68 University of California Publications in History
thus saving no time. Erving protested almost too loudly his own
fairness in his letter, saying of the conversation of the 17th:
I concluded by excusing the warmth with which I pressed the subject, assuring
you that I was very from seeking any personal gratiiation in this matter
of high public interest, but that I looked only to the desired result."
 As a matter of fact, the instructions to Onis probably had not
been sent at that time, but they were dated September 10, 1816,
and apparently were transmitted by the messenger whom Erving
sent to Washington with his despatch of September 22. They gave
Onis full powers to treat, but allowed him no further latitude than
the offers already made by Spain." This restriction brought a pro-
test from Onis to his government, and made any successful dealing
with Monroe in the following winter impossible. So far as boun-
dary demands were concerned, the ministers were still as far apart
as the respective demands: from Spain, that the western limit be
the Mississippi, and from the United States, that it be the Colorado,
or possibly the Sabine.
 Long before his letter of instruction reached Onis, however,
Cevallos, who had never dealt in a straightforward or conciliatory
manner with the United States, and who apparently had not had a
new idea on relations with that country in fourteen years, fell
victim to a Cabinet intrigue, and on October 30, 1816, he was re-
moved, for the last time.
 The stalemate caused by Onis' lack of wider powers held until
after the election of James Monroe to the presidency. By the time
instructions from Cevallos' successor could be put into effect, the
United States also had a new chieftain in its foreign office. Fortu-
nately the change in each country brought a more active, aggres-
sive, and farsighted procedure on the affairs in dispute.