he parent state as a reason for
war.

The difficulties between England and the United States, which culminated
in war before the present century was far advanced, were also
intensified by disputes which commenced soon after the treaty of 1783. I
have already shown that for some years the north-west posts were still
retained by the English on the ground, it is understood, that the claims
of English creditors, and especially those of the Loyalists, should be
first settled before all the conditions of the treaty could be carried
out. The subsequent treaty of 1794, negotiated by Chief Justice Jay,
adjusted these and other questions, and led for some years to a better
understanding with Great Britain, but at the same time led to a rupture
of friendly relations with the French Directory, who demanded the repeal
of that treaty as in conflict with the one made with France in 1778, and
looked for some tangible evidence of sympathetic interest with the
French revolution. The war that followed with the French republic was
insignificant in its operations, and was immediately terminated by
Napoleon when he overthrew the Directory, and seized the government for
his own ambitious objects. Subsequently, the administration of the
United States refused to renew the Jay Treaty when it duly expired, and
as a consequence the relatively amicable relations that had existed
between the Republic and England again became critical, since American
commerce and shipping were exposed to all the irritating measures that
England felt compelled under existing conditions to carry out in
pursuance of the policy of restricting the trade of neutral vessels.
Several attempts were made by the British government, between the expiry
of the Jay Treaty and the actual rupture of friendly relations with the
United States, to come to a better understanding with respect to some of
the questions in dispute, but the differences between the two Powers
were so radical that all negotiations came to naught. Difficulties were
also complicated by the condition of political parties in the American
republic and the ambition of American statesmen. When the democratic
republicans or "Strict constructionists," as they have been happily
named, with Jefferson at their head, obtained office, French ideas came
into favour; while the federalists or "Broad constitutionalists," of
whom Washington, Hamilton and Adams had been the first exponents, were
anxious to keep the nation free fro