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of her southern colonies. By encouraging the cultivation of lands, 

 naturally of easy tillaf^e, varied in their character, fertile, and, in some 

 lespects, exhauslless, ihe population would have increased ; the arts of 

 civilization would have found their way among the people, who would 

 have gradually been led to entertain a filial regard for iheir new parents ; 

 and Uuis wouid have arisen to the north of Mexico an empire whose en- 

 lightened strength would constitute the best of barriers. This vast 

 empire, possessing the grandest natural limits on the earth — bounded by 

 the Mississippi, the Missouri, and the Pacific ocean — might, by its im- 

 mense preponderance, have changed the course of those great events 

 that have taken place on the new continent since that period. France 

 could not have aimed at such a power, so loni,^ as she was in possession 

 of Canadu; but she ouglit to have thought of it the day when she sur- 

 rendered ihat great colony. The mighty results obtained by the free in- 

 stitutions of the United States of America demonstrate, at this day, that 

 the loss of Canada might have been turned to advantage by France ; and 

 Ihaf, by fostering the possessions which she still held on the west of the 

 Mississippi, she would have soon been amply repaid for the sacrifices 

 she was compelled to make in 1763, since the colony, which remained to 

 her, had still three times the extent of her own kingdom. Such was the 

 opinion of enlightened men in France. The celebrated statesman Turgot 

 more especially foresaw the advantages of such a policy, and submitted 

 to the King a plan by which this vast region (called by him Equinoxial 

 -France) might be largely peopled in a short time. But he was treated as 

 a visionary. 



This great scheme of policy, which would have been easy for France 

 to pursue, acquired importance in its adoption, and was of still more 

 natural execution by Spain. But, instead of eagerly seizing upon it, she 

 is contented to encircle the settlers between the Mississippi, the Missouri, 

 and the Indians; imposes upon them arbitrary government; throws 

 obstacles in the way of a free communication with the neighboring people ; 

 establishes restrictions upon imports, prohibits foreign competiaon, and 

 stops the tide of emigration, by requiring of those who present themselves, 

 offering their industry and talents, a certificate that they belong to the 

 Koman Catholic religion, Spain adopts also the impolicy of granting ex- 

 clusive favors and privileges; makes grants of land without discrimination, 

 often unconditionally; and when conditions are annexed, the grantee is 

 unable to fulfil them, for want of proper encouragement, and from the un- 

 certainty of finding a market for the products of his labor. No wonder she 

 complains that her colony costs her more than it yields ; and she would 

 make up the deficiency by driving the population to dig out of the earth by 

 main bodily strength, without the aid of arts, metals of v/hich she reserves 

 for herself the monopoly, as well as that of the salinas. 



If we look over the voluminous records of laws and ordinances by 

 which the country was then governed, it is painfnl to consider the futility 

 of the subjects to which they refer, and the littleness of the motives 

 which have induced their passage. No settled plan ever seems to have 

 been adopted with a view of developing the moral and natural resources 

 of the country. As the government seemed to provide only for the 

 exigencies of the day, so the inhabitants lived but for the day. It is true 

 there are no evidences that the Spanish authority in Upper Louisiana 



