Page:Memoir upon the negotiations between Spain and the United States of America which led to the treaty of 1819.djvu/133

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publick, ready to profit by a revolution which 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 the same cunning against Ame- lia Island, and attempted the same thing against Mobile, and the rest of the territories of AVest Flo- rida as far as the river Perdido; but the inhabitants not having answ ered their w ishes, the government resorted to Congress for authority to take posses- sion of those territories by force, should circum- stances require it. The President of the United Btates, under the sanction of that authority, ordered siege to be laid to Alobile, and general Wilkinson took possession of the place without firing a mus- tet, for which his prowess w as 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 were extended as far as the river Perdido, and the President contented himself with replying to my protests against this aggression, that the territories should remain in the power of the United States, as they had been in that of Spain, subject to an amicable negotiation; but uotwithstauding this, they were immediately

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