114 University of Caifornia Publications in History


straight with a denial. Most historians refer briefly to the whole
affair as the rejection of a direct offer on the part of England. Yet
I believe it should be clear that Castlereagh, in urging Bagot to
discuss affairs very frankly with Adams, meant him simply to
state that Spain wanted mediation, and that England would offer
it if the United States would join Spain in the request. From the
correspondence, and from the rapidity with which the matter was
dropped, the fact is obvious that it was no disappointment to
Britain when the suggestion was rejected.

 TaE UNITED STATES STANDS ON ITs OwN
Rejection of the mediation suggestion came during a conference
between Adams and Bagot, following a Cabinet meeting, on Feb-
ruary 3. Adams reminded the British minister that England had
at times showed a desire to aid Spain in the issues at stake, re-
ferring, as Bagot supposed, to the Morier and Foster letters of 1810
and 1811. But after Bagot had assured the secretary of his gov-
ernment's disinterestedness, Adams stated as the reason for the
decision the administration's fear that such a mediation would
jeopardize the friendly relations between the two countries; that
public opinion was none too generously inclined toward Britain,
and that the people at large would presume that England was
entering the negotiation to guide it in Spain's favor.
 Adams, in his memoirs, confirms Bagot's account of that conver-
sation." When Onis expressed Spain's disappointment to Adams,
the secretary spoke of the affair as an offer by Spain to submit the
disputes to mediation, in which England simply served as a mes-
senger. He gave as the reason for rejecting the offer this country's
policy of keeping aloof from "the labyrinth of European politics.""
Onis countered with the reminder that in 1813 Monroe had been
veryglad to accept a European mediation; but there was no chang-
ing Adams' mind.
 That there was some mistrust of England's motives, and some
rancor at Spain's method of dealing, is evident in Adams' account
of the affair to Erving. He noted that Pizarro must have made the
request to England, without Erving's knowledge, at the time that
he was ostensibly trying to draw up a treaty with Erving." Onis
had explained this duplicity of Spain, falsely, by saying that
England really offered the mediation to Spain, of her own volition,