the attention of the
Spanish government to the peculiar situation of the United States. To
one half of their territory, the use of the Mississippi was
indispensable. No efforts could prevent their acquiring it. That they
would acquire it, either by acting separately, or in conjunction with
Great Britain, was one of those inevitable events against which human
wisdom could make no provision. To the serious consideration of the
Spanish government, therefore, were submitted the consequences which
must result to their whole empire in America, either from hostilities
with the United States, or from a seizure of Louisiana by Great
Britain.

The opinion, that in the event of war between Great Britain and Spain,
Louisiana would be invaded from Canada, was not a mere suggestion for
the purpose of aiding the negotiations at Madrid. It was seriously
adopted by the American government; and the attention of the executive
was turned to the measures which it would be proper to take, should
application be made for permission to march a body of troops, through
the unsettled territories of the United States, into the dominions of
Spain; or should the attempt be made to march them, without
permission.

Among the circumstances which contributed to the opinion that, in the
event of war, the arms of Great Britain would be directed against the
settlements of Spain in America, was the continuance of Lord
Dorchester in the government of Canada. This nobleman had intimated a
wish to visit New York on his return to England; but the prospect of a
rupture with Spain had determined him to remain in Canada. Under the
pretext of making his acknowledgments for the readiness with which his
desire to pass through New York had been acceded to, his lordship
despatched Major Beck with, a member of his family, to sound the
American government, and if possible, to ascertain its dispositions
towards the two nations. Alluding to the negotiations which had been
commenced in London, this gentleman endeavoured to assign a
satisfactory cause for the delays which had intervened. It was not
improbable, he said, that these delays, and some other circumstances,
might have impressed Mr. Morris with an idea of backwardness on the
part of the British ministry. His lordship, however, had directed him
to say, that an inference of this sort would not, in his opinion, be
well founded, as he had reason to believe that the British cabinet was
inclined not only towards a frien