April 22, 1898.] 



SCIENCE. 



545 



comprised what is now Ohio, Indiana, Illi- 

 nois, Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota. 

 It was practically without settlers. Morse 

 guesses that it contained 6,000 French and 

 English immigrants and negroes. As to 

 this region, but more particularly Ohio, In- 

 diana and Illinois, says Morse : 



" It may be affirmed to be the most 

 healthy, the most pleasant, the most com- 

 modious and most fertile spot of earth 

 known to the Anglo-Americans. The de- 

 sign of Congress and the settlers is that the 

 settlements shall proceed regularly down 

 the Ohio and northward to Lake Erie." 



It will be remembered that at this early 

 date Congress met in Philadelphia. The 

 longitudes given by Morse are reckoned 

 from Philadelphia. Where the future capi- 

 tal of the United States was to be, no one 

 then knew. The selection of the present 

 site was actually made by Congress in 1790. 

 Before Morse had knowledge of such selec- 

 tion he indulged in this bit of speculation 

 as to the future capital. Speaking of the 

 future State of Ohio, then nameless, he 

 says: 



"The center of this State will fall be- 

 tween the Scioto and the Hokhoking. At 

 the mouth of these rivers will probably be 

 the seat of government for this State ; and, 

 if we may indulge the sublime contempla- 

 tion of beholding the whole territory of the 

 United States settled by an enlightened 

 people, and continued under one extended 

 government, on the river Ohio and not far 

 from this spot will be the seat of empire 

 for the whole dominion." 



As to the region west of the Mississippi, 

 it was then Spanish. Originally French by 

 discovery and occupation, it had passed 

 from France to Spain by cession in 1763. 

 In the light of what it now is, a few words 

 from Morse's speculations in 1791 as to its 

 future throw light on the geography of his 

 time. He says : 



' ' A settlement is commencing, with ad- 



vantageous prospects, on the western side 

 of the Mississippi, opposite the mouth of 

 the Ohio. The spot on which the city is to 

 be built is called New Madrid, after the 

 capital of Spain. The settlement, which is 

 without the limits of the United States, in 

 the Spanish dominions, is conducted by 

 Colonel Morgan under the patronage of the 

 Spanish King." 



New Madrid, Morse thought, was to be- 

 come a great emporium of trade unless the 

 free navigation of the Mississippi should be 

 opened to the United States, and this, he 

 thought, would not occur without a rupture 

 with Spain. 



Some had thought that all settlers beyond 

 the Mississippi would be lost to the United 

 States. Morse discusses this at some length, 

 and concludes with a paragraph which we 

 quote entire : 



" We cannot but anticipate the period as 

 not far distant when the American Empire 

 will comprehend millions of souls west of 

 the Mississippi. Judging upon probable 

 grounds, the Mississippi was never de- 

 signed as the western boundary of the 

 American Empire. The God of Nature 

 never intended that some of the best parts 

 of his earth should be inhabited by the sub- 

 jects of a monarch 4,000 miles from them. 

 And may we not venture to predict that, 

 when the rights of mankind shall be more 

 fully known — and the knowledge of them is 

 fast increasing both in Europe and Amer- 

 ica — the power of European potentates will 

 be confined to Europe, and their present 

 American dominions become, like the 

 United States, free, sovereign and inde- 

 pendent empires." 



These sentiments have ever taken deep 

 root in the United States. When Presi- 

 dent Monroe, more than a quarter of a cen- 

 tury later, wrote the State paper that has 

 forever linked his name with the senti- 

 ment : ' America for the Americans,' he did 

 not create or express new or strange doc- 



