Volume II Part 22 (2/2)
Here is a letter written to Jefferson froestions concerning the beginning of government in Louisiana, from which it would appear that Paine's faith in the natural inspiration of _vox populi_ was still iranted that the present inhabitants know little or nothing of election and representation as constituting government They are therefore not in an immediate condition to exercise those powers, and besides this they are perhaps too much under the influence of their priests to be sufficiently free
”I should suppose that a Governress for three, five, or seven years would be the bestIn thetheir Municipal government, and after soovernht to say, that the people shall have the right of electing their Church Ministers, otherwise their Ministers will hold by authority from the Pope I do not make it a compulsive article, but to put it in their power to use it when they please It will serve to hold the priests in a stile of good behavior, and also to give the people an idea of elective rights Anything, they say, will do to learn upon, and therefore theylanguage is french and Spanish, but it will be necessary to establish schools to teach english as the laws ought to be in the language of the Union
”As soon as you have forlad to know it My motive for this is because there are thousands and tens of thousands in England and Ireland and also in Scotland who are friends of e their present country and condition Many a them, for I have friends in all ranks of life in those countries, are capable of becoiveLouisiana, the quantity in square miles, the population, and amount of the present Revenue I will find an opportunity ofsome use of it When the for will be to take possession, and I think it would be very consistent for the President of the United States to do this in person
”What is Dayton gone to New Orleans for? Is he there as an Agent for the British as Blount was said to be?”
Of the sae, of Kentucky, forwarded through Jefferson:
”My Dear Friend,--Not knowing your place of Residence in Kentucky I send this under cover to the President desiring him to fill up the direction
”I see by the public papers and the Proclaress, that the cession of Louisiana has been obtained The papers state the purchase to be 11,250,000 dollars in the six per cents and 3,750,000 dollars to be paid to American claimants who have furnished supplies to France and the french Colonies and are yet unpaid,on the whole 15,000,000 dollars
”I observe that the faction of the Feds who last Winter were for going to war to obtain possession of that country and who attached so ht be spared to obtain it, have now altered their tone and say it is not worth having, and that we are better without it than with it Thus much for their consistency
What follows is for your private consideration
”The second section of the 2d article of the constitution says, The 'President shall have Power by and with the consent of the senate to make Treaties provided two thirds of the senators present concur'
”A question may be supposed to arise on the present case, which is, under what character is the cession to be considered and taken up in congress, whether as a treaty, or in soh the word, Treaty, as a Word, is unli and application, itin the constitution It there ation and cos which require a more profound deliberation than common acts do, because they entail on the parties a future reciprocal responsibility and beco countries which neither can annull But the cession of Louisiana to the United States has none of these features in it It is a sale and purchase A sole act which when finished, the parties have no more to do with each other than other buyers and sellers have It has no future reciprocal consequences (which is one of the marked characters of a Treaty) annexed to it; and the idea of its beco a supreme law to the parties reciprocally (which is another of the characters of a Treaty) is inapplicable in the present case There re for such a law to act upon
”I love the restriction in the constitution which takes fro treaties of his oill: and also the clause which requires the consent of two thirds of the Senators, because we cannot be too cautious in involving and entangling ourselves with foreign powers; but I have an equal objection against extending the same power to the senate in cases to which it is not strictly and constitutionally applicable, because it is giving a nullifying power to a minority Treaties, as already observed, are to have future consequences and whilst they remain, remain always in execution externally as well as internally, and therefore it is better to run the risk of losing a good treaty for the want of two thirds of the senate than be exposed to the danger of ratifying a bad one by a small majority But in the present case no operation is to follow but what acts itself within our own Territory and under our os We are the sole power concerned after the cession is accepted and the money paid, and therefore the cession is not a Treaty in the constitutionalof the word subject to be rejected by a minority in the senate
”The question whether the cession shall be accepted and the bargain closed by a grant of money for the purpose, (which I take to be the sole question) is a case equally open to both houses of congress, and if there is any distinction of _for to the constitution, as a in in the house of Representatives
”I suggest these matters that the senate may not be taken unawares, for I think it not iative the cession, will move to take it up as if it were a Treaty of Alliance or of Navigation and Commerce
”The object here is an increase of territory for a valuable consideration It is altogether a home concern--a matter of domestic policy The only real ratification is the payment of the oes for nothing, it would be a waste of time and expense to debate on the verbal ratification distinct from the money ratification The shortest way, as it appears toin a report on the President's Message, and for that committee to report a bill for the payment of the money The french Government, as the seller of the property, will not consider anything ratification but the payment of the money contracted for
”There is also another point, necessary to be aware of, which is, to accept it in toto Any alteration or modification in it, or annexed as a condition is so far fatal, that it puts it in the power of the other party to reject the whole and propose new Ter in part, or with a condition annexed to it and the ratification to be binding It is still a continuance of the negociation
”It ought to be presumed that the American ministers have done to the best of their power and procured the best possible ter immediately on the spot with the other party they were better Judges of the whole, and of what could, or could not be done, than any person at this distance, and unacquainted with many of the circumstances of the case, can possibly be
”If a treaty, a contract, or a cession be good upon the whole, it is ill policy to hazard the whole, by an experiht way of proceeding in such case is toit, and then instruct the minister to propose a clause to be added to the Instrument to obtain the aress took with respect to the Treaty of Coress ratified the whole and proposed t articles which were agreed to by France and added to the Treaty
”There is according to newspaper account an article which admits french and Spanish vessels on the same terms as American vessels But this does not make it a commercial Treaty It is only one of the Itee, that it joins Spain with France in ement to commerce and new settlers
”With respect to the purchase, adeous purchase The revenue alone purchased as an annuity or rent roll is worth more--at present I suppose the revenue will pay five per cent for the purchase money
”I know not if these observations will be of any use to you I a the talk of the great world But I see that the Feds, at least so the acquisition of Louisiana; and the only way they can take to lose the affair will be to take it up as they would a Treaty of Cole it with some condition that will render the ratification of no effect
”I believe in this state (Jersey) we shall have a round and lose none anywhere I have half a disposition to visit the Western World next spring and go on to New Orleans They are a new people and unacquainted with the principles of representative govern thee-boat which was to take this letter to the Post-office does not depart till to- the subject after I had intended to close it
”I know little and can learn but little of the extent and present population of Louisiana After the cession be com-pleated and the territory annexed to the United States it will, I suppose, be forin with
”The people, as I have said, are new to us and we to the As they have been transferred backward and forward several times from one European Government to another it is natural to conclude they have no fixed prejudices with respect to foreign attachments, and this puts them in a fit disposition for their new condition The established religion is roman; but in what state it is as to exterior ceremonies (such as processions and celebrations), I know not Had the cession to france continued with her, religion I suppose would have been put on the sa as it is in that country, and there no cerehways; and the saulation is particularly necessary now or there will soon be quarrels and tumults between the old settlers and the new The Yankees will not move out of the road for a little wooden Jesus stuck on a stick and carried in procession nor kneel in the dirt to a wooden Virgin Mary As we do not govern the territory as provinces but incorporated as states, religion thereit is here, and Catholics have the sahts as Catholics have with us and no others As to political condition the Idea proper to be held out is, that we have neither conquered theht them, but formed a Union with them and they become in consequence of that union a part of the national sovereignty
”The present Inhabitants and their descendants will be a rations froes, will soon change the first face of things, and it is necessary to have this indone as an expedient groorse every day, for in proportion as the ht it disclaims the expedient Aes of the revolution, and perhaps would have been so, had not 'Common Sense' broken the charm and the Declaration of Independence sent it into banishment