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1FLORIDA AND TEXAS One question remained yet to be decided; it was necessary to choose a favorable spot for the
2experiment. According to the advice of the Observatory of Cambridge, the gun must be fired perpendicularly to the plane
3of the horizon, that is to say, toward the zenith. Now the moon does not traverse the zenith, except in places situated
4between 0° and 28° of latitude. It became, then, necessary to determine exactly that spot on the globe where the immense
5Columbiad should be cast. On the 20th of October, at a general meeting of the Gun Club, Barbicane produced a magnificent
6map of the United States. "Gentlemen," said he, in opening the discussion, "I presume that we are all agreed that this
7experiment cannot and ought not to be tried anywhere but within the limits of the soil of the Union. Now, by good
8fortune, certain frontiers of the United States extend downward as far as the 28th parallel of the north latitude. If
9you will cast your eye over this map, you will see that we have at our disposal the whole of the southern portion of
10Texas and Florida." It was finally agreed, then, that the Columbiad must be cast on the soil of either Texas or Florida.
11The result, however, of this decision was to create a rivalry entirely without precedent between the different towns of
12these two States. The 28th parallel, on reaching the American coast, traverses the peninsula of Florida, dividing it
13into two nearly equal portions. Then, plunging into the Gulf of Mexico, it subtends the arc formed by the coast of
14Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana; then skirting Texas, off which it cuts an angle, it continues its course over
15Mexico, crosses the Sonora, Old California, and loses itself in the Pacific Ocean. It was, therefore, only those
16portions of Texas and Florida which were situated below this parallel which came within the prescribed conditions of
17latitude. Florida, in its southern part, reckons no cities of importance; it is simply studded with forts raised against
18the roving Indians. One solitary town, Tampa Town, was able to put in a claim in favor of its situation. In Texas, on
19the contrary, the towns are much more numerous and important. Corpus Christi, in the county of Nueces, and all the
20cities situated on the Rio Bravo, Laredo, Comalites, San Ignacio on the Web, Rio Grande City on the Starr, Edinburgh in
21the Hidalgo, Santa Rita, Elpanda, Brownsville in the Cameron, formed an imposing league against the pretensions of
22Florida. So, scarcely was the decision known, when the Texan and Floridan deputies arrived at Baltimore in an incredibly
23short space of time. From that very moment President Barbicane and the influential members of the Gun Club were besieged
24day and night by formidable claims. If seven cities of Greece contended for the honor of having given birth to a Homer,
25here were two entire States threatening to come to blows about the question of a cannon. The rival parties promenaded
26the streets with arms in their hands; and at every occasion of their meeting a collision was to be apprehended which
27might have been attended with disastrous results. Happily the prudence and address of President Barbicane averted the
28danger. These personal demonstrations found a division in the newspapers of the different States. The New York Herald
29and the Tribune supported Texas, while the Times and the American Review espoused the cause of the Floridan deputies.
30The members of the Gun Club could not decide to which to give the preference. Texas produced its array of twenty-six
31counties; Florida replied that twelve counties were better than twenty-six in a country only one-sixth part of the size.
32Texas plumed itself upon its 330,000 natives; Florida, with a far smaller territory, boasted of being much more densely
33populated with 56,000. The Texans, through the columns of the Herald claimed that some regard should be had to a State
34which grew the best cotton in all America, produced the best green oak for the service of the navy, and contained the
35finest oil, besides iron mines, in which the yield was fifty per cent. of pure metal. To this the American Review
36replied that the soil of Florida, although not equally rich, afforded the best conditions for the moulding and casting
37of the Columbiad, consisting as it did of sand and argillaceous earth. "That may be all very well," replied the Texans;
38"but you must first get to this country. Now the communications with Florida are difficult, while the coast of Texas
39offers the bay of Galveston, which possesses a circumference of fourteen leagues, and is capable of containing the
40navies of the entire world!" "A pretty notion truly," replied the papers in the interest of Florida, "that of Galveston
41bay below the 29th parallel! Have we not got the bay of Espiritu Santo, opening precisely upon the 28th degree, and by
42which ships can reach Tampa Town by direct route?" "A fine bay; half choked with sand!" "Choked yourselves!" returned
43the others. Thus the war went on for several days, when Florida endeavored to draw her adversary away on to fresh
44ground; and one morning the Times hinted that, the enterprise being essentially American, it ought not to be attempted
45upon other than purely American territory. To these words Texas retorted, "American! are we not as much so as you? Were
46not Texas and Florida both incorporated into the Union in 1845?" "Undoubtedly," replied the Times; "but we have belonged
47to the Americans ever since 1820." "Yes!" returned the Tribune; "after having been Spaniards or English for two hundred
48years, you were sold to the United States for five million dollars!" "Well! and why need we blush for that? Was not
49Louisiana bought from Napoleon in 1803 at the price of sixteen million dollars?" "Scandalous!" roared the Texas
50deputies. "A wretched little strip of country like Florida to dare to compare itself to Texas, who, in place of selling
51herself, asserted her own independence, drove out the Mexicans in March 2, 1846, and declared herself a federal republic
52after the victory gained by Samuel Houston, on the banks of the San Jacinto, over the troops of Santa Anna!--a country,
53in fine, which voluntarily annexed itself to the United States of America!" "Yes; because it was afraid of the
54Mexicans!" replied Florida. "Afraid!" From this moment the state of things became intolerable. A sanguinary encounter
55seemed daily imminent between the two parties in the streets of Baltimore. It became necessary to keep an eye upon the
56deputies. President Barbicane knew not which way to look. Notes, documents, letters full of menaces showered down upon
57his house. Which side ought he to take? As regarded the appropriation of the soil, the facility of communication, the
58rapidity of transport, the claims of both States were evenly balanced. As for political prepossessions, they had nothing
59to do with the question. This dead block had existed for some little time, when Barbicane resolved to get rid of it all
60at once. He called a meeting of his colleagues, and laid before them a proposition which, it will be seen, was
61profoundly sagacious. "On carefully considering," he said, "what is going on now between Florida and Texas, it is clear
62that the same difficulties will recur with all the towns of the favored State. The rivalry will descend from State to
63city, and so on downward. Now Texas possesses eleven towns within the prescribed conditions, which will further dispute
64the honor and create us new enemies, while Florida has only one. I go in, therefore, for Florida and Tampa Town." This
65decision, on being made known, utterly crushed the Texan deputies. Seized with an indescribable fury, they addressed
66threatening letters to the different members of the Gun Club by name. The magistrates had but one course to take, and
67they took it. They chartered a special train, forced the Texans into it whether they would or no; and they quitted the
68city with a speed of thirty miles an hour. Quickly, however, as they were despatched, they found time to hurl one last
69and bitter sarcasm at their adversaries. Alluding to the extent of Florida, a mere peninsula confined between two seas,
70they pretended that it could never sustain the shock of the discharge, and that it would "bust up" at the very first
71shot. "Very well, let it bust up!" replied the Floridans, with a brevity of the days of ancient Sparta.
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