262
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
Ch. 11.
which had induced the President to make no demand for West Florida before ascertaining the views and claiming the interposition of the French government.
- "In this state of things," said he, "it was deemed proper by Congress, in making the regulations necessary for the collection of revenue in the ceded territory, and guarding against the new danger of smuggling into the United States through the channels opened by it, to include a provision for the case of West Florida by vesting in the President a power which his discretion might accommodate to events."
This interpretation of the law was not in harmony with the law itself or with Randolph's speeches; but Madison hastened to turn from this delicate subject in order to bring another complaint against Yrujo.
- "The Act had been many weeks depending in Congress with these sections, word for word, in it; . . . it must in all probability have been known to the Marquis d'Yrujo in an early stage of its progress; if it was not, it marks much less of that zealous vigilance over the concerns of his sovereign than he now makes the plea for his intemperate conduct. For some days, even after the Act was published in the Gazette of this city, he was silent. At length, however, he called at the office of State, with the Gazette in his hand, and entered into a very angry comment."
The Spanish minister's subsequent notes had been written with "a rudeness which no government can tolerate;" but his conduct was chiefly of importance
