Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1910-10-14

: >lpCkldc throughout the ONO ana MIS-
: >i>>!ppi valleys. This possession OF a
srr;, territory, the Middle West, soon
brouyh, the French to the gap OF the
: Ohio. where they were face to face with
the English. There followed. as re-
, sui; OF thu contact, the French and
: Indian war. 1t was IN ever" sense a
war for possession. and when peace
was declared the power of the French
in America was gone Under the con-
; ditiuns OF the treaty OF November ;.
: l1i1. France gave up her possessions
cast Of che Mississippi to England, and
the territory west was turned over to
Spain. In l>'a'. however, Spain under
durr>s decided Louisiana to France by
secret treaty. When the news became
known that France had again secured
control OF the Louisiana territory. the
Americans in the middle west became
greatly disturbed over the situation.
For many years they had been ham
pcrcl in the movements OF their boats
and freight to New Orleans because Of
the shifting diplomacy and vascillatlng
attitude OF the Spaniard> i'll their con-
troll OF the lower Mississippi Rccog
nizing the difficulties that confronted
them. and with a very clear view as
to the Importance Of this city and the
necessity of mantang an open river to
the sea. Jefferson. then president. dis
patched embassies to Parn> and Madrid
with the expectation that through one
or the other some modification might be
made in the situation. Long and wcari
some negotiations were patiently car
rird on through the pcrhdinu> Tally
rand. in the hope that something might
come Of them; but 'Tallyrand was no,
ready to serve as an agent for the AM
orleans IL come into the nos>cS>ion OF
Louisiana He looked for a great
France. for a renewal OF the empire OF
the earlier day. and for the re-estab-
li>hmc,t OF the flag Of France on Am
rrran SOIL The Americans were equal
~ impressed however. with the nccc>
>ty of securing Louisiana Not all Of
it, but that portion OF it situated about
tn. south IT the Mississippi river. Ma
polcon', attitude had changed. He was
being pressed in the Mediterranean and
i'll Egypt He needed funds, and the
possibility of continuing his hold upon
Louisiana, with a hostile England
against him, seemed to be doubtful and
remote Then, quickly and dccisivcly
the negotiations which had dragged SO
long came to an end, and the American
ambassadors found themselves in pos
session of three documents which called
for the transfer OF the territory to Am
erica, the payment of nearly fifteen mil
lion dollars, and the assumption by the
French of Indebtedness for losses sus-
tanned at sea by the Americans through
French cncroach1ncnts before lSvv
Jefferson, says McMaster. was
greatly puzzled when these three docu-
mcnts reached his hands. He had Of
Ared to buy an island for dock-yard
and a place of deposit: he was offered
a magnificent domain. He had been
authorized to spend two millions of
dollars, and the sum demanded was ff-
teen millions. AS strict construction
list he could not do this, and for a while
he did not consider the conquest of for
cign territory as constitutional act;
but when he thought of the evils that
would follow if Louisiana remained with
France, and of the blessings that would
follow if Louisiana belonged to the
United States. his common sense got
the better of his narrow political scru-
piles, and he soon found way of es-
cape He would accept the treaty, sum-
mon congress, urge the house and the
senate to perfect the purchase, and trust
to til constitution being amended SO as
to make the purchase legal"
Criticism, caustic and extended, fol- !
lowed the act Fifteen millions of dol |
lars assumed an Importance beyond COM
pare. The public were told that it |
would make 433 tons of solid silver,
and if loaded into wagons there would !
be 966 of them needed in order to trans
port it, and if the wagons were placed
in line, giving two rods to each, they
would cover more than five miles, while :
if laborer shoveled it into cars it
would take him two months to accom-
plish the task if he loaded sixteen each !
day; and, as though to magnify the COM
parison, they were told that if stacked
dollar upon dollar, it would make a
pile more than three miles high. Twen-
ty-tive sloops would be required to carry
it, and it would pay an army of twenty
five thousand men for twenty-five years
And so it went on, the statistcians
working almost every night to figure out
some statement that would bring WV
idly before the public the immensely of
the sum paid for so insignificant ter
ritory. 1t was declared that William
Penn paid for the wilderness that now
bears his name something like FIVE
thousand pounds. and Gerdinand
Georges received but twelve hundred
and fifty pounds for the province Of
Maine, while here was the purchase Of
a great wilderness, in which nothing
was to- be found of any value except
a mountain of salt The great body of
the American people, however, believed
that Jefferson had acted wisely and we'll,
and Jefferson. on the other hand, in
cited by the criticism that he had
bought an unknown land, determined to
have made an exploration of the ter
ritory. Meager accounts had been gath
cred of what had been seen by travellers
and hunters on the Missouri and Mis-
sisSippi, but out of these very little real
knowledge of the character of the ter
ritory recently acquired could be Sc
cured
1t was in the face of this criticism
hat Jefferson determined to send Lewis
and Clark on an expedition to explore
he territory that had been acquired nv