Page:Memoir upon the negotiations between Spain and the United States of America which led to the treaty of 1819.djvu/43

33 expense of the other states and territories of the Union, the general product will he always the same. Besides this there is no probability that it can be much increased in countries so vast and remote, still uncultivated and in forests, and communication with which is so painful and difficult. The emigration of the people of the East to these new countries is composed of miserable creatures, or of adventurers seduced by idle expectations. The moment these people discover the insuperable or even arduous difficulties, with which they have to contend, to break up the fields, and form such agricultural establishments as may correspond with their wishes, or their calculations, they begin to hesitate, abandon one place to seek another, and without permanently fixing in any, they become itinerants, cultivating here and there a small spot of ground; and a traffick with the Indians, and at some points, with the bordering Spanish provinces, forms the principal object of their speculations.

The Americans, however, boast very much of the rapid progress of population in the countries of which I have spoken; and the territory of Missouri is already anxious to be erected into a State. But that territory comprehends an extent from North to South, of about 1380 miles, and from East to West of about 1680; for among other boundaries, the internal provinces of Mexico, and the Pacific Ocean, the Mexican gulf, and an ideal line to 5