280 LOUISIANA CEDED TO THE UNITED STATES. [1803. 



At the time when the treaty for the cession of Louisiana to the 

 United States was concluded, the Spaniards still remained in pos- 

 session of the country ; the order from the court of Madrid for the 

 delivery to France, was not executed until the 30th of November, 

 1804, twenty days after which the surrender to the American com- 

 missioners took place in due form at New Orleans. The Spanish 

 government had already protested against the transfer of Louisiana 

 to the United States, as being contrary to engagements previously 

 made by France, of which, however, no proof was adduced ; and 

 some disposition was at first manifested on the part of the Spanish 

 authorities at New Orleans, and in the provinces of Mexico adjacent, 

 to dispute the entrance of the Americans. This opposition was, how- 

 ever, abandoned, and a negotiation was commenced at Madrid, in 

 1804, between the governments of the United States and Spain, 

 for the adjustment of the lines which were to separate their re- 

 spective territories. 



In this negotiation, the United States claimed the whole of the 

 territory ceded by France to Spain in 1762, with the exception of 

 the portion east of the Mississippi, which had been surrendered to 

 Great Britain in 1763 ; and this territory was considered by them 

 as including the whole coast on the Mexican Gulf, from the Perdido 

 River as the western limit of Florida, west and south to the River 

 Bravo del Norte as the north-east boundary of Mexico, with all the 

 intermediate rivers and all the countries drained by them, not pre- 

 viously possessed by the United States. The Spanish government, 

 on its side, contended — that France had never rightfully possessed 

 any part of America west of the Mississippi, the whole of which 

 had belonged to Spain ever since its discovery — that the French 

 establishments in that territory were all intrusive, and had only 

 been tolerated by Spain, for the sake of preserving peace ; and — 

 that the Louisiana ceded to Spain by France in 1762, and retro- 

 ceded to France in 1800, and transferred by the latter power to the 

 United States in 1803, could not, in justice, be considered as com- 

 prising more than New Orleans, with the tract in its vicinity east of 

 the Mississippi, and the country immediately bordering on the west 

 bank of that river. The parties were thus completely at variance 

 on fundamental principles ; and, neither being disposed to yield, the 

 negotiation, after having been carried on for some months, was 

 broken off, and it was not renewed until 1817. Meanwhile, how- 

 ever, the United States remained in possession of nearly all the 



