WEDNESDAY, February 23.
_Mississippi Question._
Mr. WHITE, of Delaware, rose and addressed the Chair as follows: Mr.
President, on this subject, which has on a former day been discussed
with so much ability, and with so much eloquence, by my friend from
Pennsylvania, the honorable mover of the resolutions, I shall submit the
few observations that I may make, in as concise a manner as I am capable
of; for it is very far from my wish to occupy the time or attention of
the Senate unnecessarily. The resolutions on your table I approve of in
their full extent; I believe they express the firm and manly tone that
at this moment is especially becoming the dignity of the Government to
assume; I believe they mark out a system of measures, which, if promptly
pursued, will be honorable to the nation, and equal to the
accomplishment of the important object which gentlemen on all sides seem
to have in view. These alone, with me, would be sufficient inducements
to yield them my feeble support; but in addition to these, and to the
thorough conviction of my own mind as to the course I ought to pursue, I
have the happiness of being supported in my opinions on this subject by
the unequivocal expression of the sentiment of the State to which I have
the honor to belong.
It was early seen, Mr. President, and required but little penetration to
discover, that adventurers emigrating beyond the mountains, and settling
on the Western waters, must possess the free navigation of the
Mississippi, it being their only outlet to the ocean. This important
privilege it became necessary on the part of the Government of the
United States to secure by treaty, and not leave to the capricious will
of whatever nation who might in future hold the territory at the mouth
of the river. Accordingly, in the 4th and 23d articles of our Treaty
with Spain, I find on this subject the following stipulation:
"ART. 4. It is likewise agreed that the western boundary of
the United States, which separates them from the Spanish
colony of Louisiana, is in the middle of the channel or bed
of the river Mississippi, from the northern boundary of the
said States to the completion of the 31st degree of
latitude north of the equator. And His Catholic Majesty has
likewise agreed that the navigation of the said river, in
its whole breadth from its source to the ocean, shall be
free only to his subjects and the citizens of the United
States, unless he should extend this privilege to the
subjects of other powers by special convention."
"ART. 22. The two high contracting parties, hoping that the
good correspondence and friendship which happily reigns
between them will be further increased by this treaty, and
that it will contribute to augment their prosperity and
opulence, will in future give to their mutual commerce all
the extension and favor which the advantages of both
countries may require.
"And in consequence of the stipulations contained in the
4th article, His Majesty will permit the citizens of the
United States, for the space of three years from this time,
to deposit their merchandise and effects in the port of New
Orleans, and to export them from thence without paying any
other duty than a fair price for the hire of the stores;
and His Majesty promises either to continue this
permission, if he finds, during that time, that it is not
prejudicial to the interests of Spain, or if he should not
agree to continue it there, he will assign to them, on
another part of the banks of the Mississippi, an equivalent
establishment."
This instrument, Mr. President, it is known, for a time, quieted the
fears and jealousies of our Western brethren; they supposed it had
removed for ever the possibility of any future embarrassment to their
commerce on those waters. And after it had been proclaimed as the law of
the land--after it had been ratified by both nations, and become
obligatory upon the faith and honor of each, who could have thought
otherwise? Yet, sir, it has happened otherwise. This place of deposit at
New Orleans, secured to our citizens by the article last read, has been
recently wrested from their hands by the authority of the Spanish
Government, and no other equivalent one assigned, where, after more than
two thousand miles of boat navigation, they may disembark their produce
in order to be shipped for sea; and without this advantage the
navigation of the river is to them but an empty name.
I have said, by the authority of the Spanish Government, it has indeed
been given out to the world, for reasons that every man may conjecture,
and are unnecessary to be mentioned, that this was not the act of the
Government, but the rash measure of a single officer--the Intendant
General of the Spanish provinces; that the Spanish Minister had issued
orders for the speedy adjustment of these difficulties; had kindly
offered to throw himself into the breach to prevent this Intendant
General from going to extremities with the Government of the United
States. Sir, gentlemen may find, when too late, that this is a mere
piece of diplomatic policy, intended only to amuse them; and to say
nothing of the humiliating idea of resorting to such a plaster for the
wound that has been inflicted upon our national honor, if they had taken
the trouble, they might have been informed that the Spanish Minister
near this Government has no control at New Orleans; that the Intendant
General is, like himself, an immediate officer of the Crown, and
responsible only to the Crown for his conduct. If the Spanish Minister
has interfered, which I am not disposed to question, to make the best of
it, it could only have been by the entreaties of men in power, as a mere
mediator, to beg of the Intendant General of New Orleans justice and
peace on behalf of the people of the United States. Are honorable
gentlemen prepared to accept peace on such terms? They might do, sir,
for a tribe of starving Indians; but is this the rank that we are to
hold among the nations of the world? And it seems that even these
supplicating advances are likely to avail us nothing. By accounts very
lately received from New Orleans, by a private letter which I have seen
since these resolutions were submitted to the Senate, the Intendant
General has expressed much displeasure at the interference of the
Spanish Minister, stating that it was not within his duty or his
province, and that he, the Intendant, acted not under Spanish but French
orders.
As to the closing of the port of New Orleans against our citizens, the
man who can now doubt, after viewing all the accompanying circumstances,
that it was the deliberate act of the Spanish or French Government, must
have locked up his mind against truth and conviction, and be determined
to discredit even the evidence of his own senses. But, sir, it is not
only the depriving us of our right of deposit by which we have been
aggrieved, it is by a system of measures pursued antecedent and
subsequent to that event, equally hostile and even more insulting. I
have in my hand a paper, signed by a Spanish officer, which, with the
indulgence of the Chair, I will read to the Senate:
ADVERTISEMENT.--Under date of the 16th instant, (December,)
the Intendant General of these provinces tells me that the
citizens of the United States of America can have no
commerce with His Majesty's subjects--they only having the
free navigation of the river for the exportation of the
fruits and produce of their establishments to foreign
countries, and the importation of what they may want from
them. As such I charge you, so far as respects you, to be
zealous and vigilant, with particular care, that the
inhabitants neither purchase nor sell any thing to the
shipping, flat-bottomed boats, barges, or any other smaller
vessels that may go along the river, destined for the
American possessions, or proceeding from them, that they
shall be informed of it, for their due compliance of the
same.