r the virtue and magnanimity of his Majesty, and do full
justice to the integrity and abilities of his Ministers, accepting the
apologies you mention, and attributing to their true causes the delays
and neglects you have unhappily experienced, yet they are in the
utmost pain, lest they should work some change in the sentiments of
the people at large, in whom with us the sovereignty resides, and
from thence diffuse themselves into the government, and be productive
of measures ruinous to that friendly intercourse, that spirit of
amity, which it is the wish of those who are acquainted with the true
interests of both countries to promote.

After the war was declared by Spain, those among us who had formed the
highest ideas of her magnanimity, persuaded themselves that she would
act advisedly for us when she found us in distress. They grounded
their belief upon the avowed spirit of the nation, and the policy of
adopting measures to re-animate us and damp the ardor of the enemy,
and to make such impressions upon our hearts, as to give them in
future a considerable influence on our councils. Our disappointment in
this expectation, though perhaps to be accounted for upon very natural
principles, has been greatly aggravated by the sedulous endeavors of
the enemies of both countries to create distrust and jealousies. They
artfully insinuate, that Spain seeks only to draw advantages from our
wants, without so far interfering in our affairs as to involve
herself, if we should be unsuccessful. These insinuations are gaining
ground, and it becomes daily more necessary for Congress to be
furnished with reasons to justify to their constituents the
concessions they have proposed to make, or to withdraw those
concessions when they are found ineffectual. Yet they find much
reluctance in discovering the least want of confidence in the Court of
Madrid; and though their present situation might fully justify them in
not parting with the important rights you are empowered to concede,
without stipulating some very valuable equivalent, yet they cannot be
induced to make any alteration in your instructions on this subject,
till you shall have reason to conclude, that nothing can be done
towards forming the alliance they have so much at heart; not only
because of the influence it will immediately have in accelerating the
peace, but because of the advantages, which Spain and America may
reciprocally promise each other in future, from the lasting co