Brooks: Diplomacy and the Borderlands 157

Spanish Consejo, and relating the extreme difficulties he had had
in persuading them to agree, as he said they had, on the Columbia
line." The statement that the Consejo had approved such a limit
was at the time, as far as Onis knew, untrue; but the Spaniard was
now determined to push a settlement even though he exceeded his
instructions, hoping his government would realize that half a loaf
was better than none.
 Ten days later Ons was still waiting for an answer. His call on
Adams to request a reply resulted in an acrimonious discussion,
with the secretary saying that he was "so wearied out with the dis-
cussion it became nauseous" and that he had given it up in despair,
and with Onis saying that he did not wish for any more discussion
but simply wanted an answer." One may question the statement
that Adams had given up in despair, and be inclined to impute it
more to an effort to force Onis to a conclusion than to a real sur-
render in a negotiation which the secretary was obviously anxious
to conclude.
 Adams sent Onis the desired answer on January 29, repeating
 the plan of October 31, 1818, as an ultimatum. At the same time
 he called in Hyde de Neuville, at the President's behest, asking him
 to ascertain if Onis would settle in the event the Bed River line
 were adjusted in such a way as to keep it some distance away from
 Santa F6.
 Before the Frenchman could approach Onis on that question,
 the latter received new and vitally important instructions, on or
 about January 26. They were the last major set to reach Washing-
 ton before the conclusion of the treaty, and gave the minister the
 latitude necessary to make the agreement.
 Irujo, as he stated, had learned in mid-October, through Mont-
 morency, the French minister at Madrid, of the United States'
 pretensions regarding the Red River and the Northwest Coast. On
 the basis of this information the Consejo de Estado authorized a
 broad extension of powers in regard to that phase of the con-
 troversy.
 In these instructions, dated October 23, Irujo told Onis that he
 could accept a limit along the Bed River to the head of navigation,
 but that the line must turn northward there to avoid Santa F6."
 Even that was made conditional on the necessities of the situation.
 He was to seek a line from the source of the Bed, parallel to the