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24 chose to hold possession of these coasts, they would not interfere; but if Great Britain attempted to override both Spain and America, in laying claim to the Pacific side of the continent, something might be done by way of preventing this attempt.

Such must have been the thought, half-indulged, half-repressed, in the American mind, previous to the acquisition of the great Louisiana territory. After that acquisition, it became more decided. The fact that Gray had discovered the great River of the West, which for a century had been sought after, the increasing evidences of the incapacity of Spain to hold this far-off coast against intruders, the feeling that Great Britain had no right to the countries she had so pompously taken possession of in the face of their actual discoverers—all these reasons, joined to the probable fact that the Louisiana territory bordered upon that drained by the great western river, which an American was first to enter and explore, at length shaped the policy of a few leading minds among American statesmen.

It was even contended by some, that, as the western boundary of Louisiana had never been fixed, and, indeed, was entirely unknown—since the Missouri and its tributaries had never been explored—the limits of the newly-acquired territory might be considered as extending to the Pacific; and if one were to consult the old French maps for confirmation of such an opinion, he would find New France, to which Louisiana belonged, extending from ocean to ocean. Yet, a perfectly candid mind would ignore the authority of maps drawn from rumor and imagination, and wish to found an opinion upon facts. It was to secure such facts and to carry out, as far as possible, the lately formed policy