Page:Memoir upon the negotiations between Spain and the United States of America which led to the treaty of 1819.djvu/147

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pletely sanctioned by the convention of 1802;* but the ratiiication 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 circumstances, to have considered herself responsible for the indem- nification of injuries which the bad faith of the Ame- rican government occasioned us, ^\ ithout 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, said 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 weight, 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 ^vas 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

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