The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1848-01-27


Now, no man here, or anywhere else, would ever
have made out what the law really meant from its terms,
unless he had taken the precauton of connecting with
the resolutions upon which il was founded Upon this
claim therefore, the law passed and upon no other
Tor there other My friend referred to the act as an
evidence that the party Of which Mr. Jefferson was the
of Louisiana Well, say now-and shall, if | have
the opportunity at some future time, proceed to demon
stIaeTthat every opportunity to acquire territory, to
w.t. Louisiana, the Flodas, and Texas, has been OBJ
tanned by the democratic power OF this country
But this is not all. ! have said that this act
passed, if recolect rightly, the 3D. of March 1903;
and at that very time Paris treating
for this very country with Napoleon Bonaparte: They
were treating, for this very depot He refused to
of Louisiana That is the history of the matter. We
sent our ministers there to purchase depot They
fused to sell depot; butt being about to go to war with
England and being likely TO lose the territory of Louis
lana by conquest, France proposed to sell it to friendly
power Well, in the month of April-ius one month
after the passage of the bilwe succeeded in making
nus that matter was accomplished Again, in 1906
sun IN the time OF this great patriot, Mr.. Jeferson-the
Senate still with closed doors, conceived that it was
very desirable Tor this government to the country
lying on the Mississippi river, and between that
on one side, and the Perdido the other. Thus the
father of democracy submitted to the Senate with closed
doors, his proposition to seize this territory Also and
law was passed for that purpose; and under the act
passed thus secretlycovered up with diplomatic phrase
ologylt proposed to obtain possession OF this
tory This act passed in 1906, and carried into effect
in 1910 ISL after had admitted Louisiana into the
Union man by the name of Thomas took fancy to
revoutionze that portion of the country He expelled
the Spanish inhabitants from it, and made il his own,
including Baton Rouge, calling it Fredonia Mr. N!adi-
son took possession without the authority of any law,
and at the next session an act passed making it
part OF Louisiana. But this is not all we afterwards
had war with the Semnoles; and in the time Of peace
with Spain followed these Indians into ST. Marks and
Pensacola, expellng from those places Spanish authority
All this done without the authority of law and one
OF the assigned for such procedure part
not that had any claim to Florida, but that the
British had built, during the revolutionary war; fort
near the junction of the Flint and ChaahoOchee rivers
which fort occupied by hostile Seminole Indians and
negroes.
can refer my friend to another mean the
in which the country lying upon the Aroostook was con-
tended for between us and Great Britain: This was
case happening in our own time, when Governor Fair
held-whose death we have recently been called to de-
poreat the head of troops, marched his forces
the disputed territory and took possession OF it with
out the sanction of Congress There are numerous cases.
all tending to the point that whenever it becomes
mpraccabe to obtain territory by purchase we take 1t
and Baton Rouge taken possession of in that ways
and have done in all cases, when could not OBJ
tain territory by negotiation and tins course has been
Territories to which we have claim by negotiation we
take by force if can, and think it expedent to do SO
Mr. F0oTE regret that it seems 80 difficult to set,
really that enough had been said in the former de
bate this subject to convince the senator from
Delaware that he had committed serious regard
to the Ross resolutions, and the action of the Jeferson
an democracy in 1903 The honorable senator still in
sists he has formerly done. that Mr. jefferson and the
democrats associated with him, little inclined to
efficient against Spain that the proposition to
seize upon territory adjacent 10 New Orleans, which the
senator from Delaware still supposes to have been en-
bodied in Mr. Ross resolutions, was elnquished in con-
sequence of negotiation being preferred to measures OF
warike character and tendency. read the other day,
nua message Of Mr. Jefferson, issued in October. 1903,
showing that previous to the introduction OF the Ross
resolutions, negotiations for the acquisition of Lou
sana had been in progress at Paris. And the nego-
to in the mentioned; but negotiations for
the purpose mentioned having been for some time al
interrupt them, as would inevitably have been the
by the adoption OF measures OF decidedly hostile char
racteI The truth is as has been repeatedly explained
Of deposite in the island Of New Orleans which had
esn By The history f
times already exhibited, without being convinced OF the
total want OF analogy between it and the troops in the
neighborlood of the Rio Grande | will not elaborate
this point at present. but satisfied again refer
the extract from Mr. Jeferson's annual message of
October 1909 explanatory of the actual facts Of the
and shall submit the point dispute without further
cussOn.
Mr.. CLAYTON, If understood the honorable sena-
the other sde they maintain this position
that Mr. Jefferson, and the democratic party since,
have proceeded the principle that they will take
what they want and what they can get from other ma
tions any way which they get it if they cannot
get what h they want y % hey will take BY
egn Relations distinctly that this has been
the past policy Of the democratic party from the time of
Mr. Jefferson down to this day; and therefore, he saws
they are only acting the spritthat of Jeesonian
democacywhen they propose that what they cannot get
by negotiation, they will proceed to take by force Sir
this exactly the issue between the honorable senator
and myself not only seek to vndicate the memory of
the statesmen of those times but seek also to show that
was previously right when, in the of this de-
BATE pointed out the strong contrast between the con-
duct of this government in reference to Mexico and the
conduct of Mr. Jefferson and the administration party of
1903, in reference to Spain and France Sir have moth
ing to do with the question, do intend TO be
drawn into the discussion of it by the remarks of the hon
orable chairman Foreign Relations as to the conduct
of the various administrations in regard to this matter of
the acquisition OF territory from the time OF Mr. Jefferson
think that former occasion, the OF the gov
eminent, in 1906, placed in very satisfactory
point of view before this Senate, in the discussion which
took place between the honorable chairman of the
Committee on Foreign Relations and the honorable
senator from Maryland who sits near me- | will not,
therefore, trespass upon ground which has been so
well occupied before. All wish is to bring the hon.
Oabe chairman back to the point from which he set
out and that he and the honorable senator from Mssis
sippi should acknowledge that they have mistaken the
spirit of Jefersonan democracy in 1902 in endeavoring
to attribute to the administration of that time DISPOSE
ton to take by force that which they could obtain by
negotiation Now, what application has the honorable
fourth section of the act of 1903 expressly declares the
object for which the act passed-to authorize the
President of the United States to call out eighty thous-
and militia. For what purpose In its own words for
the security of the territory of the United States not for
the purpose OF Selling upon the island of New Orleans
any portion of the country of the Lower Mississippi
not for the purpose of taking Of ground any