The Sun.
London, England, 1861-10-16 00:00:00

of 72 regular French troops, 146 Canadians, and 637 In-
dians I From the face of this motley handful of enemies,
which it would be absurd to call an army, the best ap-
pointed veteran troops of England—lnfantry, Cavalry,
Artillery, Marines—in the language of Washington, who
had two horses killed under him and four bullets through
his garments in the encounter, " ran like sheep before the
dogs."intheextT
extinction
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tthhie surrenders of Canada to England. But wait another
continent, by the cession of Louisiana to Spain, and
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ranginglndep our Independence, the
F
her auxiliary armies landed on our shores, the lilies mingled
with:the dawning stars and stripes, Rochambeau and Wash-
ington, Lafayette and Lincoln, united at the fall of York-
town, and a new commercial and naval Power called, as ity
were, from the depths of the Atlantic into the family of
nations. It is usual to say that France was led to form the
alliance of 1778 by way of retaliating upon England for the
wcet e
thee nf
of
loss of Qu bec. I dare say this motive had its influence
with the Cabinet of Louis XVI. : they were men, and sub-
ject to human passions. But I appeal to you, sir, who have
been accustomed from the highest points of observation to
explore the policy of States, to bear me out in the assertion,
that France had a much loftier, a much farther-reaching
motive in promoting the independence of the United States.
There are documents in the Bureau des Affaires Etrangeres
at Paris, which show that the Count de Vergennes and his
associates looked far beyond the indulgence of any spirit of
temporary retaliation. They foresaw, in the infant Ame-
rican Union,the germ of a great commercial and naval Power
in the west, which, when it should arrive at maturity,would
furnish a needful counterpoise to the maritime preponder-
ance of any one of the great European Governments. They
foresaw that the United States, if their independence was
established, would, in all human probability, bJcome what
Prince Gortschakoff,in his remarkable letter of 9th July last,
calls it, " an element essential to the universal political
equilibrium." This, I take it, was the true secret of the
alliance of 1788, as of the good-will which has ever sub-
sisted, and I doubt not ever will subsist, between France
and the Federal Union. This noble entente cordial*,
founded on the broadest and firmest basis of State policy,
was shaken for a few years by the storms of the French re-
volution, which so vehemently agitated the whole political
world. The two friendly Governments, whose allied armies,
less than 20 years before, were arrayed beneath a common
banner, on common fields of victory, were now about to
plunge into an unnatural war with each other. This was
under the Government of the Directory, whose reputation for
wisdom does not, I preskime, stand very high in the tradi-
tions of your family. From this deplorable catastrophe the
18th Brumaire relieved us. That marvellous event, which
brought France out of the chaos of the revolution, reopened
her temples, tribunals, and schools, retrieved her dilapi-
dated finances, and raised her prostrate industry from
the dust, restored peace between the two countries.
Scarcely had the youthful hero acceded to power when he .
ordered that the badges of mourning for the death of
Washington should be suspended "a tousles drapeaux et
guidons de la Republique," and in less than a twelvemonth
from the time when the strong arm of the First Consul
was laid to the helm of state, a convention with the United
States was signed by his elder brother Joseph (afterwards
King of Naples and Spain), which replaced the relations
of the two countries on the most friendly footing. That
kind-hearted and virtuous prince, your uncle Joseph, was
as you well know, sir, for many years a resident in this
country, where his name is never pronounced without
respect. I may bo permitted, perhaps, to say, that it
was my good fortune to renew with him in Florence
the acquaintance with which he had honoured
me at Bordentown, which for his sake you have
lately visited with such affectionate interest. When, on
taking a final leave of him, .I told him that he was remem-
bered in America with respect and affection, and by all
who had the happiness to know him, he placed his arms
about my neck and his lips to my cheek, and with eyes
moistened with gracious drops not unworthy a king, re-
plied, " That some of the happiest days of his life were
those which he had passed on the banks of the Delaware.'
But the treaty of Sept. 30, 1800, wise and welcome as it was
in restoring peace between the two countries, was far sur-
passed in importance by that truly imperial stroke of policy,
the cession of Louisiana. Originally discovered under the
monarch whose name it perpetuates in the western hemi-
sphere, transferred to Spain at the close of the Seven Years'
War, recovered by the First Consul in 1800, by the
treaty of San Ildefonso, the youthful hero conceived the
plan of making Louisiana the basis of a colonial power which
should balance that of England. The approaching renewal
of hostilities, by the rupture of the treaty of Amiens, ren-
dering it doubtful whether he should be able to hold
Louisiana against the naval power of Great Britain, in
pursuance of that great idea which runs through the
whole policy of France towards this country, that of con-
firming the "universal political equilibrium," by the
growth of a great commercial and naval power in the
West, the First Consul announced to his astonished coun-
cil, on Easter Sunday of 1803 that he had made up
his mind to cede the whole of Louisiana to the United
States. The deed followed up the word, and the treaty was
signed on the 30th of April. By this truly Napoleonic
stroke of the highest State wisdom and the most superb
political courage, the whole of this vast province, a world
of itself—from the Gulf of Mexico to the 49th parallel of
latitude, and from the Mississippi to the Pacific—in which
those great and prosperous States, sir, of which you have
just made a rapid survey, are but the outposts of the group
of rising republics still to be—all passed into the posses-
sion of the United States; illustrious record of the pro-
found convictions of Napoleon that the interest of
France and the equilibrium of Europe require the
growth, consolidation, and permanence of the American
Union. With the memory of these significant pages of
our history, and with these impressive recollections of
the great founder of your dynasty, your imperial highness
will not doubt the pleasure we feel on the visit of a prince of
his family and name, who, with a mind already richly stored
with the fruits of European observation and experience, has
come to estimate, from personal inspection, the importance
of that Union which France under every regime has done so
much to cheer and aid on the path of national advancement.
We should consider the language of mere compliment as un-
worthy of you, sir, and ourselves, but we deem it an honour
to welcome to our city a prince who, not now for the first
time, turns his back upon the splendours of one of the most
brilliant courts and the fascinations of one of the most at-
tractive capitals of Europe to cross seas and traverse con-
tinents in the gratification of an enlightened curiosity and
the cultivation of those liberal tastes which, while they raise
the peasant to a level with the seer, give grace and dignity to
the highest station, and reflect new lustre even to the steps of
the throne. It adds greatly, sir, to the satisfaction
which we feel in your visit, that you are accompanied
by an illustrious princess, who, besides all her per-
sonal claims on our respect, demands our homage
as the daughter of the favoured sovereign—ll Re
Galantuoma—the King of Italy—called by Providence
to reclaim that lovely land from long ages of internal
dissension, and, its necessary consequence, political imbeci-
lity and subjection to foreign power; with the aid of his
great ally to build up a glorious Italian nationality, and to
prove by a bright example, in the face of Europe and
America, that for a family of kindred States there can be
neither peace nor prosperity at home, nor consideration nor
influence abroad, but in a harmonious union under one go-
vernment. Be pleased, sir, to accept our best wishes for
your prosperous return to France, and allow us to hope that
the United States will retain a place in your friendly recol-
lection and enlightened sympathy. I pray your excellency
(Governor Andrew) and you, gentlemen, to rise and join
me in drinking the health of their Imperial Majesties the
Emperor and Empress of the French, their Imperial High-
' nesses Monsigneur the Prince Napoleon and the Princess
Clotilde, and the prosperity of France, the earliest ally of
the United States.