on of the navigation of the Mississippi was
again agitated. The South held her right to that river to be of much
more value than anything she could gain by a closer union with the
North, and she was quite ready to go to war with Spain in defense of it.
On the other hand, the Northern States were quite indifferent to the
navigation of the Mississippi, and not disposed apparently to make any
exertion or sacrifice to secure it. Just now they were anxious to secure
a commercial treaty with Spain; but Spain insisted, as a preliminary
condition, that the United States should relinquish all claim to
navigation upon a river whose mouths were within Spanish territory. In
the Northern mind there was no doubt of the value of trade with Spain;
and there was a good deal of doubt whether there was anything worth
contending for in the right to sail upon a river running through a
wilderness where, as yet, there were few inhabitants, and hardly any
trade worth talking about. More than that, there was unquestionably a
not uncommon belief at the North and East that the settlement and
prosperity of the West would be at the expense of the Atlantic States.
Perhaps that view of the matter was not loudly insisted upon; but many
were none the less persuaded that, if population was attracted westward
by the hope of acquiring rich and cheap lands, prosperity and power
would go with it. At any rate, those of this way of thinking were not
inclined to forego a certain good for that which would profit them
nothing, and might do them lasting harm.

For these reasons, spoken and unspoken, the Northern members of Congress
were at first quite willing, for the sake of a commercial treaty, to
concede to Spain the exclusive control of the Mississippi. But to pacify
the South it was proposed that the concession to Spain should be for
only five and twenty years. If at the end of that period the navigation
of the Mississippi should be worth contending for, the question could be
reopened. The South was, of course, rather exasperated than pacified by
such a proposition. The navigation of the river had not only a certain
value to them now, but it was theirs by right, and that was reason
enough for not parting with it even for a limited period. Concessions
now would make the reassertion of the right the more difficult by and
by. If it must be fought for, it would lessen the chance of success to
put off the fighting five and twenty years. Indeed, it could not be put