University of Virginia Library

9089. WEST INDIES, Proximity.—

Our
vicinity to their West India possessions, and to
the fisheries is a bridle which a small naval
force, on our part, would hold in the mouths
of the most powerful of * * * the [European] countries.—
To John Jay. Washington ed. i, 405. Ford ed., iv, 90.
(P. 1785)