Oregon country. In January, 1805, American representatives at Madrid opened negotiations, claiming in their first note that Louisiana extended from the Rio Grande to the Perdido-a contention which was forthwith denied by the Spanish authorities. Into the details of these early contentions-contentions which mark the beginning of the boundary question-it is unnecessary to go. The whole subject has been admirably treated elsewhere."

Reopened in 1817.—In January, 1816, were begun the final negotiations which culminated in the treaty of 1819. The Americans began, as they had in 1805, by contending that Louisiana extended from the Perdido to the Rio Grande. This evoked a general denial from the Spanish as it had done on a former occasion. Negotiations were interrupted when the King decided to transfer them from Madrid to Washington. In the latter place the boundary question was again opened in January, 1817. Delay followed delay until shortly after Adams was appointed Secretary of State under Monroe's administration. During the latter part of 1817 De Onis informed the State Department that he was ready to pursue negotiations until their final termination. After some preliminary diplomatic fencing, De Onis presented a historical review of the western boundary. Spain, he said, had owned all of the Gulf region and the Californias by right of discovery and exploration, and Texas and New Mexico by right of settlement. Texas, he claimed, extended to the Mississippi, and the French when they had gone west of that river had done so with the permission or sufferance of the Spanish governors. Through right of priority, he asserted, Spain owned as far as the Missouri and the pretensions of the French concerning the size of the Crozat grant he considered ridiculous; pointing out

33 Ibid.

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that the French had been permitted to occupy Natchitoches, and when they had violated their trading privileges the Spanish officers had made an arrangement providing that the Arroyo Hondo should remain the dividing line until the issue was settled by the sovereigns. Since the boundary had never been determined formally a temporary one was suggested by De Onis, following the line of the Mermento and Arroyo Hondo, passing between Natchitoches and Adaes and extending across the Red toward the Missouri River. The exact boundaries were to be fixed later by a joint commission. That is, Spain was ready to yield a large part of the present state of Louisiana and lands along the western side of the Mississippi River.

Dickering. To this Adams replied that the United States would accept the line of the Colorado from its mouth to its source and thence to the northern bounds of Louisiana, or his government would consent to leave the upper part of the boundary for future arrangement. The Spanish minister, after dryly commenting that he supposed the Colorado of Natchitoches and not that of Texas was meant, since the latter was still farther within the bounds of Spanish territory, proposed to cede the Floridas to the United States and to establish the boundary in one of the mouths of the Mississippi. If there were objections to this, he proposed "that the state of possession in 1763 form the basis, and that the western line be established between the Calcasien and the Mermento, thence the Arroyo Hondo till it crossed the Red River between Natchitoches and Adaes, thence northward to a point to be fixed by Commissioners." 34

It was evident from that time on that Spain would cede the Floridas but that she would not cede Texas.

34 Ibid., 54. See Adams, Memoirs, IV. 7; Richardson, Messages and Papers of the Presidents, II. 14; State Papers, Foreign Relations, IV. 450-460.

So negotiations took a different course. Adams reasserted the claims of the United States to territory as far as the Rio Grande to be sure, but these demands gradually gave way to others which sought compensation in the Oregon country. Proposals and counter proposals followed one another throughout 1817 and 1818. In reply to one of these suggestions made by De Onis Adams offered the following as a substitute.

Adams's Offer.-Beginning at the mouth of the river Sabine, on the Gulf of Mexico, following the course of said river to the twenty-second degree of latitude, the eastern bank and all the islands in said river to belong to the United States, and the western bank to Spain; thence, due north, to the northernmost part of the thirty-third degree of north latitude, and until it strikes the Rio Roxo, or Red River; thence, following the course of the said river, to its source, touching the chain of the Snow Mountains, in latitude thirty-seven degrees, twenty-five minutes north, longitude one hundred and six degrees fifteen minutes west, or thereabouts, as marked on Melish's map; thence to the summit of the said mountains, and following the chain of the same to the forty-first parallel of latitude; thence following the said parallel of latitude forty-one degrees, to the South Sea. The northern bank of the said Red River, and all the islands therein, to belong to the United States, and the southern bank of the same to Spain.

35

Results at end of 1818.-To this De Onis replied that his government would accept the Sabine if the line above the Red River should run due north until it reached the Mississippi and followed along the course of that stream to its source. At this point, however, Spain broke off negotiations until satisfaction could be obtained for the invasion of Florida by Jackson. Adams then took advantage of the situation to with

35 American State Papers, Foreign Relations, IV. 530, 531. See also Marshall, A History of the Western Boundary of the Louisiana Purchase,

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draw the proposal he had made, and declared once more the right of the United States to all territory to the Rio Grande. De Onis replied by declaring that all former offers made by his government were likewise withdrawn. So the year 1818 ended without any settlement of the boundary question.

Early in 1819 negotiations were resumed and a settlement was soon agreed upon. In January of that year De Onis informed Adams that he had received instructions in regard to running the line to the Pacific, and shortly afterwards declared that the King would accept a boundary extending from the source of the Missouri westward to the Columbia and along the middle of that stream to the Pacific Ocean. Adams refused to accept this, but on February 6, 1819, submitted the following which was the basis for the final settlement: 36

Basis for final settlement.-Beginning at the mouth of the river Sabine, on the Gulf of Mexico; following the course of said river to the thirty-second degree of latitude, the eastern bank and all the islands in the river to belong to the United States, and the western bank to Spain; thence due north to the northernmost point of the bend, between longitude one hundred one and one hundred two degrees; thence by the shortest line, to the southernmost point of the bend of the river Arkansas, between the same degrees of longitude one hundred one and one hundred two degrees; thence following the course of the river Arkansas, to its Source, in latitude forty-one degrees north; thence following the same parallel of latitude forty-one degrees to the South Sea. The northern banks and all the islands in the said Red and Arkansas rivers, on the said boundary line, to the United States, and their southern banks to Spain; the whole being as laid down in Melish's map of the United States, published at Philadelphia, improved to the irst of January, 1818. But, if the source of the Arkansas

to belong

"American State Papers, Foreign Relations, IV. 617.

River should fall south or north of latitude forty-one degrees, then the line from the said source shall run due north or south, as the case may be, till it meets the said parallel of latitude, and thence, as aforesaid, to the South Sea. And it is further agreed that no Spanish settlement shall be made on any part of the said Red or Arkansas rivers, nor on any of the waters flowing into the same, nor any east of the chain of the Snow Mountains, between the latitudes thirty-one and forty-one degrees inclusively; and that the navigation of said rivers shall belong exclusively to the United States forever.

The French minister, De Neuville, when Adams conferred with him in regard to the project, pointed out that De Onis would never accept the provisions, particularly those contained in the last sentence. Adams replied that he would abandon the disagreeable exclusions, provided the Spaniard would accept the rest of the treaty, and would "refer the matter to the President with a recommendation that if De Onis accepted the line of the forty-first degree, the United States would agree to the hundredth meridian." "7

A counter proposal.-Three days after Adams communicated the above project to De Onis the latter submitted a counter proposal. In this he accepted the lower part of the line offered by Adams, but suggested that it leave the Red River at the hundredth meridian and along this degree of longitude north to the Arkansas, thence along the middle of that stream to the fortysecond degree of north latitude, then west along that parallel to the source of the Multnomah, thence along the course of that river to the forty-third parallel, and west to the ocean. All the islands were to belong to the United States, but such parts of the rivers as constituted their frontiers were to be open to the free navigation of both countries.

37 Marshall, Western Boundary of Louisiana, 62.