CHAPTER IV


 PIZARRO AND ADAMS TAKE UP THE
 BATTLE, 1816-1818
 FaBsn LEADERmIP
C HANGE IN THE DIECTION of foreign affairs in each capital
 brought to the fore the men who were to achieve the ulti-
 mate solution of the difficulties between Spain and the
United States in the treaty of 1819. Outstanding among these
was John Quincy Adams, a diplomatist highly respected by his
contemporaries. In the most far-reaching territorial question the
nation had faced since its founding he was to prove himself the"
best-qualified negotiator the United States could have had. It is
largely because of the tenacity and skill which he demonstrated in
the negotiation of this treaty that he is widely considered the most
able of our secretaries of state.
 With Adams, Onis was able to make the first real progress in the
negotiation, for now issues were more clearly stated, decisions more
firmly made. It must be said that Onis, too, in his ten exciting years
in this country, showed admirable determination and diplomatic
ability. He was frequently discouraged by the inconstancy of his
own government as compared with the firmness of the government
to which he was accredited. While Ferdinand's ministers awaited
favorable occasions or delayed in the hope of receiving foreign
assistance, the United States, in Onis' estimation, was rapidly de-
veloping into a most sinister threat to the continuation of Spanish
dominion in America.
 Onis' foreboding was heightened when United States troops
under fiery Andrew Jackson invaded the Floridas without benefit
either of instructions or of a war, thereby grossly insulting the
Spanish crown. But Jackson's enterprise, undertaken in the sprint
of 1818, was only the culmination of a series of events which had
given Onis reason to view the young republic with uncertainty-
events and conditions which included the War of 1812 and pre-
vious invasions of the Floridas; an active sympathy of many per-
sons in the United States toward the insurgent Spanish colonies,
resulting in shipments of arms, in illegal outfitting of privateers,
and in filibustering; the beginnings of an economic expansion
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