Weekly national intelligencer., 1848-02-05
NATIONAL INTELLIGENCER.


Since the publication Of the article in last Satur
DAVIS naper commenting on what appeared to us
,,o,, nrnciDle in national morals, advanced by
Senator Of the United States holding the important
nosition Of Chairman of the Committee on Foreign
Relations. and who was therefore presumed tc
speak the policy of The Executive, an explanation
has been made by the honorable Senator, question:
inc the accuracy of the deduction which we made
from his published remarks.
DESTROYS, at all times, of doing perfect justice tc
our opponents, and especially TO one whose open
fearless and manly bearing is entirely opposed tc
the course, SO frequently pursued by weaker minds
OF acting upon principles which they studiously
conceal, we have perused with care his first re-
ported remarks, and his own explanation and com
ment on the floor of the Senate.
Ii seems that, in the opinion of the honorable
Senator, there was at least some foundation for oul
remarks; but that, while " he had never contended
.and did not now contend, that any Pocer had a
sright TO take territory to which it had no claim
he had edslincdy and explicitly maintained that
the claim to the right of navigating the Missis-
ssippi Tin 1903 was the ground on which the ac-
tion of the Government was predica;ed." Now,
the action Of the Government, as maintained, ex-
planned, and defended by the Senator himself, was
military seizure and occupation and he insisted
that the act Of Congress, passed at that day, TO
place at sie disposal Of the Executive eighty thou
sand militia for the purpose OF selzlng the ter
ritory Of Spain, and thus securing the enjoyment
of the free navigation of the Mississippi. Thus
the only difference at last between the Senator and
ourselves is this The general principle is denied
but the application in that particular case IS Justl-
fed. While he would by no means consent that
"anu Porer had right to take territory to which
It had no claim" he justified the seizure, by the
United States, Of the territory of Spain for the pur-
pose of securing territorial right-the navigation
of the Mississippi-to which we asserted we had
claim, and Spain asserted that we had not This,
the reader will perceive, does not in reality mate
rally vary the ground taken by the honorable Sena
tor for we have only to set up claim TO any for
eign territory justify the employment Of force to
occupy it. This is precisely what the present Ad-
ministration has done in the case Of the territory
east Of the Rio Grande, the occupation of which
by military force was the first act of the existing
war.
We desire, however, 10 examine the new ground
assumed by the Senator, viz the employment of
military force to secure the free navigation of the
Mississippi, while the negotiation for the peaceful
acquisition of Louisiana was pending for the pur-
pose Of obtaining that right, and to inquire with
what correctness he has invoked the names Of JET
PERSON and MADISON TO maintain that position.
The occasion on which it is alleged that Mr..
al. IL.
by treaty, for pecuniary equivalent, of Louisiana
from France in 1909, and the cotemporaneous au
thority given 10 the President, by lac TO call upol
the Executives Of the States for their quotas 0
eighty thousand militia, to be held in readines
avowedly, by the terms OF the law, for selfprotec
ton, not conquest. .
review of the transactions, thus relied on, maI
not be uninteresting at the present period and
would be happy for the American people if thos
who now administer the Government would prof
by the lessons which it imparts.
1t is known to all that soon after the indepen
dence of the United States was acknowledged By
Great Britain, and before the adoption of the pre-
sent constitution, questions arose between Spalr
and the United States, concerning territorial limit
and the free navigation of the Mississippi, which
put imminent peril the peace of the two countries
By the treaty Of peace between Spain and Grea
Britain Of January 20, 1888, Spain obtained By
cession the provinces Of the two Floridas, which
had been previously ceded 10 Great Britain by The
treaty of 1863. The cession being general, and no
by specific boundaries, portion Of Georgia wa:
claimed by Spain, not only as a portion of the
"Floridas," but as containing posts conquered BY
Spain, and still in her possession Hence a con
tested boundary.
Nor was this all. BY the cesson Of the Flori
das by Great Britain, in 1888, Spain became tn
undoubted proprietor Of the territory on both side
Of the river Mississippi, from the thiryfrst degre
&C. latitude TO the sea. This exclusive ownershi
of the soil through which the river flowed const
tuted the foundation of her claim to control the n;
yigaton Of the river within her own territory an
exclusive jurisdiction and control over part woul
. IN reality give her the control over the commerC
OF the whole
On the contrary, it was asserted in behalf Of Ii
United States tha, Spain, in receiving the Florida
from Great Britain under the treaty Of January q
1888, took them subject to the previous compass
of Great Britain herself; that, as the ally Of III
United States against Great Britain, Spain coul
have made no conquest within the limits OF any on
of the States with which she was allied and thi
right Of the United States to the free navigatio
OF the Mississippi, in its length and breadth, fror
It's sources TO the sea, besides resting on the clea
principles Of the law Of nations had been concede
by Spain to Great Britain bv tho treaty of JTa.