Page:Memoir upon the negotiations between Spain and the United States of America which led to the treaty of 1819.djvu/19

 PREFACE.

THE happy era of our political restoration having at length arrived, when the monarch feels it his duty to unite with his people in promoting the well being and prosperity of the state, I have believed, that the treaty, concluded on the 22d February of the last year, between his majesty and the United States of America, but not yet ratified in consequence of the occurrence of some subsequent difficulties, could not but interest, in the most lively manner, the Nation, and the worthy deputies whom they have elected to represent them. But as, in order to form a correct and impartial judgment of this treaty, which I now publish, it is necessary to possess a previous knowledge of the incidents which gave occasion to the negotiations, I have presented them with all the perspicuity of which their nature is susceptible; I have then entered into an examination of the situation of Spain, at the period when the Central Junta confided to me, in the name of the king, the important charge of minister plenipotentiary near the United States, and of the state of that country at my departure from it. And for the better illustration of the subject, I have moreover inserted in an Appendix, the preliminary and secret treaty of the 1st October, 1800, between the French Republic and his Catholic Majesty, the king of Spain, in relation to the aggrandizement of his royal highness, the Infant Duke of Parma in Italy, and the recession of Louisiana: the convention agreed upon in 1802, between his Catholic Majesty and the United States, upon the indemnification for losses, damages, and injuries sustained during the last war, in consequence of excesses committed by the individuals of both nations, in violation of the law of nations and the existing treaty: the treaty above mentioned, concluded on the 22d February, 1819; 2