Page:Memoir upon the negotiations between Spain and the United States of America which led to the treaty of 1819.djvu/131

 expeditions, under the orders of well informed and experienced chiefs, to explore the internal provinces of Mexico, and the islands of Porto Rico and Cuba; they procured correct maps of those dominions of Spain; made themselves acquainted with the soil, climate and productions; formed connexions with their inhabitants, and endeavoured to scatter among them the seeds of independence, proclaiming that the happiness they enjoyed in their Republick was due to their wise Constitution. 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 well upon the advantages which might be derived from a commerce with those countries, as upon their climate, number of inhabitants and Indians that peopled them, troops that garrisoned them, and passes badly defended or neglected, through which entrance might be gained with facility into the kingdom of Mexico. The Spanish commandants in the interior provinces, instead 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