Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1883-07-11

for mere sentiment, but in hope of gain
ing material advantages. England must
be humbled, and the American war seemed
to afford a vulnerable point for the assault
of her enemies. The Bourbon race was
government and hence not u natural ally.
of America. Britains necessity was her
enemies opportunity, and they improved
it. Spain insisted that congress should
rclinquish all claim to the basin of the St.
Lawrence river, the lakes, and all the ter
ritory between the Mississippi river and
the Allegheny mountains. At the confer
ence the American claim was for the Mis-
sissippi river and the lakes. Spain stout
ly resisted, on the ground that Florida
extended far into the territory the Ameri-
can claim would cover The French min
lister proposed that the territory north
south of it to the Indians under the joint
protectorate of the U. s. and Spain. DIR.
Franklin, then an old man, almost yield
cd. Jay resisted, Adams declared he
would 60 home and urge his countrymen
to fight it out before he would relinquish
the claim upon the northwest. Contrary
to the instructions of Congress, these COM
missiOners concluded peace without con-
sulting France. 1t was we'll for America
that they did so. But for for John
Adams, the Valley of the Mississippi
would have been a British possession.
The Americans obtained all they could
reasonably ask from Great Britain, and
that, too, in opposition. to the wishes of
both France and Spain. which had be-
friended them. BY a secret clause of the
from its source to it's mouth, was guaran-
teed to both the Americans and English.
Spain gained Florida, and by its nor
them boundary obtained control of 80
miles of the lower Mississippi river. Spain
wished to exclude the Americans on the
ground that while the treaty of 1855 gave
British subjects the right Of free naviga-
ton down the Mississippi the Americans
having become free had lost that privi-
legc. The Americans claimed that in
conqucring their liberty they had OBJ
tanned possession of all such rights.
In 1885 Spanish envoy was sent to this
country, and John Jay was appointed by
Congress to confer with him. 1t was the
gloomiest time of American history
Whole communities had been impoverish-.
authority, commerce was destroyed, no
manufactures. Spain offered to make
commercial treaty very favorable to the
eastern states, on condition that the U. s.
would relinquish the claim to the free
navigation of the Mississippi. The south
opposed the proposition, and with the aid
of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, defeat
ed it. This was one Of the first contro-
versies on geographical questions that
ever appeared in Congress, and it was
well that the South was victorious. The
next year Jay asked to have the clause on
free navigation" Stricken from the treaty,
and majority vote for it was obtained
in Congress, but the south objected that
it took nine states to ratify foreign
treaty. Itwas we'll the south Won, for
but for that the union could not have
been formed, as the south would not have
ratified the new constitution; Patrick
Henry declared in the Virginia Assembly,
that it was the policy of the eastern states
to discourage the settlement of the west
by closing up the navigation of the Mis-
sissippi. At last treaty was concluded,
giving the Americans the right of free
navi CATION with depot at New Orleans.
In 1902, Spain withdrew the privilege,
leading to the greatest excitement among
the 8OO, 900 people now in the west They
threatened to refuse their support to the
government unless an outlet was secured
for them. England fomented discord, so
as to become the arbitrator. There was
danger of war with two foreign nations.
In 1903 Congress appropriated $4,000, 600
for the purchase of Florida and the
island of New Orleans. John Mon
roe was sent across the sea to fin
ish negotiations. Commissioned only to
purchased island in the Mississippi river,
Providence put it INTO his power to effect
world has ever known. Napoleon, the
first consul of France, seeing that war
with England was impending, and know
ing that she would speedily capture Lou
isiana, which had just come into the hands
of France, offered it to the Americans.
Livingstone, our minister to France, did
not dare to act, but John Monroe oppor-
timely arrived, and made the bargain, by
which, for $15, 600, 600, Louisiana became
ours. Only twelve days more it would
have been too late and the territory would
have passed into British hands. How
kindly that Providence, which through
the antagonisms of powerful European
nations, suffered our fathers not only to
maintain independence, but by pushing
their borders westward, to become one Of
the great powers of the earth.
Another wonderful feature of the times
was the readiness with which the several
states relinquished their conflicting claims
to the territories to the general govern
ment. In 1885 there sprang up move
ment to cOlOniZe the west.
A convention was held at the Bunch of
Grapes tavern, Boston, Mass, on the first
of March, 1856, and the result was the for
nation of the Ohio Company. In 1887,
1900, 900 acres were purchased of the gov
ernment, and settlement was founded
at the mouth of the Muskingum, in Ohio.
This was the beginning Of the great move
ment which has settled up the west.
When the purchase was contemplated,
the colony made compact, that slavery
should not be permitted in Ohio. Al
though in after years the sentiment was
strong for slavery, the original compact
could not be broken.
The sale of public land proved to be
the providential way of lifting the heavy
financial burdens of the government, and
discharging its obligations to the soldiers
of the revolution. In 1857 Congress voted
unanimously laws to promote the settle
ment of the great west, by exchanging
land for soldiers script A clause prohib-
iting slavery was added, and was assented
to by all the states. This was the great
ordinance of 1857, so justly celebrated in
the annals of our national progress. The
active agent in securing this result was
Rev. Mannana Cutler, chaplain in the
Revolutionary war, and one of the direc-
tors of the Ohio company. By his address
and popularity, he secured the interest
and action of Congress in this great meas
ure.
Fellow citizens, I have endeavored to
recall to your minds the way our fathers
wrought in weaving the frame work of
onr nationality. The ediice upon which
they labored is yet incomplete. That
which is to endure is of slow growth.
We are ]aboring upon the same magnifi-
cent structure. We too are building for
posterity, and this is the thought I would
nation is typifed by the massive Euro
pean athedrals-medieval kings, their
founders, have mouldered back to dust
within their vaults, and the toilers of sue
cessive generations have laid down be.
meath their shadows, and the work still
fingers, but they stand, firm as the ever
lasting hills, perpetuating in histories of
stone the moral life and intellectual growth
of the world during some of it's most event
full centuries. So have our fathers build