CLAY cupied East Florida with safety; had we then taken it, our posture in the negotiation with Spain would have been totally different from what it is. But we have permitted that time, not with my consent, to pass by unimproved. If we were now to seize upon Florida after a great change in those circumstances, and after declaring our intention to acquiesce in the procrastination desired by Spain, in what light should we be viewed by foreign powers— particularly Great Britain? We have already been accused of in- ordinate ambition, and of seeking to aggrandize ourselves by an extension, on all sides, of our limits. Should we not, by such an act of vio- lence, give color to the accusation? No, Mr. Chairman; if we are to be involved in a war with Spain, let us have the credit of disinterest- edness. Let us put her yet more in the wrong. Let us command the respect which is never with- held from those who act a noble and generous part. I hope to communicate to the committee the conviction which I so strongly feel, that the adoption of the amendment which I intend to propose would not hazard, in the slightest de- gree, the peace of the country. But if that peace is to be endangered, I would infinitely rather it should be for our exerting the right appertain- ing to every State, of acknowledging the inde- pendence of another State, than for the seizure of a province, which sooner or later we must acquire. 77
