4814. LOUISIANA, Defence of.—[continued].
Satisfied that New Orleans
must fall a prey to any power which shall attack it, in spite of any means we now
possess, I see no security for it but in planting
on the spot the force which is to defend
it. I therefore suggest to some members of
the Senate to add to the volunteer bill now
before them, as an amendment, some such
section as that enclosed, which is on the
principles of what we agreed on last year,
except the omission of the two years' service.
If, by giving one hundred miles square of
that country, we can secure the rest, and at
the same time create an American majority
before Orleans becomes a State, it will be the
best bargain ever made.—
To Albert Gallatin. Washington ed. v, 36.
(W.
Jan. 1807)
