The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1901-10-13
RELATION OF TEXAS TO
THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE.

To the Editor Of The Republic.
Austin. Tex. oct. $50 many people in
Texas doubt the right and propriety OF
an active participation by the State in The
celebration of the coming centennial of tire
Louisiana Purchase that a view of a neg
lected aspect of the question seems prop--
All the historians. so far as / know. eX-
cept two. are agreed upon the proposition
that Texas was not a part Of the I.ouIsi-
ara Purchase. The question is being OK
plotted in the newspapers and magazines.
and even or the ros;run in Texas. and if
the action of the State is 10 he governed
by what seems to be the general consensus
Of opinion. Texas will be no more than a
looker-on.
Exactly what the boundaries Of Texas
were prior to 1919. even on the east. is I'M
certain. but there is a point upon which all
are agreed, and that Is that the louisiana
acquired by France and owned and held by
her up to 1853. WIS the Mississippi VALLEY
on the west. and that that term embraced
all the tributaries Of the Mississippi to ,h.ir
remotest head springs. even to the submits
of the mountains which shed their waters
into the valleys. And this was the area
which France, in liz. in express terms and
by particular description coded to An
thony Corza;. This was what the United
States purchased in 1903.
From 1i1i to 1863 Spain never occunied an
inch of this soil. and made no claim 20 it
different from the claim she made to st.
Louis and New Orleans. but she was in
actual and exclusive possession and control
OF the territory then known as Texas. BY
persistent negotiation. going on at inter-
walls for thirteen years. aided by the anti
expansion influence of the Federaiist party
in the United States. Spain succeeded in
acquiring, by the treaty of 1919, about l00.-
V1 square miles of the Louisiana Purchase,
besides inducing the United States to lban-
Con all claim to Texas proper.
A new western boundary line, as far north
as the Arkansas River. was given to the
Louisiana Purchase. Instead of stopping
at the divide between the Sabine and Red
rivers. IL was extended up to Red River
from a point where the thirty-second par
allel intersected Sabine River. It extended
thence up Red River TO the 100 degree me-
ridian; thence up that meridian to the Ar
kansas. 1t was against this dismernberment
of tie Louisiana Purchase that Mr.. Benton
so vehemently protested. when he said:
The magnificent valley of the Mississippi
is ours. with all its fountains. springs and
floods. and woe to the statesman who shall
surrender one drop of IT'S water or one inch
CT its soil to any foreign Power."-Thirty
Years View. Vol. /. p. 10.
NOTWITHSTANDING & Mr.. Benton. it was sur
rendered. By il iU,iiS square miles Of area
was added to Texas from the Louisiana
Purchase. and became Spanish domain. Por-
tons Of what are now Kansas. Colorado,
Okis hoIna and New Mexico also belonged
to the Louisiana Purchase. and were cut
off ard given to Spain. The status of these
States end Territories, therefore. toward
the centennial of 1893 is precisely the same,
irrespective of who is right or who is wrong
in all these discussions as to whether Tex
az was ii part of the Louisiana Purchase.
There are fifty-two counties in Texas
which are Il part of the great valley of the
Mississippi. and the right and prupriety of
their participating in the programme of the
centennial are ~ absolute as that of New
Orleans, st. Louis oc any other part of Old
Louisiana. u. T. FULMORE