"The
territory of a friendly power had been invaded, its officers deposed,
its towns and fortresses taken possession of; two citizens of another
friendly and powerful nation had been executed in scandalously summary
fashion, upon suspicion rather than evidence." The Spanish Minister,
Onis, wrathfully protested to the Secretary of State and demanded that
Jackson be punished; while from London Rush quoted Castlereagh as
saying that English feeling was so wrought up that war could be
produced by the raising of a finger.
Monroe and his Cabinet were therefore given many anxious days and
sleepless nights. They wanted to buy Florida, not conquer it. They had
entertained no thought of authorizing the things that Jackson had
done. They recognized that the Tennesseean's crude notions of
international law could not be upheld in dealings with proud European
States. Yet it was borne in upon them from every side that the nation
approved what had been done; and the politically ambitious might well
think twice before casting any slur upon the acts of the people's
hero.
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