During the year 1797 Fulton was encouraged, by the acceptance of his plan to build a canal from Paris to Dieppe and Cambrai, to move from England to France. He had earlier visited France to study the art treasures in famous galleries, but his journey this time assumed quite another aspect, for the two countries had been at war for four years. At this time, however, they enjoyed a short armistice, or period of peace, and Fulton took the opportunity to obtain a passport from the Directory, or French Governing Board. He began about this time to try to devise a way to end warfare between nations,—a dream enjoyed by many kindly men of this day, who have formed the Tribunal for Universal Peace at the Hague. With this thought in mind he planned to protect the seas, those vast waterways between continents. He urged Free Trade between nations, and wrote a paper on the subject to define his views. It shows how deeply he had studied that world-wide problem. The age in which Fulton lived provided the tools to shape his life. When a boy, he had heard of the horrors of battles during the War of the Revolution, and had experienced later the joys of peace. Fulton was an ardent Republican and believed in the right of a people to rule their nation. When Great Britain began to lay claim to “supremacy on the sea” the statesmen of America felt some alarm. Not only had their ships to fear naval prowess, but there were pirates, whose plunderings were related with horror. These conditions caused Fulton to realize that the highways of the oceans must be made safe so that all the nations of the world could live in peace without fear of one another. In 1798 Fulton wrote to a friend: “A free trade, or in other words, a free ocean, is particularly Important to America. I would ask anyone if all the American difficulties during this war is not owing to the Naval systems of Europe and a licensed Robbery on the ocean? how then is America to prevent this? Certainly not by attempting to build a fleet to cope with the fleets of Europe, but if possible by Rendering the European fleets useless.”