The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1903-09-07
us. by a stroke of genius into a world

| Hamilton had dreamed OF something
akin to this to be achieved by doubtful
bloody war with Spain and, France. In
which We should have entangled our
selves in a dangerous alliance with Great
| Britain
His Miranda scheme looked at i'll the
most favorable light, amounted to that
"a bloody. doubtful war, and a danger
Gus. entanging alliance. Once over herI
with her fleets and armies Great Britain
might not have been willing to go when
we said go
/ Jefferson, pursuing a plan different In
spirit and in principle, secured all the re.
suits which Hamitons most brilliant sue
| cess could have won, without the risk
| the bloodshed, and the entangling British
| alliance. In selling Louisiana. Napoleon
| did not neglect the people. lie provided
/ for Them using expressions which did
! credit to his heart as well as his head
| If IIucien and Joseph Bonaparte ever
| had the bath tub squabble with their
mighty brother which Henry Adams and
James X. Hosmer dwell on so lovingly. 1t
| but increases ones contempt for the
| brothers
| Napoleon had adopted the only course n
statesman could adopt. To give Louisiana
back to Spain would have been folly
| which even so stupid a, man as Joseph
B0naparte might have understood
A barren debate has arisen over the re-
spective merits OF Livingston and Mon
roe in the Louisiana purchase.
As southern man. intimate with JEFF
ferson and Madison Monroe may haye
better appreciated the grandeur OF JEFF
ferson's aims. Livingston was certainly
nearer TO the ideas of John Jay. for he
wrote Madison:
Il would rather have confined our views
to smaller objects. and 1 think that II we
succeed 1t would be good policy TO ex-
change the west bank (of the Mississippi
with Spain for the Floridas, reserving
New Orleans"
This is what Livingston wrote at the
time Not what he said to Taheyrano' OF
Barbe Marbois, or Napoleon but his ma
turely considered opinion given TO his own
government.
Think of it, He was Wiling 10 swap
Tho western continent from the Mississippi
to the Pacific for the islpnd or New VI
leans and the F'loridas. There Is no room
left for doubt. Livingston must be class
ed not with Jefferson, but with George
McDufie and Daniel Webster, each OF
whom, was a very able senator
M Livingston artery wards wrote in
very different strain But that is a very
different matter Most OF us can see WHAT
vii, happen after 1t has happened
7, huv.ne Iruisia ma Mr.. Jefferson mace
M hcllow Dretense that the constitution
gave him authority. lie frankly ADMIT
ed that It vas outside the constitution
and reeded the sanction OF the people
He acted upon the principle thtt IL was
case which had not bden foreseer. hau
not been provided for. but winch was
of such vital and certain bsfent 10 the
union that 1t must be done. law or No
law An overwhelming national neces-
sity breaks treaties and written com
racts-a most dangerous doctr'he' p"'
one which IS recognized.
The American peace commissioners
acfed nv virtue of this unwritten law in
making a treaty with England separate
from France.
The delegates to the constitutional con-
ventlon of 1857 obeyed the same rule when
they disrega rded their instructions and
made new constitution
More rectnlv. jay acted in that spirit
in making his treaty with Great Britain.
dangerous principle moss assuTedly,
and one whose only justification is the
existence of irresistible national interest,
from which national consent viii De pre-
sGmed.
jefferson acted upon this principle, and
the nation ratified what he had done.
Congress and the people were not only
satisfied they wire delighted. Jeffer-
sons praises resolnGed throughout the
land. In New England alone was dis
approval heard
AS early as 1856 leaders in Massa chu-
se1is declared that if Jaws attempts 10
close the Mississippi We're not successful
IN congress it was time for the New
England states to withdraw from the
union and to form a confederation by
themselves
In 1892 and in 1894 similar talk was rife;
in 1896 Lieutenant Governor WoIcott. Of
Connecticut, said that if Jefferson were
elected president he would favor sopa-
ration of the northern from the southern
states
The purchase of Louisiana intensified
this sectional jealousy. the New England
federalists foreseeing the growth OF
western world which would be injurious
to eastern commerce They declared thar
the eastern states would BE- compelled to
establish an eastern empire This dis,ln
Ion sentiment continued TO grow until
Josiah Quincy declared in congress that
II the bill for the admission Of Louisiana
passed the bond Of the union would be
dissolved, and that az It would be the
right Of gil the states to secede It would
be the duty Of some-''amicablv il they
can. violently If they must"
1t Is only when We contrast the wisdom
OF Mr.. jefferson with such shortsighted
men as those who threatened to break
mp The union because he had gained
Louisiana FOR it. that we begin to real
lie the difference between q statesman
and hupdrum politician.
our new empire was promptly reduced
to possession. and Mr.. Jefferson set on
foot an exploring expedition to open I'M
to the kn9wledge of he world the mys-
ferrous regions of the far west.
Starting out from st. Louis. small
band of American under the two Virgin
ians. Lewis and Clarke, crossed the
Rocky mountains and made their way to
where the Columbia river enters the
Pacific ocean. Al a cost Of s. 506, Jeffer
son. through the work Of these explor-
ers, not only acquired knowledge of the
LoQi .iaQa purchase. but laid the follnda-
ton to our claim TO the Oregon country
whose valne Mr.. Webster was so far from
understanding
Mr.. Roosevelt. In his Winning of the
West, grudges Mr.. Jefferson any credit
for the Louisiana purchase, being far
less generous to the southern statesman
than was another great northern writer
James G. Blaine.
In his Twenty Years OF Congress Mr.
Blaine bears frank ana full testimony
to Jefferson and he clearly demonstrates
how much our republic gained by JEFF