5904. NEW ORLEANS, Right of deposit.—
We state in general the necessity, not
only of our having a port near the mouth of the
river (without which we could make no use of
the navigation at all) but of its being so well
separated from the territories of Spain and her
jurisdiction, as not to engender daily disputes
and broils between us. It is certain, that if
Spain were to retain any jurisdiction over our
entrepôt, her officers would abuse that jurisdiction,
and our people would abuse their privileges
in it. Both parties must foresee this,
and that it will end in war. Hence the necessity
of a well-defined separation. Nature has
decided what shall be the geography of that in
the end, whatever it might be in the beginning,
by cutting off from the adjacent countries of
Florida and Louisiana, and enclosing between
two of its channels, a long and narrow strip of
land, called the Island of New Orleans. The
idea of ceding this could not be hazarded to
Spain, in the first step; it would be too disagreeable
at first view; because this island, with
its town, constitutes at present, their principal
settlement in that part of their dominions, containing
about ten thousand white inhabitants of
every age and sex. Reason and events, however,
may by little and little, familiarize them
to it. That we have a right to some spot as an
entrepôt for our commerce, may be at once affirmed.
The expediency, too, may be expressed
of so locating it as to cut off the source of
future quarrels and wars. A disinterested eye,
looking on a map, will remark how conveniently
this tongue of land is formed for the purpose.—
To William Short. Washington ed. iii, 178.
Ford ed., v, 219.
(N.Y.,
1790)
