Casuistry might carry the United States government far. The military occupation of West Florida was an act of war against Spain. “From present appearances,” continued Madison, “our occupancy of West Florida would be resented by Spain, by England, and by France, and bring on, not a triangular, but quadrangular contest.” Napoleon himself never committed a more arbitrary act than that of marching an army, without notice, into a neighbor’s territory, on the plea that he claimed it as his own. None of Madison’s predecessors ventured on such liberties with the law; none of his successors dared imitate them, except under the pretext that war already existed by the act of the adverse government. Madison was regarded by his contemporaries as a precise, well-balanced, even a timid man, argumentative to satiety, never carried away by bursts of passion, fretful rather than vehement, pertinacious rather than resolute,--a character that seemed incapable of surprising the world by reckless ambition or lawless acts; yet this circumspect citizen, always treated by his associates with a shade of contempt as a closet politician, paid surprisingly little regard to rules of consistency or caution. His Virginia Resolutions of 1798, his instructions in the Louisiana purchase, his assumption of Livingston’s claim to West Florida, his treatment of Yrujo, his embargo policy, his acceptance of Erskine’s arrangement, his acceptance of Cadore’s arrangement, and his occupation of West Florida were all examples of the same trait; and an abundance of others were to come. He ignored caution in pursuit of an object which seemed to him proper in itself; nor could he understand why this quiet and patriotic conduct should rouse tempests of passion in his opponents, whose violence, by contrast, increased the apparent placidity of his own persistence. Forestalling the action of Congress which was to meet within five weeks, President Madison issued, Oct. 27, 1810, a proclamation announcing that Governor Claiborne would take possession of West Florida to the river Perdido, in the name and behalf of the United States. This proclamation, one of the most remarkable documents in the archives of the United States government, began by reasserting the familiar claim to West Florida as included in the Louisiana purchase:--