Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1906-11-29

tial communications upon all subjects
to the ministers Of our generous ally,
the king Of France; to undertake moth
Ing in the negotiations for peace or
treaty without their knowledge and
concurrence and ultimately to govern
yourself by their advice and opinion
Did you ever hear such nonsensical In
structons as thatY'
But, Mr.. Jay, why are you bitter at
those instructions? Is not France our
friend? Does she not wish TO help us
in every way? mo, emphatcally no."
answers John Jay. France has never
been our friend. France Joined us at
Yorktown not because she loved us,
but because she wanted to humlllate
opposed to our interests, but she wants
all this land west Of the Ohio river to
stay under British control Why, only
the other day the Count d'Aranda sug-
gested that our western boundary line
should be the Ohio river and the Mis-
slsslppl river" But, Mr.. Jay, what
right have you to that land Of the
northwest? "What right" Indignantly
cries the great American diplomat.
"By the right Of conquest. Have you
not read how George Rogers Clark led
his troops through that region and
compelled the British general Mt De-
troit to surrender to him." Well. Mr..
Jay, what do you intend to do? II in
tend to thwart the hostile machina-
tons of the French king. l shall first
sign a treaty with the English COM
missioners without consulting the
French ministers. Then | shall take
that treaty to the French kings hire
llngs and say: Sign. You must sign or
be branded as our nations enemies
And this Is what John Jay, the great
American diplomat, induced the Amer
lean commissioners to do. Thus we
find that the great treaty of Paris OF
1888 was principally the direct work
Of two great American heroes--George
Rogers Clark, the backwoods dreamer
and John Jay. the astute diplomat
who dared to defy the direct orders OF
the Continental congress and who dar
ed to thwart the plans Of the French
minister Vergennes.
My friends, on this glorious Thanks
giving Sabbath let us think for a mo
ment what our government would have
roes set forward the northwestern
boundary from the Ohio river to tho
great lakes. Did you ever stop t.
think what this government would bt
If we had been compelled to cree
frowning fortresses ut Buffalo ant
PittsburS aud Cincinnati and Louisvil,
and Natchez and custom house official!
had been set to patrol the eastern
shores OF the Ohio to keep the goods o
our western country from entering
New York and Philadelphia duty free
The Louisiana Purchase.
We must hurry in the discussion o
this interesting Thanksgiving theme
The next great geographical expansion
to which l would call your attention
Is the Louisiana purchase. The in
unknown to the majority Of American
citizens. And in order to give the his
torical setting to this transaction
shall first Introduce to you as strang,
and as weird a personality as George
Rogers Clark. This man is not n whit
man, but full blooded negro. He /
not living in France or Spain or in tn,
United States, but in the island O
Santo Domingo. And yet this negro
this eX-slave, named Toussaint rOu
venture, whom Napoleon betrayed b,
false promises and brutally starved t
death in the French dungeon of 81
Joux, had as much to do with tn
Louisiana purchase as Robert Living
ston or Thomas jefferson, the presi
dent.
Santo Domingo Is an island Of the Yves
Indies northeast of South America. |
Is more commonly known as Haiti o
the "Island of the Mountains" In gee
graphical urea it Is about the size o
| South Carolina. 1t Is an island S
| beautiful that it seems as though tn
goddess Flora had come there an,
| planted her most beautiful treasure
and that the garden of Eden had lift
ed itself out of the green seas to
kissed by the azure Of the blue skies
Here 1t was in the days Of Robespierr
and Marat and Danton, led on by thi
modern Spartacus called Toussain
| IOuverture, that the slaves of tina
island rose in their might and Tough
for the honor of their manhood an
womanhood and won their indepent
ence and called their brave leader
Toussaint rOuverture, their nations
chief. That was in 1901. Under til
new regime so great was the peac
and prosperity of the island that Wer
dell Phillips said: "A child with ba
Of cold could go from Samona to Por
every household. The valleys glove
with fertility; culture climbed tn
mountains the commerce of the worl
was represented in the harbors.' Ant
thank God, there was no slave any
where. Every man. woman and chill
was free.
Something to Fight About.
The scene again changes. We ~
now in the Tulleres Of Paris. Nap'
leon, the young conQueror, is electe
first consul of France. Then came tn
treaty Of Amiens Of 1902. when We
between England and France was ent
ed. The whole world was now at peac
and Napoleon had big army on h
hands and nothing to fight. Then IL