Chapter 11 Chapter Eleven Florida and Texas

At this time, there is still a problem to be solved: a suitable place for the experiment must be selected. According to the instructions of the Cambridge Observatory, the shooting direction must be perpendicular to the horizon, that is to say, it must be shooting towards the zenith; however, the moon is only located at zero degrees north and south latitude In order to climb to the zenith, the moon's inclination scale has 20 degrees.So it should find a suitable place on earth to cast a giant Columbia cannon. On October 20, at the general meeting of the Cannon Club, Barbicane brought with him a beautiful map of America by Chi Birchopp.But before he had time to open the map, Maston, with his usual boldness, demanded the floor, and began:

"My dear members, we are discussing today an issue that truly has our country at stake, and this will be an opportunity to show our great patriotism." Members of the Cannon Club look at me and I at you, wondering what this orator is about to say. "Among you," he went on, "none of you would do harm to the honor of your country, and if the United States could claim one right, it would be to have upon itself this great cannon of the Cannon Club. But, Judging from the current situation..." "Honest Maston..." said the chairman. "Allow me to express my opinion," went on the orator.

"As things stand, it seems that in order to be able to conduct experiments under good conditions, we have to choose a place fairly close to the equator..." "If you will..." said Barbicane. "I demand liberty of opinion," protested the impassioned Maston, "and I maintain that the territory from which our glorious cannonball is fired must belong to the United States." "Without a doubt!" Several members responded. "Well! Since our frontiers are not wide enough, since the ocean has erected an insurmountable barrier to us in the south, and since we must go beyond the United States, to our neighbors, to find the twenty-eighth parallel, it is A legitimate war event, I demand a declaration of war with Mexico!"

"No! No!" shouted everywhere. "No!" retorted Maston. "It astonishes me to hear that in our circle!" "Please listen to me!……" "No! Never!" cried the impetuous orator. "Since war is inevitable sooner or later, I demand that war be waged today." "Maston," said Barbicane, letting his bell explode resoundingly; "I cancel your right to speak!" Maston wanted to retort, but several members held him back. "I agree that our experiments cannot and should not be carried out outside the United States," said Barbicane, "but if my impatient friend asked me to speak, if he glanced at the map, he would Knowing that there is no need to declare war on our neighbours, for the United States extends south of the twenty-eighth parallel in several places. See, the whole of southern Texas and Florida is at our disposal."

This ended the accidental episode, but Maston was quite sorry to be persuaded.It was then decided that the Columbia guns should be cast in either Texas or Florida.But the resolution created unprecedented competition between the cities of the two states.The twenty-eighth parallel north, meeting the coast of the United States, cuts across the peninsula of Florida, dividing it into almost two equal parts.Then it plunged into the Gulf of Mexico and became the bowstring of the bow-shaped bay formed by the three states of Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana.Then it approaches Texas, cuts it into a triangular area, extends into Mexico, crosses the Sonora River, crosses old California, and finally plunges into the Pacific Ocean.Therefore, only Texas and Florida each fall partly below this parallel, and only these two places meet the latitude conditions pointed out by the Cambridge Observatory.

, There are no significant cities in South Florida.Here and there stood tall fortresses defending Indian nomadic tribes.There is only one small town called Danpa that can make a case that the terrain is suitable for firing cannonballs. On the contrary, Texas has more and more important cities, Corpus Christi in Noeses County, and many cities on the Bravo River, such as Laredo, Commaret, St. Innacho, Rio Grande in Starr County, Edinburgh in Hidalgo County, Santa Rita, El Panda, Brownsville in Cameron County, all these many cities form a great A coalition of powers resisting Florida's demands.

On hearing of this decision, therefore, the representatives of Texas and Florida cut corners and came to Baltimore: from this time on, the Barbicane Chairman and the influential members of the Cannon Club were surrounded by those who made strong demands. The delegates were besieged day and night.If the seven cities of Greece were jostling for the honor of being the birthplace of Homer, these two states would now have to resort to force for a cannon. I saw those vicious compatriots "walking in the street with weapons. Every time they meet together, they may clash, and the result is disastrous. Fortunately, the wit of Chairman Barbicane got rid of this danger. At that time, the personal demonstration was in Channels were found in newspapers of the states. The New York Herald and the Tribune supported Texas, and the Times and American Tribune cheered on the Florida delegates. The members of the Cannon Club did not know what to hear. On the one hand it's good.

Texas proudly displayed its twenty-six counties in array,1 but Florida replied that twelve counties were no more than twenty-six counties in a state six times smaller. The counties are inferior. Texas complacently flaunts its population of 330,000, but Florida says that although it has only 56,000 people, it is a small place and its population is much denser than that of Texas.In addition, it also accused that malaria is a specialty of Texas, and it always loses thousands of residents every year on average.It's not wrong. Now it's Texas' turn to counterattack. It says that Florida doesn't need to be concerned about malaria. It is at least always unwise to blame others for poor sanitation while suffering from chronic yellow fever.This is true.

"Besides," added the Texan through the New York Herald, "for a state that produces the best cotton in the country, and the finest green oaks for shipbuilding, for a state that is rich in mineral deposits with a fifty percent The first-class coal and iron mines in the country, we should pay our due respect." To these remarks the American Review replied that Florida, though not so fertile, provided good conditions for molding and founding of Columbian guns, for Florida is full of sand and clay. "But," continued the Texan, "in order to cast something in one place, one must go there first: but Florida is inaccessible, and Galveston Bay in Texas is fourteen leagues in circumference and holds the whole world." fleet."

"Excellent!" replied the faithful Florida papers. "It's wonderful that you've even moved out of Galveston Bay below the 29th parallel. Doesn't it mean we don't have St. The Bay of Spiritu? This bay happens to lie on the twenty-eighth parallel, and there is direct boat traffic between it and Tampa." "What a beautiful bay!" Texas remarked, "half it's silted up!" " "Your ones are clogged too!" exclaimed Florida. "Why don't you say I'm a barbaric country here?" "I can vouch for it, the Seminoles are still running on your prairie!"

"So! Are your Apaches and Comanches already civilized!" The pen war went on like this for several days, and Florida tried to lure the enemy to another battlefield, and one morning, the Times beat around the bush, saying that this was a "properly American" business that could only be done in "properly American" Tested on U.S. territory! After hearing this sentence, Texas jumped up: "A territory of the United States!" It roared, "Aren't we a territory of the United States like you? Didn't Texas and Florida join the United States at the same time in 1845?" ?" "No doubt," answered The Age, "but we have belonged to America since 1820." "I believe so, too," retorted the Tribune, "that after two hundred years of slavery with the Spaniards or the English, you were sold to America for five million dollars!" "What does it matter!" retorted the Floridian. "Should we be ashamed of it? Wasn't Louisiana bought from Napoleon in 1803 for sixteen million?" "It's ugly and shameful!" cried the Texas delegates. "A wretched place like Florida dares to argue with Texas. Instead of betraying itself, Texas won its own independence, driving out the Mexicans on May 2, 1836, when Samuel Huston smashed the Santa Ana ① on the banks of the San Jacinto River. After the team, declare the establishment of the Federal Republic!All in all, this state joined the United States of America voluntarily! " "Because he's afraid of the Mexicans!" Florida retorted. "Scared! This is too much! As soon as this sentence is uttered, the situation will be out of control. At any moment, the two sides could be choking each other on the streets of Baltimore.So the delegates had to be guarded. Chairman Barbicane did not know what to do.Briefs, supporting documents, and crude threatening letters rained down on his house.Which side should he be on?Appropriate quality, convenient transportation, and fast transportation, the conditions of the two states are completely equal in these respects.Politically, there is no question of which state should take the lead. After procrastinating in this way for a long time, Barbicane finally resolved to break the deadlock; he called the members together, and proposed a solution which, as we shall see, was very wise. "In view of what has recently happened between Florida and Texas," he said, "it is obvious that the same difficulties will arise among the cities in the chosen state, and the competition will go from state to city, and see. ! That's it.Now, there are eleven cities in Texas, and they all compete for the honor of supplying the experimental site, which will bring us new troubles, but Florida has only one.So we'll pick Florida, pick Danpa and forget it! " When this decision was announced, the representatives of Texas collapsed.In a fit of rage, they named and abused the members of the Cannon Club.There was only one measure that Baltimore officials could take, and they did. They prepared a special passenger car, and put all the Texans on board, willingly or unwillingly, and the Texans left the city at thirty miles an hour. But, however fast the train traveled, they had time to deliver one last sarcasm and threat to their enemy. They implied that Florida was but a long strip, an ordinary peninsula jutting out into the open sea, which, they said, could not resist the shock of the cannon fire, and flew into the sky. "Yes! Then let it go to heaven!" answered the Floridian with a brevity that rivaled the proverbs of the ancients.