Conservative.
THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE.
( Continuedfrom last week. )
The first consul , uuder the pressure of
European hostilities , was contemplating
an net of transcendant importance to
our country. He had secretly hold all
of Louisiana at his disposal since Octo
ber , 1800 , although our ministers in
Franco and Spain had been kept in ig
norance of it. So late as in the spring
of 1803 Talleyrand deceptively denied
the French title in a conversation with
Livingston. But now a renewal of the
war with England was threatened. The
British navy was dominant on the sea ,
and an English expedition might at any
time seize New Orleans , and Franco
would lose the colony without compen
sation. His thoughts were already bent
on a sale to the United States by which
ho hoped not only to satisfy our large
pecuniary claims which we were press
ing against his government , but to ob
tain besides a large surplus to reinforce
his treasury for the coming war. He
directed Marbois , the minister of fi
nance , to offer the entire province of
Louisiana to the United States , and to
demand in compensation 100,000,000
francs , together with the assumption by
our government of the American
claims against France for her outrages
on our commerce. He said to his advisers -
visers , with some passion in his voice ,
that England coveted that colony and
could easily make a descent there ; but
she should not have it. For France to
retain it would be folly. He would
cede the whole to the United States.
This was the situation when Monroe ar
rived in Paris ; for this startling pro
posal had been already communicated
to Livingston , who could hardly credit
the sincerity of the offer.
The prospect of this vast and com
plete acquisition which would for the
second time eliminate French control
from the American continent and settle
the question of commercial depots for
ever , aroused intense interest in both
the American envoys , but especially in
the mind of Livingston. Commuuica-
tion with the United States by occasional -
ional sailing vessels was slow and uucer-
tain. In that day neither telegraph nor
steamship was available. A royal message -
sage to the English parliament had just
announced the British preparation for
renewing the war with France. If any
thing was to be done with Louisiana it
must be done quickly. Our envoys
could not wait for new instructions.
With true American courage they resolved -
solved to take the responsibility upon
themselves , and without authority win
a new empire for the new republic.
They protested against the extravagance
of the sum demanded as beyond the re
sources of the American government ,
and succeeded in reducing the amount
of purchase money to 60,000,000 francs ,
and in limiting the assumption of
American claims to 20,000,000 francs.
They then concluded the three treaties
with all haste. They were signed on
the 80th of April , 1803. The war cloud
hanging over the English channel burst
eighteen days after the signature. When
the names of the plenipotentiaries were
appended to this unexpected convention
of purchase , Livingston enthusiastically
grasped the hands of Marbois and Mon
roe , saying : "We have lived long , but
this is the noblest work of our lives. "
The praise for this magnificent ac
complishment is more due to Eobert R.
Livingston than to any other American ;
and some city or county in every state
formed out of this imperial purchase
should bear his name in commemoration
of his courageous statesmanship.
Effects of the Expansion.
The purchase money was indeed a
great sum to pay out of the limited
treasury and unestablished national
credit of the United States of that day.
Bitter opposition was aroused in this
country against the ratification of the
treaty. The acquisition was derided as
of little worth , wholly unnecessary , and
tending to weaken the old states. It
was declared to be an excessive extension
of territoiy which would lead to a dis
ruption of the union. The prophets of
woe were as effusive then over the en
largement of our territory as they have
been ever since over the successive ex
pansions in our national history. The
evil predictions of 1803 are now buried
deep in the drift of time. The very
names of the false prophets are in ob
livion , while the many happy millions
who inhabit the twelve states and two
territories now lying within the limits
of the Louisiana purchase have forever
repudiated the old forecasts of evil. In
stead of diminishing , the older states
have greatly increased their population
and prosperity with the settlement and
development of the new. The newer
states have have also forged new bauds
for the strengthening of the union.
The bravest blood offered to the nation
in its struggle for the maintenance of
the national power and glory abroad ,
has flowed from the veins of men who
were nourished on this new soil of the
republic. Patriotism , courage , energy ,
flow forth with every heartbeat of the
child of the new west. He has subdued
the savagery which dominated the
prairies and plains and mountains of
the Louisiana of 1808. He has covered
the rolling prairies and plains with
grazing herds and smiling harvests ,
with school-houses for happy children
and churches for an uutrammeled re
ligion. He has uncovered the hidden
caves of rich metals in the great moun
tains of northwestern Louisiana , and
has enriched his whole country with the
elements of a new and unbounded
prosperity. Whenever and wherever
his nation's flag has been thrown to the
breeze at homo or abroad , in Mexico or
Alaska , in Cuba or other Islands of the
sea , under the great wall of China or in
the mountain fastness of Luzon , wher
ever deeds of loyalty , of courage and of
daring are required , there , in the front
rank of volunteers , is heard the quick
response of the loyal sons of the west.
New strength has been acquired for the
constitution and union , now hope for
the country's prosperity is created , with
every new breath born in the expanded
territory of our republic.
It may be confidently affirmed that
our national character has not deterio
rated during the century in which we
have followed the providential law of
our national growth and development.
"We have seen in what manner this law
was introduced and historically estab
lished. I call it providential because
neither our statesmen nor our people
proposed it , or foresaw it. The national
representatives of that day , including
Jefferson himself , when informed of
the convention signed by our envoys in
Paris doubted its constitutionality , or
were astounded by the resulting in
crease of the public debt. They
adopted it chiefly because of the evident
perils to existing national interests
which would follow its rejection.
The whole story of Louisiana involves
much that is dramatic and unexpected.
De Soto merely crossed its central river
and died without discovering its mouth
or exploring its course , although his
decimated followers later escaped
through its outlet without any act of
possession. Consequently Spain ac
quired no title to the river valley. Then
came France , whose explorers from
Canada made discoveries from the sour
ces downward , and later found its outlet
by sea and took possession upward. Her
right to the country was therefore be
yond dispute. Had the French retained
possession of all their discoveries they
would have imprisoned the future
American republic between the Alle-
ghaniesaud the Atlantic. But this was
not the divine purpose. England con
quered Canada , and eastern Louisiana
followed the fate of her sister province
and became British colonial territory.
As a consequence , the latter fell to the
United States upon the recognition of
their independence. So it happened
that our people at the end of the revo
lutionary war found themselves in pos
session as far as the Mississippi , but
they were barred from all other west
ern progress so long as Spain held all
the vast territory west of the river.
What Might Have Been.
Had our boundary remained there for
a hundred years no human mind can
conceive the change it would have made
in the destiny of this nation. Without
the wheat fields and corn fields and the
cattle ranges of the prairies and plains
of the trans-Mississippi , without the
lead and iron ores of Missouri , without