n«b" V*^ \^ %7^^,^ . V-S' s' A ^^0< ^ A*' * o > ^^'"-^ .V 4 o XnS^ °^l'^^ -^v-^^ o* ^r 4 o ■"^ ■ v^^ •i-.°-\ V%.^•"'•■^'°"°■'v^''• <* ^, .0' TTPOir THE NEGOTIA^nONS BETWEEN SPAIN adJ the UXITEB ST.LTES OF AMERICA, i WHICH LED TO THE TREATY OF 1819. UPON THE NEGOTIATIONS BETWEEN SPAIN AND THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, WHICH LED TO THE TREATY OF 1819.^ WITH A STATISTICAL NOTICE OF THAT COUNTRY. ACCOMPANIED WITH AN APPENDIX, CONTAINING IMPORTANT DOCUMENTS FOR THE BETTER ILLUSTRATION OF THE SUBJECT. ./ BT U. LUIS BE OJ\riS, Late Minister Plenipotentiary near that Republick, and present Embassador from H. M. at the Court of Naples. MADRID, 1820. From the Press of D. M. De Burgos. Translated from the Spanish^ with %N*otes, BY TOBIAS W ATKINS. ,v,Ta''y •^Ccn-. E. DE KRAFFT, PRINTER, ^ Nearly opposite the Centre Market House, City of Washington. 1821. 1 DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, To wit; Be it rememben^. That on this twenty first day of July, in the year of cur Lord one thousand fight hundred and twenty one. and of the independence of the United States of America the forty sixth. Tobias Watkiiis. of the said District, has deposited in this office the title of a book, the right whereof he claitus as proprietor in the wo«is following, to wit. '" Me- " moir upon the Negotiations between Spain and the Uniteil States of America, which led to " the Treaty of 1819. With a Statistical notice of tha country. Accompanied with an Ap- " ptntlix,t.'ontaining important Documents for the better illustration of the subject. By D. " Luis Dp Onis. late Minister Plenipotentiary i>ear that Republick, and present Embassador " from H. M. at the Court of Naples. Madrid, 1820 From »he press of D M De Burgos. " Translated from the Spanish, w ith Notes, by Tobias Watkins." In conformity to the act of the Congress of the United States, entitled "'An act for the encouragement of learning, by secur- ing the copiesof maps, charts, and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies, dur- ing the times therein mentioned:'' And, also, to the act. entitled '* An act supplementary to an act, entitled ■ An act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts, and books, to the au hors and proprietors of such copies, during tht tin)es therein men- tioned,' and extending the benefits thereof to the arts of designing, engraving, and etching historical and other prints." In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my band, and affixed the publick [L. S.] seal of my office, the da) and year aforesaid. EDM. I. LEE, Clk. of the Dist. Court for the Dist. of Col. PREFACE BY THE TRANSLATOR. The Memoir of Don Luis De Onis, on the subject of his negotiation with the government of the United States, was put into my hands, by a much esteemed friend, who had received it from the author himself, on the 27th of June; and before I had read a Jine of its con- tents, it was suggested to me, that a translation would be acceptable to the American publick, among whom some partial notices of it had already excited considerable in- terest and curiosity. Having consented to undertake the task, it became important both to the Printer and myself, that the utmost expedition should be used in its execution, lest we might be anticipated in the book mar- ket, and thus lose the fruits of our respective labours. Thus excited to activity by the spur of interest, a race forthwith commenced between us, which after an obsti- nate contest of nineteen days, was decided to be, wiiat the jockies call a dead heat; for though, to continue the metaphor, I came out first, the Printer alleges, in bar to my claim of victory, that I had a/onw, the start of him; and further, that it was morally impossible he could reach the goal before me. It will hardly be expected, that a translation so hurried, can be free from errours: there must necessa- rily be many, both of style and typography. But I am aware, that precipitation can never be a sufficient excuse to the publick, for the faults of an author, or translator, who comes voluntarily before them: they would have a 6 right to answer his prayer for clemency on that plea, that so far as they were concerned, he was the arbiter of his own time, and might have used the requisite deli- beration. This would be critically just: nor do I men- tion the rapidity of my translation, with a view to apo- logize, but to account, for the errours that may be found in it^ The reader of the following pages, will soon find reason to pronounce them a most extraordinary produc- tion; he will perceive that they contain a singular mix- ture of the veriest slander, and the most extravagant eulogy, of our country and countrymen, that was ever heaped upon them by foe or friend. 'The double object which the author had in view, led him, of necessity, into many contradictions and absurdities. He had been ac- cused of sullying the dignity of his royal master, and wounding the interests of his nation, by a disgraceful treaty; and this charge naturally involved the suspicion, that he had been influenced in his negotiation either by fear or partiality for the Americans. In combatting this twofold accusation, it was important, that he should show the political and physical strength of the United States, in its utmost magnitude: that he should demonstrate the impossibility of defending the Spanish provinces in Ame- rica from the ambitious grasp of this colossal power: and that he should draw such a picture of the people, as might lead to the inference that contempt, rather than admiration or dread, supplied liim with the colouring. It will be seen, from the ingenuity with which he has managed his arguments, that Don Luis de Onis was a wily politician, a master of the diplomatic art; and how- ever illusive some of his reasoning may appear, there are stron.^ grounds to believe, that the Spanisli Cortes were inflaenced by it to consent to the ratification of his treaty, and that his main object was thus accomplished. After this translation had been announced as in the Press, but before I had advanced many pages in the work, one of those publick gazettes which, in the lan- guage of the author, " inundate the country," was put into my hands, in which the editor, to my amazement, and, I may add, amusementf expressed strong fears that the translation would be mutiiated or garbled. Without knowing who was the translator, or what motives he could have for want of fidelity to his author, the editor fired a random shot, in hopes it might strike some mem- ber of the government. He had either seen tlie original, or he had heard particular parts of it iSead, in which Don Onis had been so severe upon certain great men, that pains had been taken to suppress the circulation of the few copies that had found their way into the coun- try; but the editor was quite sure, he remembered enough of the book to detect any imposition, which the translator might attempt to practise upon the publick, with a view to screen tlie said great men from exposure! Now as I would not have it suspected, even by a solitary individual, either tliat our government can have any thing to fear from the fullest exposure of their con- duct and motives, or that I v\ould descend to be instru- mental in shielding them from censure, if they deserved it, I think it proper here to assure the reader, that I have not only given a faithful exhibition of the author's sen- timents, but that 1 have translated every line of the Me- moir, so literally, as often to sacrifice elegance and idio- matick propriety, rather than risk by paraphrase to 8 change the meaning of a passage. Hurried as I was, I found it impossible to refrain from making an occasional note, tu correct some of the Don's misrepresentations: if my leisure had corresponded with my inclination, these notes would have been more copious and full, par- ticularly on the subject of his unjust abuse of the Judges and Juries of Baltimore; but I console myself with the knoAvledge, that Baltimore will not want for competent defenders, among the readers of Don Luis de Onis's Memoir. The Appendix to the original, consists of the Pre- liminary and Secret Treaty between the French Repub- iick, and his Catholick Majesty, concluded on the 1st October, 1 800— the Convention of 1 802, between his Catholick Majesty and the United States — the treaty of Washington, 22d February, 1819, and three Me- moirs under the signature of Verus, The Author's cor- respondence with the American government, intended to form a part of the Appendix, was announced as in the press at Madrid, when this volume was published. It has been thought unnecessary to give with this translation, any but the first of these documents, which has not before been published in this country: all the rest have been already before the American publick. Washington, 18th July, 1821. PREFACE. THE happy era of our political restoration havin,^ at length arrived, when the monarch feels it his duty to unit^ with his people in promoting the well heing and prosperity of the state, I have believed, that the treaty, concluded on the 22d February of the last year, between his majesty and the United States of America, but not yet ratified in consequence of the occurrence of some subsequent difficulties, could not but interest, in the most lively manner, the Nation, and the worthy depu- ties whom they have elected to represent them/ But as, in order to form a correct and impartial judgment of this treaty, which I now publish, it is necessary to pos- sess a previous knowledge of the incidents which gave occasion to the negotiations, I have presented them with all the perspicuity of which their nature is susceptible; I have then entered into an examination of the situation of Spain, at the period when the Central Junta confided to me, in the name of the king, the important charge of minister plenipotentiary near the United States, and of the state of that country at my departure from it. And for the better illustration of the subject, I have more- over inserted in an Appendix, the preliminary and secret treaty of the 1st October, 1800, between the French Republic and his Catholic Majesty, tlie king of Spain, in relation to the aggrandizement of his royal liighness, the Infant Duke of Parma in Italy, and the recession of Louisiana: the convention agreed upon in 1802, between his Catholic Majesty and the United States, upon the indemnification for losses, damages, and injuries sustain- ed during the last war, in consequence of excesses com- mitted by the individuals of both nations, in violation of the law of nations and the existing treaty: the treaty above mentioned, concluded on the 22d February, 1819". 10 and the three memoirs, which I puhlished in the United States, under the signature of Verus^ marked with the Nos. I, II, and III, to refute the opinions of that go- vernment upon the points in question, and to oppose its attacks against our rights and possessions; and lastly, the correspondence which 1 held with that government, during these negotiations. The sketch which I have given of the population, laws, industry, commerce, sea and land forces, aMd poli- tical system of the United States, while it may seweto explain the conduct of the representatives of the nation near the government of that Republic, should impressions, unfavorable to their reputation, have at any time exist- ed, will, in some measure, contribute to the information of the public. The Cortes have it in their power to carry their scrutiny further, by an examination of the secret in- structions to be found in the Office of the Secretary of State, which I am not at liberty to publish, and, after see- ing them, to decide, whether the negotiations have been constantly in accordance with the instructions given by the government, or whether advantage has been taken, as occasions arose, to extend them to subjects which, not having been foreseen by the government, had not enter- ed into their consideration. If this exposition shall be found to communicate all the light which a subject of so much importance de- mands, the decision of the Nation and the King cannot but be attended with the happiest consequences; and with the proud feeling of having, in part, contributed to produce a result so desirable, I shall regard the increase of our national prosperity and glory, as my sweetest and most flattering reward. MEMOIR, &c, Having been appointed^ towards the end of June, 1809, by the Supreme Central Junta, which at that time governed the monarchy in the name of his majesty. Envoy extraordinary and minister Pie** nipotentiary to the United States of America, I em- barked on board the Cornelia, of the royal fleet, and arrived at the port of New York, on the 4th October, of the same year, after a most unpleasant passage of fortyfour days. The situation of the peninsula at that period is but too well known. The whole nation had been roused to enthusiasm against the French armies, and against the cruel and ignominious yoke, which the frenzied Napo- leon had attempted to impose upon them; and al- though oppressed and surrounded on all sides by an immense multitude of enemies' troops, she ap- peared boldly and firmly resolved to pursue the struggle to death or victory. All Europe saw with amazement her enterprize and her efforts; but all, with the exception of England, either groaned un- der the arrogant despotism of Napoleon, or were subject to his overruling influence. The United 12 states of America^ without the necessity of engag- ing in the vicissitudes and affairs of Europe^ and separated from it by an immense ocean, had it in their power to pursue a course of conduct, by which their real interests might be made to conform to the principles of justice, humanity and honour. This consideration, and the desire of securing peace and a good understanding between these States and Spain, and of settling, in good faith and sincerity, all the points in dispute between the two govern- ments, upon the subject of limits, and claims for damages and injuries already recognized, governed the Central Junta as to the object of my mission; which likewise embraced all that might be neces- sary to maintain and preserve the Spanish posses- sions in the New World united to the mother coun- try, and to watch over the adventurers and incen- diaries who might attempt to pass from the United States with a view to excite commotions in them. Anxious to employ all my zeal and all my la- bours in the discharge of so important an embassy, I repaired immediately to the City of Washington, and solicited an audience, that 1 might present my credentials to the President of the Republio. Mr. Madison, at that time, held this dignity; and Ro- bert Smith, to whom afterwards succeeded James Monroe, was Secretary of State. It was promptly announced to me, that the American government, although it applauded the efforts of the Spaniards 13 in their glorious struggle, and desired to maintain with them a good understanding and perfect har- mony, could not receive or recognize any minister from the provisional governments of Spain, because the crown was in dispute, and the nation divided into two adverse parties; and that until the termi- nation of that struggle, the United States would remain neutral, or as simple spectators, without taking any part in favour of one or the other. The Cabinet of Washington continued steadfast in the plan which it had prescribed to itself, and would neither agree to recognize me, nor enter into any official communication w ith me, until the prospect which had flattered its hopes was completely dissi- pated, by the dethronement and ruin of Napoleon, and the restoration of Ferdinand VII to the throne of his august predecessors; so that the diplomatic relations between the United States and Spain were interrupted, from the commencement of our glorious revolution to the end of December 1815; at which time, after having surmounted some trifling obsta- cles still thrown in the way, on the part of the American government, I was received and recog- nized by it, in virtue of new credentials, signed by his majesty. During the interval, I had been con- stantly occupied in watching over the interests of the monarchy in this portion of America, in dis- charging all the duties with which I had been en- trusted by the government, in aiding our colonies 14 as far as my situation rendered it pdssiblcj and in setting forth to the Anglo-American government every occurrence that violated the peace subsisting between the two nations. Upon the first move- ments of the revolution in Spain, the ambition of the Anglo-American people was excited, and in the enthusiasm of their presumptuous pride, and tlieir gigantic projects, they believed that the time had arrived, when a considerable portion of Spanish America was about to fall into their power, and the rest, after being emancipated, to submit to their in- fluence. Their spies, emissaries and agents, pene- trated immediately into Mexico, Venezuela, and the kingdom of Santa Fe, and successively where- ver circumstances favoured their entrance. They ceased not every where to inflame the minds of the people against the Spanish government, and to promote the revolution, by exaggerating the account of the evils which they suffered under the domi- nion of Spain, and the happiness they might ac- quire, if they would profit. by the easy opportunity which the destinies offered them, of obtaining their emancipation, liberty and political independence. Increased associations of adventurers were imme- diately formed at various points of the Anglo-Ame- rican territory, to assist the malcontents of Spanish America; and from the moment that Napoleon des- paired of being able to corrupt and gain it, for him- self or his brother Joseph, and lent his ostentatious 15 power towards its emancipation, the French emis- saries and adventurers conspired with the Anglo- Americans for the subversion of these rich and beautiful provinces. Those who were proscribed and banished from the society of other European nations^ vagabonds without the means of subsis- tence, or who were stimulated by the hope of amassing large fortunes in the rebellious provinces of our America, hastened to reinforce the auxilia- ry bodies that were organized in the United States, to cooperate with the rebels. Associations for this enterprize, were formed in various cities of the Union; incendiary proclamations were published in the gazettes; and the people were exhorted by ve- hement speeches, and flattering and seductive pic- tures, to take a part in these armaments and expe- ditions. Louisiana, wrested from Spain by Napo- leon, in 1800, and sold by him to the United States in 1802, facilitated the entrance of these adventu- rers into the provinces of Mexico, and our little navy left the seas free to them, and a defenceless coast on which they might land. They proved both the one and the other at various times, and the government of the United States seemed secretly to applaud their enterprizes; it received their en- voys and agents; encouraged them with flattering promises and hopes; and by means of its emissa- ries, treated with the chiefs and commanders of the revolted provinces. The minister and the agents 16 of Napoleon in the United States, equally receiv- ed with demonstrations of favour and of joy, the envoys of these chiefs, and all who had undertaken to support their cause. By good fortune the expe- ditions against Mexico were attended with no fa- vorable issue; for nature has opposed the obstacles of a rough coast and unpeopled deserts, to the incur- sions of adventurers. The list of all the conspi- rators which I sent to the Archbishop, the Viceroy, before the revolution burst forth, and my seasona- ble advices to the governors of the internal pro- vinces, checked the evil, and contributed to dissi- pate it, before any fearful consequences could be produced. 1 transmitted similar intelligence to other portions of our America, when expeditions w ere in preparation, or when bands of adventurers or emissaries were getting ready in the United States to go and join the rebels in the dominions of the King, or to foment among them the direful spi- rit of revolution; and I have often enjoyed the plea- sure of learning, that my intelligence had arrived in time, and had opportunely frustrated their de- signs. There are two periods, then, embraced in the time of my mission; the one during which I resid- ed in that country without being recognized as the minister of the King, and the other from the time of my being received in that character until my de- parture for Spain. 17 During the llrst period, which lasted about six years, although I received the most polite and re- spectful attentions, as well from the authorities of the Republic as from all its citizens, still I was ex- posed to vexations from the populace, and to angry resentments from the insurgent agents, who abound- ed in the country. As the privileges allowed by the laws of nations to all diplomatists, were not ex- tended to me, all 1 could do, was to utter com- plaints and remonstrances, as a private agent, to the government of the United States, against the in- fractions of the existing treaties, and other excesses, by which peace and the public faith were broken in the territory of the Union, and hostilities com- mitted against Spain; while she had never ceased, even in the midst of her struggle against the in- vading armies of the tyrant of Europe, to maintain the most perfect harmony with the United States, and to give them signal proofs of her sincere and generous friendship. That my memorials might reach the Secretary of State, I availed myself, some- times, of the Attorney General, and at other times, of the Spanisli Consul resident near the federal citv; and although he received tliem at all times with marks of politeness and civility, and in the name of the President renewed to me (but ahvays verbally) assurances of the good wishes and affec- tionate sympathy of his government for Spain, yet all amounted to no more than idle compliments, 3 is since he Avoided the subject upon wliich I treated, and neglected to answer me in writing. The American government, however it pro- fessed good faith in its conduct towards Spain dur- ing this period of time, changed its tone when it caused the district of Baton rouge, in West Flori- da, to be occupied in 1810, and the district of Mobile in 1812. The President declared in a pro- clamation, "that as all these territories belonged to the United States as an integral part of Louisiana, lie considered it expedient to occupy them, as both justice and policy demanded it, but that they should be held by him, as they had been by Spain, subject to amicable negotiation. '^ To these publick acts of aggression and violence were afterwards added General Jackson's march through West Florida, with the troops under his command, and his entrance into Pensacola, to drive from that place the few English who had landed there; and the march of another body of American troops into East Florida, to assist a party of revol- ters who, froiii the United States themselves, were endeavouring to excite disorder in that province. I protested in the name of the king, against all and each of these excesses^ but the cabinet of Washing- ton refused to re[)ly to me, and inflexibly adhered to their system of policy. During the second period of my embassy, which falls in witli the epoch of general peace in 19 Europe, and which takes its date from the end of December, 1815, I renewed, officially, all the com- plaints, remonstrances, and protests, which I had addressed to tJie American government, in the course of the first period, and presented many others, for the first time, upon subjects of a similar nature. Pi- racy against Spanish commerce, began from that moment to assume the most decided character in the United States; and an organized system of pillage and robbery was practised, with an effrontery which has no example in history. This system soon be- came general, as a branch of speculation, in the prin- cipal ports of the Union, and the American mer- chants devoted themselves to it with the most easier zeal, while the government and judicial tribunals showed themselves insensible, or indifferent, as well to the complaints of individuals, as to those pre- sented by myself or the consuls; and Spanisli pro- perty, brought in in the captured vessels themselves, or in others under the American flag, ceased not to enter the country, and to swell the mass of publick wealth. The interest of the government conspired with that of the people, to tolerate and protect this lucrative piracy; hence it is, ihat it has been con- stantly pursued, even to the present moment, and that even in the most atrocious and legally establish- ed cases, in which, to the plunder of Spanish car- goes, and of the clothes and property of the crews and passengers, was sometimes added the assassiua- 20 tion of innocent victims, at other times the infliction of the most cruel torments, the monsters who com- mitted these crimes have escaped with impunity, and have triumphantly paraded through the ports and cities of the United States. From the first official representations Avhicli 1 made to the American government upon these ex- cesses, and the protection which the cruizers and vessels of our revolted colonists enjoyed in every port of the Union, it was answered '' that the au- thorities and tribunals of the country watched over the observance of the laws, and that the President had adopted an impartial system of neutrality, with regard to the conflict between Spain and America; that the officers of the customs had orders to admit every species of vessel, without regard to the char- acter or circumstances of her flag, provided the es- tablished duties were paid, and the peace and good order of the country not disturbed; and that in ca- ses of trespass or violation of the law, recourse should be had to the magistrates and tribunals of justice, and not to the Executive.'' The result of the suits brought by the Spanish consuls before the American judges and tribunals, was, in general, a confirmation of the robbery, and the triumphant im- punity of its authors. When 1 appealed to the government for the ex- ercise of its authority, and the observance of the constitutional laws of the United States, against the 2i enlistment of adventurers in tlie territory of the Union, and against their ccjuipment and military march from the very bosom of the States, for the purpose of invading Spanish America, I was an- swered in these, or similar terms: '^ That the go- vernors of evcn-y state, \\ atched over tlie observance of the law; that there liad not been sufficient proof in the cases about which I complained; and that the constitution of the country allowed a free entrance into it, to every individual of the human race, witls- out exception, provided they did not belong to a nation or poAver at war with the United States/^ 1 gave an account of all this to his majesty, by trans- mitting to him copies of my notes to the American government, and of the answers which I received from it. In my correspondence, Avhich should be in the Office of the Secretary of State, ail these ca- ses will be found circumstantially explained and demonstrated. In that, also, may be seen my re- monstrances and protests against the occupancy of Amelia Island, and the invasion of East Florida, and against the capture of the fortresses of St. Mark's, the Barrancas, and Pensacola, by the American troops — outrages which, it will scarcely be believed by posterity, were committed during a time of peace, and at the very moment when nego- tiations were pending tor an amicable adjustment of all the differences between the two nations. T!ie steadiness with v/hich the American irovernment lias endeavoured to make it appear an act of justice to assail these provinces and fortresses, and to take possession of them by main force, representing at the same time, the conduct of the general who com- mitted these outrages as legal^ will scarcely find a parallel in history. I should here speak of every thing that relates to the negotiation with the government of the Unit- ed States, for the amicable arrangement and accom- modation of the differences between them and Spain, did it not form a part of my correspondence with the Department of State, which will be found in the sequel of this Memoir, together with the papers which I published in the years 1810, 12, and 17, under the signature of Verus, for the purpose of enlightening public opinion, and restraining, as far as possible, the views of that cabinet. I refer the reader, therefore, to these documents, and to the brief exposition which I shall give, when I come to speak of the policy of the United States; and shall now pass on, to give some idea of the country and government of that Republic. It is well known, that the territory of the Unit- ed States of America already occupied an extent of 1300 English or American miles from East to West, and 1000 from tlic Lakes of Canada to the confines of the Floridas and Louisiana, before the acquisition of the latter province; and that by this was added to it an almost equal extent of beauti- fully diversified and fertile lands: so tliat the ter- ritory of these states may now be estimated vl about two millions of square miles, and according to the computation of Captain Hutchins, at twelve hundred millions of acres, including water, which forms a considerable portion of the smface, in consequence of the multitude of rivers, lakes and bays which the country contains. It will be seen by this computation, that the actual extent of the Anglo- An erican territory, m more than seven times greater than that of France before the revolution, and of the whole peninsula of Spain and PortugaL '^ The Americans, says Volney, delight in drawing comparisons of this kind; and the vanity inspired by their flattering dreams of future grandeur, in- duces them to measure the importance of foreign nations by this prodigious scale." When Volney thus wrote, the Americans had not yet acquired Louisiana, nor had their view been expanded over the brilliant prospect which was afterwards opened to their presumptuous and mad ambition. The Americans, at present, think themselves superiourto all the nations of Europe; and believe that their dominion is destined to extend, now, to the isthmus of Panama, and hereafter, over all the regions of the New World. Their government entertains thQ same ideas, and in the whole course of its policy, calculates upon the illusion of these flattering ex- pectations. But what is the physical and moral 34 streusth of the United States ? An immense coun- try, and scarcely inhabited on the coasts of the At- lantic, in the vicinity of large rivers and bays^ at some points extending to great distances in the in- terior; a country uncultivated, with the forests yet unfelled in more than two thirds of its best lands; a country in general iinsnscejjtible of any great pro- gress in agriculture by reason of the bad quality of its soil, and its extreme and variable temperature in all situations such is the territory occupied by the United States.^ Judging by the calculation of Hutchins, which is doubtless exaggerated, and made to please the palates of a vain people, of the twelve hundred millions of acres which the country contained before the acquisition of Louisiana, fifty one millions are under w ater, and only five hundred and twenty millions are susceptible of cultivation: and by the approximate calculation of Blodget *The reader will have frequent occasion to remark, im the course of this Memoir, that Don Luis never suiFers the favourable impressions, which his observations on the coun- try, whenever he confines himself to historical truth, are cal- culated to produce on the minds of foreigners, to have a very lasting influence. He is always careful to eftace them, by a subsequent picture of evils, sufficiently terrible to check the spirit of European emigration. This will explain the ano- maly of " heantijully diversified and fertile landsy'* being unsusceptible of improvements in agriculture, on account of badness of soiL T. s^ made In 181 1 there were at that time but 40^950^000 in a state of cultivation. The greatest advantage which nature has be- istowed upon the country is the abundance of its waters, which not only lend facilities to agriculture, but also to internal and external commerce, to ma- nufactories and ship building. But, nevertheless^ the want of canals, and of roads througli the inte- rior, prevents the use of this natural advantage from being extended, except upon a very reduced scale between the different states of the Union. Louisiana which, as I have said, doubled the extent of the Anglo-American territory, and which contains an immense variety of beautiful grounds susceptible of every species of cultivation, has only begun to be attended to within a few years, and may be regarded as yet in its infancy. I shall say more of it hereafter. The population of the United States, accord- ing to the census of 1810, amounted in that year to 7,230,514 souls, of which must be reckoned about two millions of negroes and mulftttoes, and of these, about 1,600,000 slaves.* At present the * We know not from what data the author made these, calculations, whicli are in several particulars erroneous. The total population of the United States and their territories in 1810, amounted to 7,239,903; or a greater number, by 9,389 souls, than Don Luis makes it. Of these 1,1 91, 3G4 were slaves — 408,636 less, than the amount stated by the author. lid. Niles's Register, Vol. 1 , p. 236. T. 4 S6 whole population may be estimated at ei2;lit or nine tnillions^ though various Ameficati writers, always careful to magnify and exaggerate things, make it amount to nine or ten millions. Congress, at their last session, ordered another census to be taken, in all the states, districts, and territories of the Union, from the result of which a more certain calculation may be formed, if proper allowance be made for that exaggeration, which is produced, not only by the interest which the federal government feels in making a display of the rapid progress of the po- pulation of the whole country, but by the pride and rivalry of each state, territory and district, by which they are induced to magnify the number of their inhabitants, for the sake of procuring to them-, selves greater importance. The States of Massachusetts, New York^* Pennsylvania and Virginia, are the most considera- ble in the Union, and the most populous, with the exception of Connecticut, which without doubt has more population than all, although its territory is of small extent.* In the two Caroliuas, the popula- * It is difficult to conceive how the author could have fallen into this strange mistake, with regard to the popula- tion of Connecticut. By the Census of 1810, which is the latest that Mr. de Onis could have seen when his work was %vritten, Massachusetts (then including Maine) had a popu- lation of 700,745 New York 959,049 Pennsylvania 810,091— A^irginia 974,622— and Connecticut only 261,943^. T. 27 tion increases very little, and one third of it, as^ well as in Virginia and Maryland, is composed of negroes and mulattoes, nearly all slaves. The whites appear rather to diminish than to increase in these states;* which must be attributed to their use of strong drinks, and to a life of voluptuous excesses. Despising matrimony, tliey commonly unite themselves with the negresses and mulat- tresses. They are but little inclined to labour, pre- sumptuous, vindictive, and cruel to their slaves. The inhabitants of the States of the North are more laborious, and less corrupt. Those of Dela- ware, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee and Georgia, are poor; and, with the exception of Delaware, they all resemble the savages, or aboriginal In- dians, very much, in their customs and mode of liv- ing. They are much addicted to the chace, and make their excursions like the Indians, generally on horseback, and with a musket. Of late years they have been constantly emigrating, principally to the territories of Louisiana, and others usurped from Spain in the Floridas, provinces of Tehas, *The ie;/iiff population of the States of North and South Carolina, Virginia, and Maryland amounted in 1800, to 1,274,891, and in 1810, to 1,381,257; making an increase in the ten years of 106,366, which, when it is considered that these states are indebted but little to emigration for their population, will sufficiently establish the reverse of Don Lit- is's proposition. T. S8 and New Mexico, as well as to those which, under various pretexts, the government has successively seized upon from the Indians. In the first, they have already erected three Btates, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Illinois, besides the territories of Orleans, Missouri, and part of Ala- bama, which it is contemplated also to form into b> State. In the second, the State of Indiana has been established, and the territories of Michigan and the North West have been or2;anized, to say nothing of the usurpations, which have been made in both, to enlarge the limits of the United States. It is well known, that the Federal Constitution admits no st^te into the Union as sovereign and indepen- dent, unless it has at least 60,000 inhabitants. Un- til the population reaches this number, the country which it occupies, cannot enter into the Union, but exists as a territory of it, governed by the President. From what has been said, it might be thought, that the population in the countries acquired from the ultramarine possessions of Spain, or usurped from her, was necessarily very considerable, since thre^ States and several territories have already been formed; but I have guarded against this erroneous calculation, by pointing out the facility and the in- terest in exaggerating the population, and supposing it greater than it really is. This is practised with still greater artifice and collusion in the territories, which ;ey aspire to become States, and ask to be admitted in- to the Union. According to the census of 1810. the population, in all the districts of which I have spoken, amounted to 109,000 souls, almost the whole of which was composed of negro and mulatto' slaves.* Even supposing this computation to be faithful and correct, still it does not make the com- plement required to form two states; and it is noto- rious, that the population in these immense countries has increased little or nothing since the period mentioned, with the exception of that of Illinois, which has made some progress by virtue of the be- nignity of the climate, and the great advantages of a free traffick with the Indians, and a clandestine one with the neighboring provinces of New Spain. Cultivation has scarecely yet begun to be encour- aged at some few points of this vast region; but as both the government and individuals extend their ambitious views, even with enthusiasm, to the fer- tile and charming countries of New Mexico, Tehas, and other provinces in the interior of Mexico, it is probable, that the population will daily increase in the Illinois, and other districts bordering on the Spa- *The sources from which the autlior draws his calcuhi- tions, have here led him into another errour: the population of these countries, according to the Census of 1810, amounted to 174,555, of which only 55,164 were slaves. Mississippi in 1816, some time before it was erected into a State, possess- ed a population of 74,746, of which 44,781 were whites, T. 30 iiish provinces, and that it will progressively ex- tend along the latter. This increase, how^ever, will be of no great consideration for a long time^ whether because these countries are at an immense distance from the cities and open ports of the Unit- ed States, or because cultivation is not the passion of the Anglo-Americans, or that adventurers who emigrate tliither, have not sufficient funds to devote to great agricultural undertakings. If the present population of the United States continues to in- crease, as it has done for the last twenty years, it will not be extraordinary if it should cover the most important part of these countries, and even extend itself much further, in the course of this century. In 1790, it amounted only to 3,884,000 souls, and in 1810, it exceeded 7,000,000. The Americans transported with pride and vanity, calculate the fu^ ture increase of their population by this flattering rate; and Mellish, who has lately given a map of the United States according to memorandums fur- nished him by the government, makes this calcula- tion with great gravity, and prognosticates that the population will amoant in 1820 to 10,098,172 souls: in 1830 to 13 millions: in 1840 to 18: in 1850 to. 25: in 1860 to 34: in 1870 to 47: in 1880 to 64: in 1890 to 88: in 1900 to 120: in 1910 to 164: and in 1918 to 211 millions. If this prophecy should be fulfilled, there can be no doubt, there will be in the United States, at the end of the present centu- i-y, a sufficient population, not only to occupy the 31 Tast coimtiies of wliicli I have spoken, but to spread itself over all the regions of the New World. But Ihe prophecy is as ridiculous, as the hypothesis up- on which it is founded is extravai^ant. If the causes, which have produced the great increase of popula- tion and wealth in the United S fates, were ordinary and permanent, the calculation would not be too exaggerated, and the prophecy might be admitted. But who does not know, that the United States owe the increase of their population and wealth, of whicli they boast so much, to the revolution of France, and the extraordinary events which it produced? They acquired from these causes all the French popula- tion of the island of St. Domingo, and a great part of the inhabitants and colonists of the other French islands; and a constant emigration has flowed in from France^ Switzerland, Italy, the Low Countries, Hol- land, Germany, and Ireland, up to the end of the last year. During the long period of war in Europe, the American was the only free and neutral flag in every sea. The Americans then enjoyed a long and advantageous period, not only for supply- ing the European and Spanish American markets vi^ith the productions of their own soil at high prices, but for carrying the produce and merchandize of all othefr nations, from the markets and ports of one to those of the others. The insurrection in Spanish America, opened a field equally flattering to their avarice and ambition; they fomented the disorder 3;e in these provinces, that they might enrich themselves^ with their commerce, and perhaps with their spoils; and lastly, they have had recourse to an unheard of system of piracy against the vessels and property of the Spanish and Portuguese nations, the depre- dations upon wliich have already, as is notorious, brought into the United States many millions of dollars. 1 have thus brieiiy, but truly, explained th& causes of the rapid and astonishing increase of tho population, and of the publick and individual wealth, of these States. But these causes have disappeared; and on tlie one hand, the extreme and devouring luxury which prevails in all classes of the Anglo- American people, on the other hand, the blindness with which they prosecute mercantile speculations and rash enterprises, have within a few years de- stroyed large fortunes, and considerably reduc- ed the mass of publick wealth. Population, which in general increases only in proportion with it, may be regarded from the present moment as stationary, or at most, but equal in its future progress to that of other nations, in which it is not opposed orparaliz- ed by capital vices in the political and economical systems, or by extraordinary and calamitous events. It is true, that in the state of Illinois, in the teiVito- ry of Misuri or Mispsouri, and others adjoining, there is as I have said a great stimulus to popula> tion; but as it increases at those points only at the 33 expense of the other states and territories of tlit Union, the general product will be always the same. Besides this there is no probability that it can be much increased in countries so vast and remote, still uncultivated and in forests, and communication with which is so painful and difficult. The emigration of the people of the East to these new countries is composed of miserable creatures, or of adventurers seduced by idle expectations. The moment tlu^se people discover the insuperable or even arduous dif- ficulties, with which they have to contend, to break up the fields, and form such agricultural establish- ments as may correspond Avitli their wislies, or their calculations, they begin to liesitate, abandon one place to seek another, and without permanently fixing in any, they become itinerants, cultivating here and there a small spot of ground; and a traf- fick with the Indians, and at some points, with the bordering Spanish provinces, forms the principal object of their speculations. The Americans, however, boast very much of the rapid progress of population in the countries of w hich I have spoken; and the territory of Missou- ri is already anxious to be erected into a State. But that territory comprehends an extent from North to South, of about 1380 miles, and from East to West of about 1680; for among other bounda- ries, the internal provinces of Mexico, and the Pa- cific Ocean, the Mexican gulf, and an ideal line to 34 the North, are also so regarded. It is evident, the United States are not capable of peopling this im- mense country; nor is it probable, that it yet con- tains the number of inhabitants required by the Fe- deral Constitution before it can be erected into a State. But there is no doubt, it will soon be admit- ted as such into the Union, and that the Americans will make the greatest possible efforts to people it at the points of most importance, in as much as it embraces in its wide extent the greater part of the territories in dispute between the government of the United States and Spain, which the former is desi- rous to become master of at every risk, not only to open a communication by land with the Pacific Ocean, but to hem in the Spanish provinces, which, from the fertility of their soil and the precious mines with w hich it is believed they abound, excite still more their ambition and avarice. It is for this reason, that the American government talks of estab- lisliing a chain of fortified posts all along this vast country. I cannot conclude my observations upon the country and population of the United States, with- out saying something of the Indians, or aboriginals, still remaining in them. A considerable number of the Iroquois are yet to be met with in the State of New York, and in the eastern part of Long Island; but they are all miserable wretches, in nothing re- sembling their ancestors, whose character is said to 35 have been so bold, warlike and ferocious. In the States of Tenessee and Mississippi, the nation or tribe of Cherokees exist; in Georgia, the Creeks; in Mississippi, the Chickasaws and Choctaws; in the State of Indiana and territory of Michigan, a few savage hordes of the nation or tribe of Chippe- way are to be found; and others occupy various points to the North East of the Illinois and East of Lake Michigan. They are all Avretched, and gi'adually becoming extinct. Their whole number will amount at most to 50 or 60,000. Those who live within the Spanish dominions, contiguous to the United States, comprise various tribes, some of them sufficiently numerous; but they are gradually diminishing and abandoning the country to the Americans. Although the federal government boasts of the tenderness and philanthropy Avith whicli it treats tliem, it cannot but be observed, that whatever may be its disposition to cherish sentiments so becom- ing the present age, and all free countries like that of America, the fact is, that the Indians are daily despoiled of their lands by purchases, for the most part fraudulent, or by treaties but little equitable^ as well as by force of arms. It frequently hap- pens, that the settlers, established on the frontier or near the lands of the Indians, make incursions into them, and rob them of their cattle, and of every thing upon which they can lay their hands. They^ i» t^ sovwMTs and lotlMnlks cl^ tMr iri^prctm Stair «r TntilQiy. mttd m muit cjlsts io tkr Ir4cnl govg im f nfc tot jnslire b mm al- wmT^ datte «» tWm. aor sbt satiblmctiott ^jkrB. A • • =1" :^;;^^ el' dKsr mtnf:^ at In^rtk vtarW^ tlieir pa> oner: aad wkm ikrT iad a tt tkr j take vg agga a cf mtto ^kw •wm toa^ attack Aose wto eaier tlinr pouadls lo laTtkeai wa^tr.or driTc efftkw cattle, aad oAn- Huder tkna. or tiBCS |Mr»e tli^ bcTOBdl tlie fialitr irprisak afsft tke AiKikaa paGECssiws. «ii& As ImcnrMM^inigtotkarntwp. Wkoi cUcroT tiKsr ciKCflls to|y^, t^ C17 ci alarM and indig- Htin Rsamds lAm^ ^e wtok Tailed States^ aW tke ^amwBist »sds am amT ta ctostke the ladtan^^ 8ack k tke native ar i^paitat casse of ike deadhr and exIawaatiB^ wais. wUck kaTe bees lotlKrta ara^ i^iua«t i&ese aaki^T b«^;5w Tke alwmT> »iFK^ tke cottdact of ikes ta sesnak^ aito safetki^ tkess^Tcs ia ke IT kT a wiTinaa fiH-war. even la tke At tke eiad of Ae edwo viiklte 37 vived the extermination of their tribe; and in this, the greater and better part of their lands is adjudg- ed to the United States/ who are thus successively getting rid of these neighbours, and possessing themselves of the countries which they occupy. The two campaigns of General Jackson against the Indians of the Floridas, present some exam- ples of what I have stated, particularly the last, which, perhaps, if we examine its circumstances, exceeded all the rest in liorrours, the remembrance of which will last for ever.^ * The horrours to which the author here alludes, are, we presume, the military execution of the instigators of these Indian v/ars — Arbuthnot, Arhhrister. and the prophet, Fran- cis — and the taking possession of Pensacola. Sufficient evi- dences that the Indians had been excited to the savage hos- tilities which brought upon them the chastisement of Gene- ral Jackson, by Arbutlinot and Arabrister, and other agents of the British government, were found at every step which our army took. And the fact, that the prophet Francis had been commissioned as a Brigadier General in the British service, has never been disputed. These Indians were un- der the jurisdiction of Spain; and, even had not the Spa- nish authorities at St. Marks supplied them with arms, am- munition, provision and clothing, as upon their own acknowl- edgment they did, still the influence which they permitted the English to exercise, within their territories, and the protec- tion which they afforded to the Indian Chiefs, in violation of an existing treaty, w ill justify General Jackson, in the eyes of every discerning and impartial politician, in the coursQ which he pursued. T, 38 Hence it comes, that the American name is ab- horred among the Indians who border upon the United States; and that any nation will find them always ready to make war upon these people, whom they look upon as the most perfidious upon earth, and as having systematically conspired to ex- terminate or destroy them. Among the European nations of which they possess a knowledge, they prefer the Spanish and the French; and notwith- standing they have ceased to receive the usual pre- sents and necessary protection from the Spanisli government of late years, they still preserve great respect and affection for the Spaniards. Those who live within the Territory of the Floridas ma- nifest also great esteem and regard for the English. Agriculture, Manufactories, and Industry of the United States, The Americans have but little notion of Agri- culture, and display neither care nor discernment in their attention to it. In the States of the North, they copy the English in the division of their grounds into fields, and in the common order and method of their labours. And although they do this from the mere force of habit, and without profiting by the advancement of reason and experience, yet they have greatly the advantage over the farmei> 39 of the other States. Their lands are divided into lots, or granges, of small extent, propovtionod to the work of each labourer. In the States of the South, the lots, or plantations as they are there called, are too extensive; the farmer scarcely cultivates any part of the ground which he owns, and does not make from his plantation the half of what it ought to produce. He pursues a similar method to that of the Spanish, English and French planters in their respective colonies of this hemisphere; and as the produce which they cultivate is precious, they prefer their peculiar mode to that of the States of the North, which they consider as more expen- sive and laborious; and what they lose in the quan- tity of their produce, is made up in its value. They are contented therefore with this produce; and given up to dissipation and voluptuousness, they trust the labour to their slaves. In the Eastern, or middle States, the method of cultivation is not better than in those of the South; and in general the practice of agriculture is very imperfect. It is remarkable too, that notwithstanding the country is so abundantly supplied with water, no advantage is taken of it for irrigation: there are neither canals nor dykes to make the rivers useful, and even in their vicinities, the fields are parched and the crops lost during the excessive heats, un- less a seasonable rain comes to remedy the evil. To this capital defect may be added another equal- 40 ly great: the American farmer scarcely knows any thing of the utility of manure; he makes but little use of it, and is ignorant how to vary it, or accom- . modate it to the quality and circumstances of the ground. Hence it is, in part, that he prefers the clearing up of new lands, to the amelioration of those which, because they are not manured, he re- gards as worn out or sterile. Thus he is continu- ally changing his abode, and abandoning one piece of land, for another which appears to be better, without employing on any, with perseverance, those means and labours, which its quality demands, that it may answer his expectations. The principal productions of the territory of the United States, are wheat, corn, rye, barley,, maize, oats, rice and potatoes. It produces also some hemp, flax, cotton, indigo, sugar cane and to- bacco, as well as a variety of plants and forest and garden fruits. But these productions differ accord- ing to climate and quality of soil: some are pecu- liar to one State, and some to another. It may be said, that the principal production in the Northern States is Indian corn: in those of the South, cotton and rice; and in the middle States wheat and tobac- co. The cotton which is raised near the sea coast is of the best quality, and much esteemed in the markets of England. The tobacco is very inferior to that of our Americas; and can only stand in competition with that of the island of St. Domingo. 41 Louisiana, and the greater part of the territo Hes, of which the United States have possessed themselves, are susceptible of every species of cul- ture, and adapted to the production not only of all the crops which are raised in the richest lands of the Union, but of many of those of Europe also, and almost all those of our Americas. The French, driven from St. Domingo when the negroes liecame independent in that part of tlie island which France possessed, and expelled afterwards from the island of Cuba, sought refuge in the United States; and it is from them, the Anglo-Americans have learned the method of cultivating cotton, sugar, and other colonial produce. Since that time, various planta- tions have been made in Louisiana, and in some other of the places mentioned. In consequence of the general peace in P^ii- rope, and the obstacles which it threw in the way of the mercantile speculations of these Slates, the cultivation of the establishments in Upper and Lower Louisiana, Mobile, Alabama, Tombigbee, and other places, has been considerably promoted; and the enterprises of labourers, speculators and adventurers continue in these places, which they prefer on account of the topographical situation of the country, the fineness of the climate, and the fertility of the land. Tlieir progress, however, has not corresponded hitlierto, with the flattering hopes which these people had conceived. The 4S ambition of individual adventurers conspires with that of the government, in the cultivation and po- pulation of these vast regions^ and in the desire to approach more nearly by these means the mor^ opulent and more desirable provinces of New Spain. But though the enterprise is seductive and flattering^ it is certainly impracticable; for there is not sufficient population in the United States to re- alize it. And these establishments, too much scat- tered over these extensive regions, and separated from each other by immense distances, without a facility of communication, will always be insigni- ficant or precarious, until the United States possess a superfluous population, which from their number, or the difficulty or scarcity of convenient subsist- ence on their native soil, shall separate and scatter themselves over the adjacent countries. The pastures in almost all the States are abundant, and supply copious provision to a great number of cattle, sheep, horses, and swine. But these pastures are not very substantial; they spring- up and grov/ generally in the most astonishing man- ner, without the help of art, but are inundated in the vallies and meadows by the rains of winter, and the melting of snow and ice, or the torrents from the mountains and hills. Hence, it results that the meats with which the publick are supplied, are of little substance, and excesswelu watery^ and ilie same may be said of almost all the fruits of the 43 country. The method of making good artificial meadows is unknown; and the few that are to be seen, in the neighborhood of some of the cities, sliow by their bad arrangement and want of variety, that the Americans are yet ignorant of this impor- tant branch of agriculture.* I cannot omit to say, that the horses of this country are of good stature, and of beautiful figure, but not strong, nor at all comparable to the Span- ish horses in point of vigour and docility. They are of the English breed; and only in the States and Territories bordering upon Mexico and the Floridas, are they crossed with the horses of those countries, which come from the Spanish breed; but though on account of this mixture, they are stronger in those frontier States and Territories, they are very inferior to those of Andalusia. * It is probable, that the Chevalier de Onis never saw more of the United States than was presented to his view on the publick road from New York, or perhaps from Boston, to the City of Washington. The interiors of the States of Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania and Maryland, to say nothing of the others over which his road must have led him, present as great a variety of beautiful and abundant artificial meadows, as are to be found in the most highly cul- tivated parts of Europe, We have never before heard the complaint which the author makes against our meats, and are at a loss to conceive, where he could have found the dropsi- cal animals of which he speaks. T. 44 To have a proper idea of the progress and present state of agriculture in the territory of this Hepublick, it is necessary to bear in mind, that the Americans have a passion for frequently abandon- ing one piece of land for another, and for always preferring new to old lands. Notwithstanding this, there were scarcely forty millions of acres under cultivation in the whole United States, in the year 1805; fifteen millions of these were in grain fields and gardens; ten millions in meadows and pas- tures; and the rest in fallow. Mr. Beaujour, five years afterwards, calculated them at fifty millions at most; and I do not believe that they exceed se- venty at the present moment, for the calculation of Beaujour, as the Americans themselves acknow- ledge, was very much exaggerated. The smallest product of an acre of ground (the acre contains about 7000 Spanish feet) in the United States, is valued at four dollars; but the acre is generally purchased at five or six dollars. Deducting from this product two thirds, for the ex- penses of cultivation and harvest, it folloAvs that the nett produce is 166 1-2 or 233 cents per acre, which in our money is equal to 3^ reals vellon and maravedisesy or 45 rs. vn. & m. By this calcula- tion, it appears that the land in the United States produces more than a fifth of its value; and this flattering illusion* it is, that has induced so many * He demonstrates the result by his own calculation, and calls it illusion ! T. 45 people to emigrate from Europe with the view of purchasing lands in the United States; but expe- rience has convinced them of the deception; for besides the expenses of transportation, and the inconveniences always attendant upon new and re- mote establishments, the labour is immensely ardu- ous, and wages very high. Instead of the large fortunes which they expected, and which at first were really made, the adventurers and settlers who have latterly gone from Europe to America, have generally found nothing but misery or death. When at the conclusion of the war in Europe, an enthusiasm for emigrating to America was excited, ships successively sailed for the United States, loaded with miserable wretches, principally from Switzerland, Holland, and Germany: these unhap- py beings were obliged to sell or bind themselves for a certain number of years, to pay the cost of their transportation and maintenance; and finding purchasers with difficulty, they at last become dis- contented and groan with repentance, at having abandoned their own country.^ * This is, indeed, enough to deter the most oppressed and wretched of the natives of Europe, from seeking an amelioration of their condition, in the New World ! 13ut, fortunately for tliose of every country who groan under the despotism of legitimate tyrants, Don Luis De Onis here speaks as a diplomatist, not as an historian. The fact is, that not three instances have occurred, for the last thirty 46 An acre of ground cultivated in the vicinity of large cities, produces annually from six to seven dollars, but in the interior of the country, it does not produce more than the half of that sum.* Cal- culating the mean value of its product, then, at the rale of four dollars, the 60 millions of acres in a state of cultivation ought to produce 240 millions of dollars; but I have already said, and it is well known, that of the lands which are considered as in a state of cultivation, there is a great deal turned out, that neither produces any thing, nor is ame- liorated, either because the mania of seeking new lands and of preferring them to the old, pre- vails among the Americans, or because the pro- years, of an emigrant to this country having repented, at abandoning his native soil — more particularly among those from the three countries mentioned, who are, for the most part, mechanics or farmers, and who are certain of obtaining immediate employment, and of becoming in a short time in- dependent and respectable. It frequently happens, indeed, that the dreams of lazy vagabonds, who come to this country with the expectation of being maintained in their idleness, and of enjoying the blessings of our free institutions with- out contributing to their support, are not verified; but the honest, industrious emigrant, who knows how to value the gifts of nature, and to discriminate between political sys- tems, never fails to find all his hopes and wishes, as far as they depend upon human exertions, gratified. T. *The annual product of ground in the vicinity of the large cities, averages at least four times the amount given by the author, by the acre. T. 47 prietors or tillers, from negligence or imposjsibilify, cease to cultivate it. The revenue, or general ])ro- cluct, of land in the United States, must be calculat ed, therefore, with a proportionate allowance for these facts. I do not include in this calculation the rent, or price of tenanted granges and farms, u hich will make about a third of the general product of land in these States: let us allow this, then, to cover the deficit which must necessarily result, in the sum total, from the causes Avliich 1 have men- tioned, and we shall find that the product of land in this country cannot amount to much more than 200 millions of dollars.* It is, however, the most important branch of national wealth. Three fourths of it is consumed in the country, and the balance exported. The product of the woods, mines, and waters, of the United vStates, forms another branch of pub- lic wealth. The Americans obtain from their woods timber for ship building, and for other purposes, for which it is used in other countries; but the timber * To form a just calculation of the annual produce of agriculture in the United States, and of the quality of the land, it is necessary to keep in mind, tliat the bushel (an American measure very nearly corresponding to the fanega of Castille) of seed wheat commonly produces a harvest of 10 bushels, or fanegas — of rye and oats 12 — of Indian corn, spelt and black wheat 15 — of rice 18 — of potatoes and tur- nips 24; and that each field producer, in common, but one crop in the year. 48 iHf in general^ neither durable uor strong, and hence the defect which is observed in their merchant ships.* There is^ however, in the islands and in- lets of the South, much excellent timber, particu- larly the oak, which is employed in the navy, and which is superiour to the greater part of the timber of Europe. From the ashes of the trees, which are burned upon newly cleared lands, they prepare two kinds of Soda or Barilla, from the want of these plants, which do not grow in their territory. The one they call pearl ashes, and the other pot ashes* The first is used for dyes, and the second in the manu- facture of soap, glass, and glazed earthen ware.f They purchase hides and skins from the In- dians, who live altogether by the chace, and this alTords them considerable profit; but those who en- '' No country in the world produces the best quality of ship timber, in greater quantities, than the United States; and the ships, and vessels of every description built here, command a higher price in the European markets, than those of any other country — which would hardly be the case if there were any defect in the timber. T. t This branch of industry employs a great number of saw mills, and affords subsistence to many useful people, princi- pally to a particular race of rough hardy men, who live in the woods, and form an intermediate class between the American farmer and the aboriginal Indian. They are exclusively em- ployed in felling trees and cutting timber: they are robust, intrepid, and half savage. 49 gage in this traffick, are vagrants without a fixed abode. The annual product of the three articles just spoken of, is calculated at fifteen millions of dollars; ten are consumed in the country, and five exported. The fisheries in the rivers and sea, give a pro- duct of from seven to eight millions of dollars. Three millions are exported, and the rest is con- sumed in the country. It is said, that in this branch of industry, from sixty to eighty thousand tons of shipping are annually employed, and from eight to nine thousand fishermen; and that each one brings a revenue to the country of 900 dollars per annum. The fishermen, therefore, constitute the mo^t pro- ductive class to the United States; for it is calcu- lated that the others do not produce more than 450 dollars a head, that is to say, the people who fol- low the sea 700, artists and mechanics 500, free- farmers 400, tlie farming slaves 200, and others employed in different occupations 300. . The raising of cattle gives a product of great consideration in these States, which may be calcu- lated by their number, and the annual consumption and exportation of them. The number of horses in all the States, is estimated at one million and a half: the horned cattle at four millions, and the siieep at ten millions. The number of swine and fowls is ve- ry great. There are consumed in the United States 300 millions of pounds of butter, a million and a half of horned cattle, two millions of sheep, two millions 50 of ho2:s, and fifty millions of fowls. I shall speak of the exportation, when 1 come to treat of the com- merce of the country. e/ This consumption of flesh, in a population of eight or nine millions of inhabitants, would appear disproportioned, did we not know that ati Ameri- can consumes much more than an European. In Europe, it is calculated that a pound of bread, and half a pound of meat or other food, will suffice an individual per diem. An American daily consumes little more than half a pound of bread, but at least a pound of meat, besides butter and potatoes, which make up at least one fourth of his food. In some of the States there are various mines of iron, copper, and lead; and in others of coal: their annual product, however, is not calculated at more than two millions of dollars, nearly the whole of which is consumed in the country. This is a proof that these mines are naturally poor, or that they are badly worked. Manufactures did not begin to be encouraged in the United States, until since the year 1805. Until that epoch, they had remained, as it were, stationary in the country, and the Americans de- pended upon foreign nations, principally upon Eng- land, for the diflPerent articles which they wanted. Attention to them was awakened, in a great mea- sure, by the obstacles thrown in the way of neutral commerce and navigation, hy the belligerent powers. Their annual product may now be calculated at 125 51 millions of dollars, or about 100 millions, after de- ducting the cost of the raw materials, which are, almost all, the produce of agricultue, and of tlie woods and mines of the country. The principal branch of this species of indus- try in the United States, is ship building. The Americans may enter into competition on this point, with the most industrious nations of Europe: they build every sort of vessel with great facility and per- fection, in a short time, and at much less expense than in Spain, although the price of labour is much higher there, than in the dearest country in Europe. The vessels built in Pliiladelphia, Baltimore, and New York, are of the best construction: but those constructed in the Southern States, or with tim- ber from the South, are stronger and more durable. It may be calculated, that they do not construct less, one year with another, in the different ports of the States, than one hundred thousand tons annually. Although their commerce has suffered much since the general peace in Europe, and the build- ing of merchant vessels is consequently considera- bly diminished, yet the American merchants and speculators have not ceased to fill up the void by the construction of privateers and ships of war, which they have sold, and continue to sell, to the revolutionists of Spanish America. They have sold several also to his majesty's government in the is- land of Cuba; and it would be well to have more constructed, on account of the Spanish nation, in 5g the best ship yards of the United States^ for the service of the natioual marine in that hemisphere, since it would save one half the expense it Avould cost to build them in Spain, or in our ultramarine provinces.^ Coaches, chaises, and other wheel carriages, are also manufactured in the principal cities. Car- pentry is sufficiently advanced; and a number of coaches, and a considerable quantity of furniture for the use and decoration of the houses in Cuba and Porto E.ico, and others in that part of America, are exported, with great profit. There are, also, various manufactories for the distillation of liquors, for beer and cyder, and some for refining sugar, but these last are few and imper- fect. In Boston, Rhode Island, and Connecticut, cotton is worked by steam machinery, by means of which it is cleaned, spun, and twisted, at the same time. Manufactories of this kind are also establish- ed in many other places, and the use of steam ma- chinery is becoming general in the country, to their great advantage, since it economizes labour, dimi- nishes expense, and produces the desired effect with facility and promptitude. But the cotton stuffs of this country, are, nevertheless, still of very infe- * It is strange that the Don should recommend the con- struction of ships for his majesty's navy, in the Unitefl States, after stating that all the vessels of the United States are re- markable for the defect of their timber. T. 53 rior quality; they are coarse^ and are but little con sumed. The same may be said of the manufjic- tures of wool, flax, and hemp: the Americans im- port from foreign countries what they require for clothing; the linens and cloths from their manufac- tories are very inferior and coarse, besides being but of trifling quantity. Among the causes which impede the progress and encouragement of their manufactories, may be reckoned the following: the excessive luxury of all clsses; the exorbitant price of labour; the copious introduction of goods from England, France and Germany; the exclusive pas- sion for commerce, in all those who hold capital; and the want of means and faculty in tlie govern- ment to alter this combination of circumstances, and to redeem the country from their dependence upon foreign nations. During the late war with Great Britain, an effort was made to promote the manufacture of fine cloths, and to provide for the deficiency of supply from that nation; and the result was, that some few yards of cloth were woven, as good as the best from English manufactories, but it was doubly expensive; the enterprise was abandoned, and the peace between ihc^ two nations ^i^P^'^l^d even the idea of any similar attempt. The manufactories of hats have been multipli- ed and brought to perfection in the principal cities. That of Danbiiry, in Connecticut, has great repu- tation; and in Boston, New York, Philadelphia 54 and Baltimore, Castor and Wool hats are made^ equal to the best in Europe. There are but few Stocking looms; and the stockings that are woven in those of the different towns and cities, are very coarse: those of Germantown, near Philadelphia, are the best. There is not a single manufactory of silk stuffs in the whole United States; and with the exception of what comes from China, this costly branch of luxury is principally supplied to the Americans by the French Candles of tallow, a few of wax, and a great many of spermaceti, are manufactured in the coun- try. Nantucket, a small town of Rhode Island, has the reputation of making the best spermaceti candles; they are in fact the whitest, but they are inferior to those made in the North of Europe. Paper mills are common in all the States: there is a great consumption of writing, as well as of printing paper, throughout the country, but it is made of cotton, and is of very bad quality. The Americans follow the example of the En- glish in various articles of their industry: they ma- nufacture all sorts of leather articles, which differ but little from the English. They export to the Spanish islands, and others in that quarter of Ame- rica, and even to Venezuela and other places on the Continent, large quantities of horse trappings, shoes and boots, principally from Salem, Boston, Providence, Philadelphia and Baltimore. The 55 best work in leather is done in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and the best tanning in Delaware. Gold and silver are worked in almost all the large cities, and some of the workmanship is very well executed. There is a multitude of watchma- kers and jewellers shops, but they are supplied from France, Switzerland, England and other fo» reign countries. There are several manufactories of common glass, but very few of fine crystal. The manufac- tory in Pittsburg, in Pennsylvania, however, has been for some time past in the highest reputation. A complete service of cut dishes and bottles of all sizes, was made in it for the President of the Union, which in point of cutting may be compared with the most beautiful European glass: the quality of the glass has not the whiteness and brilliancy of that of England. In New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia, there are various forges for working iron; and in many States of the Union, principally in those of the North, they make the most necessary implements of husbandry, carpentry and ship- joinery; but they are neither well made nor well tempered, and it is necessary to have recourse to those which are brought from Europe. Tin ware is indiflTerently made in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and some other States; but copper is still badly worked, and in small quantity, 1>ecause the Americans supply themselves with the 56 greater part of ilie vessels and utensils of this me- tal that they require, from Europe, and especially from Germany. Locksmithery has been lately introduced into the country; hut the workmanship is bad, and so dear, that if a lock is broken, it costs less to pur- chase a new English one, than to have it repaired. Cutlery, and all manufactures of steel, are brought from England. Every species of fire arms, and side arms, are^ manufactured in the States, and cannons of every calibre are cast for the land and sea service. The founderies of Philadelphia, Richmond, and Wash- ington, cast from 200 to 300 cannons a year; and the manufactories of Springfield, New Haven, and Harper's Ferry, make from 20 to 80 thousand mus- kets. As the insurrection in the Spanish provinces of America opened a market of considerable profit for all kinds of arms and munitions of war, the manufacture of these articles in the country has been attended to with greater zeal since that period, and they have continued to export and sell them to the revolutionists. Many have been also carried from Europe in American vessels, principally from the Hanseatic towns, from Holland and France, and being there stored, have been reexported to the revolted provinces of America. But this trallick has of late declined; for the English have under- taken to provide these provinces with arms and mu- nitions of war, and as they furnish them cheaper 57 than the AmeriGans^ they have supplanted the lat- ter, leaving them little or nothing to gain hy that trade. There are also manufactories of gun powder in New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore, and one was established, three or four years ago, hy a Frenchman, near Washington, in the State of De- laware;^ but all these manufactories are of little consideration, badly managed, and very inferior to those of Europe. It will be seen, from what has been said, that the Americans still depend upon Europe in rela- tion to manufactures; and that it is not possible to perfect or multiply their own, under the present system of their government and laws, and during the existing order of things. Each manufactory has, in general, worked hitherto only for the dis- trict, or at most for the state, in w hich it is estab- lished, and the amount of exports of American manufactures for the whole Union is very trifling: tlie value does not exceed the sum of ^xe millions *The author has, several times, made use of the phrase " near Washington, in the State of Delaware," which might lead foreigners into the errour of supposing, that Washing- ton was in that State. Tlie powder mills referred to, are situated on tlie Brandy wine creek, near IVilmin^f-on, in the State of Delaware; and the powder made by M. Dupont, is regarded as inferior to none manufactured iu any part of the world. T. 8 58 of dollars per annum. 1 cannot omit, however, to speak of some machines invented or used in the country; for they deserve the attention of every nation that desires to promote and facilitate the progress of their manufactories. The one is for* making nails, and the other for making wool and cotton cards. The first is worked by water, and makes 140 nails in a minute; the head and shaft of the nail aire made by a single motion. A child may work the machine, and it requires a very small vo- lume of water to give it the requisite motion. It is so constructed, that its motion may be stopped at pleasure in one part, without interrupting thereby the play of the other parts. The Card machine is still more ingenious: to form every double tooth in the card, the machine moves the metal plate, stops it and perforates it, draws the wire, cuts it, stops and doubles it; car- ries it to the frame, introduces it into the little holes previously made in it, and doubles it again: these ten distinct operations are repeated 143 times in a minute, and may be continued at that rate for the whole day, with but little labour. A little boy or girl may set two machines to work at the same time, and make 25 cards a day. The cards are superiour to those made by hand, as their teeth are more regular, stronger, and more elastick. The Sicamhoat is also an invention of that country; but it \s already too well known in Spain^ 59 and in the greater part of Europe, to make it ne- cessary that I should speak of its construction, or its great utility. No one doubts tlie advantages of the Steamboat, for the navigation of rivers and ca- nals, and for military defence at the entrance of ports and bays. The invention is susceptil)le of many improvements, and even of being carried to perfection. The machinist, Fulton, who was its autlior, was the inventor also of anotlier machine, which he oifered to France, and to England; but being ac- cepted by neither power, he finally offered it to the United States, who it appears adopted it. He gave it the name of Torpedo, though it does not produce the effect attributed to this fish, but rather that of an artificial mine. The Torpedo is a box made of copper, whicli is filled and charged witli gunpowder; it has a spring lock within to give fire to the powder at will. The machine is enveloped in a covering of cork, or other light material, floats under the water, and by means of a harpoon appli- ed to the sides of a vessel, it is fixed under the keel, the lock then goes off^ and the vessel is blown up in the same manner that a castle is, by the ex- plosion of a subterranean mine. The Americans have yet had no opportunity of making use of this machine; but they will doubtless employ it, Avlien they consider it necessary or convenient. Terrible, however, as the invention of this mode of destruc- tion may be, there is this consolation to liumanily, 60 that it is not easy to make use of it; for it very rarely and with great difficulty occurs, that the combination of circumstances is altogether favora- ble for striking the harpoon against the sides of an enemy's vessel, and fixing tliis dreadful machine under the keel, without its being discovered and prevented by the enemy. Another invention of this kind is, Avliat is called the infernal machine. This machine was invented by au armourer of Philadelphia. It is composed of seven musket barrels, united by a breech, like the common muskets, but proportioned to the size of the seven barrels: they are loaded with SO balls each, and are so connected, that upon being fired, there is a continued discharge of 210 balls, one after the other, which, having the advan- tage of being directed by a single aim, may all take effect. It may with reason be called an infernal machine; for it is capable of defending against any attack, however powerlul it may be. The Ameri- cans have used it with great success in their naval battles, and to this may be principally attributed the victory in the famous battle of Lake Erie, in which the whole English squadron was captured, owing to the mortality and confusion caused by this machine in one of the English vessels that boarded the American Commodore.-* The Ameri- * This is another mistake of the author: there was no infernal machine on board the fleet of Lake Erie, nor did any of the English vessels board the American Commodore. T. 61 can vessels of war generally carry six of these machines, wliich they place in the chain wales, for the purpose of raking the enemies' decks and de- stroying particularly their officers. The machine has been lately ordered to be used in the army, two to each battallion.* Nothing can be more terrible in land service for the defence against cavalry, or the bayonet, than these machines, nhich may be easily carried upon a mule, and by rceans of a rest, which is planted in the ground w th the greatest facility, they may be pointed to aiy direction re- quired. It is of singular utility in defending breaches from any attack whateveis. I sent one of them to the government of Havanm, with a person to direct how it should be loaded and fired: but notwithstanding my desire, that ill expedient use should be made of it, and though )he illustrious In- tendant Don Alexandro Ramirez (lid every tiling in his power to procure its introduction and general use, it appears that, to this moment, nothing lias been done. '\— *The whole of this account of the use of any infernal machine, in the army or navj, is erroneous. The author, it is supposed, alludes to a repeating gun, invented by Joseph G. Chambers, of Pennsylvania, the property of which is, to fire 224 shots in rapid succession, allowing time, however, to point the piece to a different aim, at each sliot. The House of Representatives of Pennsylvania, passed a resolution au- thorizing the governor to contract w;th the inventor for a very trifling supply of his guns; but thfy were never brouglit into use, either in the army or navy of the United States. T. 6S Commerce of the United States. Commerce appears to be the grand basis of the prosperity, wealth, and power of the United States, But without stopping here to point out the insolidi- ty of this basis, when it is not perfectly combined with the prod ice of the agriculture^ manufactures^ and industry of the country; and without bringing to mind, the destiuctive vices which are always cher- ished in the besom of a Republick or of a state, which owes its grandeur only to commerce, I shall confine myself, at present, to give a succinct, but correct, idea of iliat which is carried on by the An- glo-Americans vith foreign nations. The indepindence of the United States, had scarcely been reilized, and the people of the con- federacy, freed rom their internal conilicts, had scarcely begun tc revive their efforts towards open- ing a vast career to their commerce, when the me- morable revolution of France broke out, and gave origin to the wa's which desolated Europe from that period to the general peace of Paris. The period which elapsed from the year 1789 to 1814, was as tattering and fortunate for the An- glo-Americans, as it was dark and disastrous to the nations of Europe. The former prodigiously aug- mented their number of merchant vessels; and their flag, respected as neutral in every sea, not only carried the productions of their own country to the 63 ports of the belliajerent powers, but the product and merchandize of foreign countries, to the differ- ent markets of Europe and America. Tlie vahie of their exports in 1791 amounted to 19,012,041 dollars, including two or three millions, the value of the produce and merchandize of foreign coun- tries introduced into the United States and thence again exported to the markets of other nations; and the value of imports for the consumption of the country, amounted to 19,082,828.^ Iji proportion as the war became more general in Europe, and the necessity of maintaining large armies and fleetsi required an extraordinary and enormous consump- tion, the commerce of the United States increased with astonishing rapidity; and, with the exception of what it suffered during the embargo, and the war which the government undertook against Great Britain, to please JVapoleoriy-f it did not decline till * According to Blodgefs Tables^ for 1791, the exports, for that year, from the United States, of American produc- tions alone, amounted to the value of 28,206,688 dollars. T. t That one who, like Don Luis De Onis, had on so many occasions experienced the independent firmness of the Ame- rican government, should reiterate the stale accusation of French influence, is really extraordinary. He could have travelled no where through the United States, without find- ing daily occasion to remark the great prevalence of an oppo- site influence, and to verify the observation of a discerning traveller, "that he never saw an Englishman in the country, that was not treated as a native, nor a Frcnchmav that was 64 since the general peace of Europe. 1q the year 1794, the vjilue of exports amounted to 38,013,725 dollars, including 16,848,625 dollars, the value of foreign produce reexported from the country; and the imports from different parts of the world, amounteel to 98,020,51 5, including 46,642,725 of foreign articles, which were in part exported after- wards/ leaving the nett result of imports for the consumption of the country, according to calcula- tion, at 88,900,000. The commerce varied but lit- tle in the last years of the 18th century; and taking as the scale from that period, rhe years 1802, 3 and 4, the result, according to the statements of the Treasury Department, (official) is an average of 148 millions of dollars: in exports 68 millions, to Avit, 24 to England, 4 to llussia and Germany, 9 to "Holland, 12 to France, 7 to Spain, 2 to Portugal, 3 to Italy, 1 to China and Bengal, and the remain- ing 6 to other parts of tlie world; in imports 75 millions, to wit, 86 from England, 7 from Russia and Germany, 6 from Holland, 8 from France, 5 from Spain, 1 from Portugal, 2 from Italy, 6 from China and Bengal, and 4 from other parts of the globe. not treated as a foreigner." The charge is still more strange, as coming from Don Luis, since he seems to take particular delight in calling the citizens of the United States, Jinglo- Jlmericans — a term which can have no other ground of pro- priety for its application, than the prevalence of English sen- timents in the country. T. 65 The articles oi' exportation, >vith tUeii- value, are the following: the productions ol" the country, sucli as salt beef and pork, wheat, flour, and other articles of the animal and ve2;etahle kingdoms, 17 millions; cottons 7 millions; tobacco G millions; lumber, soda, and other productions of the forests, 4 millions; produce of tlie fisheries 3 millions; ma- nufactures of the country 2 millions, amounting in all to 39 millions. The 29 millions remaining are of foreign articles, such as wooHens, linens, sugar, coffee, tea, wines and other liquors which are brought into the country, and exported again for foreign markets. The importations from England, consist prin- cipally in woollen and cotton goods, in hardware and delft: those from Russia, Germany and Hol- land, in cordage, coarse linens, glass and toys; from France, in wines, sweet oil and fruits; from China, in tea and nankins; from Bengal, in white cottons and muslins; and from Spanish America, the French and English Colonies, in coffee, sugar, co- coa, molasses and rum. In the years 1806 and 1807, this commerce reached its maximum — for in the first of these two years, it amounted to 191 millions of dollars, and in tlie second to 211 mil- lions — 103 in exports, for the most part of foreign goods and produce, and 108 in imports. It fell in the succeeding years in consequence of the prohibi- tory decrees of Napoleon, and the Englisli orders 9 66 in council, as well as on account of the embargo^ and the war of the United States with England. Under favourable circumstances, the value of the Anglo-American commerce, cannot be calculat- ed, one year with another, at more than 200 mil- lions; but at present it cannot amount to half that sum, for the general peace in Europe, has not only put a stop to the extraordinary consumption which the armies and ileets of the belligerent powers required, but has also opened the seas to all nations. Eve- ry one brings from America, and other parts of the world, what is wanted for their markets, according to the extent and state of their marine. Hie island of Cuba, opened to foreign commerce, injures the Anglo-Americans, as much as it benefits Spain. The colonial produce, which was before carried by the Americans, is now exported from the island in the vessels of various nations; and if all the possessions in Spanish America, enjoyed a like free commerce with that island, and would not supply themselves as hitherto from the contraband commerce of the English and Anglo-Americans, the revenue of the customs in the Spanish possessions, would produce enormous sums to the treasury; and the commerce of the United States would suffer a still more fatal blow, for they have nothing to export to these pos- sessions, their commerce with them being altogeth- er carried on in foreign goods and produce. The balance of trade is generally against the United States, as it respects the islands of Cuba 67 and Porto Rico, wliicli are the only islands tliat enjoy a free commerce; and the same thing would occur in all the other Spanish possessions, if the same n eans were adopted, to grant them a free trade. They gain by their trade with France, Spain, Portugal, and Italy, but lose with England, China and Bengal. The balance in favour of Eng- land is not less, one year with another, than 12 millions of dollars; and calculating the amount of the balance in their favour with other nations, to co- ver this loss and that which they suffer with China and Bengal, their general loss cannot be less than 7 millions. It may be said, as a certainty, that the English are the only people who gain by their commerce with the Anglo-Americans: the payments which the latter make to the former are in coin; and by this means England opens a certain chan- nel by which she receives all the gold and silver, which the Anglo-Americans derive from Spanish America. And she entertains neither jealoasy nor inquietude about the commerce which they carry on with those possessions, since they export to them nothing but English goods, or such produce as the English have not; and because the most precious returns, gold and silver, and the raw materials of the greatest importance, go to supply her markets, and tlie manufactures from her worksliops go to continue. this trade, so favourable to the interests of her nation and her government. / 68 The Americans derive, notwitlistaiidiiii^, great advantage from this trade^ for they do not fail in ge- neral to gain upon the commodities which they exr port from England, and they have besides the secure benefit of their freight — an advantage which not only seems to cover, but considerably to overba* lance, the result in favour of England, if we com- pare the imports and exports of her commerce with the United States. Bat to judge correctly, on which side the real advantage lies in this commerce, it is necessary to keep in mind, tliat the Anglo- Americans, for want of sufficient funds for the wide extent of these speculations, avail themselves of the credit of the rich capitalists of England, and are consequently obliged to pay the stipulated in- terest upon the \ alue of the articles, for which they are credited. The English derive great benefit from this circulation of their capital, for there is no nation that possesses it in such considerable and disposable quantity: they neither pay for in ad- vance, nor sell upon credit, any thing but articles manufactured in their OAvn country; and besides the advantage which they have in the copious ex- portation of these articles, in which their manufac- tories abound, they enjoy that of the interest just spoken of, and that of receiving payment from the Anglo-Americans only in effective money, or raw materials not produced in their own country, which they manufacture and sell again to the same Anglo- 69 Americans at a very considerable proiit: so lliat the mercliants or speculators of the United States, are compelled to repurchase from England, at 20 millions of dollars at least, the very same thing which they sold for five, if we take into this cal- culation the necessary expense of freight. England has continued thus constantly to draw from the United States the money that comes into them, and to reduce the commerce of that country to a mere deceitful chimera, from which none but their capi- talists and manufacturers really draw any solid profit; and it is clear, too, that while it drains these States of money, it impedes, paralizes or destroys their industry, by the flattering illusion which tliis round of continual speculation and of constant anxiety keeps up. The Anglo-Americans are be- witched by a sort of fanaticism, which does not permit them to see tlie absolute dependence in which England holds them. They know very well, that their industry cannot enter into competition wilh that of England, because their country is scarcely peopled even on the sea coasts, and borders of the great rivers, and because wages are excessively dear in it: and they know, that they want both po- pulation and macliinery to facilitate labour, and eco- nomize hands and expense — essential circum- stances, in which England has a decided advan- tage, not only over the United States, but over eve- ry other people, even the most civilized and indus- 70 jtfj trious. But iiotwitlistanding their knowledge of all this, they have hitherto made no efforts to change the course of their commerce, and under- take a system adapted to their true interests. The country is exhausted of money, and it is believed that the amount of it at present in circulation, in all the States of the Union, does not exceed 20 millions of dollars. This scarcity of effective funds, and the failures which are continually suc- ceeding each other throughout the country, have debased credit and publick confidence. The Banks had facilitated the speculations of the merchants, by giving them, in paper money, the sums they wanted, in exchange for their notes at a discount of six per cent, per annum; but so excessive has been the multitude of Banks in that country^ and so dis- proportioned to their specie^ the quantity of paper money which they had and still have in circulation, that the publick have no longer any confidence in them, and only suffer them from the consideration of not losing the whole. The Banks would be de- clared in a state of bankruptcy, were all or the greater part of the individuals who hold their pa- per to demand payment in specie. The Bank of the United States, wliicli was created two years ago as a national establishment, under the direction of the government, is that which is most in discre- dit; and, at the last session of Congress, memori- als were presented from various States of the Union, 71 petitioning for its abolition on account of the scan- dalous frauds and robbery of the publick, commit- ted by its directors and officers. TJie reasons al- leged against this Bank were but too weighty, and the proofs but too evident; but as the Executive poAver had a decided interest in supporting it, for the sake of using its funds in their necessities, no- thing was decreed against it, except to place it un- der the immediate inspection of the Treasury De- partment, and by this means at the absolute dispo- sal of the Executive power.* Thus, then, with- out sufficient funds to pursue their mercantile spe- culations, and without credit either in or out of the *The Act to incorporate the subscribers to the B^ink of the United States, was passed in April, 1816. It was esta- blished with a capital of 55 millions of dollars, one fifth part of which only was subscribed by the United States: its affairs are governed by twenty five directors, J5-^iotal ;r22,925 tlollars. The Senators, >\ith their Secretary, ollieers and < lerks, 10,150 — the I loose of Kepresenlatives 10,000 dollars.^ All the trihnnals of justice, mai:;istrates, jiidi^es, attornies and tlependents, paid hy the general ^o- 't Tlu' aullicr lia^ nuulc an riuninous misJakc in Mio i>\- jKMisos ol Coii«»;ross, info wliich hr was, pt'ihans, UmI, I)v the lU'vtMM'inrm'; ( ly ot lha( bod^ [or ccoiKniiif. I)(m Onis, no doub(, (lu)u;;h( i( iinpoHHibIc, thai IIjchi' servants of the pub- lick, vvilh (l\o (l»ariLi;e of exiiava^anre lonruiually in their numtliH a^aiiisl all o/Z/rr pnljlu k runclionaries, sluuild tln'in- selves receive a eoinpejisaiiun, amount ina; (0 eonsiileial)ly more Ihan half tlie sum wliich he has stated as the annual expense of iuir p)vernn»ent. 'V. 101 vernment in all the tenitories and States ot* the. Union, by a calculation nearly apyiroaching tlie truth, do not cost more than 90^000 dollars a year. The government pays only those in actual service; it gives neither pensions nor sinecures; the expense, therefore, is increased or diminished, in proportion to the number of persons employed. Foreign mi- nisters receive a salary of 9,000 dollars a year, and 9,000 outfit, whicli amounts to 18,000 dollars for the first year, and as they are in general fre- quently changed, and moved from place to place, according to the favour they enjoy, it follows that the extraordinary expenses are very great. The Secretaries of Legation have 2,000 or 2,500 dol lars a year: the consuls have no salary, with the exception of those in the regencies of Africa. Notwithstanding this, in the year 1816, the whole of those employed, did not cost more than 92,332 dollars. The Mint, and all employed in it, cost 12,735 dollars per annum. So that the publick ex- penses, the civil list and judiciary, the foreign de partment, together with what is paid to the gover- nors of territories, and allowing a large sum for incidental or extraordinary expenses, do not amount to 700,000 dollars a year. The Army and Navy are the two objects of greatest expense to tlie government, but in time of peace the first consists only of ten thousand men, commanded by two major ii;eneral>s and four 1)riga- lOS diers; and the navy is dismantled, except a few vessels in commission — so that, even in these two branches, which cost most to the national treasury, the expenses become very much reduced. The great art of the government is always to apportion the amount of its expenses to that of its certain revenue, and to save something from the product of the latter, every year. Notwithstanding this prudent conduct, however, their immense engage- ments during the war of the revolution; the dis- bursements for the purchase of Louisiana, and va- rious Indian frontier territories, and the expenses of the late war with Great Britain, have formed a national debt, which presses but too heavily upon the government of the Union. On the 1st of Janu- ary, 1818, it amounted to 116,490,582 dollars, notwithstanding the periodical redemption and ex- tinction of large sums. But the general govern- ment has appropriated the publick lands for the payment and extinction of this debt, and some other resources, under the management of a special commission, which proceeds with the greatest ac- tivity and exactitude in the discharge of this im- portant duty; and it is probable, that within a few years the whole debt will be redeemed and ex- tinguished, if the United States continue at peace with all nations, or if some unfortuate event should not disturb the present order of things in that coun- try. 103 The view which the United States present, in this and many other respects, is douhtless glori- ous and admirable: the progress which they have made in only forty years of existence; the rapid increase of their population, their wealth, their physical strength, and their resources, all appear great, if we compare the short period in which they have acquired this power and splendour, with the series of ages which it has required for other na- tions to raise themselves to a flourishing and re- spectable state. But the people of the United States are not, in reality, a new people: they are a mixture of people, who have emigrated from the most civilized nations of Europe, and who have carried with them to that country, all the light and knowledge which these nations have been many ages in acquiring. The extraordinary events Avhicli have disturbed and afflicted all Europe, and the subsequent convulsions in Spanish America, have given to them that wealth, and power, and gran- deur of attitude, of which they now boast. This people, however, do not appear capable of raising themselves to that colossal greatness to which they aspire, nor to any solid aiul lasting glory. A compound of individuals of various na- tions, they have no true national character, and devoted to commerce and speculation, interest is their idol. They carried with them to the deserts of North America, the corruption and the vices of 10^1 the most degeiieraie people in Europe;^ and this corruption and these vices have met with no bar- riers in a country where all are free, and where luxury and an insatiable thirst of gold are the pre- dominant passions: ejofreme egotism, avarice, and other sordid passions, distinguish the character of the Americans.'^ Their manners, in general, re- semble tliose of tiie English, though they are al- ways accompanied with a certain rusticity, and a provoking arrogance that particularize them. The inhabitants of the United States are descended for * Let tlie reader compare this with what the author has said on llie foregoing page, and he will discover a direct < ontradiction — 'There, he says, they brought with them •' all the light and knowledge" of " the most civilized nations of Europe''.' T, t It was to be expected, after the " glorious and admi- rable" view, wdiich this extraordinary wTiter had just given of the present state and future prospects of the people of the United States, that he would turn the canvass, and exhibit the reverse of the picture. Such is the plan of his memoir, from beginning to end; and such a plan was essential to the attainment of the object for which he wrote it. It was ne- cessary to give all due weight to the power and resources of the United States, in order to show the little prospect there was of his being able to bully them into a more ad- vantageous treaty; and it was equally necessary to express his contempt for the people, in order to prove that he was not influenced by fear or respect, to yield to all their de- n)ands. T. 105 the most part from English families,"^ and al- though a multitude of individuals from other na- tions are incorporated in their population, the an- glomania is always prevalent. The institutions of the country, copied chiefly from those of Eng- land; the same laws for the administration of jus- tice in civil and criminal cases; the same language, the same enthusiasm for commerce, and the same spirit of domination and pride, render the two peo- ple very similar. The Anglo-American looks up- on every nation with disdain or contempt, admir- ing the English only, and making it a glory to draw his origin from her.f But their situation at the head of the New World, without rivals to impede or restrain their march; an immense and varied surface of territory; their rapid and asto- nishing progress in population, the arts and indus- * He has just before said, that the people of the United States brought with them to America the corruption and vices of the most degenerate nation in Europe: whether he meant to give England this enviable preeminence, by stat- ing so immediately afterwards, that they are for the most part from that country, his English Reviewers may inquire. T. t This is better and better. How will the Don recon- cile this character of the American people, or the Anglo- JimericanSt as he is pleased to style them, with his down- right assertion, that they went to war with England, to please JS*apoleon? — T. 14 106 try; the brilliant series of tlieir prosperity; the powerful success of their arms in the late war against Great Britain; and the respect which they fancy they havfe inspired in the principal powers of Europe^ have raised their vanity to an extreme, of which it is scarcely possible to form an idea. They consider themselves siiperiour to the rest of mankind, and look upon their Republick as the only establishment upon earth, founded upon a grand and solid basis, embellished by wisdom, and destined one day to become the most sublime colossus of human power, and the wonder of the universe. It is not only in the mouths of enthusi- asts, or demagogues, who seek to inilame the ima- ginations of the mob with ^edtictive and exalted ideas, that this language is heard; it resounds from every side. The works of all the Anglo-Ameri- can writers, are strewed with these hauglity senti- ments, these brilliant predictions, suggested by an overweaning vanity. Their publick monuments attest the excess of this pride and ostentatious con- fidence. The house in which the Congress hold their sessions, they call the Capitol: a little rivulet near it, about three yards wide and a fourth deep, they denominate the Tiber. Many of the meanest settlements, have the names of the most celebrated cities of Greece and Rome.* Every thing breathes * Paris, London, Madrid, and even Rome itself, were m their origin perhaps as inconsiderable and mean, as the 107 extreme affecfation and vanity iu the United States; but the sensible man, who examines things with impartiality and profound retlexion, cannot but foresee the ruin of these States, in the blind im- petuosity of their ambition, and the excess of their pride. The very Constitution, in which they glo- ry, involves the elements of their discord and dis- solution. A federative Republick, where the in- terests of the States are at variance with each other, and where the passions and vices carry every thing before them, would be a singular phenomenon in the history of human establishments, if it should endure long. The States of the South are de- pendant for nothing upon those of the North: their interests, and even the feelings and customs of the inhabitants, are diflPerent. Those of the East are, as it were, insulated from both; and it is New Or- leans only, and the regions of the Mississippi, that offer a brilliant and flattering prospect to their trade and speculations. These States and all those that at present exist, or that may hereafter l)e formed, in the vast regions of the Mississippi and the Mis- souri and along their waters, will of necessity breali the chain which unites them to the federa- tion; for their relations and their interests will not new villages in our country that bear high sounding names. It is not the name that makes the city important or ridicu- ious. T. 108 then depend, nor do they now depend, npon the Atlantic States^ and the immense distance which separates them^ will stimulate their inhabitants to the division. The federal government appears to be in- satiable in the acquisition of territory: it has ne- ver ceased more and more to extend the limits of the country, and every day to enlarge them with new acquisitions; but it does not reflect, that in the wide extent which it has given, and goes on to give, to the countries of the Republick, it is sow- ing the seed of its future political dissolution. The Anglo-Americans have heretofore been fortunate, for the Republick has yet experienced none of the torments which are accustomed to spring up in every country, in which a popular government pre^ vails. Their population, scattered over an im mense territory, in small cities, (for with the ex- ception of Philadelphia, New York, Baltimore, Boston and Charleston, there is not one that de- serves even the name of town,) and at insulated points, very distant from each other, there has been no possibility yet of conflicting shocks; but from the moment this population is increased, united, and formed into a large and compact mass, com- motions and convulsions will be inevitable. The federal or general government has not sufficient strength to prevent or dispel this crisis, nor to hin- der its ominous results. The executive power is 109 badly combined Avith the legislative and judi cial: it wants the most indispensable faculties for causing obedience to the laws, and maintaining good order in the country; and it has power and existence only by the continual exertion of an astute and seductive policy, whose object is to blind the people with flattering and false appearances, to in- trigue in elections, and to gain a preponderant party in the legislative body. It lias no other eftectual means of succeeding but by corruption in the elec- tions, and bribing those representatives who have most influence and most power in congress, with posts and places that are at its disposal. The peo- ple are acquainted with these abuses, and declaim against them. The gazettes and periodical papers throughout the Union, abound in vehement decla- mations upon this particular. The democrats and federalists carry on a war with the pen, clamorous in the extreme: each party pleads in behalf of those whom it wishes to raise to pow er, and abuses tlieir antagonists; but the executive power, and the legis- lative body, 'pursue their unalterable course^ and are either insensible to the clamours of the publich- papers, or despise them.^ They are all accustoni- * Whether the author intended it or not, he has certain- ly paid here a hi;;;h compli:nent to the conscious rectitude and strength of tlie American <;overnnient. It keeps the " even tenour of its way," in full confidence, that, however gazettes and demagogues may declaim and rail, there is a saving virtue in the people to secure the stability of the Union. T, 110 ed to hear these declamations, and even the most vigorous and authentick accusations, but nothing makes an impression upon them. The liberty and well being of the state, then, are in the hands of congress, for the Constitution has clothed them with great power, and has entrusted to them the direc- tion and the destinies of the Republick: but intrigue and factions have prevailed in it for years past. The Executive power began to enslave it, if I may so speak, from the first years of the presidency of Madistyn; and if this influence continues to increase, the meetings of congress must necessarily become a mere formality. The Executive will seize the sceptre, and the confederation will go to ruin: some States will submit to the person Avho has the great- est influence, and others will separate from the Union, and constitute themselves under a different system* Such are the effects which, in the natural or- der of things, the conflict, or badly organized union, of these two powers, will one day produce. \ The judiciary enjoys an entire independence; but \ it has not, nor can it have, any influence upon the \publick destinies of the confederation. Limited to the administration of civil and criminal justice, it decides according to the laws and established forms of the country; and often by the dictum of the judges, for the Anglo-American legislation is the most informal, tlie most vague, and the most vici- ous, of which I have any knowledge. It consists of all the old farrago of the English laws, and the Hi successive accuthulation of acts and general orders of Congress: to this chaos is added an immense multitude of commentators, casuists and Avriters of jurisprudence, who open a field of infinite extent for the opinions and subtilties of the dialectician and forensick metaphysician. The judges pro- nounce arbitrarily, and it is very common to see one decide for, and another against, in the same case, and under circumstances perfectly equal. Besides the general laws of the Union, thei^ are particular laws in each state, made by its re- spective legislature; and hence it results, that what is a capital crime in one state, is not so in another, and that a debtor, who has no means of paying his debts, is free in some states, and sent to prison in others. This difference favours the frauds of the corrupt, and affords impunity to crimes, and triumph to collusion and swindling. Under such a legisla- tion, imposition must become an art, and in fact there is no country in the world, wliere tliere is so much of it. The lawyers convert the forum into a hall of ostentatious declamation and refined so- phistry: they support the ^?ro and tbe con witli equal serenity, and always find in the laws some text or other in their favour.^ It may be said, * fVe wonder, if the author ever saw a country, in which the lawyers did not support the pro and the cu}i >vith "equal serenity," or a code of laws, in whicli, if the gentlemen had skill and ingenuity, they would not find ** some text or other in their favour." T. lis that no art has made such progress in the United States as the ait of pleading, orforensick intrigue: it af^'ords considerable fortunes to those who follow it; and it rarely happens that the lawyer does not accumulate wealth, or acquire, a brilliant establish- ment — their number consequently is immense. In a single city in the United States, no doubt more lawyers would be found, than in a whole province, or perhaps a whole kingdom, of Europe. In a country where the people are moderate and enlightened, and where the laws are simple, clear and definite, the institution of trial by jury is in its nature excellent, but it is of little use in the United States; for not being yet in that condition, the judge there has always too much influence on the jury, and even sometimes dictates to tliem, how they should decide in the case before them. In criminal cases, the proceeding is generally conduct- ed with great humanity, or with great indulgence; and the repugnance to inflict capital punishment is so great, that I have been present at trials of the most horrible cases, even for assassinations well proved, wliere the delinquent has escaped, under the pretext of some informality in the process. In cases of this nature, the law has no modification of punishment, and the culprit must either be acquit- ted or condemned: an informality in the process prevents his being condemned, and he is conse- quently acquitted. There is a case well known throughout the Union, of a rich Jew at Norfolk 113 having a few years ago piiblickly assassinated an honorable merchant of that city, and being permit- ted to go at large, on the very spot where the assas- sination was committed, saved from the gallows by this means. With regard to civil cases, the pas- sions meet in conflict as every where else, and in- trigue exercises all its power. In suits instituted by foreigners against Anglo American citizens, the ju- ries very seldom decide against their countrymen^ for patriotism will not always suffer them to fulfil the strict duties of equity, particularly where it opposes the predominant policy, which is to let no money go out of the country. The laws furnish subterfuges to elude the most clear and tenable ac- tions, and the judges generally lean to the interest of the country, even when they are conscious it wants both reason and justice. Law suits are interminable, when the lawyers unite for that purpose; and they act witli absolute independence, in the direction and prosecution of suits, almost always without consulting the parties, and without asking any information or instruction from them, after they have taken upon themselves the prosecution or defence, and received the docu- ments and papers upon which either is founded. They make the parties pay exorbitant fees, and almost always in advance. 1 might here enumerate other vices and abuses 6f judicial proceedings in the United States^ all id 114 emanating from the defect of the laws, and the ar- bitrariness of the judges, as well as from the tor- tuous course which the lawyers are permitted freely to pursue. I will merely remark, that in no coun- try in the world, is there so much use made of oaths in tribunals, or where perjury is less common. But the only punishment that results from the proof of a witness, or either of the parties (for both must establish their action by oath) having committed perjury, is that his testimony produces no effect.* In criminal suits, it is necesary that the crime should be completely and superabundantly proved. * Don Luis de Onis, in this, shows himself either more ignorant of the laws of our country than, from his situation, might have been expected, or designedly guilty of misrepre- sentation. From his avowed attendance upon our courts, it is not probable he could have been ignorant, that 'perjury was a capital offence; but his feelings and prejudices, in the trials for piracy (as he is pleased to term it,) which took place at Baltimore, and to which he subsequently alludes, led him to regard every witness as perjured, whose testimony went to acquit the South American patriots, who were the accused. If the judges and juries of Baltimore have no greater fault to answer for on the great day of account, than their acquit- tal of those who were arraigned on that charge, they may sleep for ever without feeling a single sting of conscience. No evidence could be more explicit, no pleadings could be freer from sophistry, no law could be less susceptible of ca- vil, than those under and by which, the trials alluded to re- sulted in the acquittal of the accused. T. 115 before the penalty of the law can he imposed: if the proof is not complete and superabundant, the accused escapes, (as 1 have before said) without having any arbitrary penalty inflicted on him. If an individual is prosecuted in an action for a defi- nite crime, and the guilt is not completely establish- ed, but legal proof comes out in the course of tlie trial, that the accused has committed some still greater crime, he is acquitted, and suffered to es- cape, because the action was not brought aginst that particular offence. The object of legislation being to prevent the perpetration of crimes, by giving a terrible warning and example to the publick, in the punishment of delinquents, and to administer jus- tice with rigorous exactitude, to afford triumph to truth, and to dispel the falsehoods, frauds, and so- phistries that obscure it, it appears that the laws of the United States do not completely fulfil this ob- ject; at least, the practice of the tribunals manifests the contrary. I must further add, that the Presi- dent, in all the States, and the governors, in their respective States, have the power of pardoning ca- pital off'ences, giving absolute impunity to the cul- prits, as if they were perfectly innocent, from a ge- nerosity, in my opinion, badly understood. What I have said will suffice to give a com- prehensive idea of the legislation and forensick sys- tem of the Anglo-Americans, and of the faculties and conduct of ih^ judiciary in their republick, to 116 which it may be added, that they are not exempt, from the influence of the Executive, nor of the peo- ple, as experience has shown, by their partiality in the causes of piracy brought before the tribunals and juries of Baltimore; a thing which no unpre- judiced Anglo-American will dare to contradict, if he really entertains a love for his country. I will conclude this part of my subject by remarking, that although the judiciary, from the confusion of the laws and the prevailing vices of forensick practice, do not prevent the evils for which their institution is designed, they act in a separate sphere, neither dependent upon, nor holding any intercourse with, the other two powers. This branch, therefore, can have no part or influence, as I have said, in the struggle or conflict which exists between them, from the very nature of the constitution, and which must every day become more and more general, in pro- portion to the progress of corruption in manners, and the height to which ambition and other power- ful passions are carried in a young country. The people are generally well instructed in all the principal points that concern their interests, in the progress of the government, and in many of the dangers to which the Republick is exposed. The periodical papers and gazettes which inundate the country, show all this to the publick, well or ill, ac- cording to the views of the editors, or according to the party or passions they espouse. The govern- 117 ment also has its pensioned editors, who support and eulogize its conduct. Every body reads the publick papers in that country, and there is scarce- ly an individual in a thousand, who does not know how to read and write; and even in the most mise^ rable hamlets, in the cottages, and in the woods, the gazettes are received and read. The carman and the most rustick peasant, the mariner, the artisan, the labourer, all, all are informed of the state of publick affairs, and all talk politicks;* but their ideas are always superficial, and the result, as is natural, is that they are led away by the dema- gogue who happens to have most eloquence and most popularity. The two parties which have had the strongest conflict in the Republick, are the democrats and the federalists: the first is composed of what is every where called the vulgar, and the second of men of standing and wealth, distinguished not only for their fortunes, but also for their education and the splendour in which they live. Both parties aspire * And yet the author predicts the ruin of such a country and such a people ! No. While the artisan and the labour- er, the mariner and the peasant, all, are instructed in pub- lick affairs; while they can all read the gazettes and think for themselves, demagogues may declaim, foreigners may write and predict its dissolution, but the Republick will still hold ^ts " stand upon the adamantine rock of human rights." T. 118 to posts of authority in the Republick, and this is the principal object of their emulation and fortune. The democrats wish for the establishment of an Agrarian law, an equality of fortunes, and an abso- lute confusion of classes; but not being able to ac- complish it to the extent of their wishes, they make the greatest efforts to occupy the places of highest honour and profit; and as they embrace the multitude in their number, they carry every thing before them in elections, Avhen the federalists do not exert all their influence and power, to prevent, or neutralize at least, the frenzy of the popular party, and re- strain their unbounded excess and corruption. The system of the federalists consists in giving the prin- cipal posts and authority to meritorious persons, and such as enjoy estates and considerable fortunes, distinguished for their character and talents — cir- cumstances which are seldom found united except in those of their party: hence, then, proceeds the origin of their opposition to the democrats, who la- bour to concenter every thing in adventurers and those who belong to their faction; and since the elevation of Jefferson to the Presidency, their tri- umph has been complete, and it continues with lit- tle difference under the present President, for the federalists have shown themselves passive or indif- ferent, abandoning themselves to a sort of apathy. 119 ominous without doubt to the prosperity of the Re- publick.* When the Presidents are of the democratick party, they distribute offices only among their own party, and leave nothing undone to please the po- pulace, and obtain the favour of the multitude: they thus manage to keep themselves for a long time at the head of the nation, and to be reelected a second time — that is to say, for eight years, as has already been the case with all the Presidents, with the ex- ception of the second, Mr. Adams, over whom de- mocracy triumphed, giving him a successor at the end of the first four years. The present President, * It is not possible, that the author can here be giving the result of his own observations: there is too much in it of the slang of party, to have come from one who felt no party attachments. There seems to be a strange and unaccountable sympathy, existing between all foreigners, of a certain class, and that party, to which Don Onis assigns all the respectability and talents of the country. No intimacies are formed, vvliile such foreigners remain in the country, but with them — no familiar intercourse, by which alone they could judge of the characters of men, subsists but with them; hence it is, that they find estates, character, and talents so "seldom united, except among the federalists." No foreigner, unprompted, could think of denominating nineteen twentieths of any peo- ple, a political faction, and that is about the proportion be- tween the two parties, of which he speaks, in the United States. But such ridiculous absurdities scarcely deserve no- tice. T. 120 Monroe, although of tlie democratick party, is a man extremely moderate, sagacious and enlightened: he has endeavoured to unite the two parties, and has succeeded to a certain degree; but they are now beginning to form two other parties, denominated of the North and South; and as the latter will have the preponderance in Congress within a few years, a division of the Union into two or more republicks w ill be the inevitable result. It is probable, that in the next election Monroe will be confirmed in the Presidency for another four years. Political stjstem, and relations of the United States with the different powers of the Globe, The United States had scarcely seen their in- dependence acknowledged, tranquillity and good or- der established in their Republick, and the place set- tled which they were to hold among independent powers, when they formed the ostentatious project of driving from the continent of America the nations that held possessions on it, and of uniting under their dominion, by federation or conquest, the whole of the colonies. As a preparation to realize this gigantick plan, the United States began by procur- ing a geographical and statistical survey of the whole continent, and islands which they coveted. They sent emissaries every where, and eyen mili- ISl tary expedition?, under the orders of well intorracd and experienced chiefs, to explore the internal pro- vinces of Mexico, and the islands of Porto Rico and Cuba; they procured correct maps of those do- minions of Spain; made themselves acquainted with the soil, climate and productions; formed connexions with their inhabitants, and endeavour- ed to scatter amon^ them the seeds of indepen- dence, proclaiming that the happiness they en- joyed in their Republick was due to their wise Con- stitution. The travels of captains Pike, Lewis and Clark, through the interior provinces of New Spain, had this object; and they furnished exact maps of that country, and information till then unknown even among ourselves, as Avell upon the advantages which might be derived from a commerce with those countries, as upon their climate, number of inhabi- tants and Indians that peopled them, troops that garrisoned them, and passes badly defended or ne- glected, through which entrance might be gained with facility into the kingdom of Mexico. The Spanish commandants in the interior provinces, in- stead of opposing these incursions, which they ought to have regarded as hostile, permitted them, whether from fear of committing the nation with the United States, or because they believed that they were not of much consequence. But let the object have been what it might, of this there is no doubt, that the Anglo-Americans, encouraged by this proof 16 isa of our weakness, l)ecame every day more daring, and had scarcely taken possession of Louisiana, when they demanded as a part of it, the territory be- tween the river Mermenta and the Sabine, of which possession had not been given at its delivery. Onr commandants of Tehas, withont force to defend this territory, made a convention with the United States, in Miiich it was stipulated that tlie whole of the country should remain neutral and unoccupied by either power; and altlioiu;!! our government did not sanction this convention, it appears from the fact of their not having afterwards occupied the conntry, that they tacitly acknowledged it. 1 will not stop to ennmerate here the infinite prejudices Avhich we have sustained from this, since it is no- torious tliat it is in that country, all the armaments have been fitted out that have invaded the kingdom of Mexico: I will merely remark, that this confir- mation of onr weakness discovered to the United States, that they might, without risk, atlempt to unite to their territory, those possessions of the mo- narchy whidi most fiattered their wishes. The revolution in Spain, and our struggle with the usurper of the throne, presented them a fa- vourable occasion for it, which they did not lose. Tiiey began by exciting a party at Baton Rouge against the authorities of the king: they persuaded them to declare their independence, and to solicit their aggregation to the Republick; and this Re- 1S3 publick, ready to profit by a revolution wliicli she had excited with that view^ sent her troops into the territory^ under the pretext of restoring order, and subsequently incorporated it with her dominions by act of Congress. They employed tlie same cunning against Ame- lia Island, and attempted the same thing against Mobile, and the rest of the territories of West Flo- rida as far as the river Perdido; but the inhabitants not having answered their wishes, tlie government resorted to Congress for authority to take posses- sion of those territories by force, sliould circum- stances require it. The President of the United States, under the sanction of tliat authority, ordered siege to be laid to Mobile, and general Wilkinson took possession of tlie place w ithout firing a mus- ket, for which his prowess was celebrated in mock- ery in all the publick papers, comparing Wilkin- son to Buonaparte, he having, as they said, con- quered the place with gold, instead of using the sword. By virtue of this capture of Mobile, the boundaries of the Republick w ere extended as far as the river Perdido, and the President contented himself with replying to my protests against tliis aggression, that the territories should remain in tlie power of the United States, as they had I)een in that of Spain, subject to an amicable negotiation; but notwitlistanding tliis, they were immediately lS4f incorporated with the dominions of the Republick, by another act of Congress. The same system was in agitation with regard to Mexico^ Caraccasj the Internal provinces, San- ta Fe^ Buenos Ayres^ Cuba^ and even the Philip- pines, and if the eff'ect they promised themselves wa^ not produced, still they did not abandon the plan of invading these provinces of the Spanish monarchy, and weakening and dividing them, to the end that they might offer them their protection, and unite them to their dominions. Such is the policy of the Republick of the United States as it regards themselves, and Spain, which is the near- est power, and with which it has relations of the greatest interest. We may be firmly persuaded, that nothing but the obstacles which were opposed on our part, could have made them change their system; for that power is not like Spain^ Portugal, and many others that travel on almost without a system, or under one that is subject to change with every change of minister or sovereign. The Unit- ed States form their plan with wisdom and mature reflection, and pursue it with intrepidity, as does England: whoever may be their governors, it is not altered one jot; unless certain vicissitudes or trea- ties, by changing their relations and interests, im- periously require it. Let us now see what is their particular system with regard to England. There seems to be no 125 room for doubt^ that the United Stater^ are firmly re- solved to get possession of the provinces of Canada, New England* and the rest of the islands that Great Britain possesses on the continent of Ameri- ca.f As this cannot be done at once, and it would be an absurdity to enter into conflict at present witli that power, the United States^ with the view of gra- dually preparing for this conquest, are going on to extend themselves by means of purchases, exchang- es and negotiations, in the territories of the Indians that border upon these provinces; they are garrison- ing all the points that can conduce to their defence, or furnish support to their attacks; they are daily augmenting their navy; organizing their army; J fortifying all the points by which their territory might be invaded; and, as they know they have no engineers suflRciently scientifick for this object, they * JVew Scotland, or Nova Scotia, tlio author probably means. T. t This is a literal translation from the original, which is, y demas islas que posee le Gran Bretana en et continente de America. What the author means, by calling Canada, and New England, islands, and by islands on a continent, the rea- der must endeavour to find out. T. jWhen speaking of the military force of the United States, the author said, that the army was badly organized, that they had no idea of modern tactics, that they had learn- ed nothing since the war of independence, and that it never could be otherwise. It suits his purpose, at present, to take a different view of the subject. T. 1S6 have taken into their service general Bernard, one of Buonaparte's most celebrated officers^ and are employing him with the greatest zeal in this affair. The ac([uii5ition of the Floridas, will not only round off their possessions in the South, but it will enable them to establish one of the best arsenals in the bay of Tampa, and by means of this establishment (which we have either despised or been ignorant of) and the forces whicli tliey may keep in it, and in the port of Pensacola, they will be able, in case of war with Grreat Britain, considerably to obstruct their commerce to the islands in the Bahama chan- nel, and even to take possession of them, for the purpose of going on afterwards in their prepara- tions for the conquest of the Antilles.* It is not possible that Great Britain can be ig- norant of these manoeuvres; but feeling secure in her immense strength, she has despised this petty power, firmly persuaded that she holds in her hands the means of destroying them the moment they at- tempt it; and I have no difficulty in believing it to a certain extent, for I saw that she might have ac- complished it in the late war, if she had felt less con- tempt for the Anglo-Americans, and had carried on the war with them, with the same circumspection, she had used against Buonaparte. *This is really a brilliant scheme, and one which shows that the United States are not so petty a power, as the author calls them a few lines below. T. 127 I respect tlie policy of Great Britain, for I know that no Cabinet possesses this science in a more eminent degree; but I admire also tliat of the United States^ who with a population already in- creased to about ten millions of inhabitants, arc not intimidated by their colossal enemy, but are going on to prepare with wise precaution, not only to defend themselves against her, but to take ad- vantage of every circumstance that may contribute to humble her. As with this view, and to take from her the sceptre of the ocean to which tliey aspire, they believe that France, and some other maritime powers, may render them assistance, they omit nothing in their system of policy that can pro- pitiate their favour, gratifying them in every thing that does not directly oppose their general pjan, whilst in their character and national pride, they have a sovereign contempt for all: and they regard England only, which is the power they most liate, with some respect, making it all their glory to have descended from her.* The United States have no direct interests, but with the three powers mentioned, Spain, Eng- land and France; but their general system embraces all, and, however strange it may appear, is direct- ed to the excitement of wars and dissentions be- *This paragraph of the author possesses the true diplo- matick ambiguity — meaning any thing or nothing. 'I'. 1^8 twceii them: for as the result of this would be that they could carry on no commerce^ tlie Americans would transport the merchandize of all the belli- gerent powers, and would enjoy, in their destruction and dissentions, the brilliant prospect of getting rid of their flour and other productions, and even of promoting their manufactories, which they know cannot enter into competition with those of JEngland, while peace subsists in Europe. Amidst all this, a greater or less predilection for these powers, forms a part of their system, ac- cording to the degree of influence which they pos- sess in the general affairs of Europe, and the great- er or less utility or prejudice to be derived from them to their commerce. Hence it is, that with Denmark, Sweden, Austria, Prussia, Naples, and the rest of the petty courts of Grermany and Italy, with which they have but very trifling commercial relations, and from which they liave nothing to fear, the United States confine themselves to a cor- respondence of civility, and to acquiring from them all possible preference in their commerce. They have some greater consideration for Holland, under the remote idea that their navy, together with that of France, may some day unite with their own against England. They regard Russia with dis- tinguished courtesy, for the influence which she has in all the affairs of Europe, although the com- merce they carry on with that power is of little mo- 129 ment. Portugal they look upon as a nullity, or ra- ther as a colony of Great Britain, and therefore en- deavour to do her all possible evil, by fomenting dis- sentions in h^r provinces, and by arming privateers in their ports under the insurgent flag, for tlie pur- pose of ruining and destroying her commerce. With regard to the Port and the Barbary powers, the United States have refused to give them any donation, and for the purpose of protect- ing their commerce, they constantly keep a squad-* ron in the Mediterranean, which has the double object of exercising their sailors, and of being al- ways ready to take advantage of circumstances. In respect to the revolutionists of America, it has already been said, that the United States flat- tered themselves that by promoting their independ- ence, various republicks might be formed, which, but little able to defend themselves against the mother country, and maintain their independence against other powers that might seek to oppress and enslave them, would confederate with them, and that thus a single republick might be formed of that vast continent, the presidential seat of which, it was proposed, should be changed from Washington to the isthmus of Panama.* * Another brilliant sclicme, winch may, pcliaps, sojuf centuries lipnce, occupy the consideration of the American cabinet. The whole of this chapter upon the policy of the 17 130 Experience has subsequently taught the An- glo-Americans, that the Spanish character is the same in America as in Europe; that they do not readily suffer themselves to be commanded by fo- reigners; that the minds of those inhabitants excit- ed to rebellion are not accustomed to the republican regimen, and that the result of their independence will be the continual struggle of the different par- ties to obtain the command: they see that in this state of things, their favourite plan cannot be ad- vanced, and that, on the contrary, England is the power, that will derive all the benefit from the re- bels, on account of her brilliant manufactories. The discovery of the political errour they commit- ted in encouraging the independence of the revolu- tionists of America, has induced them now to con- fine themselves to a passive commerce with them, with a view to prevent Great Britain's anticipating them; but in reality they could experience little in- jury from this, for, as they can carry them little or nothing which they either have not themselves, or United States, and their foreign relations, will serve to show the romantick turn of the Minister's genius. He seems to have been well acquainted with the physical strength and susceptibilities of the United States, and having reflected so long and so enviously upon what it was in their power to accomplish, he has at last persuaded himself that the schemes were actually in agitation. T. 131 cannot procure from England on better terms, they generally lose by the trade. For the purpose of bringing money into the country for their banks, and for their commerce with India, formal compa- nies have been established in the City of Baltimore, who are engaged in fitting out pirates under the in- surgent flag, which bring to the United States the proceeds of their robberies, committed not oifly against Spain and Portugal, but against the vessels of all other nations, which destroy the commerce of these nations, and which are bringing up a ge- neration of monsters and assassins, that it will be extremely difficult hereafter to exterminate from the seas.* This is the system of polity, which the Unit- ed States pursue, in relation to the different powers of the globe. From this we may deduce the mea- sures which ought to be adopted on our part with that Republick, and even with the nations of Eu- rope. 1 will not presume to point tliem out to the * This, to use the courtly language of a celebrated En- glish diplomatist, is an absolute falsehood. There are not, nor have there ever been, " formal companies in the city of Baltimore, engaged in fitting out pirates." If this had been true, the keen eyes of the Minister and his Attornies, would have found them out; and though the "judges and juries of Baltimore" might have saved them from the gallows, they would have been marked by the execration of their fellow- citizens. T. 13^ Deputies of the Nation, who know better than I do the interests of the monarchy, and the resources which may be counted upon to carry them into ef- fect. 1 will barely observe, with regard to the Americas, that every plan for the pacification, or union of the inhabitants of the tv/o worlds, must conciliate the interests of the former, those of the mother country, and those of the powers interested in supporting independence; and that any system which does not unite these three objects, will pro- duce no other effect than to disappoint the expecta- tions of the nation: and lastly, that a fixed plan or system of policy, and of revenue, is indispensa- ble to every constituted power; and that from the combination of these two systems, founded upon a solid and permanent basis, and resting upon the in- terest of the State, the result must necessarily be, the splendour of the nation, and the happiness of all the individuals who compose it.* I am very far Irom wishing to find fault with the system of the United States, however it may be founded in extravagant pride, and frequently in violation of the laws of nations: the only thing * All the author's notions of this fixed system of polity, and of revenue, are evidently derived from the United States; for they are the only power, by his own confession, who do not change their systems with every change of Mi- nister or Sovereigji. T. 133 which I cannot avoid looking upon with horroui-, is the system of piracy organized in the city ot* Baltimore, a thousand times more mischievous than that of the Barbary powers.* Nor will I impugn the system of those powers which, for particular views, have caused injuries to Spain: I know very well, that every nation is right in acting according to its own interests, and that when the sum of these requires a blow or secret injury to those that might some day or other prejudice it, there are few that have the delicacy to forbear; but this itself demands the attention of each nation, that it may oppose the designs of those that act so as to injure it; for one * 5a/^i7w-ore is honoured by the peculiar hatred of the Chevalier; and this is easily accounted for: the enterprising activity of her citizens, their innate love of freedom and in- dependence, and their natural sympathies with the strug- gling patriots of South America, induced many of them to expatriate themselves, and by becoming citizens of the in- fant republicks, to acquire a legal right to aid them in their emancipation from the tyranny of the Mndre Patria. The Constitution of the United States recognizes tlie right of every man, to throw off his allegiance, when it suits his view s of happiness, to connect himself with another State; nor when this is done, can the United States exercise any fur- ther control over his conduct, while he infringes none of their laws. The insinuation, therefore, that it made a part of the system of the United States to protect their citizens in the violation of the laws of nations, is false and un- founded. T. 134^ is not less Iree to defend itself against the strata- gems of another, than that other is to practise them. I can only blame that power, which, knowing the arts that are used to injure it, remains passive, and instead of adopting a profound system of policy, by which the evils might be turned from itself upon the offender, thinks by negotiation, by complaints, by a mean and wretched cunning, to overthrow the wise measures of the best organized systems of policy. NEGOTIATION WITH THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. The disagreements which gave rise to the ne- gotiation with the United States of America, may be said to have taken their origin from the treaty of amity, limits, and navigation, concluded in 1795. This treaty signed by Don Manuel Godoy without any geographical knowledge of the countries upon which it turned, nor of the mutual interests of the two powers, gave to the American territory about one degree, in the whole extent of the dividing line between the Floridas and the territory of that Repub - lick, from East to West, and put into their hands the most fertile lands that belonged to the Floridas, the most beautiful rivers that iiowed from Georgia and Mississippi, the important post of Natches, and other fortifications that served for our defence of the Floridas against the United States. This impoli- tick cession, made without any necessity, (for at that time Spain might have dictated the law to that Republick,*) proved to the United States with Iiow * (( That time" hsis never been, since his Britannick ma- jesty ceased to call these United States his colonies, when Spain could have " dictated the law" to them. Don Man- uel Godoy was perfectly aware of tliis truth. T. 136 much facility they might extend themselves into the possessions of Spain, and their interest dictated to them that they should lose no opportunity that presented itself, nor neglect to excite occasions for this purpose. Another errour was committed in the same treaty, namely, the stipulation that the flag should protect the property, in whatever war either power might he engaged with a third, while the Ameri- cans, three or four months afterwards stipulated the contrary with Great Britain; the result of which was, that the American flag protected English pro- perty from capture by us, while oui^ was captured under the same flag, for so had the American cabi- net stipulated with the court of England . Although my predecessor the Marquis de Casa Irujo,, upon giving information to our government of the conclu- sion of this treaty with Great Britain, represented the necessity of placing both upon an equal footing in this point, in order to prevent the injuries that might arise to us by this stipulation, in the event of a war with England, no provision whatever was made; and this has been the origin of our dissen- tions, and of the numerous claims of the Americans, as well for vessels captured by our cruizers in vio- lation of the said article of the treaty, as for those captured and brought into our ports by the French. The first of these two demands, was com- 137 pletely sft^nctioned by the convention of 1802;* but the ratification was then suspended, because the two governments had not altogether agreed as to the second. It does not require much skill to per- ceive, that this convention was another absurdity, for never ought Spain, under any circumstance*^, to have considered herself responsible for the indem- nification of injuries which the bad faith of the Ame- rican government occasioned us, without our having a reciprocal guaranty that England would respect that flag while it carried our goods. As the Spanish government has shown itself ready to ratify this convention ever since the year 1802, provided the subject of injuries caused by French cruizers should be reserved for ulterior ne- gotiations, the American merchants have made, the debt, with 20 years interest, amount at present to *The Marquis de Casa Irujo, having seen this Memoir before it went to press^laid to me as he returned the manu- script to my hands: " The Convention of 1802 is a most es- sential circumstance in the history of our political relations with the United States. You give it all its weiglit, and pre- sent it under its true colours; but it seems to be not less just than proper for me, in the situation in which intrigue and iniquity have lately placed me, not to omit, in speaking of it, the incontestable fact, that I was sent to the United States with the royal order to sign it, and that I had the firmness not to execute it, having discovered the insidious tendency of the stipulation, relative to losses and injuries for which the American government claimed indemnification of us." 18 138 iuore than 15 millions of dollars: it was, therefore, all important and imperiously necessary for the go- vernment of Spain, to get rid at once of this debt, to avoid the claims of the American government, which were accumulating from day to day, and which were so much the more prejudicial as that Republick, from the particular circumstances under which we were situated, might do justice to herself at will, and, under pretext of indemnification, take possession of those provinces of the monarchy on the continent of America, that would best suit her interests. Another errour, of great and transcendent im- portance, was committed on the part of Spain, in the cession to Buonaparte, in the year 1800, of the province of Louisiana, in terms so ambiguous, so contradictory, and so unusual in diplomatick trans- actions, that the frontiers of the province were not marked out, nor was the stipulation even thought of, that France should not alienate it. Not till two years afterwards, and Avhen it was already known that Buonaparte had it in contemplation to sell it to the United States, was tliis declaration solicited from France, and her ambassador made it by an offi- cial communication; but this did not prevent Buo- naparte from selling it in 1803 to the United States, nor from compelling the king to disavow the formal protest, whicli the Marquis de Casa Irujo had sub- mitted against the sale of the province, as made by 139 France without authority, seeing the delaration mentioned. This and other absurdities, of whicli 1 shall make no merit, such as that of our government hav- ing subscribed to the treaties of Paris and Vienna, without having required that Louisiana should be restored to us, since the province of Etruria, for which we had ceded it to France, had been taken from us, are sufficient to show to every sensible man, that the treaty intended to be concluded with the United States, besides being extremely complicat- ed and difficult, was absolutely necessary to prevent a rupture with the United States, which, it was to be feared, would lead to the loss of the whole, or the greater part, of South America. This danger then was to be avoided; the fron- tiers of New Spain and New Mexico were to be defined in a suitable manner, so as to separate the Americans as far as possible from these precious possessions; the errours of the treaty of 1795, and of the Convention of 1802, were as far as possible to be corrected, that they might not weigh upon the nation in future; and lastly, it was important to free the national income from the enormous disburse- ments for which it stood committed, and which it was, by no means in a situation to be able to satisfy. The attempting a work of this importance, at the distance I was from the governmeni, might have appalled one of greater abilities^ than mine: and 1 140 therefore my whole endeavour from the first was di- rected to persuade the two governments^ that it would be expedient and proper to establish the ne- gotiation at Madrid. This proposition not having been admitted., I hinted that it would be better to appoint a plenipotentiary adjunct with me, as the Americans had done in 1805, when they sent Mr. Monroe, that he might in conjunc ion with Mr. Pinkney, negotiate with Don Pedro Cevallos, mat- ters of so much moment; but this was not acceded to, his majesty honouring me with the most flattering expressions, and with the most ample-powers, that I might alone, and without consulting any other person, negotiate for the settlement of the differ- ences, in the best manner that my zeal and love for the monarchy should dictate. All my hopes, then, upon these two points being disappointed, finding myself compelled to struggle alone against the American cabinet, the Congress and the Senate, and against the opinion of the people, ex- asperated at finding that payment for the losses they claimed was delayed, 1 thought it of the utmost ne- cessity to endeavour to calm this effervescence, through the medium of three memoirs, which I pub- lished in English, under the signature of Verus^ in the years 1810, 12, and 17; and I begun my cor- respondence with the Secretary of State, by discuss- ing slowly, but with solid and convincing reasons, the rights of the Spanish monarchy to the lands in 141 dispute, thus giving myself time to procure from liis majesty's government, those instructions which were necessary for the due fulfilment of his desires. They were, in fact, successively given to me, by Don Jose Pizarro, and the Marquis de Casa Irujo, and 1 endeavoured to govern myself by them in every thing essential. But carried away by the ardent zeal which has always animated me for the honour and glory of my country, I solicited and ob- tained several advantageous conditions which the knowledge of the country afforded me, and which it w as not possible for the government to have fore- seen, and in fact I signed a definitive treaty of set- tlement and limits with the American Secretary of State, on the 22d of February, 1819, making choice of that day as being the most sacred to the Anglo- Americans, on account of its being the birth day of the founder of their Kepublick, Washington. This treaty, examined and approved by the Senate, signed by the President, and exchanged by the Secretary of State of that government and my- self, I transmitted to Spain by his Majesty's Con- sul at Alexandria, Don Joaquim Zamoraiio, whom I despatched for the purpose, in the beginning of March last; but, a few days after his departure, it was published in all the gazettes of the Union, that the agent of the Duke of Alagon had offered for sale the lands that his Majesty had granted to the Duke, asserting that they w ere worth eight millions 14S of dollars, and that they had been sanctioned by the date agreed upon in the late treaty. To this publication, it was added, by the rivals of the Ame- rican Secretary of State and the President, that they had suifered themselves to be deceived by the cunning and perfidious Spanish Minister, who had ceded the Floridas to them after they had lost their value, that the American citizens might be cheated out of the satisfaction they expected for their losses, from the sale of these lands. It is difficult to paint the consternation which these ideas produced in that government. The Signor, the Minister of France, was the first who, induced by his desire of conciliation, endeavoured to convince me of the ne- cessity of removing the idea that I had acted with bad faith in this transaction, as was laid to my charge, by giving a declaration, which would be demanded of me by that Cabinet, in which I should set forth, that although the grants to the Duke of Alason, Count of Punonrostro and Senor de Var- gas, were anterior to the date that we had fixed in the treaty for its confirmation, yet we had always understood that they were annulled. 1 replied to this Minister, that I could not deny that I had be- lieved these donations to have been posterior to the date fixed upon in the treaty, and that consequent- ly they were annulled; but that if they should prove to have been anterior, I had no power to invalidate them, for that the treaty had received all the legali- 143 ty of which it was susceptible as a law oi' tlie Republick, and that neither of the negotiators was now competent to alter it; that w ith regard to the bad faith of which I was suspected, it w as of but little consequence to me, for every sensible man, and the government itself, knew that I was incapa- ble of prejudicing either of the two nations for the sake of protecting private individuals; that the hon- our of the king and the nation demanded that I should fix that epoch, and no other, for the annihi- lation of the grants, and that the treaty would not have been signed, if the American government had not subscribed to that epoch; and that I was ready to make this declaration, but not to invalidate the grants, nor alter the treaty we had concluded. The declaration was in fact demanded of me, and 1 gave it in the terms mentioned, leaving it in the pow er of his majesty to act as lie thought proper on that point. In giving to his majesty an account of this incident, which I regarded as advantageous, I in sinuated that if the Americans refused to exchange the ratifications of the treaty in the terms in Avhich it was conceived, they would be exposed to the eye<\ of the w orld as a people of the worst possible faith, and his majesty would be at liberty to violate it without any responsibility; and that if, as I believ- ed, his majesty had no great inclination to maintaiiw the grant of these lands, he might give them up for the benefit of the American citizens, by which lie 144 would acquire an unequalled popularity, and per- haps draw from it some advantageous conditions on the subject of the pirates, a point which I had only been able to obtain in part; or some promise (though that would have been no security,) that they would not acknowledge the independence of the ultrama- rine revolted provinces, until other nations had done so. In the month of April last, the Express whom I had despatched with the treaty, arrived at Ma- drid, and in the August following, before the period fixed for the ratification had elapsed, I arrived my- self. His Majesty received me with his charac- teristick goodness; did me the honour of telling me that he was well satisfied with my services, and that he had seen with particular approbation, that I had done every thing that depended upon me for the interests of the Nation. The provisional Mi- nister of State, and the rest of the Cabinet, repeat- ed to me that 1 had faithfully fulfilled the orders that had been transmitted to me, and so far from (here being any charge against me, all acknowledg- ed my zeal, prudence and activity in the negotia- tion. The determination, nevertheless, which had been some time before formed by the ministry and ^ Council of State, to suspend the ratification of the ♦treaty, was persevered in: not a single word was asked me about it, nor were the motives explained to me wliich had led to this determination, approv- 145 %d as had been all the steps I had taken durinii; three years and a half in the nei^otiation, which had already lasted for fifteen years before, and had con- sequently been sufficiently discussed and exhaust- ed. Under such circumstances, and knowini^ that whatever step I might take to explain this most im- portant affair, would be without effect, or that it Avould produce no other than that of tonfirmins; the voice of those who had, in their own way, painted this treaty to his Majesty as disgraceful, and that 1 was of an inilexible and obstinate charaqjer, and above all partial on a subject in which I had had so large a part, 1 thought it a point of hojiour to re- main passive, until I should be questioned, or un- til circumstances should force me to present (as I now do) to my fellow citizens, in their native idiom, the true picture of these negotiations, and the do- cuments that have been published, translated into English, throughout all Europe. I might here make a few observations upon this treaty, which, though useless, as being dediiciblc from the docu- ments themselves, might contribute to the better in- formation of those, particulai'ly, who are not ac- quainted with the ground in question, or who are not profoundly versed in the interests that divide the two nations. But as, to do this, 1 should be under the ne- cessity of analizing the treaty in all its parts, which before its ratification must be presented, according to the constitution of the monarchy happily reenjtablnjh 19 146 cd, to the august assembly of the Cortes, for tlieir sanction, I have thought it my duty until then, scru- pulously to abstain from prejudicing their judgment^ hoping that every intelligent man will duly appre- ciate the motives of delicacy that impel me to this conduct. An impartial publick will judge, whether the treaty of the 22d February, 1819, (which is impro- perly called a treaty of Cession, as it is in reality one of exchange or permutation of one small pro^- vince, for another of double the extent, richer and^ more fertile,) deserves the epithet of disgraceful^ under which it has been painted to his Majesty, and whether I have not in it attended to the honour and interest of the nation, somewhat more, in my conception, than in the treaties of Paris and Vienna, and that of the slave trade which shut the door to the infant prosperity of our American islands, as well as others both anterior and posterior which have unfortunately committed the dignity and inte- rests of the country. I will agree, however, that for greater perspi- cuity, I might have extended the 3d article in the follo^\ing terms: ^^ In exchange, the United States cede to his Majesty the province of Tehas, &c.'^ as the government wished me to express it; but as I had, in the correspondence which is inserted,*" for *The corrospondence alluded to here, is not in the Ap- pendix to this volume, a 2d one being in the press at Madrid. 147 three years contended that that province belon2;cd to the King, it would have been a contradiction to say in the treaty that the United States ceded it to his Majesty, the same thing being obtained by the terms in which it is expressed*/ tlie limits that ad judge it to his Majesty being fixed, and the United States expressly renouncing all rights aa hich they had or can have to it. This charge, with which they have sought to obscure the advantages or dis- advantages of the treaty, is a new triumph to the nation, which is the only object 1 have always had in view. .^''^ As the treaty had been executed by me in con- formity with the instructions which had been given to me by the prime minister of State, and as it moreover contained various stipulations of notorious advantage to the nation, it was not to be expected, that after its conclusion, a discussion would have been entered into to examine whether these instruc- tions had been well or ill planned. Don Juan Es- teban Lozano de Torres, and the ministers who support his opinion, could not be ignorant of these facts; but as some pretext was necessary to carry on their plans, they pretended that England, dis- pleased at the cession of the Floridas, would take from us the island of Cuba, if the treaty were rati- fied, and that, upon the v» hole, it was better to let the Americans take them l)y force than to cede them, since by this means the grant of lands to the Duke 148 of Alagon, worth ei^'lit millions of dollars, would remain valid. To the first point, I will reply that Eniijland advised his Majesty, with the greatest frankness and sincerity, to cede the Floridas, or to make any settlement wi'h the United States which he thought expedient, for that his circumstances, and those of England herself, who was not able to assist US or defend them, imperiously demanded it. Could England, after so frank and decisive a de- claration, use this pretence to seize the island of Cuba? And if she did use it, could she not em- ploy it with better excuse to seize it, seeing that Spain abandoned her possessions of Florida and the Tehas without defending them either by force or amicable agreement? Would she not have a more plausible motive for it, in as much as the Americans were in a situation to take possession of Cuba, to occupy it in anticipation under the pretext that it might not fall into their hands ? Who can avoid making these reflexions, limited as may be his view ? Assuredly no one. England has more dignity and honour than these political novices would attribute to her, and although I will not de- ny that in the convulsions of America they have caused us serious evils, we ourselves have perhaps provoked them by the little conciliatory conduct we have used towards her. England has given in- contestable proofs of the interest she feels, in the well being of Spain, in the powerful assistance she 149 I'enderecl us in our glorious struggle to maintain our independence. It cannot be supposed, that if she had had an interest in destroying Spain and taking possession of her rich ultramarine estates, she would have neglected to do it, when there was no- thing to prevent lier; but the Nation has another more powerful safeguard in tlie arms of her sons, and may whenever she pleases place her posses- sions beyond the power of insult from any foreign power whatever, that attempts either secretly or openly to assail her. Let her adopt the measures that a sound policy dictates, and never manifest un- founded fears that she may dispel as smoke, by her prudence and courage. The idea that it would be more advantageous to the nation to let the Duke of Alagon keep his lands and abandon the Floridas to their fate, than it would be to support the dignity of the national character, is truly new. Besides, instead of these lands of the Duke of Alagon being wortli 8 millions of dollars, it is doubtful whether they are worth at the present day three or four hundred tliousand. Tlie laws that protect the property of the individual in the United States, would not protect the Spaniard more than the American, and there can be no doubt it would have been preferable to sell them for the benefit of the treasury and to pay the claims of Ame- rican citizens with their produce, than lO keep them for the Duke of Alaii;on: and at all events the mo- lao iiarchy would have remained under obligation to pay about 400 millions of reals for injuries claimed^ and for which there were no funds. I have thus concluded my observations: I trust, an enlightened publick will overlook the repetitions and faults of style to be found in them, for the hurry in which they were written with a view to their be* ing ready at the meeting of the Cortes, and my ap- proaching departure on the embassy to Naples which his majesty was pleased to confer on me, scarcely allowed me time to read them. My prin- cipal object has been to lay before the nation the authentick documents of every thing that occurred in this negotiation, and to give them an idea of the resources, population, and strength of the Repub- lick of the United States of America, of the charac- ter of the inhabitants, and the hrilliant situation in 2chich they stand; that they might, with this knowl- edge before them, adopt towards them such a sys- tem of good understanding as the similarity of their sentiments might suggest. As to myself, honoured by his majesty, and satisfied at having discharged my duty, I have nothing to wish for, but that my labours may be of some use to the heroick nation that gave me being, and among whose children it is my glory to count myself. APPENDIX. PRELIMINARY ajxl Secret Treaty betwe«n the PrencU Republick and hU C. ^L the King of Spain, relating to tbe agprandiKfinent of H. R, H. the Inlant Duko of Panna in Italy, and to the recession of Louisiana. His Catholick Majesty having always manifested the most arixious dosire to procure for his R. H. the Duke of Parma an aggi-aiulizcment, which might place him on a footing correspondincj with his dignity; and the Fj onch lie- publick having long since given to H.C. M. the King of Spain to undt island the desire which they felt to recover possession of the colony of Loiiisiana; both governments having interchanged their views upon these two subjects of com- mon interest, and circumstances permitting them to enter into engagements in this particular, which as far as it depends on them, may assure reciprocal satisfaction, have authorized for this purpose, that is to say: the French Re- public, the citizen Alexander Berlhier, general in chief; and hisC.M. doa Mariano Luis de TJrquijo, Chevalier of the Order of Charles III, and of St. John of Jerusalem, Counsellor of State, his Envoy Extraordioarv and Pleni- potentiary near the Batavian Republick, and his provisional first Secretarv of State; who, after having exchanged their powers, have agreed, saving the ra- tification, upon the following articles: ARTICLE I. The French Republick engages to procure for H. R. TI. the Infant Duke of Parma an augmentation of territory which shall raise tl»e population of his cstfites to one million of inhabitants with the title of King, and all the rights annexed to the royal dignity; and to this effect tlie French Republick engages to obtain tlie consent of II. M. the Em])eror and King, and of the other states interested, .so that H. R. H.the Infant Duke of Parma may without opposition enter into possession of the said territories, at the time of the confirmation of peace between the French Republick and his Imperial Majesty. ARTICLE II. The augmentation to be given to H. R. II. the Duke of Parma may con- sist of Tuscan)', in case the present negotiations of the French governnunt with II. I. Majesty shall permit them to dispose of that countiy, or of the three Roman ecclesiastical provinces, or any other continental provinces of Italy, that may form a rounded estate. ARTICL?: III. H. C. M. promises and engages on Win p.irt to recede to the French Re- publick, BIX months after the full and entire execution of the conditions and sti- pulations herein ex[)re8sed, relative to II R. II. the Duke of Parma, the co- lony or province of Louisiana, -with the same extent that it no~o hag in the liands of Spai7iy and had-whiJc. in the possession of Frortce, and such as it 15S ought to be in coiifonnitt/ with the treaties subsequently concluded between Spain and other states. ARTICLE IV. H C. M. will give the necessary orders for the occupation of Louisiana by France, the moment the estates designed for his aggrandizement shall be placed in the hands of H. R. H. the Duke of Parma. The French may, ac- cording to its convenience, defer the taking possession; and when this is to be done, the states directly or indirectly interested shall agree upon the ulterior conditions which their common interests and that of their inhabitants may demand. ARTICLE V. H. C. M. engages to deliver to the French Repnblick in the ports of Spain in Europe, one month after the execution of the stipulation with re- gard to the Duke of Parma, six ships of war in good condition, of seventy four guns, armed and equipped, and m a state to receive the French crews and sup- plies. ARTICLE VI, The stipulations of the present treaty having no prejudicial object; but on the contrary preserving untouched the rights of every one, it is not to be presumed, they can excite the suspicions of any power. But if the contrary should happen, and the result of their execution should be that the two states are attacked or thi'eatened, both powers engage to make a common cause, as well to repel aggx'ession, as also to take those conciliatory measures proper to maintain peace with all their neighbours. ARTICLE Vll. The obligations contained in the present treaty, in nothing annul those which are expressed in the treaty of alliance signed at St. Ildefonso, on the 2d Fructidor, year 4, (1 8th of August, 1796;) on the contrary th.^-y unite with new ties the interests of the two powers, and confirm the stipulations of the treaty of alliance in all the cases to which they can be applied. ARIICLE VIII. The ratifications of the present preliminary articles shall be completed and exchanged in the period of one month, or sooner if possible, counting from the date of the signing of the present treaty. In fai'.h of which, we, the undersigned, ministers plenipotentiary of the Frencli RepiiWick, and of H. C, M.by virtue of our respective powers, have signed the present preliininarj articles, and have affixtdour seals. Done at St. Ildefonso, the 9th Vendimi jre, 9th year of the French Republick , (1st October, 1800.) (Signed) ALEXANDER BERTHIER, (Signed) MARIANO LUIS DE URQUUD. 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