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About The Conservative (Nebraska City, Neb.) 1898-1902 | View Entire Issue (July 25, 1901)
Conservative. the vast deposits of gold and silver aud copper of the western mountain ranges , with no roads across the continent , with no harbors on the Pacific coast , with out possession of the mouth of the Mississipi , without any ac cess to the Gulf of Mexico , above all without the inspiration to our individual activities and national development that these sources of wealth have afforded no human intellect , no poet's imagina tion , can portray what would have been our fate or our condition today , as in fluenced or controlled by the nations which might have possessed them. "What wars might have ensued , what liberties might have perished , what miseries might have befallen ! But at the providential moment there appeared upon the European horizon a new and dominant personal force in the French republic which overawed Spain , and her king yielded to the demand of "Citizen" Bonaparte , and restored Louisiana to France. This again threat ened to be a more serious obstacle to our growth than was the power of Spain ; for the military force of France was far greater. But two years later France finds it impracticable to retain Louisiana owing to her naval inferiority to Eng land , and Bonaparte suddenly , without the knowledge of the government at Washington , conveys the title finally and forever to the United States. Even then Spain , alarmed at the absolute and final disposal of the country by France protests our title because of an alleged condition attached to her retrocession to France. This condition was officially notified to the United States , tha Louisiana should never be conveyed by France to a third power. But Bona parte imperatively insisted that deliverj should be made to him under the cession of 1800 , which was done ; and he imme diately thereafter , on the 20th of De cember , 1808 , transferred the possession of New Orleans to the United States. The Lewis and Olark expedition , con ceived without expectation of our pos sible ownership , was thus enabled to explore the territory of Louisiana under our own flag. But we had at that time no acknowledged title to the country westward of the mountains to the Pa cific coast. Spain , Great Britain and Russia were on the coast before us. Equally in the order of providence , and just in time , the New England Oapt. Gray , under the American flag , was the first to enter the mouth of the great river of Oregon in 1792 , which under in ternational law gave to the United States the claim of discovery ; and this claim was strongly reinforced by the succeeding exploration of Lewis and Olark. With this inchoate right on the Pacific coast the United States was able by later treaties to permanently estab lish our title on that shore , with well defined limits between the Spanish ter- ritory on the south and the British on the north. Held by Force of Arms. Our acquisition of Louisiana had been accomplished by the pacific methods of diplomacy. But the permanent pos session of it by our union was only to be preserved at the cost of great treasure and by the sacrifice of many lives. In ess than twelve years from the date of ; he cession by France , while we were at ivar with Great Britain , that power dis patched an expedition to seize the mouth of the river , accompanied by on army for the capture of New Orleans. The men of the lower valley rushed to arms , met the enemy , and drove him back to the sea. The dramatic feature of Louisiana's history again appears in the fact that this battle was fought after the signature of peace , of which the tidings had not yet reached the combatants This battle , however , brilliant as it was on the part of the American volunteers hardly rises to the dignity of tragedy in comparison with the prolonged struggle which followed a half century later. This incomparable valley , dowered with inexhaustible wealth , and like Helen , of Troy , possessed of the fata ! gift of beauty , was destined to becom the scene of the greatest conflict known in the history of the American continen a conflict , please Godl never to be re uewed. On the 80th day of May , de voted by the affection of the American people to the memory of the heroes o the war for the union , we cannot forge tlie splendid services of the men , wh by their indomitable courage again saved the lower Mississippi to the United States , together with all th original Louisiana on both banks below the mouth of the Ohio. In our great civil struggle Louisiana and its river once more became th mighty stake played for in the terribl game of war. Again the question was presented of the northern right of ao cess to the sea by way of the river , , am of the control of the delta at its mouth Vaster commercial interests than eve before were in suspense. Once more , also , a Bonaparte appeared on the bord ers of the scene gazing eagerly from Mexico upon the still coveted territory which had been ceded by his great predecessor. The brave and stalwart men of the valley , in former contests united , were now unhappily divided into hostile camps. As never before , it was now a battle of giants , equally brave , equally resolved. The issue hung long in a balance , the opposing scales of which were filled with the blood of the brave. But the great hearted men of the upper valley clothed themselves in the panoply of the union , drew in a mighty inspiration from the sentiment of expanding human liberty , and fought four long years to regain the untrammeled - trammeled freedom of the great river from all its sources to the sea. The bones of our heroic dead who perished in that fearful struggle lie scattered along nil the river shores from the Mis souri to the gulf. But they did not die in vain. We owe it to their unfaltering ourago that since the end of these ' years of battle , and we trust for all ime to come , every rivulet that falls astward down the rugged ranges of the rlooky Mountains , or that ripples south ward from the far springs of the Cana dian frontier , or that leaps westward down the slopes of the Alleghanies , dances along all its winding way ; hrough the old Louisiana to the south ern sea under the folds of the star spangled banner , and to the music of the union. All hail to the memory of these heroic dead ; and all hail to then ? lomrades who live to salute the dawn of this day dedicated to the memory of their deeds ! Such is the outline of the story of Louisiana , first tossed to and fro be tween France and Spain , and then im periously tossed by the French executive to the envoys of the United States. Later it was twice subjected to the wager of battle. Its acquisition is es- peoially significant in our history , as it was the first enlargement of that origi nal territory which our fathers thought 4 $ 3 sufficient for our children until the "hundredth generation. " Based upon Louisiana , the republic continued its expansion across the middle of the con tinent from the great ocean of the sun rise to the greater ocean of the sunset. Our republic did not dream yet of the wider expansion which was still enfolded in the shadow of her future destiny. She awaited the reappearance of the in dex finger of Providence. Conclusions. But important events of history have taught us one great truth of our hered ity as a people. Expansion is in the < blood of our race. Organized liberty demands a broadening sphere of action. A single generation may pause to or ganize and utilize what a previous one has acquired. But a succeeding genera tion will reassert the inherent impulse of the race. Under Christian auspices f "SfSiS it is the providential law which from - rage > i age to age opens up new regions to the influences of higher oivilizatioriand up lifts the inferior races by contact with the superior. The right to enforce the civilized usages among mankind is higher and holier than the right to maintain barbaric practices and inhu man laws. The better has an inherent moral right to expand over the worse. The justice and humanity of the motive will forever consecrate the onward movement with a divine sanction. Peace and order , liberty and prosperity , education and morality , have hitherto followed the advancing flag of the American republic. ' Wild beasts have