The weekly Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1854-1861, 1855-02-21

IHc S0uLH oShS NOtuHgs IN 1917 we
paid five millions TO get Florida.
"THe sOstb asks HofbiAgP In 1895, her
policy brought Texas into the Union, with
q promise that she might carve herself up
into FIVE States.
"TRe south asks aoGlin0.' Her Texss
annexation brought the war win Mexico,
and more territory Was demanded % '.the
fruits o. that war; gaflr bt.s .t,,.,l ~ bfsI
! To this Mr.. Stephens replies a. follows; Il
+, I come now, thea, TO the gentlemen,s re-
ply to the position that The south assks moth
Ing" To this he says, "that he paid 49,
'O0O;000l for louisiana" To this say, Il
was not the south alene that secured the ace,
QUESTION Of Louisiana. Nor was Il alone
for the benefit Of the south. There were
bur twenty three votes in this house against
thar acquisition. p was national aequi.;
sition. Sustained by national mon from all
sections, there was. hardly show Of Oppo-
sition to il from any suaften ! should sup
pose that Ohio would be the last State in
this Union to raise her yUice against that
msasui e, or hold that II was exclusively for
the benefit of the south. What would have
become Of her trade and commerce if Lou
issna and the mouth Of the Mississippi were
still in the hands Of Spain and Francee If
the fifteen millions OF money, which we
paid, be the grounds of the gentleman's OBJ
lection, all that has been more than refund
ed by the sale of public, lands embraced
within the limits Of that acquisition. These
sales, r1p'to this time, have ainouhted to
$25. .928, ,s32,23; besides what is yet to be
realized from the hundreds Of thousands OF
square miles yet to be sold. So the fifteen
millions was not bonus to the south, even
if tbs south had carried the measure for their
own benefit. ;" 22N' ''t'l a'9' 2s""4i =
Again was the acquisition Of that terrific
ry made to extend the southern area Of the
country! Let Us examine, this view of the
subject. What extent of, territory was COM
prised within the limits of Louisiana! 1t
extended not only far up the Mississippi riv-
er, to Iowa and Minnesota, but westward
to the Rocky mountains even, without now
mooting the question. whether Oregon was
not then acquired. Grant, for the sake Of
this argument, That Oregon was not then
acquired. The territory of Louisiana stretch
ed from the extreme south on the Gulf to
the extreme north on parallel 49 deg. of
north latitude. At that immeRse domain,
it. Was oil this southern territoryq The
object of the gentlemen from Ohio in dllu-
ding to this subject seemed to be to intimate
that all this acquisition wns for the south.
But how is the fact! Let us look at it BY
this acquisition, taking all the Indian terri
tory into account, the South acquired only
1850 square miles, white the, North got
by it SGT ,599 sqsare miles! Ii this The " sy
that the scath is to be. taunted! When the
very acquisition, held up as the tauRt brought
more than double the extent Of territory to
the north than it did to the south!
Again, in the acquisition of Florida, the
gentleman from Ohio says that the south
carried that measure at cost of So 900 900.
This is the tenor of his argument. Sir, this
measure was not carried by the south. nor
for the south exclusively. There was not
even a division in this house on the ques-
tion. As to the extent Of the acquisition, il
we did not get Oregon when we acquired
Louisiana, we certainly acquired it when we
purchased Florida, 1t was by the treaty
then made that we got Spain's relinquish.
ment to Oregon. The North, by the meas
ure, got 30S,052 square miles Of territory
including the territories of Oregon ant
Washington, while the south got only the
State ef Florida, 59,263 square miles i
the south carried this question by her votes
sectional in their policy! Did not the south
if that be the gentleman's argument, gnir
quite as much, nay, more, nay, double, nay
more than five times as much territory foi
the north in that acquisition, as she obtanet
for hetselft Again, in the acquisition o.
Texas, considering the Mexican war as par
of that proceeding, as the gentleman does
the south only secured 237, 1853 square miles
while the north secured 632,l57 square
miles, including California, New Mexico
and Utah.
But, sir, let us look, for q moment, to al
our acquisitions. So, far as Louisiana i,
concerned, il the gentleman begrndges tht
money he paid for it, even if he had no
been reimbursed by the sales Of lands. thu
State of Georgia, alone, has long since NOR,
than paid that debt by her munificent grant
She ceded to the United States that larg,
territory out Of which the fourishing State,
Alabama and Mississippi - have sine,
been made; out of which, and from which
you have realized, by sale of lands, muel
more than the whole cost Of Louisiana.
have now before me table of the proceed
OF the sale Of the public lands in the State
of Alabama and mississippi. 1t amount
to $32 2,205,6ll,l6 the consideration paid (,
Georgia was $l,250,000; with the extin
guishment of the Indian title within he
own limits; oil this amounted to about gil,
600, 600; so that if il be the amount OF mon
ey that lays heavily upon his breast, it ma!
be some consolation to the gentleman t
know that from this grant by Georgia
southern State, you have a clear gain Of ov
er $20,000,000 .
But, let us look at all our acquisitions =
There are now, according to the census re
port, belonging to the United States 1896,
1865 square miles of territory=includin
States old and new, as we'll us territories
There have been acquired, outside of tn
old thirteen States, 2,590,205 square miles
4 Of all these 1858, ,l05 square miles thus &C
quired, there lies north Of the line of 36 deg
80 min. 1,845,701 square miles, and ther
Here sir, take Florida, take Texas, take al
our acquisitions, the Georgia and other Stat
grants or cessions, leaving out the Mesill
Valley, acquired at the lsst session Of Cor
gress, which is small item, and you Sc
this astounding fact in answer to the RI
marks of the gentleman on this point, tina
l,S45, ,lOl square miles of these, acqnis
Z tions lie north of 80 deg. 80 min. and onl
4 753, ,4O4 lie south of IT, If all north Of 3
deg. 80 min. is to be considered nerther
territory, then the north has got by acquis
ton more than double what the south has.
Will the gentleman, then, pretend to al