The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-11-26

By II
and prophecy were thus tardily full
allied by alien hands.
France Codes to England and Spain
allied continental powers against
Frederick the Great England had the
fortune to choose the winning side and
to share In the final triumphs of that
commander. France was among the
losers, and was forced to consent to a.
separate settlement with Britain. by
the treaty OF Paris Of 1853 the French
king alienated to England all his ter
rttories on the mainland of North
America, east of a line drawn thru the
middle OF the Mississippi river from
Its source to the Iberville, and thence
thru that river and Lakes Maurepas
and Pontchartrain to the Gulf of Mex
leo.
| In the fear that his foe would exact
even greater humiliation, the French
king had some months before the treaty
OF l763 made virtual gift to Spain,
under color OF sale, of all his territory
west OF the Mississippi river, and thus
supposedly placed it beyond the reach
OF the British. This subterfuge would
A*e~VS 1SSbA1Su lille IL bFtLaln mao really
cared to have possession of the trans
mississippi lands. 1t was long and
seriously debated at the court of ST.
James whether it would be worth Eng
lands while to hold possession of Cam
ada, and 1t is believed that the argu-
ment OF Benjamin Franklin, in q
pamphlet reported to be the first he
ever wrote, turned the scales towards
the affirmative. Under this treaty the
$4,000 square miles of land in Mime
sofa, east of the Mississippi, became
British territory and, according to the
kings proclamation of the same year,
they became crown lands, under the
jurisdiction Of the military command
err at Mackinaw. There is no room here
Ing question whether or not Virginia
had just grounds for her claim that
her charters of 1909 gave her the own
ership of these and other lands be-
yond the mountains. BY her cession
OF all these lands to the United States
IN LISA she saved her empty claim
and gave UP her actual possession.
The English held this territory by
legal right for twenty years, that is,
till 1888, the year of the treaty which
divided her empire and acknowledged
American independence. They held il
legal possession for thirteen years
longer, that is, till 1896, when. after
Jays treaty, the British garrisons were
tardily and very reluctantly withdrawn
from the western posts.
jonathan Carver at St. Anthony Falls.
| There Is but one matter of suffi-
cient interest to deserve notice in this
abbreviated story. There was a, Con-
necticut Yankee, Jonathan Carver
who had served as an officer in the
French war with no little distinction
VINO was possessed with the idea of
discovering the South sea. That adj
venture served in those days, as does
the search for the Arctic pole now, to
lure many a modest citizen from the
quiet path of industry. Where he ac-
CURED the considerable means neces-
sary for the journey he planned is not
known. Leaving Boston in June, 1856,
he proceeded by the usual lake route to
Mackinaw. thence by Green Bay to
Prairie du Chen and UP the Missis-
sippi, reaching st. Anthony Falls Nov.
L.. His description Of the falls and
their surroundings shows that he had
keen eye for the beautiful in ma
ture and no little literary skill. After
spending the winter with the Sioux
somewhere near New Ulm, he went
down to the site Of st. Paul, where
he held a grand council with the Sioux.
After his death it was pretended that
those people had made their good
100000 square miles Of land on the
east bank of the river. 1t was not till
1898 that the ghost Of this claim was
finally laid by a conclusive adverse re-
port of committee of the United
States senate. Failing to receive ex-
pected supplies at the falls, Carver
fastened to the post on Pigeon river,
hoping there to buy the goods which
then served travellers in the Indian
country as money. Again disappoint-
| ed, he was obliged to abandon his
cherished enterprise. He returned to
the states and fastened to England,
where he set about forming a COM
pany to support a second expeditions
His plan was the old French plan, and
a good one--to build a strong post on
Lake Pepin. Thence he would ascend
the Minnesota, make portage over
to the Missouri, follow that river to
the Shiny mountains, cross these and
descend by the Oregon to the ocean
The outbreak of the revolutionary war
put an end to the project, and Carver
dropped out of notice. He was some
thing more than an enthusiast. He
formed a. noble and highly intelligent
conception of the great valley and sug-
gested that it might be and should
be connected with New York by wa
ter.
But all this time Minnesota West,
oil Imperial DOMAIN OIL nearly $4,000
square miles, was not in the United
States. We have seen that France
virtually and needlessly gave away
all her lands west of the Mississippi
and the city of New Orleans in 1852
to prevent them from falling into the
hands of Britain.
But Spain, by the secret treaty Of
San 1ldefonso, Oct. /, 1900, retroceded
to France all Louisiana.
| The Louisiana Purchase.
| The treaty of San Ildefonso was not
a year old before the secret became
an open one in diplomatic, circles. Our
government fastened to file a. protest
against a, change of ownership in ter
ritories in which our interests, natural
ly greater than those of any European
power, might be imperiled. This pro-
test was accompanied by an offer to
pay good round sum of money for
New Orleans and the island south Of
the Ibervilie. The sound of cash money
appears to have awakened a new and