claims east of the Mississippi. Nothing new passed on the first topic;
as to the latter, the Count made only some very general remarks, such
as that he hoped we should, on conferring further about the matter,
approach nearer to each other; that those limits ought to be settled,
and while they remained in contest, a treaty with Spain could not
reasonably be expected; that as soon as we should agree upon those
points, Count d'Aranda would have a further or more formal commission
to conclude the treaty, &c.

I remarked, that these claims of Spain were of recent date, for that
on my first arriving in Spain, the Count de Florida Blanca told me,
that the success of my mission would probably turn upon one single
point, viz. the cession of our rights to the navigation of the river
Mississippi; from which, as well as from their subsequent and uniform
demands on that head, it was evident, that they then considered that
river as our boundary; for it would have been very strange indeed,
that they should insist on our forbearing to navigate a river, whose
waters washed no part of our country, and to which we could not, of
consequence, have any pretence of claim.

The Count smiled, but avoided making any direct reply; he hoped we
should, nevertheless, agree, and that we must endeavor to approach and
meet each other. I told him I could not flatter myself with such
expectations, while Spain continued her claims to those countries, for
that we should be content with no boundary short of the Mississippi.

I went from the Count's to M. Rayneval's chamber, for I had not seen
him since his return from England. He gave me the same reason for his
journey, which I had just received from the Count. We then talked of
his memoir and the Spanish negotiation. He said much in favor of the
conciliatory line he had proposed, and of the advantages of placing
the Indian nations on the _west_ side of it, under the _protection_ of
Spain, and those on the _east_, under that of the United States; that
the rights of those nations would be thereby secured, and future
disputes between us and Spain avoided. I replied, that so far as our
claims might affect those Indian nations, it was a matter solely
between us and them; and that admitting them to be independent, they
certainly had a right to choose their own protectors; and, therefore,
that we could have no right, without their knowledge or consent, to
choose for them. I also made the same remark to him resp