This loyal
counter-movement hindered and hampered the separatists greatly, and made
them cautious about advocating outright disunion. It was one of the
causes which combined to render abortive both the separatist agitations,
and the Spanish intrigues of the period.
Gardoqui's Intrigues.
While Miro was corresponding with Wilkinson and arranging for pensioning
both him and Sebastian, Gardoqui was busy at New York. His efforts at
negotiation were fruitless; for his instructions positively forbade him
to yield the navigation of the Mississippi, or to allow the
rectification of the boundary lines as claimed by the United States;
[Footnote: Gardoqui MSS., Instructions, July 25 and October 2, 1784.]
while the representatives of the latter refused to treat at all unless
both of these points were conceded. [Footnote: _Do_., Gardoqui's
Letters, June 19, 1786, October 28, 1786, December 5, 1787, July 25,
1788, etc.] Jay he found to be particularly intractable, and in one of
his letters he expressed the hope that he would be replaced by Richard
Henry Lee, whom Gardoqui considered to be in the Spanish interest. He
was much interested in the case of Vermont, [Footnote: _Do_.
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