78 University of California Publications in History

dislike for Washington no doubt made him more zealous in his
efforts to arrive at a settlement, or, as an alternative, to have the
negotiations transferred to Madrid. In April he wrote Pizarro a
nonofficial communication, beginning with the affectionate diminu-
tives "Querido Pizarrito," in which he complained of his lack of
instructions and told of the imminent death of his wife. Sefiora de
Onis had been ill much of the time since coming to America, and
her husband frequently blamed her ill health on the climate of the
Atlantic seaboard, saying that she could have been saved if he had
been allowed to return to Spain. In this letter he says to Pizarro:
My wife ... despaired of by the doctors, will be dead long before you receive
this ... My Clementina [one of his daughters] runs the same risk, and if you
do not send me the authorization to leave here next spring, you will be
her murderer. I can do no more; this is no country for healthy people, and
especially in the circumstances in which I have been; send me where you
will provided that you take me away from here, even though it be to plant
cabbages....
 ... Seflor Don Pedro Cevallos made the greatest blunder he could in trans-
ferring the negotiations here: for with these people it is impossible to do
anything, and one negotiates with them at a disadvantage, [as they] publish
the notes they wish, and hide those which do not suit them; in addition to
which you must understand that nothing but force can make them give up
West Florida which they have occupied, that it will be very difficult to obtain
an agreement to put the boundary at the Mississippi, and that, evesn i this
case, one must wonder if the island of Cba will not be endangered by the
cession of East Florida, unless we always hae there a garriso of tea thou-
sand troops and eight warships. You cannot realize the ambition and pride
of this government, nor can you believe that it might be so foolish that, with-
out provocation, it would declare a war which might be very unfortunate for
it; but you must believe that the people all want war with Spain, and that
only the tact and prudence with which I have conducted myself have been able
to prevent it on three distinct occasions. The Government does not want it
now, but the people will force the Government to declare it if the differences
are not settled before next December."

 Sefiora de Onis died in the following month, but the daughter
survived. Onis, in his prediction of war in the following winter,
proved to be unduly pessimistic, for, although little progress had
been made on the affairs at issue by December, no war came.
 The intervening period saw the inauguration of Monroe as presi-
dent, the appointment of Adams as secretary of state, and the con-
tinuation of Onis' protests in maritime matters to Richard Rush,
acting secretary. Adams did not even meet the Spanish minister in