The Moon-Voyage, page 11
CHAPTER XI.
FLORIDA AND TEXAS.
There still remained one question to be decided--a place favourable tothe experiment had to be chosen. According to the recommendation of theCambridge Observatory the gun must be aimed perpendicularly to the planeof the horizon--that is to say, towards the zenith. Now the moon onlyappears in the zenith in the places situated between 0 deg. and 28 deg. oflatitude, or, in other terms, when her declination is only 28 deg.. Thequestion was, therefore, to determine the exact point of the globe wherethe immense Columbiad should be cast.
On the 20th of October the Gun Club held a general meeting. Barbicanebrought a magnificent map of the United States by Z. Belltropp. Butbefore he had time to unfold it J.T. Maston rose with his habitualvehemence, and began to speak as follows:--
"Honourable colleagues, the question we are to settle to-day is reallyof national importance, and will furnish us with an occasion for doing agreat act of patriotism."
The members of the Gun Club looked at each other without understandingwhat the orator was coming to.
"Not one of you," he continued, "would think of doing anything tolessen the glory of his country, and if there is one right that theUnion may claim it is that of harbouring in its bosom the formidablecannon of the Gun Club. Now, under the present circumstances--"
"Will you allow me--" said Barbicane.
"I demand the free discussion of ideas," replied the impetuous J.T.Maston, "and I maintain that the territory from which our gloriousprojectile will rise ought to belong to the Union."
"Certainly," answered several members.
"Well, then, as our frontiers do not stretch far enough, as on the souththe ocean is our limit, as we must seek beyond the United States and ina neighbouring country this 28th parallel, this is all a legitimate_casus belli_, and I demand that war should be declared against Mexico!"
"No, no!" was cried from all parts.
"No!" replied J.T. Maston. "I am much astonished at hearing such a wordin these precincts!"
"But listen--"
"Never! never!" cried the fiery orator. "Sooner or later this war willbe declared, and I demand that it should be this very day."
"Maston," said Barbicane, making his bell go off with a crash, "I agreewith you that the experiment cannot and ought not to be made anywherebut on the soil of the Union, but if I had been allowed to speak before,and you had glanced at this map, you would know that it is perfectlyuseless to declare war against our neighbours, for certain frontiers ofthe United States extend beyond the 28th parallel. Look, we have at ourdisposition all the southern part of Texas and Florida."
This incident had no consequences; still it was not without regret thatJ.T. Maston allowed himself to be convinced. It was, therefore, decidedthat the Columbiad should be cast either on the soil of Texas or on thatof Florida. But this decision was destined to create an unexampledrivalry between the towns of these two states.
The 28th parallel, when it touches the American coast, crosses thepeninsula of Florida, and divides it into two nearly equal portions.Then, plunging into the Gulf of Mexico, it subtends the arc formed bythe coasts of Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana; then skirting Texas,off which it cuts an angle, it continues its direction over Mexico,crosses the Sonora and Old California, and loses itself in the PacificOcean; therefore only the portions of Texas and Florida situated belowthis parallel fulfilled the requisite conditions of latitude recommendedby the Observatory of Cambridge.
The southern portion of Florida contains no important cities. It onlybristles with forts raised against wandering Indians. One town only,Tampa Town, could put in a claim in favour of its position.
In Texas, on the contrary, towns are more numerous and more important.Corpus Christi in the county of Nuaces, and all the cities situated onthe Rio Bravo, Laredo, Comalites, San Ignacio in Web, Rio Grande city inStarr, Edinburgh in Hidalgo, Santa-Rita, El Panda, and Brownsville inCameron, formed a powerful league against the pretensions of Florida.
The decision, therefore, was hardly made public before the Floridan andTexican deputies flocked to Baltimore by the shortest way. From thatmoment President Barbicane and the influential members of the Gun Clubwere besieged day and night by formidable claims. If seven towns ofGreece contended for the honour of being Homer's birthplace, two entirestates threatened to fight over a cannon.
These rival parties were then seen marching with weapons about thestreets of the town. Every time they met a fight was imminent, whichwould have had disastrous consequences. Happily the prudence and skillof President Barbicane warded off this danger. Personal demonstrationsfound an outlet in the newspapers of the different states. It was thusthat the _New York Herald_ and the _Tribune_ supported the claims ofTexas, whilst the _Times_ and the _American Review_ took the part of theFloridan deputies. The members of the Gun Club did not know which tolisten to.
Texas came up proudly with its twenty-six counties, which it seemed toput in array; but Florida answered that twelve counties proved more thantwenty-six in a country six times smaller.
Texas bragged of its 33,000 inhabitants; but Florida, much smaller,boasted of being much more densely populated with 56,000. Besides,Florida accused Texas of being the home of paludian fevers, whichcarried off, one year with another, several thousands of inhabitants,and Florida was not far wrong.
In its turn Texas replied that Florida need not envy its fevers, andthat it was, at least, imprudent to call other countries unhealthy whenFlorida itself had chronic "vomito negro," and Texas was not far wrong.
"Besides," added the Texicans through the _New York Herald_, "there arerights due to a state that grows the best cotton in all America, a statewhich produces holm oak for building ships, a state that contains superbcoal and mines of iron that yield fifty per cent. of pure ore."
To that the _American Review_ answered that the soil of Florida, thoughnot so rich, offered better conditions for the casting of the Columbiad,as it was composed of sand and clay-ground.
"But," answered the Texicans, "before anything can be cast in a place,it must get to that place; now communication with Florida is difficult,whilst the coast of Texas offers Galveston Bay, which is fourteenleagues round, and could contain all the fleets in the world."
"Why," replied the newspapers devoted to Florida, "your Galveston Bay issituated above the 29th parallel, whilst our bay of Espiritu-Santo opensprecisely at the 28th degree of latitude, and by it ships go direct toTampa Town."
"A nice bay truly!" answered Texas; "it is half-choked up with sand."
"Any one would think, to hear you talk," cried Florida, "that I was asavage country."
"Well, the Seminoles do still wander over your prairies!"
"And what about your Apaches and your Comanches--are they civilised?"
The war had been thus kept up for some days when Florida tried to drawher adversary upon another ground, and one morning the _Times_insinuated that the enterprise being "essentially American," it oughtonly to be attempted upon an "essentially American" territory.
At these words Texas could not contain itself.
"American!" it cried, "are we not as American as you? Were not Texas andFlorida both incorporated in the Union in 1845?"
"Certainly," answered the _Times_, "but we have belonged to Americasince 1820."
"Yes," replied the _Tribune_, "after having been Spanish or English for200 years, you were sold to the United States for 5,000,000 of dollars!"
"What does that matter?" answered Florida. "Need we blush for that? Wasnot Louisiana bought in 1803 from Napoleon for 16,000,000 of dollars?"
"It is shameful!" then cried the Texican deputies. "A miserable slice ofland like Florida to dare to compare itself with Texas, which, insteadof being sold, made itself independent, which drove out the Mexicans onthe 2nd of March, 1836, which declared itself Federative Republicanafter the victory gained by Samuel Houston on the banks of the SanJacinto over the troops of Santa-Anna--a country, in short, whichvoluntarily joined itself to the United States of America!"
"Because it was afraid of the Mexicans!" answered Florida.
"Afraid!" From the day this word, really too cutting, was pronounced,the situation became intolerable. An engagement was expected between thetwo parties in the streets of Baltimore. The deputies were obliged to bewatched.
President Barbicane was half driven wild. Notes, documents, and lettersfull of threats inundated his house. Which course ought he to decideupon? In the point of view of fitness of soil, facility ofcommunications, and rapidity of transport, the rights of the two stateswere really equal. As to the political personalities, they had nothingto do with the question.
Now this hesitation and embarrassment had already lasted some time whenBarbicane resolved to put an end to it; he called his colleaguestogether, and the solution he proposed to them was a profoundly wiseone, as will be seen from the following:--
"After due consideration," said he, "of all that has just occurredbetween Florida and Texas, it is evident that the same difficulties willagain crop up between the towns of the favoured state. The rivalry willbe changed from state to city, and that is all. Now Texas containseleven towns with the requisite conditions that will dispute the honourof the enterprise, and that will create fresh troubles for us, whilstFlorida has but one; therefore I decide for Tampa Town!"
The Texican deputies were thunderstruck at this decision. It put theminto a terrible rage, and they sent nominal provocations to differentmembers of the Gun Club. There was only one course for the magistratesof Baltimore to take, and they took it. They had the steam of a specialtrain got up, packed the Texicans into it, whether they would or no, andsent them away from the town at a speed of thirty miles an hour.
But they were not carried off too quickly to hurl a last and threateningsarcasm at their adversaries.
Making allusion to the width of Florida, a simple peninsula between twoseas, they pretended it would not resist the shock, and would be blownup the first time the cannon was fired.
"Very well! let it be blown up!" answered the Floridans with a laconismworthy of ancient times.
