Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1857-05-09

HISTORICAL INQUIRIES.
The genuineness Of the Letter attributed to the
Count of ARANDA by Mr.. CUSHING in his New
buryport Grafton continues to be made subject of
discussion by the Boston press, prominent among
which, for the learning and research brought to the
inquiry, may be cited the Daily Advertiser of that
city which in its number of the 9th instant returns
to the consideration of the topic in the following
interesting article, of which we give the most i'm
portant paragraphs:
THE REPUTED LETTER OF THE COUNT DE Amanda
Simple gratitude for the services this country render
ed by the great statesman who the Spanish
monarchy in the negotiation of the treaties of 1888
quires that shall alude length than we were
able to do Friday the detail of those services This
detail is itself enough to show that the memoir without
signature which was ascrbed to him in Mures trans
lation of Coxe's House of Bourbon could not have
been written by him. for that contradcted the whole
tenor of the policy in which he had been steadily labor
for several years. and in which he continued to labor
afterwards.
1t is be understood that this memoir was found by
Murel in the private collection of the Duke of San Fer
nando. 1t does not pretend to have been copied
from the royal archives of Spain it bears signature
and it has date As it published however nearly
fifty years after the signing of the treaty to which it al
ludes there is ample time for its composition Curl
historical study whether fraud were or were not
intended by its author.
I'VE do not write for persons who are unacquainted
with the services rendered the infant America
by the Count of Amanda Such persons cannot be ex-
pected to judge of the pertinency or the weight of our
considerations. 1t is duty, however. to show
own countrymen who have the for graft
tude this distinguished statesman they have
gratitude to those French statesmen who ably second
ed in the diplomacy of France that the
authorized declaration that he was at the last an unw
ling actor in the treaties which sealed independence
has weight with the best authorities in Spain.
s'Don Antonio del Rio, whose opinion cited Fri
day. person whose authority with all persons in the
least acquainted with Spanish history literature, is
enough decide the subject He has thought the slight
on the memory of Aranda implied in ascribng this
mor to him, to be worth an elaborate refutaton in
careful article in the review to which we have alluded
In the third volume of his history Charles the Third
just published in Madrid, he alludes to it again.
somewhat more briefly but in the most decided manner
denying its authenticity.
"There great difficulty in the present case in prov
ing negative. The document in question is pro-
duced from the royal archives dated does not
bear Arandas signature On the other hand have all
his correspondence with the Count Floridabanca who
at that time at the head of the Spanish Ministry
Amanda the Spanish Minister in Paris all through
the period of the American revolution. As early as
April 1777 the Count de Vergennes Louis Sixteenh's
Minister of Foreign Affairs intimates that Amanda was
IN advance of the French dpomatiss in his eagerness
for with England. In letter Foridablanca he
writes that Amanda believes preferable peace and
thinks that the for destroying the English has
come In December following Amanda himself writes:
The colonies are in position to rid themselves of the
English, and need other guarantee than the turning
them out of doors, their going themselves con-
tent to be their good friends He goes say that
this is the time when England viii have make satisfac
ton to the Bourbons that the colonies will undoubtedly
retain the independence which they have already gained
They viii have neighbors than the colonies
of Spain, standing firm themselves, at dstrnce from
colonies they populous and Furnishing while ours
are not Here is ntimation that the United States
would not be in danger of Spanish invasion, but not
syllable abiding any danger which the colonies would
sustain from them The whole is in despatch begging
the Spanish Government to join the alliance with America
But that Government preferred pacific policy, and
even attempted to mediate between England France,
and the colonies Amanda submits the decision unwi
lngly, speaks of himself only resigned to his duties
under it, says that the policy involved is that which
implied in the proyerb the sparrow in the hand is
worth.more than vuture on the wing prophecies the
downfall of the whole negotiation and begs Florida
blanca to be prepared for war; the of its failure
There viii not be- he says for centuries another such
occasion for Spain to restore herself In 1779, in May
he writes of the proposed mediation that he has
merely acquiesced in the decision of the King Il as
private man. who have studied the motives which lead to
it. have formed different opinion and he adds that if
the mediation should succeed he should denerp che result
with tears of bnnd, for that spain would have been do
ing the of others while she deprecated herself
losing forever the best occasion which be offered to
her for centuries.
The effort at mediation did not succeed The policy
prevailed which Amanda had advocated from the begin
ming. Spain made war with England, and that was
closed only by the treaties of 1t when Amanda
triumphant had signed these treaties that he repre-
sented expressing his profound regret at the whole
transaction!
sThe documents from which extract these passages
of ndubtable authenticity taken from the archives
of Smancas The whole series of them shows that the
Count de Amanda took the ACKNOWLEDGMENT of England
very much to heart painted for opportunity for Spain
to what she had lost in the last wars and
eager that his Government should engage in another.
They show that he begged the Minister Of France to
Government to do the thing, and that he
sdered the independence of America established
early as 1777."
A correspondent of the same journal calls public
attention to the fact that Mr.. CUSHING might have
cited in illustration of the general speculatons in
dulged respecting the probable expansion of the
United States, letter of earlier date than
that ascribed to the Count of ARANDA and of which
the genuneness has not been called in question He
alludes to a note written in the year 1865 by GRIM
ALDI, then Spanish Prime Minister, to CHoIsEUL
Prime Minister of France, and which it appears
in reply to certain suggestions from the French
Court, as to aid to be furnished by France and
Spain to the Anglo-American Colonies, in the strug-
gle even then well understood to be impending be-
tween the coonists and the mother country. To
these suggestions GRIMALDI replies as follows:
The position and strength of the countries occupied by
the Americans excite just alarm for the rich Spanish