viii                  Intoduction

of England said as much when the treaty was made. If,
then, the States were to return to England as colonies,
the more territory they might bring with them the better,
and hence a large grant was acknowledged in the treaty
of peace. The acts of England toward the United States
after acknowledging their independence indicate that the
fixing of the western boundary on the Mississippi had as
much selfishness as liberality, if indeed it was not entirely
selfish.
   The ink was scarcely dry upon the parchment which
bore evidence of the ratified treaty of I783 when the
mother country began acts of hostility and meanness
against her children who had separated from her and
begun a political life for themselves. When the English
ships of war, which had blockaded New York for seven
long years, sailed out of the harbor and took their course
toward the British Isles, instead of hauling down their
colors from the flagstaff of Fort George, they left them
flying over the fortification, and tried to prevent them
from being removed by chopping down all the cleats for
ascent, and greasing the pole so that no one could climb
to the top and pull down the British flag or replace it by
the colors of the United States. An agile sailor boy,
named Van Arsdale, who had probably ascended many
trees in search of bird's nests, and clambered up the masts