CHAPTER XI
FLORIDA AND TEXAS
One question remained yet to be decided; it was necessary tochoose a favorable spot for the experiment. According to theadvice of the Observatory of Cambridge, the gun must be firedperpendicularly to the plane of the horizon, that is to say,toward the zenith. Now the moon does not traverse the zenith,except in places situated between 0@ and 28@ of latitude. Itbecame, then, necessary to determine exactly that spot on theglobe where the immense Columbiad should be cast.
On the 20th of October, at a general meeting of the Gun Club,Barbicane produced a magnificent map of the United States."Gentlemen," said he, in opening the discussion, "I presume thatwe are all agreed that this experiment cannot and ought not tobe tried anywhere but within the limits of the soil of the Union.Now, by good fortune, certain frontiers of the United Statesextend downward as far as the 28th parallel of the north latitude.If you will cast your eye over this map, you will see that we have atour disposal the whole of the southern portion of Texas and Florida."
It was finally agreed, then, that the Columbiad must be cast onthe soil of either Texas or Florida. The result, however, ofthis decision was to create a rivalry entirely without precedentbetween the different towns of these two States.
The 28th parallel, on reaching the American coast, traverses thepeninsula of Florida, dividing it into two nearly equal portions.Then, plunging into the Gulf of Mexico, it subtends the arcformed by the coast of Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana;then skirting Texas, off which it cuts an angle, it continuesits course over Mexico, crosses the Sonora, Old California,and loses itself in the Pacific Ocean. It was, therefore,only those portions of Texas and Florida which were situatedbelow this parallel which came within the prescribed conditionsof latitude.
Florida, in its southern part, reckons no cities of importance;it is simply studded with forts raised against the roving Indians.One solitary town, Tampa Town, was able to put in a claim in favorof its situation.
In Texas, on the contrary, the towns are much more numerousand important. Corpus Christi, in the county of Nueces, and allthe cities situated on the Rio Bravo, Laredo, Comalites, SanIgnacio on the Web, Rio Grande City on the Starr, Edinburgh inthe Hidalgo, Santa Rita, Elpanda, Brownsville in the Cameron,formed an imposing league against the pretensions of Florida.So, scarcely was the decision known, when the Texan and Floridandeputies arrived at Baltimore in an incredibly short space of time.From that very moment President Barbicane and the influentialmembers of the Gun Club were besieged day and night byformidable claims. If seven cities of Greece contended forthe honor of having given birth to a Homer, here were two entireStates threatening to come to blows about the question of a cannon.
The rival parties promenaded the streets with arms in their hands;and at every occasion of their meeting a collision was to beapprehended which might have been attended with disastrous results.Happily the prudence and address of President Barbicane avertedthe danger. These personal demonstrations found a division inthe newspapers of the different States. The New York _Herald_ andthe _Tribune_ supported Texas, while the _Times_ and the _AmericanReview_ espoused the cause of the Floridan deputies. The membersof the Gun Club could not decide to which to give the preference.
Texas produced its array of twenty-six counties; Florida repliedthat twelve counties were better than twenty-six in a countryonly one-sixth part of the size.
Texas plumed itself upon its 330,000 natives; Florida, with afar smaller territory, boasted of being much more denselypopulated with 56,000.
The Texans, through the columns of the _Herald_ claimed thatsome regard should be had to a State which grew the best cottonin all America, produced the best green oak for the service ofthe navy, and contained the finest oil, besides iron mines, inwhich the yield was fifty per cent. of pure metal.
To this the _American Review_ replied that the soil of Florida,although not equally rich, afforded the best conditions for themoulding and casting of the Columbiad, consisting as it did ofsand and argillaceous earth.
"That may be all very well," replied the Texans; "but you mustfirst get to this country. Now the communications with Floridaare difficult, while the coast of Texas offers the bay ofGalveston, which possesses a circumference of fourteen leagues,and is capable of containing the navies of the entire world!"
"A pretty notion truly," replied the papers in the interest ofFlorida, "that of Galveston bay _below the 29th parallel!_Have we not got the bay of Espiritu Santo, opening precisely upon_the 28th degree_, and by which ships can reach Tampa Town bydirect route?"
"A fine bay; half choked with sand!"
"Choked yourselves!" returned the others.
Thus the war went on for several days, when Florida endeavoredto draw her adversary away on to fresh ground; and one morningthe _Times_ hinted that, the enterprise being essentiallyAmerican, it ought not to be attempted upon other than purelyAmerican territory.
To these words Texas retorted, "American! are we not as much soas you? Were not Texas and Florida both incorporated into theUnion in 1845?"
"Undoubtedly," replied the _Times_; "but we have belonged to theAmericans ever since 1820."
"Yes!" returned the _Tribune_; "after having been Spaniards orEnglish for two hundred years, you were sold to the UnitedStates for five million dollars!"
"Well! and why need we blush for that? Was not Louisiana boughtfrom Napoleon in 1803 at the price of sixteen million dollars?"
"Scandalous!" roared the Texas deputies. "A wretched littlestrip of country like Florida to dare to compare itself toTexas, who, in place of selling herself, asserted her ownindependence, drove out the Mexicans in March 2, 1846, anddeclared herself a federal republic after the victory gained bySamuel Houston, on the banks of the San Jacinto, over the troopsof Santa Anna!-- a country, in fine, which voluntarily annexeditself to the United States of America!"
"Yes; because it was afraid of the Mexicans!" replied Florida.
"Afraid!" From this moment the state of things became intolerable.A sanguinary encounter seemed daily imminent between the twoparties in the streets of Baltimore. It became necessary to keepan eye upon the deputies.
President Barbicane knew not which way to look. Notes, documents,letters full of menaces showered down upon his house. Which sideought he to take? As regarded the appropriation of the soil, thefacility of communication, the rapidity of transport, the claimsof both States were evenly balanced. As for political prepossessions,they had nothing to do with the question.
This dead block had existed for some little time, when Barbicaneresolved to get rid of it all at once. He called a meeting ofhis colleagues, and laid before them a proposition which, it willbe seen, was profoundly sagacious.
"On carefully considering," he said, "what is going on nowbetween Florida and Texas, it is clear that the samedifficulties will recur with all the towns of the favored State.The rivalry will descend from State to city, and so on downward.Now Texas possesses eleven towns within the prescribedconditions, which will further dispute the honor and create usnew enemies, while Florida has only one. I go in, therefore,for Florida and Tampa Town."
This decision, on being made known, utterly crushed theTexan deputies. Seized with an indescribable fury, theyaddressed threatening letters to the different members of theGun Club by name. The magistrates had but one course to take,and they took it. They chartered a special train, forced theTexans into it whether they would or no; and they quitted thecity with a speed of thirty miles an hour.
Quickly, however, as they were despatched, they found time tohurl one last and bitter sarcasm at their adversaries.
Alluding to the extent of Florida, a mere peninsula confinedbetween two seas, they pretended that it could never sustainthe shock of the discharge, and that it would "bust up" at thevery first shot.
"Very well, let it bust up!" replied the Floridans, with abrevity of the days of ancient Sparta.