Page:Reflections, on the Cession of Louisiana to the United States.pdf/6

 for me, that the object has been fully obtained.

This cession comprehends “the complete sovereignty of the town and territory of New Orleans, as well as Louisiana, as the same was heretofore possessed by Spain:” by which I understand the whole of the Spanish territory lying between lake Pontchatrain, lake Maurepas, and the river Mississippi; and between the Mississippi and the ancient boundaries of Louisiana to the westward, northward and southward; with the precise limits of which I do not pretend to be acquainted Before the war which terminated in the year 1763, France, then in poſſeſſion of Canada and Louiſiana, under the name of Louiſiana, laid claim to the whole territory, now conſtituting a part of the United States, and lying between the Miſſiſſippi on the weſt, the lakes on the north, and the Alleganey, or Apalachian Mountains on the east; as alſo to the territory weſt of the Miſſiſſippi, from the river of the north, which empties itſelf into the Gulph of Mexico, in the latitude of 26:12, north, to the Canadian boundary on the north; and, as may be preſumed, to the line of the Spaniſh dominions of Mexico, on the weſt, as far as the head waters of the river of the north, and thoſe of the Miſſouri, the principal branch of the Miſſiſſippi yet known, towards the north weſt, extend. Theſe limits have never been preciſely ascertained, ſo far as is known to us.

By the treaty of peace in 1763, the entire province of Canada was ceded and guaranteed to the Engliſh, with all that part of Louiſiana, as theretofore claimed by France, which lies eaſt of the Miſſiſſippi, and of the peninſula of New-Orleans, ſeparated from the Floridas by the river, canal, or gut of the Ibberville, lake Maurepas, lake Pontchatrain, and that part of the Mexican Gulph communicating with thoſe lakes. France having ceded to Spain the day before the treaty of peace was ſigned, in full property, and without any exception, the whole country known by the name of Louisiana, the river Miſſiſſippi from its ſource to the canal or river of Ibberville, together with that river, lake Maurepas, and lake Pontchatrain, as above deſcribed, was eſtabliſhed as the perpetual boundary between England and Spain. The Floridas as then ceded to England having at the peace of 1783, been receded to Spain, the boundary eſtabliſhed in 1763, between Louiſiana and Weſt Florida was probably continued, and may be regarded as the ſubſiſting boundary at this day, between thoſe countries. : yet