Then our balance of power
would be stable. It is not a lost game. Wait! only wait!"
Maxime agrees. Philip Hardin opens the young politician's eyes with
a great confidence.
"Maxime, I have learned to like you and depend on you. I will give
you a proof of it. We of the old school are determined to rule this
country. If Congress admits California as a free State, there will
yet be a Lone Star republic covering this whole coast. The South
will take it by force when we go out."
The Louisianian exclaims, "Secession!"
"Yes, war even. Rather war than the rule of the Northern mud-sill!"
cries Hardin, spurring his horse, instinctively. "Our leading men
at home are in thorough concert day by day. If the issue is forced
on us the whole South will surely go out. But we are not ready yet.
Maxime, we want our share of this great West. We will fill it with
at least even numbers of Southern men. In the next few years the
West will be entirely neutral in case of war or unless we get a
fair division. If we re-elect a Democrat as President we will save
the whole West."
"War," muses Valois, as they canter down the rich slopes toward
the Salinas River, "a war between the men who have pressed up Cerro
Gordo and Chepultepec together! A war between the descendants of
the victorious brothers of the Revolution!" It seems cold and brutal
to the young and ardent Louisianian.
Pages:
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137