VALLEY OF THE MISSISSIPPI.

holding lands upon its upper waters. Such a line, it was found, would not strike the river, but run considerably north of its source. It was next supposed that the most northern water of the Mississippi was as high as latitude 49° north.

In 1832, an expedition was fitted out, consisting of lieutenant Allen, a corporal, ten privates, Mr. Schoolcraft, and Dr. Houghton; the principal object of which was, to ascertain the true source of the Mississippi. They found it to be lake Bieche, seven miles long and three broad, in latitude 47° north, and longitude 96° west from London. From thence the waters ran in a northwesterly direction, to lake Winnepeg, in latitude 48°; from thence in a southerly direction, to the ocean, in latitude 30°. The expedition proceeded from fort Brady, at the entrance of lake Superior from lake Huron, along the southern border of lake Superior to Fon de Lac, its south-western extremity; thence up the river St. Louis, a water of the lake, to its source. From thence, by a portage of six miles, they reached the waters of the Mississippi. The region traversed by this expedition, was the high table land, dividing the waters of the St. Lawrence from those of the gulf of Mexico, between 44 and 48° of north latitude; it is described as a poor, swampy, barren country, to the northward of any permanent American settlements.

The North American fur company have a number of trading establishments in this region. The Indians are few in number, in a miserable condition, and rapidly destroying their game, their only means of subsistence, for the sake of obtaining peltry for the fur company. The expedition were directed to explore the southern coast of lake Superior; they found it to be of the same general character with the other lands in this north-west region, and but little of it fit for cultivation. They also made search for the copper mines with which this region is said to abound. They found no appearance of copper or copper ore, except the celebrated copper rock, which is forty-four miles from the lake, up a river called the Ontonagon. They judged the rock to contain a solid mass of twenty cubic feet, and to weigh about five tons. They obtained some specimens, which appeared to be copper almost pure.

In latitude 39°, the Mississippi receives, or rather joins, the Missouri, the latter being the largest stream coming from the eastern base of the Rocky mountains. In latitude 34° it receives the Arkansas, and in 31° the Red river, both large streams from the west. From the east, a little above its junction with the Missouri, the Mississippi receives the Illinois, and in latitude 37°, the Ohio.

VALLEY OF THE MISSISSIPPI. The country watered by the Mississippi and its tributaries, is called the valley of the Missis sippi, and is bounded on the south by the gulf of Mexico, on the west by the Rocky mountains, dividing the waters of the Pacific from the Atlantic ocean; on the north by the table lands which

LOUISIANA.

separate its waters from those of the upper lakes; and on the east by the Alleghany ridge. From Olean, the highest point of boat navigation on the Alleghany river, a branch of the Ohio, to the highest point of boat navigation on the Mississippi, by the course of the rivers, is five thousand miles. From the extreme point of boat navigation on the Tennessee river on the east, and of the Arkansas and Red rivers on the west, is a navigation of three thousand miles, and directly up the Mississippi, of nearly two thousand.

The extent of this valley, from the sources of the Alleghany, to the head waters of the Missouri, in a direct line, is nearly two thousand miles; and from the mouth of the Mississippi to its source, about one thousand. No other river valley on the globe will compare in size, in richness, and variety of soil, in salubrity of climate, and in its general adaptation to the support and comfort of man. It was once the object of Aaron Burr's ambition to establish an independent empire here, of which he himself was to be the head.

From a geographical view of this valley, it is evident that the free navigation of the river is indispensable to the United States. From 1783 to 1803, Spain was the occupant of a small territory embracing both banks of the river at its mouth, and denied the right of the United States to the navigation of the river through her territory. The American claim rested on two grounds; first that the river was a great highway to the ocean, evidently designed by the author of nature, for the use of all the inhabitants on its waters, as well those above as below; that its common use would be mutually beneficial, and injurious to neither. Secondly, that in the year 1763, France, then the proprietor of the territory now claimed by Spain, granted the free navigation of the river to Great Britain, then the proprietor of the upper country now owned by the United States; and that, in 1783, Great Britain granted this right to the United States by express stipulation, and as an appendage to the ceded territory. This sebject remained a matter of controversy, and of frequent negotiation between Spain and the United States, until 1795, Spain frequently declaring that she would never suffer any other power to pass through her territory. At a favorable moment in that year, a treaty was concluded, which granted to the United States the free navigation of the river, and a place of deposit at New Orleans, without which the right could not be beneficially enjoyed. In 1802, this right of deposit was suddenly, and without any previous notice, withheld. Soon afterwards the territory of Louisiana passed into the hands of France, and in 1803, was purchased by the United States, and all controversy on the subject put to rest.

LOUISIANA. It was one condition of the treaty by which Louisiana was purchased, that, as soon as it could conveniently

ITS LAWS. NEW ORLEANS.

PURCHASE OF THE TERRITORY.

be done, it should be incorporated into one or more states, and admitted into the Union on an equal footing with the others. In 1812, southern Louisiana, embracing the whole territory south of 33° of latitude, was erected into a State and admitted into the Union. It contains 48,000 square miles, and a population of 352,411, of which 168,452 are slaves, and 25,502 free colored. The whole population averages seven to the square mile. Its militia are 14,808.

ITS LAWS. Louisiana having at different times been a province of France, and of Spain, and at one time a territory, and then a member of the United States, had a mixed and unintelligible code of laws in different languages. In 1822, Mr. Livingston, the late envoy to France, a distinguished jurist, who removed from the city of New York to New Orleans soon after the purchase of the territory, and Derbigny, and Moreau Lislet, two lawyers of eminence at New Orleans, were appointed by the legislature to revise and amend the civil code, and to add a system of commercial law, and a code of practice. The system was prepared principally by Mr. Livingston, and adopted as the law of Louisiana, in 1824. Mr. Livingston also, under an appointment of the legislature, has digested a penal code, which has been adopted with little variation.

NEW ORLEANS. New Orleans, the political and commercial capital of the state, is situated on the east bank of the Mississippi, one hundred miles from its mouth, in latitude 30°. It is the grand commercial emporium of the west. The Mississippi and its tributaries have an extent above the city of upwards of ten thousand miles of steam boat navigation, passing through the richest soil and finest climates. Its communication with the ocean is easy. The Mississippi and its principal branches are admirably adapted to steam boat navigation; and the use of steam boats for towing ships from the sea, now renders it unnecessary to wait for wind or tide to bring them to the city. New Orleans proper contains a population of 83,971 and the suburbs 18,222, making a total of 102,193.

PURCHASE OF THE TERRITORY. The purchase of Louisiana, and making it into States, to be admitted into the Union on an equal footing with the original members, presented new and important questions, which were fully discussed in Congress, on the bill for the admission of Louisiana. Neither the convention who formed, or the people who adopted the federal constitution, ever entertained the idea of extending it beyond the limits of the United States, as they then existed, or of taking into a political partnership, any foreign nation, territory, or people. Its preamble excludes the idea. "We the people of the United States, to secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves, and our

EDUCATION.

posterity, do ordain and establish this constitution for the United States of America." Terms applicable only to their then existing limits. The constitution does, indeed, provide for the admission of new states into the Union, embracing those which might be formed from its vacant territory, from the division of a state, or the junction of parts of different states. Had the proposition been made in the convention, to vest Congress with the power of taking in other states or nations as equal partners, into the federal compact, with equal powers to regulate its destinies, there can be but little doubt of the result. Such a proposition would have formed a powerful, and probably a decisive objection to its adoption.

Several important considerations led to this overleaping of the constitution by those who had always advocated a strict and limited construction.

First, the ambition common to all natious to extend their jurisdiction and territory, and thereby increase their power. Secondly, the immense value to the Union of securing the free navigation of the Mississippi, accompanied with a convenient place of deposit at its mouth, where goods descending the river in boats, might be transhipped in sea vessels. Thirdly, the time when the purchase was made, was the only opportune one which would probably ever offer for its peaceable acquisition. The country had then just passed into the hands of France. She had a powerful armament prepared to take possession, which was impeded only by a superior British fleet. Under these circumstances, France was willing to sell a country which she had wrested from Spain, but which she was unable to occupy, for a large sum indeed, but one much less than it would have cost to gain it by a successful war. Under these circumstances, and with these views, the treaty of the 14th of April, 1803, by which Louisiana was acquired, was ratified by the Senate, and the appropriations necessary to carry it into effect, made by large majorities of both houses, with little discussion regarding its constitutionality.

The division of the territory into a convenient number of states, and their admission into the Union when their population should warrant it, on an equal footing with the original states, followed of course, having been provided for in the treaty

of cession.

EDUCATION. In forming the state of Louisiana, Congress were as liberal in providing for the education of its citizens, as they had been when forming new states from their original territory. Indeed, it seemed to be the object to make the people of Louisiana forget that they were ever in a colonial and dependent state. Forty-six thousand acres of land were granted for a college, and one thirty-sixth part of each township to its inhabitants for the use of schools.

BOUNDARIES.

In 1827, the legislature granted to each parish at the rate of $2,62 cents for each voter, to be appropriated to the education of poor children, in consequence of which, $40,000 have been annually applied to that purpose. The legislature at the session of 1835, granted to three literary institutions, $363,755, viz. $48,775 to the college of Jefferson, and $15,000 annually to the same college for the period of ten yeass; also $15,000 annually to Louisiana college and Franklin college.

BOUNDARIES. The boundaries of the territory under the name of Louisiana while occupied by France and Spain were never defined. Previous to the war of 1756, or the old French war, as it was called in the colonies, France claimed, under this name, a region bounding on the gulf of Mexico, from Pensacola east, to Rio del Norte on the west, including most of the province of west Florida, and the whole of Texas, and extending from the Alleghany mountains to the Pacific ocean. In 1762, France ceded to Spain the territory of Louisiana. As between them no boundaries were necessary, as what was not comprehended under the name of Louisiana, Spain held as belonging to Mexico, or the Floridas. By the peace of 1763, terminating thê war of 1756, it was agreed that the English colonies extended westward to, and were bounded by, the Mississippi. In 1801, Spain retroceded Louisiana to France, and in 1803, France sold it to the United States, with the boundaries which it originally had, and which it ought to have had while it was a colony of France. Those boundaries never having been specially defined, they be came the subject of controversy and negotiation at different times between Spain and the United States, from the period of its cession to 1821, when the subject of its eastern boundary was put at rest by the cession of the adjoining Florida territory to the United States. Its western and southern boundaries were thus defined; to begin at the mouth of the Sabine river on the gulf of Mexico, in about the latitude of 30°, and extending thence up the Sabine, and in a north-westerly direction to the parallel of 42°, and in that latitude to the Pacific ocean, leaving the whole province of Texas, which France always claimed as a part of Louisiana, to Spain, as an appendage to Mexico.

Three states have already been made from this territory. In 1803, the whole population of the Louisiana territory was less than 60,000, and their condition is thus described in a letter from governor Clairborn to the Secretary of State, on taking possession.

"I have found it a vain labor to attempt to renovate the old government; it has left the country in almost inextricable confusion; many of the causes have been depending in court twenty years, and corruption has put a seal upon them. I found in gaol almost one hundred prisoners, some of whom had been confined on suspicion only, from two to thirteen years, without

a trial.