The age-herald., 1898-04-02

this extent She would consent to give to the Americans the region west of the Aileghanies as far as the Mississippi and south to the thirty-frst parallel, which is now the northern boundary of the western part of the state of Florida.
 But England was not thus generous be- cause of her love for her colonies. She wanted to retain West Florida if she could, and by a secret article in the treaty she agreed to give the Americans the vast region noted above it in case she could get West Florida, the northern boundary of that country could be fixed at the line of 1763 the parallel of the mouth of the Yazoo. This would give her a respectable territory back of the seacoast of West Florida.
 Spain learned of these secret negotia- tions, and great was her rage. It was, of course, impossible then for England to regain possession of West Florida. and the deal between England and America, by which the parallel of the YaZoo was to be the northern boundary of West Flori- da, was off. By the terms of the treaty the northern boundary of Spain took her revenge upon America. Her action result ed in first difference with that coun- try, a difference which lasted twelve years, and several times threatened to get us into war with her But 1t ended, as every diff ference since has resulted, in Spain back ing down and paying us an indemnity. The Spanish envoy to America at that time, Senor Gardoqui, was the essence of poiteness and good humor, like his suc- cessors. He was perfectly willing to make a treaty of amity and commerce, but his Catholic majesty, the King of Spain, never would admit for one moment that Amert- cans had the faintest shadow of right to the use of the river. The controversy was prolonged twelve years.
 Finally, in 1795, Spain made 0 treaty with us. The principal features of this treaty were that 1t opened the Mississippi to American boatmen, giving them the right to float their produce to the mouth of the river, pay storage charges-wh.ch procedure was called the right of deposit and then sell send their goods where they pleased; the thirty-first parallel was recognized as the northern boundary of the Floridas; in case of war the merchants of either country living within the other should have protection, and a year within which to remove their goods and last, as Spanish reprisals had been many, a com mission was to be appointed to fix the amount of indemnity which his proud Catholic majesty was to pay to the citi- zens of the young republic Thus we won our first victory over Spain.
 The right of deposit" contained a three- year provision by which at the end of that time it must be extended by Spain, or else another port on the Mississippi be desig- mated for that purpose. As soon as the
 
 tendant or agent withdrew the right of de- posit. This was in violation of the treaty but Spain didn't mind that. The result was renewal of the beligerent feelings of the western settlers. But the Spanish authorities reconsidered their action and matters quieted down until 1892.
 Two years before that time Spain, by a secret treaty, had given up Louisiana to France The secret was better kept than that of 17S3, and it was not until April, 1902. that the United States heard of it. France didn't bother about sending out officials, and the retention of the Spanish authorities gave the intendant at New Orleans opportunity to harass the Ameri- can boatmen again by withdrawing the right of deposit.
 At that there was the great outcry for war from all the settlers in the valley, from Pittsburg to Nachez, and they de- manded the instant seizure of New Or leans. Jefferson notified our minister, Liv- ingston, at Paris to tell Napoleon that while we might tolerate weak nation like Spain on our south and west, we would not for one instant allow a powerful na- tion like France to hold this contiguous territory.
 Monroe who was sent as our special enyoy pointed out to Napoleon. who was about to go to war with England. that this sale would drive the United States into coalition with England Napoleon saw that bv such a course he would be pretty sure to lose Louisiana anyway, and, unlike Spain today, who would rather lose Cuba by war with no price than by peace sale, he had no false pride in the matter. He proposed to sell the whole of Louis- jana for s15 OOo, ,0O0, adding that he would