Relations with Spain. dominions of His Majesty in America, or at least on the continent of North America, is the great importance attached in the same note to the offer, which would have been not only unimportant, but delusive and of no value, if applied to the western bank of the Mississippi; which, independent of its being sufficiently guarantied by its local position, had been, as was well known in February, 1803, retroceded to France some three years before, and that Mr. Monroe was at Paris, or on his way thither, to acquire it from France, whose sovereignty was already acknowledged by the United States. It is, therefore, evident that the guaranty offered must have been of the territories on the North American continent belonging to His Majesty, to the westward of the Mississippi, and of Louisiana, which no longer belonged to Spain at the time the said offer was made; and nothing so clearly evinces the understanding of the United States and of Mr. Pinckney as the very expressions employed by him in his note to prove the magnitude of the offer. He says: "The immense importance of this offer to the Crown of Spain merits the serious consideration of His Majesty and his Ministers, when we reflect that no other nation can make an offer so highly advantageous. It is one which the United States would never have decided on making, but from a conviction that the territories they now solicit of Spain are indispensably necessary to them." You can judge how far these expressions were applicable in February, 1803, to the guaranty of the right bank of the Mississippi, which no longer belonged to His Majesty since 1800, which was retroceded to France, and the acquisition of which by the United States was then negotiating at Paris, by Mr. Monroe; and whether their obvious and literal meaning and the magnitude of the object of the guaranty could be applicable to any thing other than that of all the possessions of His Majesty in America, or at least of the dominions of Spain on the continent of North America westward of the Mississippi, in exchange for the advantages which the United States contemplated on deriving by the purchase of the two Floridas, or at least that part of West Florida lying between the Mississippi and the Mobile. You cannot, therefore, be surprised that, as His Majesty is now deliberating on a general adjust ment with the American Government, including an article by which it is proposed to cede the two Floridas to the United States for a suitable equivalent to the westward of the Mississippi, he should advert to the formal offer of a guaranty made by the United States, for this special purpose, of his dominions and possessions beyond the Mississippi, (that is, beyond the western line stipulated in the same general adjustment,) as the boundary between the American territories and those of His Majesty on the continent of North America. In consequence of the abovementioned note of Mr. Pinckney, and the communication made to His Majesty's Government by the Government of the United States on the 7th of February, 1803, I deem it necessary further to remark that, in 1803, nearly three years after His Majesty had ceded back Louisiana to France, and when Mr. Monroe was about concluding the purchase of Louisiana at Paris with the Government of Bonaparte, the American Government admitted, in the most formal manner, that the territory situated between the Mississippi and the Mobile belonged to His Catholic Majesty, and formed a part of West Florida, and not of Louisiana, as it has since been wished to be supposed, His Majesty having been violently deprived of the peaceful possession of the same, during his absence from the kingdom. You will be pleased, sir, to recollect that while Mr. Monroe was negotiating the purchase of Louisiana at Paris, in 1803, Mr. Pinckney at Madrid solemnly offered the King of Spain the guaranty of his dominions beyond the Mississippi, in case His Majesty would agree to sell to the United States at least the territory lying between the Mississippi and the Mobile belonging to His Catholic Majesty-they will purchase the country between the rivers Mississippi and Mobile belonging to His Catholic Majesty. It is impossible more explicitly to acknowledge the sovereignty of His Majesty over that territory, in addition to the acknowledgment implied by the very act of applying to the King for the purchase of it, since no one purchases but of the owner of the object wished to be purchased. If the territory in question had belonged to France as a integral part of Louisiana, would it not have been more natural that Mr. Monroe should have negotiated the purchase of it at Paris, where he then was, than that Mr. Pinckney should have solicited it at Madrid at the same time? His Majesty, therefore, taking into consideration the important fact that his right of sovereignty to the said territory remains unimpaired, notwithstanding his being dispossessed of the same under well-known circumstances, he cannot omit to declare, on all occasions, that it never has been nor will be his intention to relinquish his claim to his rights in that quarter, while he is at the same time willing, by means of a suitable arrangement in the proposed adjustment, or for a satisfactory equivalent, to cede the said territory, together with the rest of the Floridas, to the United States, as well from a desire to meet their wishes, as from a conviction of its importance to the American Government, as was formerly stated in the strongest terms by Mr. Pinckney in his note just referred to. You are pleased to point out in your note, as a mode for settling the question of boundaries more certain than that of any guaranty, the establishment of a desert of thirty leagues between the frontier of Louisiana and that of the Spanish possessions. Although His Majesty has a due respect for the good faith and strict punctuality of the American Government, yet he does not perceive any security preferable to the guaranty, nor that there would be any difficulty in connecting the one with the other; and, with a view to avoid disagreements on the frontiers, in stipu lating the establishment of such a desert, provided both Governments could agree on the requisite Relations with Spain. measures for preventing this intermediary desert certain prohibitions relative to the land given to from being converted into a rallying point for them by the King. Those prohibitions were adventurers and banditti, where they might ex- considered by you and by me as annulling the ercise their pernicious activity in disturbing the grants; on the importance of this measure we peace of His Majesty's dominions as well as that are already agreed. Now I am informed that of the United States. But the principal difficulty Mr. Vargas has received another office from the still subsists, namely: that although the estab same department, (Indies,) by which office the lishment of this desert might be considered ex-difficulty with regard to him is removed; that is, pedient, yet we may not agree on the exact line he is actually free to sell the lands in question, of division, keeping in view the rights of each or to profit of them, (always in conformity to party to the territory west of the Mississippi, and the laws,) as may best suit them. I know not to that which ought to afford to His Majesty in whether Messrs. Alagon and Punon Rostro have that quarter an equivalent for the two Floridas, received similar offices; it is to be presumed. which are proposed to be ceded to the United This news alarms me, because I foresee that this States in consideration of such equivalent. transaction will throw new difficulties in the way of the negotiation at Washington. It is in in-vain to expect that we shall arrive at a state of harmony without a transaction which shall embrace all the points in discussion. The cession of Florida must make necessarily an article in this transaction; and it is quite certain that the United States in such case cannot receive Florida as indemnity for its reclamations if all the cessions to individuals since the date of the convention (1802) are not annulled. According to a statement which I have just received through an indirect channel from Philadelphia, these reclamations may amount to the enormous sum of twenty-five millions of piastres. If I rightly comprehend your verbal communications relative to the establishment of this termediary desert, I persuade myself that the understanding is, that the thirty leagues intended to be comprehended in it will be fixed to the eastward of the bay of St. Bernard; and, under the impression that in your note of the 9th instant you offer to enter into official explanations upon these subjects, I invite you, in the name of union and good understanding, to be pleased to present them to me; since, although I consider the communications which you had the goodness to make to me in your abovementioned note as important, I hitherto conceive them to be only verbal communications resulting from the intimation you The office written to Mr. Vargas is, I am perwere pleased to give me. I therefore hop that suaded, unknown to you, and cannot have reyou will be so good as to present its contents in a sulted from our late accord relative to the conmore formal shape, in the expectation that the em-vention; but your excellency will instantly perployment of your talents and good wishes, com-ceive that it will take that character or appearbined with my earnest endeavors, may finally ance, and do infinite mischief. I have already terminate these painful disputes on principles informed my Government of what has passed mutually honorable and satisfactory. between your excellency and me relative to the affair of Messrs. Alagon and others. Ought I at present to think that everything is changed since the ratification? I cannot too much lament the results. I yet hope that I may have been badly informed relative to the fact in question, but I have my information from a person who is in 1 avail myself of this occasion to renew to you the assurances of my very distinguished consideration, and I pray God to preserve you many years. JOSE PIZARRO. Extract of a letter from Mr. Erving to Don Jose terested with Vargas, one to whom he had ceded Pizarro, dated MADRID, July 22, 1818. a portion of his interest in the land, before he The convention had scarcely been ratified, when I was alarmed by information, which I re-it ceived from a good source, that the King had rescinded the prohibition placed on the late grantees of land in Florida, as communicated to you by my private letter of May 14. On this occasion I wrote a confidential note to Mr. Pizarro, pointing out the evil to result from such a procedure. He replied to me in a way to tranquillize me, and to confirm my opinion of his good faith. Copies of that correspondence are herewith enclosed. Mr. Erving to Mr. Pizarro.—Private. MADRID, July 18, 1818. Your excellency will recollect that Messrs. Alagon, Punon Rostro, and Vargas, were placed by an office from the Department of Indies under Reply of Mr. Pizarro. SACEDON, July 19, 1818. SIR: I have just received your esteemed letter which you addressed to me under yesterday's date, communicating to me your apprehensions respecting the alienation of the lands in Florida granted to several individuals. I repeat to you all that I have said on this subject; consequently, you may be tranquil, and I flatter myself that nothing will happen which can injure the negotiations with the Government of the United States, which ought to have been persuaded, long since, of the sincerity which directs the march Relations with Spain. and policy of the Spanish Government, and of Mr. Erving to Don Jose Pizarro. MADRID, July 24, 1818. SIR: I had the honor to receive yesterday your excellency's note of the 19th instant, replying to mine of the 9th instant, which contains some remarks upon the proposals made to the Spanish Government by Mr. Pinckney, on the 7th February, 1803, and transmitted to me by your note of the 8th instant. ted States, went into those of His Majesty? This part of the argument is confirmed by what your excellency says in your last note, to prove to me that Mr. Pinckney meant to offer a guaranty of all His Majesty's possessions. You observe that he could have meant only those immediately on the west bank of the Mississippi; for that "such an offer had been not only unimportant, but vain and illusory, applied to the west bank; which, besides being sufficiently_guarantied by its locality, it was notorious in February, 1803, that it had been for three years then past retroceded to France." I say, then, that if this notoriety had reached Mr. Pinckney, he could not have mentioned the banks of the Mississippi as belonging to His Majesty, or have spoken of that and other rivers from the United States passing through his territory. The opinion that Mr. Pinckney meant to guaranty all the possessions of Spain, you find to be confirmed by the great importance which he gives to that offer in the words which you quote from his note; but allow me to observe that, though he intended only a guaranty of that part of Louisiana which lies westward of the Mississippi, his proposal merits all the importance which he has given to it. Again; how could he pretend to offer to such a Power as Spain a guaranty of her possessions to the westward of Louisiana, knowing that the territory of such a Power as France interposed between the United States and the possessions to be guarantied? Such a proposal would have been preposterous and offensive. These observations render it unnecessary for I declare to your excellency that, after the best consideration which I was able to give to those proposals, not having the archives of the legation to refer to, and correct my judgment whenever it might err, I was compelled to conclude that Mr. Pinckney was at that time uninformed of the retrocession of Louisiana to France, which had been previously made by Spain. On this hypothesis, I wrote to you on the 9th instant, and it will explain whatever may appear to you incongruous in that note. It was not possible for me otherwise to understand the offer made by Mr. Pinckney, because it was not possible to suppose that he had been authorized by the American Government, or that it had ever entered into his own imagination, to guaranty the possessions of His Majesty to the westward of Louisiana on both American continents, or even as far down as the isthmus of Panama. Besides that, such a guar-me to reply specially to the inferences which anty was beyond the power of the United States, and therefore not worth the acceptance of Spain. He meant then what was within the reach and competency of the United States-a guaranty of that part of Louisiana which is on the right bank of the Mississippi. This is made still more evident by the words he used-" beyond the Mississippi;" for in the other supposition, and had he been aware of the transfer of Louisiana to France, he would have said "beyond Louisiana." Again, is it to be supposed that he could be treating for the purchase of territory on the left bank of the Mississippi, within the limits of Louisiana, when he knew that the whole province had passed into the hands of France ? For, whatever claims Spain may yet make to that territory, it could not but be known to Mr. Pinckney that it was in fact a part of Louisiana. The conclusion which I have made is still further and more particularly forced upon me by Mr. Pinckney's fourth proposal, which is thus: 4th. "If neither of these propositions can be acceded to, they will then purchase certain tracts of country on the banks of the Mississippi, and the other rivers passing from their territory to that of His Catholic Majesty, for which they will pay," &c. What certain tracts on the banks of the Mississippi could be purchased by Spain after Louisiana had been transferred to France ? What rivers, passing through the territory of the Uni your excellency is pleased to draw in favor of the Spanish pretensions to East Florida from the offers made by Mr. Pinckney; for those offers, even though they had not originated in an unac quaintance with, or a misapprehension of, the then state of affairs, cannot now impugn the right or affect the claims of the United States. The context of Mr. Pinckney's note and proposals shows that he was then under an impression that His Catholic Majesty was yet master of Louisiana and the Floridas. He speaks of the banks of the Mississippi as he speaks of the Floridas, and equally acknowledges the sovereignty of His Majesty in both territories by proposing to purchase in both. But, whatever may have been his impressions, and whatever value might belong to such a kind of acknowledgment whilst Louisiana was in possession of France, these became of no importance after the province was transferred to the United States; for the claims of the United States do not rest upon the opinions of Mr. Pinckney, but on the transfer made by France. I do but justice, then, to the good faith of the Spanish Government when I suppose that it declined Mr. Pinckney's offer because it had already disposed of the country proposed to be purchased, as well as of that proposed to be guarantied. I should not do justice to its political forecast if I could suppose that, being the sovereign of East Florida, it had declined to sell it for a reasonable Relations with Spain. equivalent in money, superadded to a guaranty (immensely important," as Mr. Pinckney well says) of His Majesty's remaining possessions on that continent. With respect more particularly to the guaranty, whatever might have been the disposition of Mr. Pinckney, or even of the American Government, at the epoch referred to, your excellency must be sensible that the relative state of possessions is at this time so altogether different, that no motive sufficiently powerful can be found to induce the United States to enter into any similar obligation as to any portion of His Majesty's territories west of Louisiana. Referring to a suggestion made in my last note, as well as in our two previous conferences, respecting a desert of thirty leagues, between the confines of Louisiana and the Spanish possessions, as a better security than a guaranty, your excellency is pleased to inform me that though His Majesty thinks that no security is better than a guaranty, yet he has no objection that the one kind should be added to the other; and, though the principal difficulty remains, that is to say, where this desert shall be established, your excellency invites me to put my suggestion in the shape of a formal proposal. I beg leave to remind your excellency that, in my note of the 9th, I have said that this plan of a desert is the only kind of security which occurs to me. It was not then my intention, nor can it be now, as you will observe by what is above said, to add this to any other kind of security; nor was it my intention to offer this, but upon the supposition that His Majesty's Government should consent to the Colorado as the western limit of Louisiana, not doubting but, that point agreed on, we should be able to arrange all the others with great facility. I have no hesitation in expressing myself to your excellency in writing explicitly and frankly, as I have always done in conversation; and nothing would make me so happy as to unite my most earnest efforts with yours, directed by your conciliatory temper and superior intelligence, to bring to an honorable and harmonious conclusion the differences which unhappily exist between our two countries. the American troops under the command of General Jackson had entered His Majesty's territory in the Floridas, and stating that he had demanded the surrender of the Spanish fort of St. Marks, at Appalache, the feeble garrison of which is said to have been surrendered to him as prisoners of war. Notwithstanding the circumstantial details of this intelligence, and the probability attached to them, from the recollection of what took place in 1810, in West Florida, to the westward of the Perdido, and more recently at Amelia Island, His Majesty could not persuade himself, that at the very time when he was so zealously and faithfully promoting, as must be evident to you, the satisfactory termination of the negotiations pending between the two Governments, the generals and officers of the United States would conduct themselves in so hostile a manner, by violating and attacking, in a state of profound peace, the territories and establishments of a friendly Power. But subsequent confidential advices which have been received of these occurrences not only confirm the truth of former reports, but present circumstances of the most serious character respecting the violation of the Spanish territory, the capture of the fort of St. Marks, and the surrender of the garrison as prisoners of war; on which particular circumstance His Majesty finds himself under the necessity of demanding an immediate explanation of the Government of the United States. Information has also been received of an intimation of a most violent nature, made to the commandant of Pensacola by General Jackson, who seems to have taken an attitude indicating a determination to pursue the course of his unprovoked violences and aggressions. The contrast presented by the moderate and friendly conduct of the Spanish Government with that of the American generals and officers in that quarter has excited feelings of the most painful kind in the mind of His Majesty; and as a final and solid arrangement can only be produced by the reciprocal combination of conciliatory dispositions on both sides, and as these dispositions do not appear, from a view of the facts and circumstances just alluded to, to be manifested by the United States, I have received His Majesty's commands to make this frank communication to you, in order that your answer may serve for his government upon the matter in question. My Government will never consent, upon any consideration whatever, to give any guaranty to His Majesty of any part of his possessions; but I will undertake, on its part, to stipulate that a desert shall be placed between his possessions and The King, nevertheless, entertains the hope those of the United States, if by that means we that the American Government, actuated by those can arrive at an accord with regard to the west-principles of justice which constitute the only ern boundary, as well as on all the other existing questions; and, whenever your excellency will inform me that the pretension to receive any other species of security is withdrawn, I will then state where I propose that this desert should be placed. I renew, &c. GEORGE W. ERVING. Don Jose Pizarro to Mr. Erving. SACEDON, July 26, 1818. SIR: It is some days since this Government has received intelligence, in an unofficial way, that real and solid support of all Governments, will not hesitate to disapprove proceedings which are not only repugnant to the laws of nations, and the principles which regulate the conduct of all civilized Powers, but, by the experience of all ages, not excepting our own, ultimately produce the most serious evils to those which commit them, or tolerate their commission. His Majesty therefore flatters himself that the Government of the United States, anxious to preserve its just reputation for good faith, will, in giving positive orders for the evacuation by the American troops of the fort of St. Marks and the whole Spanish Relations with Spain. territory, likewise take effectual measures to prevent the recurrence of similar proceedings, which, if authorized and countenanced, must inevitably produce a suspension of all negotiation. Under this impression, I have to request that, if you are authorized to give any explanation upon these occurrences, you will communicate them to me for His Majesty's information; and, in case you are not, that you will have the goodness to transmit this communication to your Government, in order to obtain an answer which may fix His Majesty's ideas upon a subject of such high importance, and direct his views in relation to the definitive negotiation now carrying on, the prosecution of which must, in one way or other, be decisively influenced by the spirit in which these events are viewed by the American Government. I reiterate to you, sir, the assurances of my distinguished respect, and pray God to preserve you JOSE PIZARRO. many years. Mr. Erving to Don Jose Pizarro. MADRID, July 27, 1818. SIR: I have had the honor to receive your excellency's note of the 22d instant, enclosing an entire copy of Mr. Pinckney's letter of February 7, 1803, adverted to, and intended to have been transmitted to me in your note of the 19th instant. On reading that letter, I remain confirmed in the opinion which I expressed to you in my reply of the 24th instant, that Mr. Pinckney could not have been aware, when he wrote it, of the retrocession to France which had been made by Spain. The manner in which he treats of the misconduct of the Intendant at New Orleans, and of the necessity thence arising of the United States acquiring a permanent establishment on the Mississippi, leaves not a possibility of supposing that he was acquainted with the transfer to France. Evidently, according to his understanding, New Orleans belonged to Spain; he of course considered Louisiana as belonging to Spain; hence his proposal to purchase certain tracts of that colony on the east bank of the Mississippi; and if such a virtual recognition of the sovereignty of Spain at that time in East Florida, founded on an unacquaintance with facts, could be worth anything, it were equally good as regards New Orleans, respecting which, indeed, it was more formal, for there he demanded the interposition of the Sovereign's authority to remedy an evil arising out of the misconduct of the Intendant. I renew, &c. GEORGE W. ERVING. Mr. Erving to Don Jose Pizarro. MADRID, July 28, 1818. SIR: I have had the honor to receive your excellency's note of the 26th instant, stating the unofficial and confidential information which has been given to this Government respecting the conduct of General Jackson in Florida. Being now for a long time without advices from my Government, I am wholly unable to give the explanation which you require; but shall not fail, in pursuance of your desire, to transmit to the United States, without loss of time, a copy of your communication. In the meanwhile, if your excellency can see any prospect of terminating, by a friendly arrangement, to be made either here or at Washington, the negotiations pending between the two Governments, I trust that these reports can be no obstacle to its success. It ought to be presumed that my Government, whose just sentiments His Majesty is well persuaded of, has acted on sufficient motives; or that, if its officers have transgressed its orders, their conduct will be disapproved of. The outrages and violences practised on the persons and property of American citizens for many years past, by governors and other officers of His Majesty in his American colonies, in contempt of the rights of individuals, of the law of nations, and the existing treaty, have excited the constant reclamations of the American Government, renewed by me in a note to you as late as the twelfth instant. Does your excellency's reply to that note give the satisfaction required? Yet the moderation and conciliatory policy of my Government has never relinquished the hope of obtaining, by conciliatory means, a reparation of the wrongs which it has suffered; and these have never been taken as a ground for suspending negotiation. However, then, the facts now in question may prove to have been, I hope that they will not be made an impediment to such an amicable prompt adjustment of all the points in discussion between the two countries as may remove all possibility of future collision, and lay the foundation of permanent friendship; and the less an impediment, as His Majesty having long since signified his disposition to cede Florida to the United States, the military operations which the United States may be forced to in the war made on them by the savages and others from that territory cannot be considered important as effecting the permanent interests of Spain. I renew, &c. GEORGE W. ERVING. Don Jose Pizarro to Mr. Erving. PALACE, August 6, 1818. SIR: I have received your esteemed note under date of the 28th of the last month, in reply to mine of the 26th of the same month, touching the positive, although as yet unofficial, information which this Government has respecting the entrance of the American army, under the command of General Jackson, into the Spanish territory, and the taking of the fort of St. Mark and its garrison as prisoners of war, with other circumstances as disagreeable as they are contrary to the laws of nations. You are pleased to make known to me that you want information and instructions from your Government on this affair, and, consequently, that you are not in a situation to give me the explanations which His Majesty might desire; |