310 The Winning of the West 



with the eager desire to take New Orleans. 6 The 

 Mississippi ran so as to facilitate the movement of 

 any expedition against New Orleans, while it of- 

 fered formidable obstacles to counter-expeditions 

 from New Orleans against the American common- 

 wealths lying further up stream. An expeditionary 

 force sent from the mouth of the Mississippi, 

 whether to assail the towns and settlements along 

 the Ohio, or to defend the Creole villages near the 

 Missouri, could at the utmost hope for only transient 

 success, while its ultimate failure was certain. On 

 the other hand, a backwoods army could move down 

 stream with comparative ease ; and even though such 

 an expedition were defeated, it was certain that 

 the attempt would be repeated again and again, 

 until by degrees the mob of hardy riflemen changed 

 into a veteran army, and brought forth some gen- 

 eral like "Old Hickory," able to lead to victory. 



The most intelligent French agents on the ground 

 saw this. Some of Napoleon's ministers were 

 equally far-sighted. One of them, Barbe Marbois, 

 represented to him in the strongest terms the hope- 

 lessness of the undertaking on which he proposed 

 to embark. He pointed out that the United States 

 was sure to go to war with France if France took 

 New Orleans, and that in the end such a war could 

 only result in victory for the Americans. 



6 Pontalba's Memoir. He hoped that Louisiana might, in 

 certain contingencies, be preserved for the French, but he 

 insisted that it could only be by keeping peace with the 

 American settlers, and by bringing about an immense in- 

 crease of population in the province. 



