Page:Memoir upon the negotiations between Spain and the United States of America which led to the treaty of 1819.djvu/44

34 the North, are also so regarded. It is evident, the United States are not capable of peopling this immense country; nor is it probable, that it yet contains the number of inhabitants required by the Federal Constitution before it can be erected into a State. But there is no doubt, it will soon be admitted as such into the Union, and that the Americans will make the greatest possible efforts to people it at the points of most importance, in as much as it embraces in its wide extent the greater part of the territories in dispute between the government of the United States and Spain, which the former is desirous to become master of at every risk, not only to open a communication by land with the Pacific Ocean, but to hem in the Spanish provinces, which, from the fertility of their soil and the precious mines with which it is believed they abound, excite still more their ambition and avarice. It is for this reason, that the American government talks of establishing a chain of fortified posts all along this vast country.

I cannot conclude my observations upon the country and population of the United States, without saying something of the Indians, or aboriginals, still remaining in them. A considerable number of the Iroquois are yet to be met with in the State of New York, and in the eastern part of Long Island; but they are all miserable wretches, in nothing resembling their ancestors, whose character is said to