2$ VIEWS OF'LOUISIANA,; 
It is not a new claim set up on the spur of the occasion ; the first 
acts of congress relative to Louisiana, expressly provided for the 
government of this, as well as of other parts of the province. A 
recapitulation of the facts will place the subject in a clearer light. 
1. France, previous to the year 1762, possessed as far as the Per¬ 
dido. 2. By the treaty of that date, she ceded to Spain not the 
whole of Louisiana, but only so much of it, as lay west of the Mis® 
sissippi, Sec. 3. France jointly with Spain, ceded to Britain east 
of the same river, See. 4. Spain re-attached to Louisiana, that part 
which she had jointly with France ceded in the manner before 
mentioned. Spain ceded the province to France in the same ex¬ 
tent as was then held by her, and as it had been held by France 
when she possessed it, and was again ceded by the latter to the 
United States in the same extent. Some have been deceived by 
the term West Florida , and have supposed a separate govern¬ 
ment to have existed under this name, but the fact is that it was 
first distinguished in this manner after it fell into the hands of 
Britain. 
II. The boundaries of Louisiana to the S. W. and the N. E. 
still remain in doubt and obscurity In fact, from the variety of 
claimants, and the ignorance of the geography of the country in 
the first instance, it was scarcely to be expected that the limits 
could be clearly and satisfactorily defined. Father Hennepin and 
Mons. La Salle, bounded Louisiana on the east by the Alleghe¬ 
ny mountains, on the south by the gulph of Mexico, and on the 
S. W- by the Spanish settlements; on the N. and W. they deny 
any boundary. De Lisle and Mons. D’Anville assign as the 
boundary in the quarter of Mexico, the Rio Bravo. Others 
contend that it was contained within the 25° and 40 of N. lati¬ 
tude. France certainly claimed to the Rio Bravo; and this has 
been expressed in an official act, the Grant to Crosat. It is not 
clear that our executive is not bound to maintain this claim un¬ 
til expressly waved by the competent authority; the sovereign 
which our government suceeds, had declared the right, and actu¬ 
ally exercised jurisdiction. These are political acts, and it is dif¬ 
ficult to say how just or reasonable the causes which induced 
them. There is no question but that France had undisturbed 
possession as far as the Rio Hondo, (west of NatchitochesJ and 
