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Relations with Spain.

are yet entertained by the United States, on this

matter,

This point, then, being separated from those connected with the question of claims for injuries, losses, and damages, because that is already settled between France and the United States, or is to be settled with France directly, if anything still remains to be performed, we can agree upon a just and suitable mode of determining a recip rocal satisfaction for the injuries, losses, and damages, before spoken of, and included in the three points of the first class as enumerated in this note, in order that we may proceed more clearly and methodically. These three points, as I have before said, will be submitted to the judgment and decision of the joint commission, in virtue of the convention to be formed on the basis of that of 1802, simplifying and rectifying it in such manner as will insure its most expeditious and faithful execution.

it be confined distinctly to the subject of each
one of my notes, according to their respective
order, or to propose a mode embracing all the
points comphehended in them, by which we may
have them collectively settled in the negotiation
which is to be entered upon for the exchange or
cession of the Floridas, In this proceeding you
will perceive, sir, a certain proof of the frankness
and good faith of the Spanish Government, and
of the sincere and friendly sentiments entertained
by the King, my master, for the United States.
I conclude with the renewed assurances of
my respects, and I pray God to preserve you
many years.

LUIS DE ONIS.

The same to the same.

WASHINGTON, January 8, 1818. SIR: In the National Intelligencer of the 6th In this note, and the two others which I have of this month, I have seen published the official already had the honor to address to you, are notice of the occupation of Amelia Island by the contained all the points in dispute between the troops of the United States. I had already antiGovernment of His Catholic Majesty and that cipated this unpleasant event, by the note which of the United States; and, to avoid confounding I had the honor to address you on the 6th of last them with each other, I have treated them in month, in which I remonstrated, in the name of their regular order, with precision, simplicity, His Catholic Majesty, against the measures anand clearness. You can examine each of them, nounced in that part of the President's Message sir, with the impartiality and rectitude which to both Houses of Congress which manifested an distinguish your character; and I flatter my-intention to invade and forcibly seize on places self that all the motives and grounds of the con- and territories belonging to the Crown of Spain. oversy will be completely removed by your Having received no answer to that note, I now discernment and wisdom, as you will not fail to feel myself obliged to repeat its contents to you, acknowledge the irresistible force of what has and to protest, as I now do strongly protest, in been, and is now, demonstrated on the part of the name of the King, my master, against the the Government of Spain. occupation of Amelia Island, effected by the naval and military forces of this Republic, destined to operate against that island, forming a part of East Florida, one of the possessions of the Spanish monarchy on this continent.

When the different points treated of in each of these notes with the necessary discrimination are considered, and a decision formed on each of them, it is requisite that we should definitively settle and terminate the controversy, without leaving any room for dispute in future.

Whatever may have been the motives on which the Government of the United States have founded their adoption of this measure, it cannot but be considered by all nations as a violent invasion of the dominions of Spain at the time of a profound peace, when His Catholic Majesty omits nothing to give the most generous proofs of his perfect friendship and high consideration for the United States.

This general and definitive arrangement of all the points in dispute must, by its nature and circumstances, precede the negotiation for the exchange or cession of the Floridas, since, until it be determined and settled what are the territories on the frontier which belong to Spain, and what are those which belong to the United States, it is impossible to estimate the equivalent to be I therefore trust that, upon your communicagiven to Spain for the two Floridas. Neverthe-ting this solemn reclamation and protest to the less, as it is the earnest desire of His Catholic President, he will be pleased to direct that suitMajesty to meet the wishes of the United States able orders be given to the American commandin everything that may be compatible with theers at Amelia Island, and on that station, forthrights and honor of his Royal Crown, you may, with to restore the said island, together with all sir, devise and propose a mode by which we may its dependencies, to His Catholic Majesty, and to at one and the same time adjust all the points of deliver up the same to the Spanish commandant, the controversy, and stipulate the exchange or and officers presenting themselves for that purcession of the Floridas, in case your Govern- pose, in the name of their Sovereign. ment should not agree to our previously settling the points connected with the question of boundaries, and establishing a convention, in conformity to the basis of that of 1802, for the mutual compensation of losses and injuries, according to the order I have adopted in my note.

I expect, therefore, your answer, sir, whether

It is also my duty to represent to you, sir, that, at the time of the invasion and occupation of that island by the American troops, there was, and I believe still is, a considerable property belonging to Spanish subjects, which, in all cases, it is required by strict justice should be delivered to the owners, which, I doubt not, has already

Relations with Spain.

been, or will be done, in a due and proper manner, care being taken in the mean time that it be not removed or suffer injury.

1. Spain to cede all her claims to territory eastward of the Mississippi.

2. The Colorado, from its mouth to its source, and from thence to the northern limits of Louisiana, to be the western boundary; or, to leave that boundary unsettled for future arrangement. 3. The claims of indemnities for spoliations, jurisdiction, and for the suppression of the deposite at New Orleans, to be arbitrated and settled by commissioners, in the manner agreed upon in the unratified convention of 1802.

I await your reply to this reclamation and protest, that I may be enabled to give seasonable intelligence and instructions to the Governor of St. Augustine, and to the Captain General of the Island of Cuba, provided the President, as I flat-whether Spanish, or French within Spanish ter myself, will resolve on the prompt restitution and delivery of Amelia and its dependencies to His Catholic Majesty's Government.

I cannot by any means doubt that this will be effected, confiding, as I do, in the high rectitude of the President, and in the inviolable principles of public faith, on which the security of nations

reposes.

I have the honor to renew the assurances of my respects, and pray God to preserve you many years. LUIS DE ONIS.

The Secretary of State to Don Luis De Onis. WASHINGTON, January 16, 1818. SIR: Your letters of 29th December, and of 5th and 8th of the present month, have been received, and laid before the President of the United States.

4. The lands in East Florida, and in West Florida, to the Perdido, to be made answerable for the amount of the indemnities which may be awarded by the Commissioners under this arbitration; with an option to the United States to take lands and pay the debts, or to sell the lands for the payment of the debts, distributing the amount received equally, according to the amount of their respective liquidated claims, among the claimants. No grants of land subsequent to the 11th of August, 1802, to be valid.

5. Spain to be exonerated from the payment of the debts, or any part of them.

These proposals do not materially differ from those made to Don Pedro Cevallos on the 12th of He has seen, not without surprise and regret, May, 1805. The President has seen nothing in any that they consist almost entirely of renewed dis- events which have since occurred, nor in the concussions upon the several points of difference tents of your notes, which can afford a reason or which have so long subsisted between the United a motive for departing from them. Of the moStates and Spain-discussions which had been tives for coming to an immediate arrangement, the exhausted in the correspondence between the urgency cannot escape your attention. The events Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States at which have recently occurred in a part of the Madrid and your Government in the years 1802 territory which you have informed me the King and 1803, and more especially in that between of Spain is willing to cede to the United States, Don Pedro Cevallos and the special extraor- those which are notoriously impending over the dinary mission of the United States to your remaining part of that territory yet in the possesCourt in 1805-a mission instituted by the sion of Spain, make it indispensably necessary Amercan Government, under the influence of that the ultimate determination of your Governthe most earnest desire to terminate amicably, ment in this negotiation should be acted on withand to the satisfaction of both the parties, all out delay. The explanations requested by your those differences, but which, after five months of notes of the 6th December and 8th January, of negotiation at Aranjuez, issued in the refusal of the motives of this Government in the occupation Spain to give satisfaction to the United States of Amelia Island, have been given in the Message upon any one of the causes of complaint which of the President to Congress of the 13th instant, were to be adjusted, or even to settle the ques- and cannot fail of being satisfactory to your Govtion of boundaries existing between the United ernment. You see it there distinctly and expliStates and the Spanish provinces bordering upon citly declared that the measures which this Govthem. The President considers that it would be ernment found itself under the necessity of adoptan unprofitable waste of time to enter again at ing in relation to that island were taken not with large upon topics of controversy which were at a view to conquest from Spain. You well know that time so thoroughly debated, and upon which that, if Spain could have kept, or recovered the he perceives nothing in your notes which was possession of it from the trifling force by which not then substantially urged by Don Pedro Ce-it was occupied, the American Government vallos, and to which every reply essential to elucidate the rights, and establish the pretensions on the part of the United States, was then given. For proof of which, I beg leave merely to refer you to the letters of Mr. Monroe and Mr. Pinckney to Mr. Cevallos, of 28th January, 26th Febrnary, 8th and 16th March, 9th and 20th April, and 12th May, 1805. I am instructed by the President to propose to you an adjustment of all the differences between the two countries, by an arrangement on the following terms:

would have been spared the necessity of the measure which was taken, and which was dictated by the duty of protecting the interests as well of this country as of those with whom we are in friendly commercial relations, including Spain herself. But Spain cannot expect that the United States should employ their forces for the defence of her territories, or to rescue them, for her exclusive advantage, from the adventurers who are projecting and in the act of executing expeditions against them from territories without

Relations with Spain.

the jurisdiction of the United States. Neither can the United States permit that the adjoining territories of Spain should be misused by others for purposes of annoyance to them.

Under these circumstances, the President is persuaded that you will perceive the necessity either of accepting the proposals herein contained as the basis of an adjustment of the long-standing differences between the United States and Spain, or of offering such as can, by any possibility, be acceptable to this Government, without reverting to a course of proceeding the only result of which must be further procrastination.

I pray you, sir, to accept the assurance of my very distinguished consideration.

JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.

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single fact, or a single argument, that can affect the certainty or decisive force of the facts, grounds, and reasons which support and determine the aforesaid rights of the Crown of Spain. There does not appear to be a single incident to give the smallest support to the pretensions of your Government. All the vague positions on which it has been attempted to found them have been refuted and dissipated by the Spanish Government, by a demonstration so luminous and convincing as to leave no alternative to reason to resist it.

To lay all this aside, and merely to say "that it is a matter already thoroughly debated, on which nothing further essential can be urged, and that the American Government insists on maintaining a contrary opinion,” is to adopt an arbiported by any solid foundation, and being, as it trary course, because, this opinion not being supis, diametrically opposite to the unquestionable result of facts, and to the most incontestable principles and arguments, does not, nor can it, give to the United States any right to the pretensions they have formed. Neither can it be required that the Government of Spain should subscribe to this opinion, and renounce its rights to the territory which the United States wish to possess in the Spanish provinces bordering on those States, since that opinion, as I have already said, is altogether groundless and arbitrary, and since, on those rights, there neither does nor can there fall any doubt.

SIR: I have received your letter of the 16th of this month, by which I see, with great regret, that, in acknowledging the receipt of those I had the honor to address to you on the 29th of last month, and the 5th and 8th of the present, you omit to answer them, and decline taking into consideration the indisputable facts and grounds, and the irresistible arguments advanced in them, in relation to each of the points embraced by the dispute set on foot by the Government of the United States. You say it is useless again to discuss the facts, reasons, and arguments pro- It is the sincere wish of His Catholic Majesty duced by the Spanish Government in the years that a just mode of amicably settling all pending 1802 and 1803, and in 1805, the American Pleni- differences may be adopted, and he has authorized potentiaries, and the special extraordinary mission me for this purpose; but neither the powers he conjointly with them, having then replied to the has conferred on me, nor my own sense of duty, different points of the notes of the Spanish Min- permit me to enter into an arrangement which istry in a manner capable of elucidating the re- is not based upon the principles of common jusspective rights of each of the two Powers, and tice, combined in good faith with the suitable establishing the pretensions of the Government considerations of reciprocal utility or conveniof the United States; for proof of which you re-ence. Being anxiously desirous of carrying the fer me to the letters of Messrs. Monroe and Pinckney to His Catholic Majesty's Minister, Don Pedro Cevallos, of the 28th of January, 26th of February, 8th and 16th of March, 9th and 20th of April, and 12th of May, 1805.

I think it proper to observe, in the first place, that although the facts, grounds, and arguments then produced by the Spanish Government do not differ essentially from those stated in my notes, their irresistible and conclusive force is neither altered nor in any manner impaired. Truth is of all times; and reason and justice are founded on immutable principles. It is on these principles that the rights of the Crown of Spain are founded to the territories eastward and westward of Louisiana, claimed by your Government as making part of that province-rights of immemorial property and possession, never disputed, but always notorious, and acknowledged by other nations.

In the second place, I must remark to you that, throughout the whole correspondence on this subject between the Ministry of the United States and that of His Catholic Majesty, there is not a

wishes and frank dispositions of my Sovereign into execution, I suggested to you, in our last verbal conference, the expediency of your making to me such proposals as you might think fit to reconcile the rights and interests of both Powers, by a definitive arrangement of the differences pending between them. Since you communicated the present state of things to the President, you have proposed to me in your note a plan of arrangement or adjustment embracing the question of boundaries, and that of indemnities, which is as follows:

To settle the former, you propose " that Spain shall cede all her claims to territory eastward of the Mississippi, (that is to say, the two Floridas ;) and that the Colorado, from its mouth to its source, and from thence to the northern limits of Louisiana, shall be the western boundary of that province."

I have expressed in one proposal what you have stated in two, as both are reduced to the cession of territory by Spain. It is not only proposed that Spain shall cede both Floridas to the United States, but that she shall likewise cede to them

Relations with Spain.

the vast extent of Spanish territory comprehended within the line following the whole course of the Colorado. I presume that it is the river Colorado of Natchitoches you speak of, and not of another bearing the same name, and which is still farther within the limits of the Spanish provinces. I leave it to you, sir, to examine the import of these two proposals, and to see whether they are compatible with the principles of justice, or with those of reciprocal utility or convenience. It is demanded of Spain to cede provinces and territories of the highest importance, not only to the eastward, but to the westward of Louisiana, and that without proposing any equivalent or compensation.

To settle the question of indemnities, you make the following proposals:

1. That indemnity for spoliations on American citizens, committed by Spaniards or French within the jurisdiction of Spain, as well as for injuries sustained by American citizens by the interruption of the deposite at New Orleans, shall be settled by a joint commission, as agreed upon in the convention of 1802.

2. The lands in East Florida, and in West Florida to the Perdido, to be made answerable to the United States for the amount of the indemnities which may appear to be due by Spain to American citizens on the settlement to be made by commissioners appointed according to the convention of 1802; it being at the option of the United States to take the lands and pay the amount of the indemnities according to the award on the claims, or to sell the lands, and effect the payment with the proceeds of the sales. To this proposal you add, that all grants of land subsequent to the 11th of August, 1802, are to be null and void.

3. That Spain shall be exonerated from the payment of the debts, or any part of them.

Before I reply to these three proposals, I must repeat the uniform declaration of the Spanish Government to the United States, that His Catholic Majesty is, and always has been, ready to settle the question of indemnities, with a view to the full satisfaction of the just claims of the parties interested; and that His Majesty has always manifested the same sincere desire to settle definitively the question of boundaries to the satisfaction of both Powers; and that, if neither of these objects has been accomplished, it has not depended upon the Government of Spain. The contrary is evident, beyond the possibility of denial, from the official correspondence between His Catholic Majesty's Minister of State, and the Plenipotentiaries of the American Government, who suspended and broke off the negotiation at Aranjuez, after having obstinately refused to accept the modifications founded on strict justice which were proposed by the Spanish Gov

ernment.

I now proceed to state the most obvious and essential difficulties which render your three proposals for the settlement of indemnities inadmissible. I observe that, in speaking of them, you only mention the indemnity for spoliations suf

fered by American citizens, and omit that which is equally due to Spaniards for spoliations committed on them by the citizens and authorities of this Republic, in violation of the law of nations and the existing treaty. I also observe that you not only omit this indispensable basis of reciprocity and common justice, but propose the immediate cession of both the Floridas, which two Spanish provinces are to be retained by the United States as an indemnity or payment of what may appear to be due by Spain to American cit izens, according to the arbitration of the joints commission.

You cannot fail to admit, sir, that this proposal, independent of its injustice, is offensive to the dignity and honor of His Catholic Majesty. It is unjust, because it demands an indemnity or anticipated payment of claims yet to be proved and liquidated, while, at the same time, it provides for no correspondent indemnity or payment of what may be due by the United States to Spanish subjects. It is offensive to the dignity and honor of Spain, because, by the very fact of demanding this anticipation, a want of confidence in the integrity and punctuality in His Catholic Majesty's Government is manifested, whereas a single instance does not exist of Spain having failed in fulfilling her engagements; the most scrupulous exactness, good faith, and strict observance of the point of honor, having at all times invariably formed the distinguishing traits of her character. It therefore becomes unnecessary to point out to you the enormous disproportion between the value of the two Floridas, and that of the probable amount of the claims of American citizens on the Government of Spain, after they are ascertained and liquidated. This disproportion will be still more enormous when you consider that, in the first of the three proposals, to which I am now replying, is included the indemnity for spoliations on citizens of this Republic by French cruisers and consuls on the coasts and in the ports of Spain, and by the tribunals of cassation in France, confirming the condemnation of American prizes.

It has been proved to mathematical demonstration that Spain neither is nor can be responsible in any way for this indemnity. It is France which must be responsible, if she has not already satisfied the claim, as her Government assures she has done.

Nor can I omit to declare to you, sir, that the pretension of annulling the grants of lands in Florida since August, 1802, would be in opposition to all the principles of justice. These grants are made in a lawful manner, and by a lawful authority. Spain was the owner and peaceful possessor of those lands. She had then an indisputable right to make the grants you allude to, as she now has to the property of the territory afterwards forcibly taken possession of by the United States, since a violent dispossession never deprives an individual or nation of their lawful rights. I proceed to your last proposal, which is, that on the admission of those preceding, Spain shall be exonerated from all obligation to pay the debts or

Relations with Spain.

all I wish to ask, and give up all you may justly claim or show is yours." I am, however, perfectly persuaded that this neither is nor can be your intention, or that of your Government; and that, in making these proposals for an adjustment, your only object was to afford me an opportunity to make such as you might consider just and admissible.

I shall, therefore, point out to you such as I conceive to be founded in justice and reciprocal convenience, and therefore cannot fail to meet the wishes of the United States.

1. "The dividing line between Louisiana and the Spanish possessions to be established in one of the branches of the Mississippi, either that of La Fourche, or of the Atchafalaya, following the course of that river to its source. Spain to cede the two Floridas to the United States in full and complete sovereignty."

claims which may be due to American citizens on their settlement and liquidation by the joint commission. I conceive this to be the import of the expressions, stating that "Spain shall be exonerated from the payment of the debts, or any part of them." This proposition is a corollary of the two preceding it, since, if Spain should cede the two Floridas to the United States as an indemnity or compensation for the losses and injuries done to the citizens of this Republic, she would necessarily be exonerated from this responsibility, the cession being, in such case, equivalent to a final discharge of the claims referred to. I go farther. Supposing your last two proposals for the definitive adjustment of the question of indemnities to be admitted and carried into effect, the one preceding, namely, that which refers this business to the award of commissioners to be appointed by both Governments, agreeably to the convention of 1802, would be useless and contra- In case this proposal should not appear admisdictory. As none of the proposals offered by sible to your Government, the following may be you provide any indemnity for the losses and in- substituted: "The uti possidetis, or state of posjuries caused to Spaniards, nor even make any session in 1763, to form the basis, and the western mention of them; and as by the two last pro-line of division to be established from the sea, at posals, if admitted, the losses and injuries sustained by American citizens would be indemnified and compensated, according to the wishes of your Government, and Spain would consequently be exonerated from all responsibility on this head, it is clear that the business would then be settled and cancelled, and there would be no necessity for recurring to arbitration.

Finally, I cannot refrain from expressing my great concern at not being able in any degree to reconcile the proposals you have made me by order of the President with the inviolable principles of common justice; and on perceiving that on the part of the United States no basis is presented of a due reciprocity for the adjustment of the differences pending, the said proposals being altogether inadmissible.

a point between the rivers Carcasa and the Mermento, or Mermentao, running thence by Arroyo Hondo, till it crosses the Colorado of Natchitoches, between that post and Adaes, thence northward to a point to be fixed and laid down by commissioners respectively appointed for the purpose."

2. His Catholic Majesty to ratify the convention of 1802, and both Governments to abide by the decision of the joint commission on the question of indemnities, classing as such those which regard American citizens and the Crown and subjects of His Catholic Majesty, for spoliations reciprocally committed to the period of the said convention, and thereafter, to the date of the confirmation of the adjustment by the joint commission. Five or seven members to compose the I repeat to you, sir, that the King, my master, commission, with this condition, that if they are being desirous to meet the wishes of the United five, each Government shall respectively nomiStates, in respect to the cession of the Floridas, nate a person for the fifth member, to be chosen although it is well known how highly important by lot, provided they cannot agree on the person those two provinces are to cover and secure the to be so chosen; the same to take place for the possessions of Spain in that part of America, fifth, sixth, and seventh, if there be seven memHis Majesty is ready to cede them, provided he bers; but the fifth, in the first instance, and the is compensated by an equivalent in territory be- fifth, sixth, and seventh, in the second, shall neilonging to the United States, and bordering on ther be Spaniards nor citizens of the United the Spanish possessions; and it is under this idea States by birth or naturalization. They shall that the powers and instructions I have from my moreover be, by their profession and office, judges, Government are conceived. But you cannot fail of the number of those subjects who, among marto admit that the plan of adjustment proposed itime and commercial nations, are usually eminvolves exorbitant and enormous sacrifices to the ployed to judge and decide on matters connected prejudice of Spain, since, without offering any with maritime law and the law of nations, wheequivalent or compensation on the part of the ther in France, England, Russia, Austria, or the United States, it requires not only the cession of Netherlands; in both cases, the person so desigboth the Floridas, but also that of immense ter-nated to be provided with a certificate of the ritories belonging to the Spanish monarchy westward of Louisiana; and that, in relation to the question of reciprocal indemnities, it only comprehends those respecting American citizens, omitting those due to the Crown and subjects of His Catholic Majesty. This plan of adjustment would amount to the following one: "Give me

Government of the country he belongs to, proving the opinion entertained of his integrity and capacity, his quality and actual profession as a judge in the matters referred to, and also the assurance that permission shall be granted to him for discharging the duties of the commission, in case the said person shall be chosen by lot.

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