The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1812-03-06

"oeSu Oh ~ present. session.. lac anttctulteG
change IN the government at this territory, has con
sde,abty relaxed the administration thereof, in some
OF ITS most important derartments--Proviled the
adoption Of the form should be DELAYED to dis
tant period, serious injuries and inconvenences to
the people, are apprehended. The convention,
therefore, beg leave to express to the congress, tro
the executive OF tho United States their earnest So
iicitude for speedy provision against such state
OF things, as may comport with the other national du
ties OF that body.
With great respect,
We have the honor to be, sir,
Your Exccllency's most obetcnt,
(By unanimous order of the Convention.)
To the President d
The United Stdtes.
The following letter the annexation Of Florida to
this territory, has been written by Mr. May,rder,
member OF the convention, to his friend in st.
Francisville, & is extracted from the Time Piece
OF january Ia, 1919.
Ws.p- Orleans, 29d Dec. 1911.
+ DEAR SIR-l congratulate you, and through the
medium OF your paper, the good people of Florida,
ON the efforts that making in convention to
procure your annexation to this country There APP
pears to be very general disposition in that body, to
cooperate with the Foridans in that salutary mea-
sure. Amemorial has been drawn up and present.
ed, and earnestly trust and sincerely hope that it
will meet with but little effectual opposition either
here or in congress- am extremely pleased to find
that vigorous exertions have been made in Florida,
IN expressing the sense of the people to congress- on
this important subject. | sincerely wish that they
may ultimately defeat the machnatious of those who
would produce the unnatural and dangerous connec-
ton meditated, with the Mississippi territory. The
people of Florida have important, durable atvan-
tages to entertain In prospect, by political attach
mcnt to that country. The localities of each are diff
ferent In one the laws regulating the rights of pro-
perty, radically and essentially distinct iron, the
laws on the sane subject, in the other; and must al
ways remain 81. The confusion that this will pro-
duce in the courts of Justice, and the dangers that il
nrne ns,fC -. ,,,a.t, Gao.
are considerations that merit very serious attention
Happears to me, that annexation of Florida to
the ssissipp territory, be productive of but one
point OF advantage, IN ono quarter only. 1t would
give to the later little than it would acquire
by the gradual increase of population from natural
and extranetus Sources the proud attitude of state
sovereignty. But, sir, what the deprivations suf
tered in Other quarters The question involves in
tercsts of the most sacred kind equally relative to
the people Of Florida, and the territory of Orleans
and the union itsetf;-Florida would gain an mpor-
tant advantage by being connected with govern
ment which will command the flourishng city of N.
Orleans, and the mouth of the river. voice in the
councils Of the state these subjects, points that
form an Intimate connection between the agricutu-
raj and trading interests of the country will certainly
be productive of decided advantages, which could
not How from any other territorial and political at
tachment. Besides, this country, from its natura!
capaches, must ever preserve high career in the
progress OF wealth, and the accompanying improve
ments OF social feIts resources for the support of
quistion.-Look around these subjects in the Mis-
sssipp territory; the fertility of the lands rapidly
vanishing; its people migrating to other more con-
genial positions; its finances ruined, and its laws and
morals wretched beyond description. Was it natural
to suppose, that the people OF Florida would solicit
an attachment to country of this description, after
having suffered long series ofrevolutionary distress
es and humiliations-I learn and have received the
information with great pleasure, that the respectable
part of your citizens and the mass of the people in
general decided in their attachment to this eoun-
try believe this 10 have beer, the rcs;;!; os ;ha;
SOUND Judgment, which upon all important state sub
Jects, Will ever characterize the American people
when left free from the Vaccinations of popular en-
prizes, to pursue their own impulses
AS the annexation relates TO this country, there
can be no question. that the measure will produce
the emo ln0s. . .s% 81 tins result plt;.
surface naked sayannas in the Interior of immense
extent, and rreclamable norasses, subject to mum
dations, In detached districts, from the Gulph of
Mexico to the Arkansas In the general mass OF ter
reoiy within our limits, the quantity of these lands is
SO great that the cutvablc portion that remains will
never be able to maintain very numerous populat.
on. he Inhabitants, like those of Poland must ne
cessaIlly be widely separated from each other They
WIZ always be compelled to live in separate districts
aiVued Dy saYannas or morasscs. This mode of fix
ing the population of country must be productive of
uiminttiOn OF its active pOwerst is of
the energies OF society in every point of yiewit
poses u to easy encroachment and inevitable CON
4Aest' ny an enemy prepared to take advantage of
hese considerations, sir, profoundly delibe-
rated by that part of the Convention who were favor
anie To the annexation of Florida They perceived
IN your vigorous population of Is or 90 600 souls
mass Oh industrious agculturalists which could form
sanitary auxiliary, by union of interests under the
same government. About to be elevated to the dis-
ihy oil state sovereignty, the real friends of tits
country will extend the fternal hand to the pconIe
OF FLORIDA, and receive them within the embrace of
citizenship. ~ "a
The Congress of the United States must perceive
tue annexation OF FLORIDA to the territory of Or
ieas the best views of its liberal political systems
amply promoted. The government has lone sccn
te exposure OF the frontier section of the empire
win anxiety and apprehension. Accessible on the
south TO an invading enemy by the route of the oceon
ana IN the west and north the neursons of nsons
either savage or revolutionary, Louisiana has al
way presented aurements to the career of ambi,i-
on An opportunity is now presented, of diminish.
ing me dangers to which the country is exposed by
pI In annexng to 1T mass Of population,
whose attachments in laws, government and eener.i
interests, will promote the security and prosper,v nj
each other f7fs'P ~
But 1t seems to me, sir, that there is an obpsion
or the part OF the United States TO attach EIo3da IN
THIS country at the present time. By the treaty viii
the French Republic, Florida uneGuiyocallv passed
with the other parts of the acquisition as porfion of
LOUISIANA by the same treaty, the inhabitants arc
entitled to state sovereignty as soon as thew were
pared for it under the principles OF the
elf the United States find themselves at libertv a.
attach that country in its present condition to- anv
part ~ the national territory, it would seem ,bo
mere existed SEINE kind of obligation to attach II m
that portion OF IT, which under the operation of The
treaty, was passing into the confederation or u,e
STATES. cannot iorbear thinking, that to aeuex .
county, which formerly made part Of Louisiana TO
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