Page:Memoir upon the negotiations between Spain and the United States of America which led to the treaty of 1819.djvu/16

6 right to answer his prayer for clemency on that plea, that so far as they were concerned, he was the arbiter of his own time, and might have used the requisite deliberation. This would be critically just: nor do I mention the rapidity of my translation, with a view to apologize, but to account, for the errours that may be found in it.

The reader of the following pages, will soon find reason to pronounce them a most extraordinary production; he will perceive that they contain a singular mixture of the veriest slander, and the most extravagant eulogy, of our country and countrymen, that was ever heaped upon them by foe or friend. The double object which the author had in view, led him, of necessity, into many contradictions and absurdities. He had been accused of sullying the dignity of his royal master, and wounding the interests of his nation, by a disgraceful treaty: and this charge naturally involved the suspicion, that he had been influenced in his negotiation either by fear or partiality for the Americans. In combatting this twofold accusation, it was important, that he should show the political and physical strength of the United States, in its utmost magnitude: that he should demonstrate the impossibility of defending the Spanish provinces in America from the ambitious grasp of this colossal power: and that he should draw such a picture of the people, as might lead to the inference that contempt, rather than admiration or dread, supplied him with the colouring. It will be seen, from the ingenuity with which he has managed his arguments, that Don Luis de Onis was a wily politician, a master of the diplomatic art; and however illusive some of his reasoning may appear, there