529 
_ Having a retrofpective view of the pa- 
cific difpofition (I will not call it policy, 
becaule the term feems to belong exclu- 
fively to the cabinets of the Eaftern Con- 
tinent) of the American Government, 
and in whofe power remains the fulfilling 
of this axiomatic prophecy, it appears to 
me, that the period mutt indeed be very 
diftant, when the transfer into other hands 
fhall take place, if the writer means by 
other hands the American Government. 
—He certainly does infnuate as much, or 
his meaning is not to be comprehended. 
Ts it then to be accomplifhed by an illicit 
commerce, carried on by the fettlers of 
Louifiana? which, he fays, any attempt 
on the part of Spain to fuppreis, will be 
fucceeded by open violence ; and that even 
the American Government will be unable 
to prevent che fettlers from burtting into 
Mexico. In procefs of time, there is no 
doubt of this illicit commerce being car- 
ried on to a very confiderable degree.— 
Spain will find, I fhou!d imagine, no more 
dificulty in tolerating a trade of this na- 
ture, than fhe does in the pecple of dif- 
Jerent European nations, ard particularly 
the Englifh, who derive from this very 
fpecies of trade, carried on between fome 
of the Leeward Iflands and the Spanith 
Main, an immenfe profit. To the Ame- 
ricans this advantage will be great, be- 
caufe they will ferve the Spaniards with 
the fame kinds of goods which they. get 
from the Leeward Iflands, and they will 
thus fhare with them the profit of fuch 
atrade. Inthis point of view the Ame- 
sicans will not, however, obtain the ftew- 
ardfhip of the South-American treafures, 
which muft fuppefe all her precious me- 
tals to pafsthrough their hands: but they 
will receive a great deal of hardcafh; and 
as they are principally the lighter kinds of 
goods wh:ch are fent to the Sp1 ifh main, 
they will be purchafed in the Britith mar. 
ket. i 
The fecond point. which I fhall notice 
is, what your Correfponcent fays refpe&t- 
ing the American Government obtaining 
more territory than they had occafien for, 
added to what was before a.ready too 
bulky, asd having laid an immente charse 
on their ufetul poffeffions, in orver to add 
to thofe which will not only be ablolutely 
ufelefs, but bur henfome.—lIt , has been 
a commonly received op mon, that a go- 
vernment may have too extenfive a terri- 
tory, merely becaufe it is extenive, which 
is abfurd; or,. becaufe of fome adventi- 
tious circumftances, as difference of cli- 
mate and produétions, difcuity of land 
or siver communications #9 market, 
Odfervations on Remarks on the Coffion of Louifiana. (July 1, 
which, if not abfurd, is inconfiftent ; be- 
caufe, taking the United States for an 
example, fome of thefe particulars are dif- 
erent from one another in all the Eaftern 
States, and very different even in many - 
parts of almoft any one State. Yet this 
very argument, if it can be called one, 
would go to frittering the Federal Unicn 
to atoms. Juft infiancing the immenfe 
empires of China and Ruffia, the former. 
in its prefent high ftate of civilization, 
and the latter rapidly advancing im the 
fame career, I would afk, why territory 
is too bulky for a government? And I 
would venture to anfwer, oaly in cafes 
where the ignorance of a government is 
too bulky for territory; or, in other 
words, when it is not fufficiently enlight- 
ened to frame Jaws which fhall embrace 
the general interefts of the people, but 
fhall favour fome parts in preference to 
others, or one branch of national prof- 
perity in preference to another. “That 
fuch impclicy was the caufe of the two 
infurre€tions within the fpace of fix years, 
there can {carcely be a doubt. The in- 
furre€tions took their rife in the back 
country of Pennfylvania, behind the Al- 
lechany Mountain ; and to ftate the cafe 
as fairly as poffible, I will obferve, that 
the fettlers of that country having no 
market for their extra-grain, diftilled it 
into whifkey, fome of which they con- 
fumed themfelves, fome they vended to 
the new. comers, who, upon fettling among 
them, had occafion for a fteck, and a 
great deal was fold to the numerous emi- 
grants embarking at Pittfburg, upon the 
Ohio, for Kentacky, &c. 3 and as what 
remained far exceeded the quantity con- 
fumed by themifelves, and fold to others, 
it became dead ftock on hand. A very 
heavy duty was originally laid upon ftills, 
which, when the inhabitants of thefe 
parts began to work, either did not ftrike 
them as oppreflive, or having for fome- 
time been difeufted and difpirited in not 
meeting with a vent for their produce 
down the Onio and Miffiffippi, they were 
fuddenty enlivenes with the profpect of a 
beneficial manufactory of their grain into 
whifkey. It might eatly, however, be 
fore:een that, in the courfe of a few years, 
the dead ftock of whifkey, peach, and 
apple brandy, would fo accumulate, that all 
tne profit of the former years, ariting from 
the tale of thefe articies, would be locked 
up in it. This was precifely the cafe, 
if 1 am not very much mistaken; and no- 
thing was more natural to expect, than 
that the people wou'd call out loudly for 
the free navigation of the arc 
tne 
