BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas the territory south of the Mississippi Territory and eastward of
the river Mississippi, and extending to the river Perdido, of which
possession was not delivered to the United States in pursuance of the
treaty concluded at Paris on the 30th April, 1803, has at all times, as
is well known, been considered and claimed by them as being within the
colony of Louisiana conveyed by the said treaty in the same extent that
it had in the hands of Spain and that it had when France originally
possessed it; and

Whereas the acquiescence of the United States in the temporary
continuance of the said territory under the Spanish authority was not
the result of any distrust of their title, as has been particularly
evinced by the general tenor of their laws and by the distinction made
in the application of those laws between that territory and foreign
countries, but was occasioned by their conciliatory views and by a
confidence in the justice of their cause and in the success of candid
discussion and amicable negotiation with a just and friendly power; and

Whereas a satisfactory adjustment, too long delayed, without the fault
of the United States, has for some time been entirely suspended by
events over which they had no control; and

Whereas a crisis has at length arrived subversive of the order of things
under the Spanish authorities, whereby a failure of the United States
to take the said territory into its possession may lead to events