,000 a year. "What then," he said, "is the result of this part of the treaty? Why this: you have given America, with whom every call under heaven urges you to stand on the footing of brethren, a share in a trade, the monopoly of which you sordidly preserved to yourselves at the loss of the enormous sum of 750,000l. Monopolies, some way or other, are ever justly punished.
