Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1903-05-15
Credit TO Talleyrand.

the LOUISIANA pui Ih"SC' Ah"NN
has been given to Napoleon and O JEFF
ferson for their drea ms of the great en-
pire which wehave seen erected Rq yond
the Mississippi. The name Of II Hey
rand has hardly been mentioned. lyet 1t
4. certain that his fertile BRAIN con-
ceiyed the possibility, of that egion
before the idea ever came to Nap 'leon'
and that it was his adl;oit tongue (Which
Napoleon to it. AS for Jef-
ferson il is a matter of history that ne
a. nd his advisers sought only to ecure
the mouth Of the mississippi. He took
the rest of the vast Territory mainly be-
cause II was thrown in for full m cas-
IRE. The ablest Americans of the time
questioned the wisdom of the pRr-
chase, while in England practically no
attention had been given to the gpeat
country which flanked the colonies on
the west, and English statesmen were
totally ignorant of the great schemeS IN
which adverse fate thwarted the crafty
Talleyrand.
For Talleyrand, the corrupt and UNI
scrupulous adventurer, the unfrocked
b;shop who became Napoleons minis
ter Of foreign affairs, had conceived the
possibilities of that great region IN the
West and had made his plans to erect
French empire there which should
crush the young American republic.
DEFY England and win this whole hem-
isnhere for France. Through ahis
diplomacy France had acquired the
region back from Spain, but a com
bination of moves on the checkerboard
Of fate soon made a French empire in
American impossible and rather than
have the louisa nj region fall into the
bands of England he sold it to the
United States.
All this is history which cannot be
disputed, though the part played IN III
nv Talleyrand has NOT been much en-
phasizec by later writer's, and undue
prominence has been a;iven Napoleon.
1t was in the closing years of the 18TH
century. that Talleyrand visited Amer
lea. landing at Wiscasset, as 1t IS re-
corded. and visiting Augusta, then
HalloweII. before proceed ing to Boston,
New York and Philadelphia. In fact,
some writer's have tried to connect
Talleyrand more closely with Maine
than merely as visitor in mature
manhood. There is the tradition that
he was born on Mt. Desert island tfe
daughter of French girl there, his
father being a French naval olncer
whose ship had cruised along that
shore. His birth and early life are
shrouded in obscurity, and though
Paris is usually given as his birthplace
tho romantic Mt. Desert story has
never been wholly discredited and there
are many circumstances to give II
color of truth. However, that is not
part of our story.
When he returned to Paris after his
visit to America in 1894 he summed up
the Americans in, an epigram as peo-
y ple of thirty-six religions and only one
kind of pie Officially he reported that
they were hopelessly English, which to
a Frenchman came to the same thing.
France could expect nothing, she must
build UP a new colonial system OF her
own. but ito announce too much OF
what one means to do is the way not
to do 1t at all"
Talleyrand's attitude towards the
Americans was disclosed in various
ways. In his instructions to his minis
ter to Spain he said: THE United
states have been put in possession oil
the forts situated along the Mississippi
which the Spaniards had occupied as
posts essential arrest the progress OF
the Americans Id those countries" The
Americans, he said, ARE devoured with
pride. ambition and cupidity; the, mer-
camille spirit of the city; of London fer
ments from Charleston to Boston, and
the cabinet of ST. James directs the
cabinet of the federal union" The real
purpose that had taken possession OF
him was then disclosed. There are,
he continued. mo other means of put
ting an end to the ambition of the
Americans, than that of shutting them
up within the limits which nature
seems to have traced for them; but
Spain is not in a condition to do this
work alonei And the method that he
had mapped out was made plain an his
conclusion: Let the court of Madrid
cede these districts to France. and from
that moment the power of America IS
bounded by the limit which it may suit
the interests and tranquility of France
and Spain to assign her. The French
republic. mistress of these provinces,
will be a wall of brass forever i'm
penetrable to the combined efforts of
EuOlaYd and America "