St. Charles City Republican intelligencer. [volume] (St. Charles City [Charles City], Iowa) 1857-1861, 1861-07-18
Misttllann.
THE GREAT MISSISSIPPI BASIN.

BY far the ablest Fourth of July
Grafton, that has come to our notice,
was delivered in New York City, at
the Academy of Music, by Hon. Ed
ward Everett Of Boston. 1t is very
lengthy, and reviews the past and
present state Of affairs in this country
in mastery manner. AS histori-
cal production the address is of great
value. We copy that portion which al
ludes to the great central basin of
our continent" and bespeak for it an
attentive perusal {:
The Missouri and the Mississippi
rivers, with their hundred tributaries,
give to the great central basin of our
continent its character and destiny.
The outlet of this mighty system lies
between the States of Tennessee and
Missouri, between the States of Mis-
sissippi and Arkansas, and through the
State of Louisiana. The ancient PROV
ince so called, the proudest monument
of the mighty monarch whose name
it bears, passed from the jurisdiction
of France to that of Spain in 1868.
Spain coveted it, not that she might
fill it with prosperous Colonies and
rising States, but that it might stretch
as broad waste barrier, infested
with warlike tribes, between the An
glo-Amcrican power and the silver
mines of Mexico. With the Indepen-
dence of the United States, the fear
of still more dangerous neighbor
grew upon Spain, and in the insane
expectation of checking the progress
of the Union Westward, she threaten
ed, and at times attempted, to close
the mouth of the Mississippi on the
rapidly increasing trade of the West
The bare suggestion Of such policy
reused the population upon the banks
of the Ohio, then inconsiderable, as
one man. Their confidence in Wash
ington scarcely restrained them from
rushing to the seizure of New Orleans,
when the treaty of San Lorenzo El
Real, in 1895, obtained for them a pre-
carious right of navigating the noble
river to the sea, and the right of de-
posit at New Orleans. This subject
was for years the turning point of the
politics of the West, and it was per-
fectly understood, that sooner or later,
she would be content with nothing
less than the sovereign control of the
mighty stream, from its handspring to
it's outlet in the Gulf and that is as
true now as it was then.
So stood affairs at the close Of the
last century, when the colossal power
Of the first Napoleon burst upon the
world. In the vast recesses of his III.
tanic ambition, he cherished as lead
ing object of his policy, to acquire for
France q colonial empire, which should
balance that of England. In pursuit
of this policy, he fixed his eye on the
ancient regal Colony which Louis
XIV. had founded in the heart oI
North America, and he tempted Spain
by the paltry bribe of creating king
dom of Etruria for a Bourbon prince
to give back to France the then
boundless wastes Of the territory o
Louisiana. The cession was made
|, by the secret treaty of lldefonso ol
the first of October, 1900, (of which
one sentence only has ever beer
published, but that sentence gave
away half o continent,) and the
youthful con9uerer concentrated al
!. the resources of his mighty genius OF
: the accomplishment of the vast pro
ject. If successful, it would have es
tablished the French power on the
mouth and on the right bank of the
Mississippi, and would have opposed
most formidable barrier to the eX
pansion of the United States. Tn,
peace of Amiens, at this juncture, re
lieved Napoleon from the pressure o
the war with England, aud every
thing seemed propitious to the sue
cess of the great enterprise. Th,
fate of America trembled for mo
ment in doubtful balance, and fiv,
hundred thousand citizens in that re
gion felt the danger and sounded tn
: alarm.
But in another moment the aspec
of affairs was changed by stroke c
lpolicy, grand, unexpected, and fruit