72 University of California Publications in History

marked by such spectacular ventures as the founding of Astoria
on the Pacific Coast; and such firm foundations for growth as the
inauguration of a great system of internal transportation routes
to the west.
 In dealing with these problems, Onis fortunately had, from 1816
 to 1818, the counsel of one of the few capable ministers of the Span-
 ish restoration. On Cevallos' removal in October, 1816, Ferdinand
 appointed as secretary of state for foreign affairs Jose Garcia de
SLe6n y Pizarro. Pizarro (as he was commonly known) was a man
with long experience in the foreign office. His appointment was
generally considered to be a distinct step toward able and upright
dealings. From the beginning he took an active interest in rela-
tions with the United States, conducting a highly complex series of
negotiations in that field-so complex, indeed, that it is easy for the
student to become lost in the mass of detailed writings. Through-
out, he and Onis were evidently agreed on major policies, and con-
fidentially bemoaned to each other the many obstructions they met.
 Pizarro, "a man of sound intelligence and political experience,
 who was expected to give a more humane and liberal turn to the
 government,'" had spent twenty-six of his forty-six years in gov-
 ernment service, having held minor positions in legations through-
 out Europe, then serving as a subsecretary in the foreign office and
 secretary of the Council of State from 1802 to 1808.' He fled to
 Andalucia in the latter year, and continued his diplomatic career
 under the patriot Cortes and the Regency, being foreign minister
 for three months in 1812. Before his second appointment to that
 office in 1816, he had been named minister to Prussia, but appar-
 ently had spent most of the preceding year or two in France.
 Pizarro had risen through the service under Floridablanca,
 Godoy, and Cevallos, and must have known intimately the intrica-
 cies of court intrigue at Madrid. In spite of that unwholesome
 atmosphere, he had developed a reputation for integrity and abil-
 ity that won the respect of his contemporaries in other countries.
 He had known Onis for at least sixteen years;' and because he had
 spent ten years as a boy in South America, where his father was
 serving as a colonial official, he no doubt had a broader apprecia-
 tion of the problems of empire which Onis had to face than did,
 for example, Cevallos.
 1 For notes to chap. iv, see pp. 101-104.