The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-01-01

ereignty between them and the open water
What situation was that Our states
men were willing 10 concede almost any
thing for the free navigation of the Mis-
sissippi and our right to its eastern shore.
All we asked in addition was a port near
the mouth of the river Europe may have
thought that Napoleon Bonaparte was an
other 'Scourge of God" To US he was a
special Providence. As First Consul, he
had the acumen to recognize the truth
thai: in his struggle with the British pow
er, policy demanded that he should en-
courage the commercial and maritime
growth of the young Republic. that It
| might become an economic rival to his
enemy. So. when We applied to him to
cede us a patch of ground on the lower
Mississippi he quickly decided to give US
the whole Province of Louisiana, and. we
accepting enabled the United States to
become not a segregated. shut in State of
America, but a continental power, in the
course of time to become a world power
Thus, for the second time in our history
as nation, we owed to France the
| chance to become the State we are at the
close of the nineteenth century. On such
an occasion as the present we as people
| should feel that We are at the confession
al. Many things have happened since 1901
to make us feel a sense of evaporation
| toward France We were asked to join
in the French crusade against Europe
in compliance with the Treaty of Alliance
| which we had made with Louis XVI, to
| whose personal interference we owed our
| independence. Justly, the American Con-
| gress decided that conditions had 50
changed that we could not be bound by a
convention whose foundation and legiti-
mate objects had been swept away by the
| course of events. 1t would have been
better II. in recent years, the Senate and
| House of Representatives had been gov
! erned by like patriotic sentiments and a
| like courage.
| Nevertheless, and although later we had
the modification of seeing Napoleon III
| take advantage of our civil war to effect
Judgment on our continent with the I'M
concealed intention of establishing in
America new State under French au-
| spices If not control, to be composed of
the seeded Southern States and the
State of Mexico, it is due to the French
people to say that they have ever been
our friends, are SO now, and, for anything
we can see, will be to the end of time.
In 1901 We were at peace" with our
mother country" True she still main
| tanned fortified posts within the territory
acknowledged TO be ours by the Peace of
Paris. and she still refused to recognize
US as a fulI-ledged nation entitled to d.
vide with her the mare clausum'' which
British pretension had attempted to es-
tablish over the high seas When an
American vessel sailed from New York
New Haven, or Boston, it was liable to
search by British cruisers for members
of the crew who might be British sub
jects. And 1t is historically interesting to
note that, on all such occasions. every
able bodied man was considered British
and was pressed into the royal navy We
had natural love for England, largely
growing out of the war of independence
and its antecedents, and this and other
benefits which we received at the hands
Of our indulgent parent served so to
strengthen 1t that we went to war with
the old lady for second time in 1912.
1t is here needless to review the events |
of that indecfsive struggle. The land oper-
ations were uninportant. save in the case |
of the Battle of New Orleans, which &C. |
CURED after the Peace Treaty of Client |
had been signed. Our transatlantic reIa- |
tives also accomplished some things which |
were not always to their advantage. They |
Induced Francis Scott Key to write that |
immortal ode, the Star Spangled Ban |
ner, AT the attack on Baltimore. which |
was not victory for them. On the other |
hand, they defeated nearly two companies |
of District militia at Bladensburg, and |
General Ross, who commanded the red |
coats. was created Lord Ross of Bladens-
burg in recognition of the success; which |
reminds us of the honors which have been |
showered upon British commanders ever
since for similar achievements They aIso |
had the humanity and good taste to burn |
our Capitol and cur Executive Mansion. |
We shall not dwell upon that The insult !
and barbarity or that act were fttingly |
and fully wiped out in the death of Packen-
ham and his gallant comrades at the
hands of Andrew Jackson's rihemen on |
the banks of the Mississippi
In the Treaty of Client we failed to |
gain any advantage. For long years the |
right of search was. still maintained by |
Great Britain, and was only abandoned |
after long years or until the grow |
ing power of the United States made it |
dangerous to exercise it. That statement
almost epitomizes the history OF British |
diplomacy for centuries. 1t has been ever |
that of the GULLY, graduating into that Of |
a tolerant friend, and. later, into that Of |
a weeping philanthropist, accordingly as
power, force and blows have promoted its |
evolution.
After Louisiana, Florida fell to our bow
and spear, and then Mexico and Cali
fornia. In all the years from jefferson to |
Abraham Lincoln, our commerce grew,
and in the later part of that epoch we
more than divided the carrying trade OF
the world with our old enemy and rival.
We were able to hold our own with Eng
land in trade; but not so in diplomacy. !
In this respect We can only look back with |
shame and humiliation upon the conduct
of our relations with that Power We
must also admit that. TO a large -xtent,
the fault has rested with US The Treaty
of Client was an unnecessary concession
to British impudenee- The Clayton Bull
wer Treaty, in 1850, just as we had
emerged from the Mexican war, was an
evidence of official Americal subservience
to British dictatioa.. and most shock