Gloucester County Democrat., 1903-05-07
Champ CIark's 5
Letter..
Especial Washington Letter.

the world to fall down ard worship
him. On that day Napoleon sold to
Jefferson the Louisiana purchase. The
effects of that trade upon the poll
ties, commerce and destiny Of nations
have been incalculable. 1t is not put
ting it too strong to say that it changed
not only the map of the world, but its
history also. Satan had no title to the
earth which he offered as a bribe to
the Nazarene. and the first consuls title
to his American possessions was what
the law books call inchoate On paper
he claimed it under the treaty of II De-
fonso, forced upon the feeble power of
Spain. Really he held it by the strong
grip of the lions paw. The actual
transfer of this vast domain did not
take place till March 10, 1804-so slow
ly did things move in that ante steam
and ante electric period. Captain Amos
Stoddard of the United States army
acted as the French agent in delivering
the new empire into the hands of the
United States. This memorable act in
the great drama of civilization was
performed in the city of st. Louis be-
fore an audience in whose bosoms fear
and grief contended with hope and joy
for the mastery, for the French and
Spaniards sorrowed for the foreign
sovereignty forever banished from this
western Eden, and the adventurous
American pioneers hailed the unfurling
Of the stars and stripes west of the Fa-
ther of Waters as the promise of bet
ter day and of increasing glory and
honor to their country The name Of
Captain Stoddard is fixed in the his
tory of Missouri by Stoddard county,
Stoddard's addition to the city of st.
Louis and Stoddard's school, The
names of the great president and his
faithful agents in this splendid bar
gain-Livingston and Monroe-are also
permanently established on our map
as well as in the hearts of a grateful
people.
Thirteen Great States.
Napoleon's necessity was in this case
the great Virginian's golden opportuni-
ty. The pressing need for ready mon
ey whereby to prepare the sinews for
an impending war and the certainty
that England would seize the French
American territories drove the martial
Corsican to sell for song the richest
portion of the globe. Upon the land he
was invincible. but his power ceased
at low water mark, and so he sorrow
fully signed the title deeds. His only
consolation was that by so doing he
was helping to create a rival upon the
seas for Great Britain, his inveterate
enemy and his predestined conqueror.
From the Louisiana purchase have
been carved the sovereign states of
Louisiana. Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa,
Minnesota. the two Dakotas, Kansas,
Nebraska, Colorado, Idaho, Montana
and the Indian Territory. OF these
Missouri is easily the chief. 1t is writ
ten by the finger of fate on the scroll
of destiny that her fortunate situation
and her immeasurable resources will
finally make her the foremost state of
the American Union.
His Greatest Act.
Even Thomas Jefferson himself, who
divides with King Solomon and Lord
man that ever lived, had no adequate
conception of the vast Importance and
far reaching influence on human af-
fairs of the wondrous bargain in real
estate which he secured from the mar
tial Corsican. One of the strangest
omissions in literature was made by
him. Having sounded all the shoals
and depths of honor, he failed to refer
in any way to the great purchase in
the famous epitaph which he prepared
for his own monument and which runs
in this wise:
author of the American Declaration of
Independence, of the statute of Vir-
ginia for religious freedom, and father
Of the University Of Virginia.
These were magnificent deeds, i'm
mortal achievements, each one ample
to give him imperishable renown and
for which we are all his debtors for
ever and forever But if he could
have comprehended the full and mar
yelous effects of his unequaled trade
with the first consul he would have
added to that epitaph a. fourth claim
to the eternal admiration and gratitude
Of his countrymen and to undying
fame-s'the author of the Louisiana
purchase" which alone of itself enti-
ties him to first place among American
statesmen. In my judgment, it is the
most stupendous of all his acts. If he
had never lived, somebody some time
would have written a declaration of
independence. 1t would probably not
have possessed the majestic sweep and
epic quality of Jeffersons Declaration,
but it would have sufficed. If he had
never been born. somebody would have
written a statute for religious freedom
in Virginia and would have established
a great university in the Old Domin-
ion. but If he had not been president
in 1903 we would never have owned
one square foot of land west of the
Mississippi. and today all over that
matchless territory where Old Glory
floats there would fiutter in the breeze
the banner of the Spanish Bourbons,
the tricolor of France or the cross of
st. George
Jefferson belongs to the country, and
the whole country. but he belongs es-
peclaliy to us living west of the Mis-
sissippi river.
His name is written on the mountain,
His memory sparkles FER the fountain.
The meanest rill. the mightiest river.
Rolls mingled with his fame forever.
Behind by Ninety-five Years.
1t may not be improper to remind
those palpitatiSg patriots who have
been going to and fro, up and down, in
the last five years, yociferating that the
American-Spanish war made us
world power, that they are precisely
ninety-five years behind the times.
Thomas Jefferson, the greatest states-
man and Democrat that ever lived, did
that when he made his trade with Ma
poleoD. A newly made world power in
deed! Everybody but the jingoes
knows that that is precisely what we
have been for a full century. The
Corsican would have been doing bet
ter part by his subjects had he moved
them, bag and baggage, with their lares
and penates, to Louisiana and aban-
doned la belle France to her enemies;
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