At the same time Mr. Adams unofficially communicated and transacted business with the agent whom he refused to receive as a Consul-General.

But the events of the next three years produced a great change. By the end of 1821, as we have seen, Spain had very little authority left to her within any one of her ancient provinces. Not unnaturally, the United States were the first to recognise the in.dependence of the new States thus formed on their own Continent.

In 1822 the views of the Government of the United States were explained in a message of the President, Mr. Monroe, to Congress, of the 8th of March. It is a State Paper deserving the highest praise :

"The revolutionary movement in the Spanish provinces in "this hemisphere attracted the attention, and excited the sympathy of our fellow-citizens from its commencement.

This

feeling was natural and honourable to them, from causes which "need not be communicated to you. It has been gratifying to "all to see the general acquiescence which has been manifested "in the policy which the constituted authorities have deemed "it proper to pursue in regard to this contest. As soon as the movement assumed such a steady and consistent form, as to "make the success of the provinces probable, the rights to which they were entitled by the law of nations, as equal parties to a "civil war, were extended to them. Each party was permitted "to enter our ports with its public and private ships, and to "take from them every article which was the subject of com"merce with other nations. Our citizens, also, have carried on

commerce with both parties, and the Government has protected "it with each in articles not contraband of war. Through the "whole of this contest the United States have remained neutral, "and have fulfilled with the utmost impartiality all the obliga"tions incident to that character.

"This contest has now reached such a stage, and been attended "with such decisive success on the part of the provinces, that "it merits the most profound consideration, whether their right "to the rank of independent nations, with all the advantages "incident to it, in their intercourse with the United States, is

"

not complete. Buenos Ayres assumed that rank by a formal "declaration in 1816, and has enjoyed it since 1810, free from "invasion by the parent country. The provinces composing the Republic of Columbia, after having separately declared their independence, were united by a fundamental law of the 17th of December, 1819. A strong Spanish force occupied at that time certain parts of the territory within their limits, and waged a destructive war. That force has been repeatedly defeated, and the whole of it either made prisoners or destroyed, or expelled from the country, with the exception of an incon"siderable portion only, which is blockaded in two fortresses. "The provinces on the Pacific have likewise been very success"ful. Chili declared independence in 1818, and has since en

joyed it undisturbed; and of late, by the assistance of Chili "and Buenos Ayres, the revolution has extended to Peru. Of "the movement in Mexico, our information is less authentic ; "but it is, nevertheless, distinctly understood, that the new "Government has declared its independence, and that there " is now no opposition to it there, nor a force to make any. For the last three years, the Government of Spain "has not sent a single corps of troops to any part of "that country; nor is there any reason to believe it will "send any in future. Thus, it is manifest, that all those

provinces are not only in the full enjoyment of their independence, but, considering the state of the war and other circum"stances, that there is not the most remote prospect of their being deprived of it.

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"When the result of such a contest is manifestly settled, the "new Governments have a claim to recognition by other Powers, " which ought not to be resisted. Civil wars too often excite "feelings which the parties cannot control. The opinion enter"tained by other Powers as to the result, may assuage those "feelings, and promote an accommodation between them, useful " and honourable to both. The delay which has been observed "in making a decision on this important subject, will, it is pre"sumed, have afforded an unequivocal proof to Spain, as it must "have done to other Powers, of the high respect entertained by

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the United States for her rights, and of their determination "not to interfere with them. The provinces belonging to this "hemisphere are our neighbours, and have, successively, as each portion of the country acquired its independence, pressed their recognition by an appeal to facts not to be contested, and which they thought gave them a just title to it. To motives of in"terest, this Government has invariably disclaimed all pretension, being resolved to take no part in the controversy, or other measure in regard to it, which should not merit the sanction " of the civilized world. To other claims, a just sensibility has "been always felt, and frankly acknowledged, but they in them"selves could never become an adequate cause of action. It "was incumbent on this Government to look to every important "fact and circumstance on which a sound opinion could be formed; which has been done. When we regard, then, the great length of time which this war has been prosecuted, the complete success which has attended it in favour of the provinces, the present condition of the parties, and the utter inability of Spain to produce any change in it, we are compelled to conclude that its fate is settled, and that the pro"vinces which have declared their independence, and are in the "enjoyment of it, ought to be recognised.

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"In proposing this measure, it is not contemplated to change thereby, in the slightest manner, our friendly relations with "either of the parties, but to observe, in all respects, as heretofore, should the war be continued, the most perfect neutrality "between them. Of this friendly disposition an assurance will "be given to the Government of Spain, to whom it is presumed " it will be, as it ought to be, satisfactory. The measure is proposed, under a thorough conviction that it is in strict accord " with the Law of Nations; that it is just and right as to the parties; and that the United States owe it to their station and "character in the world, as well as to their essential interests, to "adopt it."*

35

The Committee of Foreign Affairs, to which this message was referred, reported upon it in a Paper of the 19th of March, 1822. * State Papers, ix. 366; Martens' Nouveau Rec. vi. 148.

The Paper begins with a finding of the fact of independence. After a recital of the events I have mentioned, up to the date of the Paper, it is said :—

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"Such are the facts which have. occupied the attention of your Committee, and which, in their opinion, irresistibly prove "that the nations of Mexico, Columbia, Buenos Ayres, Peru, and Chili, in Spanish America, are in fact independent."

The right and expediency of recognising the independence they had "effectually achieved" are next examined.

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"The political right of this nation to acknowledge their independence, without offending others, does not depend on its justice, but on its actual establishment. To justify such a recognition by us, it is necessary only to show, as is already sufficiently shown, that the people of Spanish America are "within their respective limits exclusively sovereign, and thus " in fact independent. With them, as with every other Govern"ment possessing and exercising the power of making war, the "United States, in common with all nations, have the right of concerting the terms of mutual peace and intercourse."

The expediency of recognition is treated of as regards both Spain and the other nations of Europe. The reasoning is temperate and conciliatory. It is enough to quote one sentence which refers to the other nations of Europe:

"It is not unreasonable to suppose that those Governments have, like this, waited only for the evidence of facts, which might not only suffice to justify them, under the laws and usages of nations, but to satisfy Spain herself, that nothing "has been prematurely done, or which could justly offend her feelings, or be considered as inconsistent with her rights."

The message of the President called forth a remonstrance from the Spanish minister at Washington; but his argument is founded on the absence in the provinces of Governments entitled to recognition, rather than on any actual hold still retained by Spain. On this latter point all he alleged is contained in these sentences:

"Peru, conquered by a rebel army, has near the gates of the

* Martens' Nouveau Rec. vi. 152.

capital another Spanish army, aided by part of the inhabi

"tants.

"On the coast of Firma the Spanish banners wave.

"In Mexico there is no Government, and the result of the "questions which the chiefs commanding there have put to Spain is not known."*

Peru was the strongest instance; for these sentences were written at a time when the independent Government appeared unstable, after its first successes in 1821, and before its final success at Ayacucho.

The independence of Mexico had been settled, as we have seen, by the Treaty of Cordova.

The waving banners were those of a small naval force at Puerto Cabello, which attempted, without much success, to harass the coasts of Columbia.

Mr. Adams declined to discuss the detail of facts upon which the Spanish Government (he said) appeared to have information materially different from that which was of public notoriety; and gave to this remonstrance the following unanswerable reply:

"In the conflicts which have attended these revolutions, the "United States have carefully abstained from taking any part respecting the right of the nations concerned in them to maintain, or new organize, their own political constitutions, by "observing, wherever it was a contest by arms, the most impar"tial neutrality. But the civil war, in which Spain was for some "years involved with the inhabitants of her colonies in America, "has, in substance, ceased to exist. Treaties, equivalent to an acknowledgment of independence, have been concluded by the "commanders and viceroys of Spain herself, with the Republic " of Columbia, with Mexico, and with Peru; while, in the pro"vinces of La Plata and in Chili, no Spanish force has for "several years existed, to dispute the independence which the "inhabitants of those countries had declared.

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"Under these circumstances, the Government of the United States, far from consulting the dictates of a policy question

* State Papers, ix. p. 752.