When the monarchy of Spain was restored, nego tiations on the subject were renewed. The disputed territory had been consolidated with the United States; but the remainder of the Floridas, which were in the possession of Spain, and to which not even the shadow of a claim could be urged by the Americans, continued to excite their cupidity. Du. ring a period of the war which France and Spain had carried on against England, depredations, as the Americans asserted, had been committed on their commerce, by privateers belonging to Frenchmen, who had captured their ships, and carried them in to Spanish ports, where they had been condemned as legal prizes, before the consuls of France, who exercised judicial authority within the dominions of Spain. The Americans demanded from Spain, in no very decorous terms, compensations for the losses their citizens had thus sustained. The Spanish court replied, that they were no parties to the injury; that compensation, if any, was due from France ; that the aggrieved Americans had, by appealing to the courts of revision in France,-acquiesced in the con struction put on these transactions by the Spanish _court; and that the courts in Spain could take no steps to investigate the validity of the complaints, or to ascertain the quantum of injury sustained, as all the documentary evidence was in the possession of the French judicatures. The minister of Bonaparte asserted, that, in the negociationa for the sale of Louisiana, a compensation had been made to Ame rica for these depredations; and that she could con sequently have no claim on that account to urge ei. ther on France or Spain.
As long as Bonaparte ruled, the claims of Ameri ca could gain no attention from him: and Talley. rand, who had been the minister that carried on the negotiation, repelled, in the most indignant terms, every suggestion, and even intimation, that any ac count respecting these captures had not been finally adjusted. When Bonliparte was dethroned, and when Spain was entangled by the disputes with her colonies, America urged her claims with re newed pertinacity; and intimated that Floridas might be ceded as a compensation, and that the losses, alleged to have been sustained by the mer chants, should be adjusted by the American govern.. ment. As 1Spain was unwilling to acquiesce in this unjust pretension, the Americans, to quicken her, affected to deliberate on the propriety of recognizing the revolted colonies of Spain as independent states, and sent Commissioners to different parts to ascertain the condition of those countries. The Spanish en voy, alarmed by these feints, was induced to yield, and to acquiesce in the unjust pretensions of Ame rica, and at length concluded a treaty ceding the Floridas. Whilst these negotiations were carried on, however, Pensacola had been captured, and arrange ments made for the seizure of St Augustine, by an American officer, who, having been sent to fight the Seminole Indians, had raised and officered an army, without any authority but his own, and in opposition to the laws of the United States.
It appears by the very able report of a Committee of the senate of the United States, that General Jackson was ordered by the war department, to take under his command the militia of the contiguous states, to attack and disperse the Seminoles, and, when peace was concluded, to dismiss the militia. That officer, however, raised and officered a regular army of 1800 men, but called out no militia; he was joined by Generals Gaines and M'Intosh with 1500 more, and, with this fbrce, was soon enabled to dis perse the Seminoles, whose numbers, when collect ed, amounted only to 800 or 900 warriors. When peace was thus gained, instead of obeying his in structions, and dismissing his troops, General Jack son advanced into the Spanish territory. The go.. vernment had given orders, that, if the Indians should retire under the protection of a Spanish garrison, the American army was not to follow them, but to report it to the executive, and wait for its instruc tions. Jackson wrote to his government on the 26th
April 1818, " that the Indian forces had been di vided and scattered ; cut off from all communica tions with those agents of foreign nations, who had deluded them to their ruin, and had not the power, if they had the will, of annoying our frontier." He adds, that, "after making all necessary arrangements fbr the security of the positions occupied, and de taching a force to scour the country west of the Ap palochicola, I shall proceed direct to Nashville, as my presence in this country can be no longer ne cessary." Whilst composing this dispatch, however, the arrangements were proceeding for attacking the garrisons of Spain. His heavy artillery was moving from Mobile towards Pensacola, and the general, with 1200 men, joined it in about three weeks from that period, before that place. The opposition was tri fling: it fell an easy prey, and the Spanish governor, with the troops, retired to the fortress of Barancas, about six miles distant. As its surrender was refu sed, an attack was made upon it, and, after a bom bardment and cannonading for two days, and the loss of several lives, it was surrendered, and the gar rison, agreeably to the terms of the capitulation, was transported the Island of Cuba. The civil govern ment of Spain was forcibly suppressed, the revenue laws abolished, and municipal and financial officers, from the Americans, were, by the authority of the general, appointed to the different ports.
The execution of two Englishmen, Arbuthnot and Ambrister, contrary to all the laws of civilized nations, however atrocious, is more an indication of the character of the commander, than of the nature of a political transaction, and may be pass ed over without remark. When the conquest of West Florida was thus achieved, Jackson gave orders to his second in command, General Gaines, to attack St Augustine, " to hold the garrison prisoners un til he heard from the President of the United States, or transport them to Cuba, as in his judgment, un der existing circumstances, he might think best." This completion of the general's designs was, how ever, frustrated by the and decisive orders given to Gaines, to desist from the attempt. We are not now considering the weakness or the ini quity of the government of America, nor do we find it necessary here to solve the problem, to which of those causes the subsequent exculpation of Jackson is to be attributed. The influence of this conduct on Spain seemed, however, to have been effectual. Without a revenue, or the power of raising one, with a ministry constantly changing with all the caprices of the monarch, with a population governed by priests and monks, with the contempt of all Europe, and with insurrections of a formidable nature in its transatlantic dominions, the ambassador of Spain was reluctantly forced to yield to the insolent injustice of the American Republicans ; who, for the sake of gain. ing the uncultivated provinces of Florida, have appa rently renounced their intention of giving either coun tenance or support to the republicans of the south.
The treaty concluded by Don Luis Onis, on the part of Spain, has not been ratified by the court of Madrid, although the stipulated period for its com pletion is now past; and the present condition of Flo. ride remains thus : The whole of East Florida is in the possession of Spain; Pensacola has been given back to a Spanish commander; and the country in dispute, between the Iberville and the Perdido, is in the hands of the government of the United States.
Bertram's Florida.—Cardena's Historia de la Flo. rida.—Correqondence between Don Luis Onis and the Honourable Mr Secretary Adams.—Observationa made by the Writer of this Article, during a rest. dence of eight months in Florida.