The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1803-04-08 00:00:00

CZable that the er.;oyment of it should be placed
nd all doubt. Ilse power with whom you have
the treaty is either too weak or too unjust to observe
it. He declared it then to be his firm and mature
opinion, that this right would never be secure while
the mouth of the IMississippi was exclusively in
the hands of the Spaniards. From their caprice or
enmity we had to apprehend constant interruption
auJ misunderstanding. From the very position of
our country, from its geographical shape, and from
motives of complete independence, the command
of the navigation of that river ought to be in our
hands. We are now wantonly provoked to take it.
Hostility, ris its most offensive shape, has been of-
fered by those mho disclaim all right to the soil and
sovereignty of that country—an hostility fatal to the
well-being- of the western world. Why nil seize
then what is so essential to us as a nation ? Why not
e:pcl the wrong-doers ?—Wrong-drzrs by their own
confivsion, to whom we can therefore do no injury.
Paper commas or treaties have proved ton feeble.
Plant yourselves on the river—fortify the banks—
invite those who have an interest at stake to defend
it ; do justice to yourselves, when your adversaries
deny it, and leave the event to Him who controuls
the fate and fortune of nations.

Why submit to a tardy, uncertain negociation, as
the only means of regaining what you have lost ? A
negociation with those who declare arty have no right,
at the moment they strip you of yours ? When in
possession, you will negociatc with more advan-
tage. You will then be in a condition to keep others
out. You will be in the actual excercise of jerisdic-
tion over your whele claim. Your people will have
the benefits of a lawful commerce. When your de-
termination is known, you will make an easy and
honourable accommodation with any other claimant.
The present possessors can have no pretence to come
plain, for they have no right to the country by
their own confession. The western people will dis-
cover that you are making every effort they could
desire for their protedion. Theywill ardently sup-
port you in the contest, if a contest becomes neces-
sary. Their all is at stake, and neither their zeal
nor their courage can be doubted.
Look at the memorial from the Legislature of the
Mississippi Territory, now on your table. That
speaks a language, and displays a spirit not to be
mistaken. Their lives and fortunes are plighted to
support you The same may with equal truth be
asserted of Kentucky, Tennessee, and the western
people of Virginia and Pennsylvania. Is this a spi-
rit to be repressed or put asleep by negociation
If you suffer it to he extinguished, can you recal
it in the hour of distress when you want it ? Atter
negociation has failed ; after a powerfal, ambitious
nation shall have taken possession of th.: ley of your
western country, and fortified it ; after their garri-
sons are filled with veterans who have conquered in
the East, will rou have it in your power to awake
the generous spirit of that country, and dispossess
them ? No—Their confidence in such rulers will be
gone. They will he disheartened, divided, and
will place no further dependence upon you. They
must abandon those who lost the precious moment of
seizing, and for ever securing their sole hope of sub-
sistence and prosperity. From necessity they must
then make the best bargain they can with the con-
queror.
It may be added, that the possession of the coun-
try on the east bank of the Mississippi will give a
compadness, and irresistible strength to the United
States ; and in all future wars, we shall he m' re
dreaded, and, of course, more courted and more
respelled, than we can ever hope to be without it.
Suppose that this course he not now pursued ?
Let me warn gentlemen how they trifle with the
feelings, the hopes, and the fears of such a body of
men as inhabit the western waters. Let every ho-
nourable man put the question to himself,-how
would half a million around him be Aided by such
a calamity, and no means taken by the Government
to redress it ?—These men have arms in their hands
—the same arms with which they proved vktorious
over their savage neighbours. They have a daring
spirit—they have ample means of subsistence—no
market for those means—and they have men dis-
posed to lead them on to avenge their wrongs.
Are you certain that they will wait the end of ne-
gotiation ? When they hear that nothing has been
done for their immediate relief, they will probably
take their resolution and aft..--tlndeed, from an
that we have heard, there is great reason to suppose
that they will, or, perhaps they may have already
ailed—They know the nature of the obstration—
they know the weakness of the country—they are
sure of present success—and they have a bold river
to bear thcm forward to the place of action. They
only want a leader to conduct them, and it would
be strange, if, with such means, and such spirit, a
leader should not soon present himself.
Suppose they do go—that they do chase away the
present wrong-doers--that you give them no sup-
port—and that in the end they are overpowered and
defeated by a stronger foe than the present feeble
possessors. They will never return to you, for you
cannot pneed them. They will make the best
compromise they can with the power commanding
the mouth of the river, who in effed has thereby the
command of their fortunes. Will such a bargain
be of light or trivial moment to the Atlantic States ?
Bonaparte will then say to you, " My ronich
West-India Colonies, and those of my allies, can
he supplied from my Colony of Louisiana, with
flour, beef, lumber, and every necessary. These
articles ran be carried by my own ships, navigated
by my own sailors. If you on the Atlantic coast
wish to trade with my Colonies in these article.,
you must pay fifteen or twenty per cent. of an im-
post ; we want no further supplies from you, and
revenue to France must be the condition of all fu-
ture intercourse. What say you to this ? It sill

be vain to address your western brethren, and com-
plain that your revenue dwindles; your commerce is
ruined—your condition desperate. They will reply,
you came not to our assistance at the only moment
you could hare served us ; that you then balanced
between sordid interest and duty ; that you suffered
them to be borne down and subdued, at a time when
for a trifle you could have secured the Mississippi.
Now their interest must be consulted, and it forbids
any assistance to you, when following in the same
train of ruin which overwhelmed them.
If the evil does not immediately 'proceed the full
length of absolute disunion, yet the strength, the
unity of exertion, the union of interest will be gone ;
we arc no more one people, and representatives from
that portion of our country, in our public councils,
will partake of the spirit, and breathe the sentiments
of a distina nation. They will rob you of your
public lands. They will not subsiiit to taxes.