She will possess a territory equal to half ours beyond the Mississippi.
She will reduce that half of ours which is on this side of the Mississippi;—by her language, laws, religion, manners, government, commerce, capital;—by the possession of New Orleans, which draws to it the dependence of all the waters of the Mississippi;—by the markets she can offer them in the Gulf of Mexico and elsewhere.
She will take from the remaining part of our States the markets they now have for their produce;—by furnishing those markets cheaper with the same articles, tobacco, rice, indigo, bread, lumber, arms, naval stores, furs.
She will have then possessions double the size of ours, as good in soil and climate.
She will encircle us completely, by these possessions on our land-board, and her fleets on our sea-board. Instead of two neighbors balancing each other, we shall have one with more than the strength of both.
Would the prevention of this be worth a war?
Consider our abilities to take part in a war. Our operations would be by land only. How many men should we need to employ?—their cost? Our resources of taxation and credit equal to this.
Weigh the evil of this new accumulation of debt against the loss of markets, and eternal expense and danger from so overgrown a neighbor.
But this is on supposition that France, as well as Spain, shall be engaged in the war; for, with Spain alone, the war would be unsuccessful, and our situation rendered worse.
No need to take a part in the war as yet. We may choose our own time. Delay gives us many chances to avoid it altogether.