Page:Reflections, on the Cession of Louisiana to the United States.pdf/7

 When France, a few years paſt, obtained from Spain the re-ceſſion of Louiſiana, it was intimated, and is highly probable, that the ceſſion was made according to her former extenſive claims; whether any preciſe, or general boundary was deſignated by that treaty, is probably unknown on this ſide of the Atlantic; but being ceded to the United States as fully and amply as the ceſſion was made to France, whatever her claims were under that treaty, the United States are now entitled to claim.

Louiſiana, then, as ceded by Spain to France, and by France to the United States, may be ſuppoſed to extend from the river of the north, in the latitude of 26:12, on the ſouth, to the head branch of the MIſſiſſippi, in the latitude of 47:38, north, and longitude of 95:6, weſt, as the ſame is ſaid to have been aſcertained by a Mr. Thompſon, aſtronomer to the north-weſt company, who, according to the late traveller Mackenſie, was ſent expreſsly for that purpoſe, in the ſpring of 1798, comprehending a diſtance of nearly fourteen hundred miles from ſouth to north. Its weſtern limits are not ſo eaſy to be deſcribed; but it is probable that a chain of mountains partially laid down by Mackenſie in his map, and running nearly parallel to the Miſſiſſippi, about the longitude of 112:30, weſt, (in which it ſeems probable that the heads both of the river of the north, and of the Miſſouri may be found,) will be conſidered as the proper and natural boundary between the Spaniſh dominions in Mexico, and the territory of Louiſiana; a diſtance probably not leſs than eight hundred miles from eaſt to weſt. These limits may deſcribe an area of more than a million of ſquare miles; and comprehend a territory more than equal to the whole of the United States, as ſettled by the peace with Great Britain in 1783.

See the king of Great Britain’s proclamation for the ſettlement of Canada, and the Floridas, October 7, 1763. Beliham’s Memoirs of the Houſe of Hanover, and of the reign of George the third; and Mackenſie’s travels through the continent of north America, and Carver’s travels. there is reason to believe that it contains an extent of territory little, if at all, inferior to that of the United States. The terms upon which this immense cession has been made are, eleven millions two hundred and fifty thousand dollars to be paid to France, in six per cent stock, within three months after the exchange of the ratifications, and delivery of possession. Secondly, the United States assume the payment of three millions seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars to our own merchants for debts due to them, and captures provided for under the convention of 1800, between the United States