4856. LOUISIANA, Spain and acquisition.—
At this moment a little cloud hovers
in the horizon. The government of Spain
has protested against the right of France to
transfer; and it is possible she may refuse
possession, and that this may bring on acts
of force. But against such neighbors as
France there, and the United States here,
what she can expect from so gross a compound
of folly and false faith, is not to be
sought in the book of wisdom. She is afraid
of her enemies in Mexico; but not more than
we are.—
To Dupont de Nemours. Washington ed. iv, 509.
(W.
Nov. 1803)
