Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 6.djvu/13

Rh exploration and of the great life purposes linked with that idea discloses himself in the now famous passages in the letter to Robert Livingston, written on April 18, 1802, as soon as he was certain Napoleon had secured Louisiana Territory from Spain. He said: "There is on the globe one single spot, the possessor of which is our natural and habitual enemy. It is New Orleans. The day that France takes possession of New Orleans, fixes the sentence which is to restrain her forever within her low-water mark. It seals the union of two nations, who, in conjunction, can maintain exclusive possession of the ocean. From that moment we must marry ourselves to the British fleet and nation. . . . Make the first cannon which shall be fired in Europe the signal for tearing up any settlements she may have made, and for holding the two continents of America in sequestration for the common purposes of the United British and American nations." Why this fierce outburst? Why did France so unwittingly bring down upon herself this deluge of wrath? There had been no closing of the door as yet at New Orleans. It is because Jefferson had in his heart long cherished the idea of our coming in the natural course of events into the possession of the empire of the west, even to the shores of the Pacific. With Louisiana in possession of the vigorous, energetic, and rising France instead of in the weak and nerveless grasp of Spain the way westward was barred. It is true he mentions New Orleans as though it was the exclusive bone of contention, and his specific language in this passage does not indicate special concern for the territory west of the Mississippi. In a later passage of the same letter, however, referring to the possibility of the willingness of France's "ceding to us the island of New Orleans and the Floridas," as an arrangement to reconcile us to her possession of the mouth of the Mississippi, he says: "But still we should consider New Orleans and the Floridas as no equivalent