8061. SPANISH AMERICA, Aid to.—[continued].
That a war is brewing
between us and Spain cannot be doubted.
When that disposition is matured on both sides,
and open rupture can no longer be deferred,
then will be the time for our joining the South
Americans, and entering into treaties of alliance
with them. There will then be but one opinion,
at home or abroad, that we shall be justifiable
in choosing to have them with us, rather than
against us. In the meantime, they will have
organized regular governments, and perhaps
have formed themselves into one or more confederacies;
more than one, I hope, as in single
mass they would be a very formidable neighbor.—
To James Monroe. Washington ed. vi, 551.
Ford ed., x, 19.
(M.
Feb. 1816)
