COMMENTARIES, 6 DECEMBER 1787

opposed to the plan. It is likely that their Assembly will meet at the
beginning of the year and that they will reveal themselves.
Meanwhile, a great deal is written for and against [the Constitution],
but it appears that the majority inclines toward acceptance, rather, in
my opinion, because of the depleted state of their Treasury and Com-
merce, than because of the knowledge of the sacrifices that the people
are making for the Government.
They expect great benefits from it [the Constitution], but I confess
that I do not find it as they do, because having compared their Com-
merce in general to that of other nations, I see no reason why these
[other nations] should change their system of exclusion which they
have imposed upon them [the Americans], so that even after this ex-
periment they will not be much better off...
1. RC (Tr), Estado, Legajo 3893, Apartado 3, Reservado 18, pp. 433-44, Archivo His-
t6rico Nacional, Madrid. Printed in D. C. Corbitt and Roberta Corbitt, trans. and eds.,
"Papers from the Spanish Archives Relating to Tennessee and the Old Southwest, 1783-
1800," East Tennessee Historical Society Publications, XVI ([Knoxville], 1944), 90-95.
Longer excerpts appear in RCS:Va., 204-7. Gardoqui (1735-1798), Spain's encargado de
negocios, arrived in America in 1785 to negotiate a commercial treaty with the United
States, with instructions not to surrender Spain's claim to the exclusive navigation of the
Mississippi River. Gardoqui was also instructed to negotiate certain boundary disputes
between the United States and Spain. He remained in America until 1789. Floridablanca
(1728-1808) was Spain's Secretary of State.
2. George Clinton.
P. Valerius Agricola
Albany Gazette, 6 December 17871
AN ESSAY, On the CONSTITUTION recommended by the FEDERAL
CONVENTION to the UNITED STATES.              By P. VALERIUS AGRICOLA.
(So frequently has the catalogue of public calamities been recited, so
long have its gloomy contents engrossed our attention, that I would
gladly wa [i]ve coming to particulars, were it less essential to the present
enquiry.
These are stubborn facts,2 too apparent we presume to be contested.
-That the UNION of the American States, if not merely nominal is
at best imperfect, inefficient and precarious.
-That our national character has become contemptible in the sight
of mankind.
-That our finances are deranged, our resources exhausted, and we
[are] consequently unable to satisfy the demands of the national cred-
itors, now clamorous for justice.

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