THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE

AND

OUR TITLE WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS,

WITH

A REVIEW OF ANNEXATION BY THE UNITED STATES.

By BINGER HERMANN,

Commissioner of the General Land Office.

Of all distinguishing events in the glorious career of this country, aside from its triumphs for liberty and for union, none shine forth with such imperishable luster as the acquisition of that splendid empire west of the Mississippi River; and when the impartial historian shall write up the great men and the great measures of our nation he will place at the top of the rolls Thomas Jefferson and the Louisiana Purchase. The importance, then, of this subject deserves that it shall be accurately as well as impartially reviewed.

I am induced to enter upon this matter because of an error which I conceive exists upon the map of the United States as published under the direction of my predecessor, and which goes forth with the official indorsement of the Department. The error to which I refer is in the representation that the cession of Louisiana from France in 1803 comprised territory west of the Rocky Mountains, now known as Oregon, Washington, Idaho and portions of Montana and Wyoming. Believing that such domain was derived by the United States based on the right of discovery, exploration and occupancy by our own people, together with the cession from Spain, by treaty of February 22, 1819, of such adverse rights as that nation claimed to possess, I have assumed the liberty of representing these facts on the new edition of the United States map soon to be published by the Department.

In support of this position I submit the conclusions to which I have arrived, together with the views of eminent historians, diplomats, statesmen and writers on both sides of this interesting and famous contention. In subsequent pages I shall refer to the value of this acquisition and to the advantages which have followed our other annexations to the public domain.

II

WHAT WAS THE ORIGINAL LOUISIANA?

First, it may be asked, what was originally understood to be the Louisiana territory? It is essential that we know the extent of this domain as it was understood by the men who discovered, explored and named it, and then described it to the world.

La Salle was the first to descend the Mississippi from its navigable northern waters to its mouth, and from the Gulf inward again. His discovery was not a mere accident, nor was it left unwritten and in doubt. His journey was undertaken for purposes of discovery, and every important observation was carefully noted and reported by him. He was a man of education and received a patent of nobility. His expeditions were under the authority of the French Government, and he early won the confidence and admiration of that nation's monarch, Louis XIV. The Chevalier Henry de Tonty, Fathers Hennepin and Membre and other well-known explorers were his companions in mary expeditions, and a few years before, over much of the same ground, Marquette and Joliet had opened the way among the Indian tribes. The result of his researches was made known in France, and efforts were at once made by the government to colonize the country and extend exploration.

La Salle, standing with Tonty, Dautray and other companions on the banks of the most western channel of the Mississippi, about 3 leagues from its mouth, on April 9, 1682, took possession of the country in the name of Louis XIV, and setting up a column, or, as Dr. Kohl insists, "a cross with arms of the King," buried a plate, unfurled the flag of France, sung a Te Deum and naming the country "Louisiana" in a loud voice, proclaimed its extent to be "from the mouth of the great river St. Louis, on the eastern side, otherwise called Ohio, Alighin, Sipore, or Chiskagona, and this with the consent of the Chaonanons, Chikachas and other people dwelling therein with whom we have made alliance, as also along the river Colbert, or Mississippi and rivers which discharge themselves therein, from its source beyond the Kious or Nadonessions, and this with their consent, and with the consent of the Motanties, Illinois, Mesigameus, Natches, Koroas, which are the most considerable nations dwelling therein, with whom also we have made alliance * * * as far as its mouth at the sea or Gulf of Mexico * * * and also to the mouth of the river Palms, upon the assurance which we have received from all these nations that we are the first Europeans who have descended or ascended the said river Colbert."

He also named the Mississippi "Colbert," in honor of his friend and patron, M. Colbert, the colonial minister under Louis XIV, and upon whose report the King conferred upon La Salle the rank of esquire, with power to acquire knighthood.

De Tonty, La Salle's companion, who has written a detailed narrative of the discovery, describes the countries at the heads of the various tributaries of the Mississippi, all of which were included under the name of "Louisiana," and it is remarkable how accurately he estimates the distance of one river from another

and the length of each.

The Falls of St. Anthony seem to have been known, as Hennepin was sent by La Salle to that point, and the Missouri from its source is mentioned and described at different points. A map prepared by De Tonty, as he states, accompanied his report and exhibited the general scope of country embraced within Louisiana. Unfortunately nothing more is known of this map. No reference, however, was ever made to any country westward of the highlands which are the sources of the rivers flowing from the west into the Mississippi; and Louisiana was never understood as extending beyond those highlands by any of these explorers. This is further corroborated by Franquelin, a young French engineer, who was in Quebec when La Salle returned from his discovery, and who learned from him the extent of the same, and then crudely mapped the country on what has since been known as Franquelin's Great Map of 1684, on which is shown Louisiana with the western boundary on the head waters of the Mississippi.

On March 2, 1699, Iberville, a daring French explorer, entered the mouth of the Mississippi and ascended 100 leagues, and on descending passed through the river Iberville, named for him, and thence through lakes Maurepas and Pontchartrain into the Gulf. The last-named lake was named by Iberville in honor of the Count de Pontchartrain, who was minister of marine under Louis XIV. The former lake was named after Count Maurepas, minister under Louis XV and Louis XVI, and who died with the ill-fated King.

The land westward of these waterways and eastward of the Mississippi from the island of New Orleans, being a part of the French discoveries, is properly included in Louisiana. In 1721 French immigrants arrived at Mobile Bay and at Biloxi, and previous to this the French Canadian, Du Tissenet, with an escort, went from Dauphine Island by way of Mobile river to Quebec. The first colony was settled at Biloxi in 1699. It was for some time the chief settlement of Louisiana, and contained a fort.

To the east of the Mississippi, Franquelin has shown Florida with a dotted boundary which was then much as it is at present, except that for some distance east of the Mississippi the country then was included in Louisiana. The map is also evidence of the presence of the Spaniards, and La Salle in his memorials presented to the King his scheme of erecting fortifications near the mouths of the Mississippi and then of driving out the neighboring Spanish colonists. Here we have at the very outset material for the subsequent disputes as to West Florida, and the uncertainty as to whether it was French in the Louisiana claim or Florida under prior Spanish discovery. At this point it may be as well to inquire into the claim of the Spaniards as to that territory along the Gulf east of the Mississippi. Commencing with Ponce de Leon, who reached the coast of Florida near the present site of St. Augustine March 27, 1512, we next find Miruelo, who arrived from Cuba in 1516; then De Cordova, who arrived in 1517 with an expedition of Spaniards who were seeking gold; and he was followed by Alaminos with several ships for the same purpose. In 1539 we find Hernando de Soto landing with a large company of Spaniards at Tampa Bay, and from there he went to Tallahassee;