government, proposed to have added to the ratification a protestation
against any failure in time or other circumstances of execution, on
our part. He was told, that in that case we should annex a counter
protestation, which would leave the thing exactly where it was; that
this transaction had been conducted from the commencement of the
negotiation to this stage of it, with a frankness and sincerity
honorable to both nations, and comfortable to the heart of an honest man
to review; that to annex to this last chapter of the transaction such an
evidence of mutual distrust, was to change its aspect dishonorably
for us both, and contrary to truth as to us; for that we had not the
smallest doubt that France would punctually execute its part; and I
assured Mr. Pichon that I had more confidence in the word of the First
Consul than in all the parchment we could sign. He saw that we had
ratified the treaty; that both branches had passed by great majorities
one of the bills for execution, and would soon pass the other two;
that no circumstances remained that could leave a doubt of our punctual
performance; and like an able and an honest minister (which he is in the
highest degree) he undertook to do, what he knew his employers would do
themselves, were they here spectators of all the existing circumstances,
and exchanged the ratification's purely and simply; so that this
instrument goes to the world as an evidence of the candor and confidence
of the nations in each other, which will have the best effects. This was
the more justifiable, as Mr. Pichon knew that Spain had entered with us
a protestation against our ratification of the treaty, grounded, first,
on the assertion that the First Consul had not executed the conditions
of the treaties of cession, and secondly, that he had broken a solemn
promise not to alienate the country to any nation. We answered, that
these were private questions between France and Spain, which they must
settle together; that we derived our title from the First Consul, and
did not doubt his guarantee of it: and we, four days ago, sent off