an honest living at home?" This statement was characterized by one Maj. B. Hammatt Norton as "the most blackguard article ever written, and was so thought by everybody on 'change.'' 43 There was no doubt in the mind of the editor of the Boston Atlas that the true course of the rebellion in Texas was to be found in the desire of Austin to introduce slavery.* 44 In conclusion, we may note briefly the attitude of the prominent journals published at Washington. Of these, the Globe, as might be expected, was an ardent defender of the administration's policy towards Mexico; it defended General Gaines's call for militia, and accused prominent Whig journals of seeking to destroy the character and influence of General Houston.45 The attitude of the National Intelligencer may be gathered from its contending that "the citizens of the United States who had entered the Mexican territory in hostile array, with arms in their hands, have done so at their own peril, and have only themselves to blame for their consequences." The Intelligencer deprecated the attitude of General Gaines in advancing to "old Fort Nacogdoches."" This journal was accused by Democratic papers of charging General Jackson with provoking a war for the benefit of Mexico, and for the relief of the surplus revenue. 48 In August the editor wrote: "The Rubicon is passed, a war entered upon without the shadow of justification, or so much as provocation from the Mexican people. 46 From these extracts it is clear that the attitude of the Intelligencer was determined primarily by hostility to the administration rather than by an attempt to analyze fairly the Texas situation. 48 Evening Transcript, Nov. 12, 1835. 44 Quoted in Philadelphia National Gazette, April 29, 45 See Albany Argus, June 22 and Aug. 3, 1836. 1836. 46 Quoted in Philadelphia National Gazette, April 28, 1836. 47 Issues of Mar. 10 and Sept. 9, 1836. 48 Albany Argus, May 20, 1836. 49 National Intelligencer, Aug. 13, 1836. Such in brief was the attitude of some of the leading American newspapers towards the Texas question. While partisan considerations must be taken into account in explaining the attitude of some of the opposition journals, on the whole, it would seem that a decidedly friendly tone characterizes the utterances of the great majority of editors. It was well for the Texans and the cause of Texas independence that such should have been the case; for among the influences that had their share in bringing the struggle against Mexico to a successful issue, due weight must be given the American newspapers of the period. THE NEW INVASION OF THE GOTHS AND VANDALS BY ISAAC JOSLIN COX Shortly after the transfer of Louisiana to the United States, the American general met the governor of West Florida in the city where we are now gathered. In the course of a labored interview he advised the Spanish official that his nation could best meet the situation thus unexpectedly thrust upon her by exchanging the Floridas for the new American acquisition. The Mississippi must become the boundary between the United States and the Spanish colonies. Otherwise the western frontiersmen "like the ancient Goths and Vandals would precipitate themselves upon the weak defenses of Mexico, overturn everything in their path, and propagate in their course the pestilent doctrines that had desolated the most valuable part of Europe and deprived whole kingdoms of their foundations. "'1 A few years later, when the Spaniards were engaged in their thrilling struggle with Napoleon, the same governor of West Florida called his fellow-citizens, the Romans of the modern world. The recent repulse of the British at Buenos Ayres, the collapse of Miranda's expedition against Caracas, and the valiant uprising against the usurper in the Peninsula gave point to his utterance. His metaphor was echoed, albeit uncon 1 Wilkinson's "Reflections,'' wrongly attributed to Governor Vizente Folch, occur in J. A. Robertson, Louisiana under the Rule of Spain, France, and the United States, 1785-1807, II, 325-347. Cf. American Historical Review, XIX, 798, note 11. 2 Folch to Someruelos, Reservado No. 130, Legajo 1566, "Cuban Papers." Archivo General de Indias, Seville. Cf. Mississippi Valley Historical Review, I, 217, note 10. sciously, when the Spanish chargé represented himself as a modern Brutus urged on by the spirit of the Spanish people to protest against the recent exactions of the American government.3 These chance utterances may serve to introduce our main theme, the earlier stages of rivalry between Spanish-American and Anglo-American. They likewise indicate something of the pride with which the transplanted Iberian met his despised antagonist. Undoubtedly he exhibits presumption as well as pride in thus comparing himself to the masters of the ancient world. But we must remember that the people of the Iberian Peninsula, once thoroughly subdued, were more Roman than their conquerors; and that memorials of their proud position in the ancient empire survived the dark ages of Gothic and Moorish domination. Then too, in their turn the united Spanish people had subdued in the new world an area far surpassing the empire ruled from the Tiber or the Bosporus. Over that vast colonial empire at the beginning of the nineteenth century, and especially over the Mexican Viceroyalty, there was impending such an invasion as their forbears had experienced fifteen hundred years before. If in their measures for resisting it they displayed more pride than power, their pride was measurably justified. It was equally natural for them to apply to their rivals epithets that recalled the early barbarian invaders. Moreover the advice of the American general, already quoted, confirmed them in this practice and led them farther afield. His "Goths and Vandals"-a name which he possibly applied in spite to those frontiersmen whom he had been able to deceive but never to corrupt 3 Foronda to R. Smith, Sept. 26, 1809, Spanish Notes II, Bureau of Indexes and Archives, Department of State. It may be well to note that neither of the chief racial stocks on the American continent named itself but in time each accepted the hyphenated designation coined by the other. became to them, "Scythians" and "Huns," as well as "white Indians." Even the mercenary intrigues of the General himself suggested the days when Germanic chieftains shamelessly sold the imperial insignia or betrayed their immediate followers. We know little of the Goths and Vandals, except what their conquered enemies have told us; but subsequent speculation about them has not proved wholly profitless. In like manner it may be worth while to note how the Anglo-American advance to the Gulf and the Mississippi, and into the Far Southwest affected contemporary Spanish observers. Such a process will not prove flattering to ourselves, but it may give us a much-needed corrective view of "manifest destiny," and serve to explain the sentiment which certain SpanishAmerican peoples cherish toward their great northern neighbor. In our somewhat-forced comparison it is possible to show a certain similarity between the physical features of the old Roman world and those of its modern exemplar. Turning the map of North America so as to afford a horizontal view, we may note that the position and direction of the St. Lawrence suggest the Rhine, with a New France corresponding to ancient Gaul. To the southward flows the Mississippi - a second Danube with the Ohio as an enlarged Theiss. East of the larger stream and south of the Ohio, between the Appalachians and the Gulf, lies the American Dacia. Ruled uncertainly from the Crescent City, weakly assuming the rôle of the capital on the Golden Horn, this wilderness region served as a rampart for the trans-Mississippi provinces until the advancing Anglo-American tide broke through the ineffectual barrier of aborigines and occupied the weakly defended littoral beyond. In the distant city on the Mexican tableland, the center of vice-regal power in North America, one does not perceive a close counterpart to the City of the Seven |