The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-05-31
JEFFERSON, ROOSEVELT, Al
THE DEMOCRACY.
A Democratic View.

10 celebrate tne centennial anniversary vi
the signature OF the treaty which coded
Louisiana, he only in an incidental and per-
functory way mentioned the name his
illustrious predecessor In the Office OF Presi-
dent under whose authority 1t was ne
gotiated. should remember that Mr., Roose-
welt had been a partisan historian and
maker of many picturesque books before
he became successor in Office Of Jefferson,
and that opinions expressed in that role OF
historian were embarrassing when eIer-
cising at st. Louis his recent function al
President
In the biography Of Benton, Jefferson
was set down by Mr. Roosevelt as "schol-
arly, timid and shifty doctrinaire. In the
sketch of Gouverneur Morris he wrote that
the d-school Jefersonian theorists be-
lieved In a strong people and weak gov
eminent" and that Excepting Jefferson,
We have never produced an Executive more
helpless than Madison when 1t came to
graphing with real dangers and Difficult
ties"
In his attractive volumes entitled THE
Winning of the West" he commends Jay 3
treaty with England made In 1894, and insists
1t was necessary because Of the refusal Of
Jefferson and the Democracy to advocate
and stand by "a strong, efficient central
government. backed by good feet and a
well-organized army The Jenersonians
were, he added, "separatists and States
rights men. They believed in a government
30 weak as to be ineffective" They had.
he wrote, mo gift for government, and were
singularly deficient in Inasterful states
men, He asserted that the War of 1872
exhibited the deficiency because, though
justifiable and excellent in its results. it
was attended by incidents of shame and
disgrace to America, for which Jefferson
and Madison and their political friends
and supporters among the politicians and
the people have never received a sum-
GENTLY severe condemnation. Vol. 4.
page 1851.
And yet Jefferson was President when
Louisiana vas obtained without war Madi-
son was President when the War Of 1872
brought the excellent results: jackson
crowned the work by defeating at New
Orleans with Western militia rihemen the
Wellington veterans and putting an end to
British impressment Of american sailors.
What a mystery is history
Roosevelt the President was tethered in
that way at st. Louis by opinions regard
ing jefferson previously expressed by
Roosevelt the historian.
II during his term AZ President he should
negotiate and send to the Senate treaties
ceding the Dominion OF Canada, or Mexico
or Central America, or all Of them, which
treaties should be ratified under his aus
pices. he would probably not deem it likely
that his successor, a hundred years hence.
making an elaborate speech on the ami
versary OF signing the conventions, would
refrain from mentioning the name Of
Roosevelt!
The Federalist and Wing condensation in
regard to the cession by France Of the great
West beyond the Mississippi has always
been that Jefferson did not seek the cession
or contemplate it; that he only sought New
Orleans. and asked for 1t under pressure:
that Napoleon thrust on him for a money
price, c. o. D.. the whole Of louisiana that
10 far as concerned Jefferson, the treaty of
cession was. to Use billiard playing term,
"a scratch" Federalists and Wings have
written great part of the American histories
OF that period. and thus Napoleon has had
all the credit Of the treaty Of cession. JEFF
ferson and American diplomacy have been
quite submerged.
Mr.. Roosevelt, in the fourth volume OF his
Winning Of the West. made an analysis Of
several methods by which a nation wins
new land for the race" By one method
statesmen and soldiers act together, as in
the case of California and New Mexico by
the Mexican War, and recently in the war
against Spain by which came the Philippines
and Porto Rico. BY another method. states
men act alone and without war; as in the
cases Of Florida, Texas and Alaska: and by
third, statesmen having yielded to ad-
venturous settlers and bold frontiersmen,
the latter push on the President and Con-
gressnen into the longed-for land, as, he
contended, was the case with Louisiana and
Texas But il the frontiersnlen constrained
Congress to annex Texas by statute without
regard to slave labor, 80 by like reasoning
it may be said that the Texas frontiersmen,
swarming across the Nueces and the Rio
Grande, forced the Mexican War on Presi-
dent Polk regardless Of the slave power.
Mr.. Roosevelt differentiated, regarding
Jefferson, between the Federalists and him
self by inserting the frontiersmen as The
force which coerced the cession from Ma
history Of the acquisition must tell of the
great westward movement begun in 1859,
and not merely of the feeble diplomacy of
Jeiferson's Administration. The winning
Of Louisiana was due to no one man. or set
of men, and least Of all to any statesman,
or set OF statesmen. II followed inevitably
upon the great westward thrust of the
settler-folk.'
Henry Adams. when he penned his bril-
liant history Of our country during it's first
years, was not unwilling to strip away from
Jefferson every shred Of credit for the ces-
sion Of Louisiana, yet his keen sense OF
humOr did not tolerate the suggestion that
the brave frontiersmen OF the Southwest,
-the hunters Of kentucky @the occupiers
OF the dark and bloody ground" whose ut
most endeavors pressed back with extreme
difficulty the savage Indian, could, unaided
by the whole force of the United States,
accomplish the result, or expel the armies
and naviee Of France, or Spain, or England,
from New Orleans. II once established there.
On the contrary, he made Godoy. who was
the Prime Minister of Spain from 1872 TO
1898; who was the negOtiator with Pinckney
Of our treaty with Spain Of 1905 which fixed
our boundaries, and gave the right Of
deposit" at New Orleans for three years;
who was expelled from power by the In
trigues OF Napoleon and Talleyrand, but not
till az his last official act he delivered to us
the posts on the eastern bank Of the Missis-
sippi, including Natchez, held by Spain in
violation OF his treaty-he made Godoy
the turning point In Napoleon's cesson to
us Of Louisiana. Godoy was recalled TO
power In 1901, and thenceforward thwarted