settle pending questions, Congress passed an act in April, 1798, creating the Territory of Mississippi, which exactly coincided in extent with the territory over which the two powers had waged a long contest, and giving it a government like that of the Northwest Territory. Winthrop Sargent, who had been the Secretary of that Territory, was appointed governor, and he duly organized the government in September of that year. Ellicott testifies that, although the shadow of the Spanish jurisdiction that remained was finally withdrawn in January, 1798, and the inhabitants were left without law or government until September following, he never heard of a single outrage committed in the Territory, save by a small number of Spaniards.* It must be said to the commissioner's credit that, while he may sometimes have erred in discretion in discharging his delicate duties, he showed a courage, firmness, and devotion to his country that are worthy of all praise.t

*Journal, p. 167.

The Mississippi historians treat Ellicott with much severity. It appears that he had been sent by the President in 1791 to run the line between the State of Georgia and the Creek Indians, but that the Creeks would not allow the line to be run. Claiborne writes the history of the survey with partisan animus. See "Mississippi as a Province, Territory, and State," Chaps. XIX, XX.

XXIV. THE HISTORIC POLICY OF THE UNITED STATES AS TO

ANNEXATION.

By PROFESSOR SIMEON E. BALDWIN, LL.D.

OF YALE UNIVERSITY.

THE HISTORIC POLICY OF THE UNITED STATES AS TO ANNEX

ATION.

By SIMEON E. BALDWIN.

The United States, according to President Lincoln, was "formed in fact by the Articles of Association in 1774." But the self-styled "Continental Congress," which framed those articles, represented and claimed to represent but a small portion of the American continent. The eleven colonies, whose delegates met at Carpenter's Hall, October 20, 1774, and those of the three counties of Delaware who sat with them on equal terms, though really a part of the proprietary government of Pennsylvania, were in actual possession of but a narrow strip of territory on the Atlantic seaboard, running back no farther than the line of the Alleghanies. To the southward lay Georgia, East Florida, West Florida, and Louisiana; to the northward Nova Scotia and Canada; and on their western frontiers Parliament had recently put the boundary of the new Province of Quebec.

It was the hope of Congress that their ranks might be swelled by the accession of all the British colonies or provinces on our continent. On October 26 a stirring appeal to unite in the Articles of Association, adopted two days before, was addressed to the inhabitants of Quebec. "We defy you," wrote Congress, "casting your view upon every side, to discover a single circumstance, promising from any quarter the faintest hope of liberty to you or your posterity, but from an entire adoption into the Union of these colonies." What, it was urged, would your great countryman, Montesquieu, say to you were he living to-day? "Would not this be the purport of his address? Seize the opportunity presented to you by Providence itself. You have been conquered into liberty, if you act as you ought. This work is not of man. You are a small

people, compared to those who with open arms invite you into a fellowship. A moment's reflection should convince you which will be most for your interest and happiness, to have all the rest of North America your unalterable friends, or your inveterate enemies. The injuries of Boston have roused and associated every colony from Nova Scotia to Georgia. Your province is the only link wanting to complete the bright and strong chain of union. Nature has joined your country to theirs. Do you join your political interests." "We are too well acquainted with the liberality of sentiment distinguishing your nation to imagine that difference of religion will prejudice you against a hearty amity with us. You know that the transcendent nature of freedom elevates those who unite in her cause above all such low-minded infirmities."*

The address concluded with the recommendation that they should choose a Provincial Congress, which might send delegates to the next Continental Congress to be held at Philadelphia in May, 1775, and formerly accede to the existing confederation, so that, in resisting future aggressions, they might rely no longer on the small influence of a single province, "but on the consolidated powers of North America."

The Annual Register for 1775, truly says that "of all the papers published by the American Congress their address to the French inhabitants of Canada discovered the most dextrous management and the most able method of application to the temper and passions of the parties whom they endeavored to gain."+

A correspondence with Canadian patriots was also begun by the Massachusetts committee of safety, and Samuel Adams was particularly earnest in his efforts to gain their support.

In May, 1775, another address to the inhabitants of Canada was adopted by Congress, from the pen of Jay. It declared that "the fate of the Protestant and Catholic colonies was strongly linked together," and that Congress yet entertained hopes of a union with them in the defense of their common liberty.‡

During the session of this Congress an address from the inhabitants of several parishes in Bermuda was received, and

* 1, Journals of Congress, 64.

1, Journals of Congress, 109.

+ History of Europe, 32.