174 University of California Publications in History

Adams as soon as the treaty was signed; but the "effectual meas-
ures" of the United States were not forthcoming.
 Erving was still in Madrid on May 1, 1819, and wrote then as
follows:
 I understand that they are highly delighted with the treaty, and I have no
 doubt of it, Mr Irujo takes all the merit to himself, & I am told that it has
 given to him considerable security in his place; it has enabled him also to
 procure the restoration of Mr Heredia (one of those dismissed from the
 council of War) who has always been the principal person consulted on Amer-
 ican affairs & who boasts that he drew up the last instructions to Mr Onia."

 Further evidence that at first the treaty was well received in
 Spain is seen in the fact that its negotiators were promptly re-
 warded in true eighteenth-century diplomatic style. To Onis, be-
 sides the Grand Cross of the Order of Isabella the Catholic, which
 he had received in 1817, came appointments as counselor of state
 and ambassador to Russia (the latter not long after was super-
 seded by a similar appointment to Naples)." Orders were also given
 on April 30 to bestow upon Hyde de Neuville the Grand Cross of
 the Order of Isabella the Catholic, and lesser honors and appoint-
 ments upon the various secretaries, messengers, and consuls asso-
 ciated with Onis."
 The approvals and rewards cited, though, were only the first-
-blush reactions of Irujo and the King. Wellesley reported that on
the receipt of the treaty King Ferdinand VII approved it and
ordered that it be ratified at once, but that Irujo, whose "chief
endeavor... was to avoid all responsibility... desired that it might
be submitted to the Council of State, alleging that the Council
having seen and approved the instructions ... ought likewise to
examine the act itself previous to its ratification.""
 If one concedes that the Englishman knew whereof he spoke
 in that instance, this caution on the part of Irujo brought on his
 downfall. On the very day, May 1, 1819, that Erving wrote telling
 of the approval accorded the treaty, resistance to it appeared when
 it was submitted to the Consejo de Estado.
 Irujo appeared before the King and his advisers, and read to
 them the minutes of the meeting of the previous October in which
 they had authorized giving wide discretionary powers to Onis. He
 assured them that the minister had accordingly executed the treaty
 within the terms of his instructions and declared that, although