readily comprehend this last proposal (which would besides be somewhat repugnant to the idea of a compromise, by requiring an investigation of many items of the account) whereas it must certainly be present to his recollection, and that of his first Secretary, M. Otamendi (with whom I negotiated the detail of this business) that the result of the conferences which we held together last June had been that their intended proffer should amount to the precise sum of 237,000 Drs, though they afterwards reduced it on receiving the above mentioned advices from Mexico; and indeed this fact is partly proved by the correspondence between myself and Count d'Aranda, copies of which I transmitted in my dispatches of that period. I have thought it my duty to mention these circumstances to your Lordship, under the notion, that as the Claimants would, no doubt be highly gratified in obtaining these additional 37,000 Drs and there is reason to suppose that they may be easily had, you may perhaps think it worth while to ask for them; but I no means wish to intimate as my opinion that in case this application should fail, it would be prudent to reject the present tender altogether, and have recourse to the other alternative of an arbitration; nor indeed can I easily persuade myself that the claimants themselves would wish to carry matters to that extremity notwithstanding the language which they may now affect to hold. In fact every thing considered there seems great reason to doubt whether, even after all the expence, delays, and other inconveniences attendant upon a reference, the ultimate award of the Arbitrators would be for a larger sum than that now offered. I inclose herewith a translation of the papers in Spanish annexed to the above mentioned letter from Messrs Meares & Etches as they have been so incorrectly copied as to be hardly intelligible in the original.
Having found great benefit from these Waters, I propose remaining at Harrogate a few weeks longer, after
