Page:Memoir upon the negotiations between Spain and the United States of America which led to the treaty of 1819.djvu/153

 143

��ty of which it was susceptible as a law of the Republick, and that neither of the negotiators was now competent to alter it; that with regard to the bad faith of which I was suspected, it was of but little consequence to me, for every sensible man, and the government itself, knew that I was incapa- ble of prejudicing either of the two nations for the sake of protecting private individuals; that the hon- our of the king and the nation demanded that I should fix that epoch, and no other, for the annihi- lation of the grants, and that the treaty would not have been signed, if the American government had not subscribed to that epocli; and that I was ready to make this declaration, but not to invalidate the grants, nor alter the treaty we had concluded. The declaration was in fact demanded of joie, and 1 gave it in the terms mentioned, leaving it in the power of his majesty to act as he thought proper on that point. In giving to his majesty an account of this incident, which I regarded as advantageous, I in- sinuated that if the Americans refused to exchange the ratifications of the treaty in the terms in which it was conceived, they would be exposed to the eyes of the world as a people of the w orst possible faith, and his majesty would be at liberty to violate it without any responsibility; and that if, as I believ- ed, his majesty had no great inclination to maintain the grant of these lands, he might give them up for the benefit of the American citizens, by which he

�� �