nd that an imperious necessity may consequently
oblige them, if they receive no aid, to adopt themselves the
measures that may appear to them calculated to protect their
commerce, even though those measures should produce consequences
unfavorable to the harmony of the Confederacy."

These representations emphasized the apprehension of those
charged with governmental affairs that the course of deliberate
caution and waiting, which up to that time had appeared to be
the only one permissible, might be insufficient to meet the
situation, and that whatever the result might be, a more
pronounced position and more urgent action should be entered
upon. President Jefferson wrote to a friend on the 1st of
February, 1803: "Our circumstances are so imperious as to admit
of no delay as to our course, and the use of the Mississippi so
indispensible that we can not hesitate one moment to hazard our
existence for its maintenance." He appointed an additional envoy
to cooperate with our representative already at the French
capital in an attempt to obtain a concession that would cure the
difficulty, and, in a communication to him, after referring to
the excitement caused by the withdrawal of the right of deposit,
he thus characterizes the condition which he believed confronted
the nation: "On the event of this mission depend the future
destinies of this Republic. If we can not by a purchase of the
country insure to ourselves a course of perpetual peace and
friendship of all nations, then, as war can not be far distant,
it behooves us immediately to be preparing for that course,
though not hastening it."

I have not recited these details for the purpose of claiming
that this accelerated speed and advanced position on the part of
our Government had any important effect in hastening final
results. I have thought it not amiss, however, to call attention
to the fact that a century ago the people of this country were
not seeking to gain governmental benefit by clandestine approach
and cunning pretense, but were apt to plainly present their
wants and grievances, and to openly demand such consideration
and care from the General Government as was their due under the
mandate of popular rule, and that in making their demands they
relied on the mutual obligation of the relationship between the
gove