Raftsman's Journal

FREE NAVIGATION OF THE MISSISSIPPI

It has been said, and often repeated with emphasis, within the last eighty years, that the free use of the Mississippi must be secured for these States at any hazard and at any cost. Soon after the Revolutionary war broke out, the attention of the country was drawn to this subject. The Louisiana territory, at the commencement of the Revolutionary war, belonged to Spain: it included the eastern shore of the Mississippi for some distance above New Orleans, and the western bank as far as the forty-ninth degree of latitude, with an indefinite extent of territory toward the West. As early as 1779, Mr. Jay, then Minister to Spain, was directed by Congress to negotiate a pending treaty, on the express condition that "the United States should enjoy the free navigation of the river Mississippi into and from the sea." In 1780 Congress reiterated those instructions, and Mr. Madison, of Virginia, Mr. Sullivan, of New Hampshire, and Mr. Duane, of New York, were directed to prepare a letter to our Ministers in France and Spain, setting forth its views.— A year later, at the instigation of South Carolina and Georgia, who had been alarmed by the progress of the English forces after the capture of Charleston and the defeat of Gates at Camden, Congress resolved to recede from its demand, and to secure the treaty without this guarantee. Fortunately, Spain was not swift in her movements. and the negotiations led to no definite results. From this time, however, for twenty years, the subject caused great commotion, especially in the West, and the first danger of Secession came from the fear there entertained of the purpose of the Government to allow them to be cut off from the free use of that great highway to the seas.

In 1800, Napoleon, by the secret treaty of St. Ildefonso, secured the retrocession of Louisiana to France; so that, after a lapse of forty years, she came in possession of it once more, with all of its original boundaries. This treaty, when made known, by no means quieted the apprehensions of the West. Mr. Jefferson, then in the Presidential chair, wrote to Mr. Livingston, our Minister to France, "The cession of Louisiana and the Floridas, by Spain, to France, works most sorely for the United States." One year later, in 1803, James Monroe was sent as an envoy extraordinary to co-operate with Mr. Livingston for the purchase of Eastern Louisiana and the Floridas, with the island and city of New Orleans. After various negotiations, Napoleon, who was fearful that the whole territory might fall into the hands of England, directed M. Marbois, his confidential agent, to offer to the American Commissioners the whole province. They were utterly unprepared for this; the widest views of the authorities at home had never embraced such a purchase or such a possession. They were in much perplexity. A decision must be made at once. An English fleet was already preparing to cross the ocean and assail New Orleans, which, of course, would give to that power the possession of the whole vast domain. No communication could be sent to America, no new authority could be received. The responsibility rested upon themselves alone. Like men of strong patriotic feeling and practical common sense, they concluded that to exceed the letter of their instructions was the best, the only way, to keep their spirit. They consented to treat upon this broad view of the subject; and, finally, the treaty was completed on the 30th of April, 1803.

When the treaties were signed, Livingston said : "From this day the United States take their place among the nations of the first rank; the English lose all exclusive interests in the affairs of America." Napoleon said: This accession of territory strengthens forever the power of the United States; and I have just given to England a maritime rival that will sooner or later humble her pride.

Such were the steps by which the way was prepared for a final and formal transfer of the territory to the United States. At New Orleans, on the 20th of December, 1803, the flag of France and that of the United States met midway on the flagstaff, and their meeting was greeted by the booming of artillery and the music of trumpets; then the former descended forever, while the Stars and Stripes rose upward, amid the shouts of the Americans who witnessed the scene. A similar scene was presented in St. Louis on the 10th of March, 1804, when the formal transfer of Upper Louisiana was consummated.

Such were the steps by which the heritage, sought earnestly for thirty years, was finally won. And now, after the lapse of sixty years of quiet possession, the people of these United States are asked to allow that long-sought possession—which has cost them so many millions of dollars; which has grown in importance each year, as the tide of emigration has rolled fuller and stronger into the fertile valley which the Mississippi drains—to be snatched from them by the hands of Rebels against the Government that has shielded and fostered them. They are asked to submit to the occupancy of the mouths of that magnificent high road of commerce by a hostile power; and to pass and repass—if that boon be ever allowed—for more than five hundred miles through a foreign land. The audacity of the demand is equalled only by the blindness and folly of those who make it.

The great West, in the days of its earliest infancy, looked the great question full in the face, and was ready to pay or to dare anything, in order to secure to itself forever the free navigation of the Mississippi. And now, in the days of its vigorous manhood, will it stand calm and passive, while the long coveted possession is snatched forcibly from its grasp? He who can imagine this, for a single moment, must have a marvelous degree of credulity, and attribute to the West a blindness to its own rights and interest which that shrewd young giant has never yet manifested. The Rebels may make themselves perfectly sure that the voice of the West will be clear and emphatic, and that the voice of the country will respond to it fully. The Mississippi, with all of its banks, in all of its course, must be the possession of these United States, now and forever, to have and to hold against any and every claimant whatsoever.