The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 17, July 1913 - April, 1914 Page: 183
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The Louisiana-Texas Frontier
they avail to convince Cevallos. Evidently Monroe's request to
Skipwith and to Armstrong had not procured much material from
Paris, or else the negotiators were unable to use it without previous
instructions from home. They did, however, touch upon a very
practical but obvious point, when they stated that it was important
to settle the whole series of questions in some way, while the coun-
try on both sides of the Mississippi still remained largely unoc-
cupied.31
Such, however, was not to be the case. Undoubtedly the Amer-
icans were stretching their three principles too far when by virtue
of a few scattered French settlements, they attempted to include
in the scope of their claims all the territory from the Rio Grande
to the Canadian border. On the other hand, the Spanish occupation
of Texas, while relatively more thorough than the French occupa-
tion of Louisiana, was not complete enough to justify a rigid insist-
ence upon their claim to Adaes. Had Cevallos been in a humor to
negotiate, or the French authorities to support the Americans, they
might have reached some compromise on this and the other ques-
tions at issue not radically different from the treaty fourteen years
later.
Monroe and Pinckney again experienced a tiresome period of
waiting. The Spanish ministers of state, secure in French support,
neither invited other propositions nor neglected Monroe's forced
conferences. Buoyed up by the hope of French and Spanish suc-
cess over the English blockading fleets (for Talfalgar had not yet
occurred), Godoy exhibited no alarm at Monroe's suggestion that
the Americans might prove disagreeable neighbors, unless he took
measures to secure their good will. Beurnonville, the French am-
bassador, generally avoided Monroe, although he assured the latter
that he had missed the opportunity to secure his ends by not coming
to Madrid the previous year. On May 8th Cevallos told Monroe
that he was preparing a memoir on the western limits of Louisiana,
but that it would not be ready very soon, nor was he certain that
it would contain any definite proposals for a treaty. The other's
protests against further delay were unavailing. Godoy, when inter-
viewed, simply told him that discussion was necessary and that time
so employed was not lost. It is no wonder that the exasperated dip-81Am. State Papers, For. Rel., II, 662-665.
183
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 17, July 1913 - April, 1914, periodical, 1914; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101061/m1/187/: accessed May 5, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.