[2] See Trescot's Diplomatic History of the Administrations of Washington and Adams. Chapters I and IV. [3] Godoy's Memoirs, Vol. I.45-'8 et seq. Quoted from Trescot, 253. It is very evident that Mr. Pinckney understood the circumstances that determined the course of the Spanish Minister. See American State Papers For. Rels. I. 535. Martin, who has studied the subject from the standpoint of Louisiana, says (History of La., 269) that this was also understood by the King's officers in New Orleans. The United States and England had previously agreed that they would share equally in the navigation of the Mississippi and on May 4, 1796, six months after the treaty with Spain, the United States and England subscribed to the following: "No other stipulation or treaty concluded since (the date of their former treaty) by either of the contracting parties with any other Power or Nation, is understood in any manner to derogate from the right to the free communication and commerce guaranteed by the 3d article or the treaty to the subjects of His Brittanic Majesty."--Amer. State P. For. Rels. II. 15. In a letter to the Spanish Minister, Chevalier de Yrujo, dated January 20, 1798, Mr. Pickering says that the United States "have not asked, nor will they have occasion to ask Spain to be the guardian of their rights an interests on the Mississippi."--Ib. 102. [4] Sketches of Louisiana (1812), 98-9. The author of these sketches, a major in the army of the United States, took possession of upper Louisiana in behalf of his government, under the treaty of cession, in March, 1804. His book was based upon "local and other information" furnished by "respectable men" "in most of the districts" of which he wrote, together with his own extensive excursions, during the five years in which he was stationed on various parts of the lower Mississippi. [5] This is the language of Stoddard, which was based upon Gayoso's letter. See Sketches of La. 98-'9. [6] In 1787, the Intendant of Louisiana, acting in accordance with instructions from the Spanish court, prepared an elaborate memoir on the political situation in America. "He represented the people of the United States as extremely ambitious, as animated by the spirit of conquest and as anxious to extend their empire to the shores of the Pacific. He then suggested a line of policy, which in his opinion, it was incumbent on Spain to adopt. The dismemberment of the western country, by means of pensions and commercial benefits, was considered by him as not difficult. The attempt was therefore strongly urged, particularly as it would, if successful, greatly augment the power of Spain in this quarter and forever arrest our progress westward. These suggestions were favorably received, and formed the groundwork of that policy which Spain afterwards pursued."--Sketches of La., 98. [7] Ib. 85.