USA > Arkansas > Biographical and historical memoirs of northeast Arkansas : comprising a condensed history of the state biographies of distinguished citizens a brief descriptive history of the counties, and numerous biographical sketches of the prominent citizens of such counties. V. 1 > Part 5
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Peter L. Lefevre and family were among the very first French settlers, locating in the fall of 1818 on the north side of the river on Spanish Grant No. 497, about six miles below Little Rock. His sons were Peter, Enos, Francis G., Ambrose, Akin, Leon and John B., his daughter being Mary Louise. All of these have passed away except the now venerable Leon Lefevre, who resides on the old plantation where he was born in the year 1808. For eighty one years the panorama of the birth, growth and the vicissitudes of Arkansas have passed before his eyes. It is supposed of all living men he is the oldest representative surviving of the earliest settlers; however, a negro, still a resident of Little Rock, also came in 1818.
The first English speaking settlers were Ten- nesseeans, Kentuckians and Alabamians. The ear- liest came down the Mississippi River, and then penetrating Arkansas at the mouths of the streams from the west, ascended these in the search for future homes. The date of the first coming of English speaking colonists may be given as 1807, those prior to that time being only trappers, hunters and voyagers on expeditions of discovery, or those whose names can not now be ascertained.
South Carolina and Georgia also gave their small quotas to the first pioneers of Arkansas. From the States south of Tennessee the route was
overland to the Mississippi River, or to some of its bayous, and then by water. A few of these from the Southern States brought considerable property, and some of them negro slaves, but not many were able to do this. The general rule was to reach the Territory alone and clear a small piece of ground, and as soon as possible to buy slaves and set them at work in the cotton fields.
In 1814 a colony of emigrants, consisting of four families, settled at Batesville, then the Lower Missouri Territory, now the county seat of Inde- pendence County. There was an addition of fif- teen families to this colony the next year. Of the first was the family of Samuel Miller, father of (afterward) Gov. William R. Miller; there were also John Moore, the Magnesses and Beans. All these families left names permanently connected with the history of Arkansas. In the colony of 1815 (all from Kentucky) were the brothers, Richard, John, Thomas and James Peel, sons of Thomas Peel, a Virginian, and Kentucky companion of Daniel Boone. Thomas Curran was also one of the later colonists from Kentucky, a relative of the great Irishman, John Philpot Curran. In the 1815 colony were also old Ben Hardin-hero of so many Indian wars-his brother, Joab, and William Griffin, Thomas Wyatt, William Martin. Samuel Elvin, James Akin, John Reed, James Miller and John B. Craig.
Alden Trimble, who died at Peel, Ark., in April, 1889, aged seventy-four years, was born in the Cal Hogan settlement, on White River, Marion County, June 14, 1815. This item is gained from the obituary notice of his death, and indicates some of the very first settlers in that portion of the State.
Among the oldest settled points, after Arkan- sas Post, was what is now Arkadelphia. Clark County. It was first called Blakelytown. after Adam Blakely. He had opened a little store at the place, and about this were collected the first settlers, among whom may now be named Zack Davis, Samuel Parker and Adam Highnight. The Blakelys and the names given above were all locat- ed in that settlement in the year 1810. The next year came John Hemphill, who was the first to dis-
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HISTORY OF ARKANSAS.
cover and utilize the valuable waters of the salt springs of that place. He engaged in the suc- cessful manufacture of salt, and was in time suc- ceeded by his son-in-law, Jonathan O. Callaway. Jacob Barkman settled in Arkadelphia in 1811. He was a man of foresight and enterprise, and soon established a trade along the river to New Orleans. He commenced navigating the river in canoes and pirogues, and finally owned and ran in the trade the first steamboat plying from that point to New Orleans. He pushed trade at the point of settlement, at the same time advancing navigation, and opened a large cotton farm.
In Arkansas County, among the early promi- nent men who were active in the county's affairs were Eli I. Lewis, Henry Scull, O. H. Thomas, T. Farrelly, Hewes Scull, A. B. K. Thetford and Lewis Bogy. The latter afterward removed to Missouri, and has permanently associated his name with the history of that State. In a subsequent list of names should be mentioned those of Will- iam Fultony, James Maxwell and James H. Lucas, the latter being another of the notable citizens of Missouri.
Carroll County: Judges George Campbell and William King, and John Bush, T. H. Clark, Abra- ham Shelly, William Nooner, Judge Hiram Davis, W. C. Mitchell, Charles Sneed, A. M. Wilson, Elijah Tabor, William Beller, M. L. Hawkins, John McMillan, M. Perryman, J. A. Hicks, N. Rudd, Thomas Callen, W. E. Armstrong.
Chicot County: John Clark, William B. Patton, Richard Latting, George W. Ferribee, Francis Rycroft, Thomas Knox, W. B. Duncan, J. W. Boone, H. S. Smith, James Blaine, Abner John- son, William Hunt, J. W. Neal, James Murray, B. Magruder, W. P. Reyburn, J. T. White, John Fulton, Judge W. H. Sutton, J. Chapman. Hiram Morrell, Reuben Smith, A. W. Webb.
In Clark County, in the earliest times, were W. P. L. Blair, Colbert Baker, Moses Graham, Mathew Logan, James Miles, Thomas Drew, Daniel Ringo, A. Stroud, David Fisk and Isaac Ward.
Clay County: John J. Griffin, Abraham Rob- erts, William Davis, William H. Mack. James
Watson, J. G. Dudley, James Campbell, Single- ton Copeland, C. H. Mobley.
Conway County: Judge Saffold, David Bar- ber, James Kellam, Reuben Blunt, James Barber, James Ward, Thomas Mathers, John Houston, E. W. Owen, Judge B. B. Ball, J. I. Simmons, T. S. Haynes, B. F. Howard, William Ellis, N. H. Buckley, James Ward, Judge Robert McCall, W. H. Robertson, L. C. Griffin, Judge W. T. Gamble, D. D. Mason, George Fletcher and D. Harrison.
Craighead County: Rufus Snoddy, Daniel O'Guinn, Yancey Broadway, Henry Powell, D. R. Tyler, Elias Mackey, William Q. Lane, John Ham- ilton, Asa Puckett, Eli Quarles. William Puryear.
In Crawford County were Henry Bradford, Jack Mills, G. C. Pickett, Mark Beane, J. C. Sum- ner, James Billingsley.
Crittenden County: J. Livingston, W. D. Fer- guson, W. Goshen, William Cherry, Judge D. H. Harrig, [O. W. Wallace, S. A. Cherry, Judge Charles Blackmore, S. R. Cherry, John Tory, F. B. Read, Judge A. B. Hubbins, H. O. Oders, J. H. Wathen, H. Bacon.
Fulton County: G. W. Archer, William Wells, Daniel Hubble, Moses Brannon, John Nichols, Moses Steward, Enos C. Hunter, Milton Yarberry, Dr. A. C. Cantrell.
Greene County: Judge L. Brookfield, L. Thompson, James Brown, J. Suttin, G. Hall, Charles Robertson, Judge W. Hane, Judge George Daniel, G. L. Martin, J. Stotts, James Ratchford, Judge L. Thompson, H. L. Holt, J. L. Atkinson, J. Clark, H. N. Reynolds, John Anderson, Ben- jamin Crowley, William Pevehouse, John Mitch- ell, Aaron Bagwell, A. J. Smith. Wiley Clarkson, William Hatch.
In Hempstead County: J. M. Steward, A. S. Walker, Benjamin Clark. A. M. Oakley. Thomas Dooley, D. T. Witter, Edward Cross, William McDonald, D. Wilburn and James Moss.
Hot Springs County: L. N. West, G. B. Hughes, Judge W. Durham, G. W. Rogers, T. W. Johnson, J. T. Grant, J. H. Robinson. H. A. Whittington, John Callaway, J. T. Grant, Judge G. Whittington, L. Runyan, R. Huson, J. Bank- son, Ira Robinson, Judge A. N. Sabin, C. A. Sa-
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HISTORY OF ARKANSAS.
bin, W. W. McDaniel, W. Dunham, A. B. McDon- ald, Joseph Lorance.
Independence County : R. Searcy, Robert Bean, Charles Kelly, John Reed, T. Curran, Jobn Bean, I. Curran, J. L. Daniels, J. Redmon, John Rud- dell, C. H. Pelham, Samuel Miller, James Micham, James Trimble, Henry Engles, Hartwell Boswell, John H. Ringgold.
Izard County: J. P. Houston, John Adams, Judge Mathew Adams, H. C. Roberts, Jesse Adams, John Hargrove, J. Blyeth, William Clement. Judge J. Jeffrey, Daniel Jeffrey, A. Adams, J. A. Harris, W. B. Carr, Judge B. Hawkins, B. H. Johnson, D. K. Loyd, W. H. Carr, A. Creswell, H. W. Bandy. Moses Bishop, Daniel Hively, John Gray, William Powell Thomas Richardson, William Seymour.
Jackson County: Judge Hiram Glass, J. C. Saylors, Isaac Gray, N. Copeland, Judge E. Bartley, John Robinson, A. M. Carpenter, Judge D. C. Waters, P. O. Flynn, Hall Roddy. Judge R. Ridley, G. W. Cromwell, Sam Mathews, Sam Allen, Martin Bridgeman, John Wideman, New- ton Arnold, Joseph Haggerton, Holloway Stokes.
Jefferson County: Judge W. P. Hackett, J. T. Pullen, Judge Creed Taylor, Peter German, N. Holland, Judge Sam C. Roane, William Kinkead. Thomas O'Neal, E. H. Roane, S. Dardenne, Sam Taylor, Judge H. Bradford, H. Edgington, Judge W. H. Lindsey, J. H. Caldwell.
Johnson County: Judge George Jameson,. Thomas Jenette, S. F. Mason, Judge J. P. Kessie, A. Sinclair, William Fritz, W. J. Parks, R. S. McMicken, Augustus Ward, Judge J. L. Cravens, A. M. Ward, M. Rose, A. L. Black, W. A. Ander- son, Judge J. B. Brown, A. Sinclair, William Adams, W. M. H. Newton.
Lafayette County: Judge Jacob Buzzard, Jesse Douglass, Joshua Morrison, I. W. Ward. J. T. Conway, W. E. Hodges, J. Morrison, George Doo- ley, J. M Dorr, J. P. Jett, W. B. Conway, W. H. Conway. T. V. Jackson. G. H. Pickering, Judge E. M. Lowe, R. F. Sullivan, James Ab- rams.
Lawrence County: Joseph. Hardin, Robert Blane, H. Sandford, John Reed, R. Richardson.
J. M. Kuykendall, H. R. Hynson, James Camp- bell, D. W. Lowe, Thomas Black, John Rodney, John Spotts, William J. Hudson, William Stuart, Isaac Morris, William B. Marshall, John S. Fick- lin.
Madison County: Judge John Bowen, H. B. Brown, P. M. Johnson, H. C. Daugherty, M. Perryman, T. McCuiston.
In Miller County: John Clark, J. Ewing, J. H. Fowler, B. English, C. Wright, G. F. Lawson, Thomas Polk, George Wetmore, David Clark, J. G. Pierson, John Morton, N. Y. Crittenden, Charles Burkem, George Collum, G. C. Wetmore. D. C. Steele, G. F. Lawton and Judge G. M. Martin.
Mississippi County: Judge Edwin Jones, J. W. Whitworth, E. F. Loyd, S. McLung, G. C. Barfield, Judge Nathan Ross, Judge John Troy, J. W. Dewitt, J. C. Bowen, Judge Fred Miller, Uriah Russell, T. L. Daniel, J. G. Davis, Judge Nathan Ross, J. P. Edrington, Thomas Sears, A. G. Blackmore, William Kellums, Thomas J. Mills, James Williams, Elijah Buford, Peter G. Reeves.
Monroe County: Judge William Ingram, J. C. Montgomery, James Eagan, John Maddox. Lafay- ette Jones, Judge James Carlton, M. Mitchell, J. R. Dye, J. Jacobs, R. S. Bell.
Phillips County: W. B. R. Horner, Daniel Mooney, S. Phillips, S. M. Rutherford, George Seaborn, H. L. Biscoe, G. W. Fereby, J. H. Mckenzie, Austin Hendricks, W. H. Calvert, N. Righton, B. Burress, F. Hanks, J. H. McKeal, J. K. Sandford, S. S. Smith, C. P. Smith, J. H. Mckenzie, S. C. Mooney, I. C. P. Tolleson. Emer Askew, P. Pinkston, Charles Pearcy, J. B. Ford, W. Bettiss, J. Skinner. H. Turner and M. Irvin.
Pike County: Judge W. Sorrels, D. S. Diekin- son, John Hughes, J. W. Dickinson, Judge W. Kelly, Isaac White, J. H. Kirkhan, E. K. Will. iams, Henry Brewer.
Poinsett County: Judges Richard Hall and William Harris, Drs. Theophilus Griffin and John P. Hardis, Harrison Ainsworth, Robert H. Stone, Benjamin Harris.
Pope County: Judge Andrew Scott. Twitty
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HISTORY OF ARKANSAS.
Pace, H. Stinnett, W. Garrott, W. Mitchell, Judge S. K. Blythe, A. E. Pace, J. J. Morse, F. Heron, Judge Thomas Murray, Jr., S. M. Hayes, S. S. Hayes, R. S. Witt, Judge Isaac Brown, R. T. Williamson, W. W. Rankin, Judge J. J. Morse, J. B. Logan, W. C. Webb.
Pulaski County: R. C. Oden, L. R. Curran, Jacob Peyatte, A. H. Renick, G. Greathouse, M. Cunningham, Samuel Anderson, H Armstrong, T. W. Newton, D. E. Mckinney, S. M. Rutherford. A. McHenry, Allen Martin, J. H. Caldwell. Judge S. S. Hall, J. Henderson, William Atchinson, R. N. Rowland, Judge David Rorer, J. K. Taylor, R. H. Callaway, A. L. Langham, Judge J. H. Cocke, W. Badgett, G. N. Peay, J. C. Anthony, L. R. Lincoln, A. Martin, A. S. Walker, Judge R. Graves, J. P. and John Fields, J. K. Taylor, W. C. Howell, J. Gould, Roswell Beebe, William Russell, John C. Peay.
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Randolph County: Judge P. R. Pittman, B. J. Wiley, William Black, R. Bradford, J. M. Cooper, B. J. Wiley, B. M. Simpson, John Janes, James Campbell, Samuel McElroy, Edward Mattix, Thomas S. Drew, R. S. Bettis, James Russell.
St. Francis County: Andrew Roane, William Strong, S. Crouch, Judge John Johnson, T. J. Curl, G. B. Lincecum, William Lewis, Judge William Strong, Isaac Mitchell, David Davis, Isaac Forbes, Judge William Enos, N. O. Little, W. G. Bozeman, H. M. Carothers, Judge R. H. Hargrove, H. H. Curl, Cyrus Little.
Saline County: Judge T. S. Hutchinson, Samuel Caldwell, V. Brazil, C. Lindsey, A. Carrick, Judge H. Prudden, G. B. Hughes, Samuel Collins, J. J. Joiner, J. R. Conway, R. Brazil, E. M. Owen, George McDaniel, C. P. Lyle.
Scott County: Judge Elijah Baker, S. B. Walker, James Riley, J. R. Choate, Judge James Logan, G. Marshall, Charles Humphrey, W. Can- thorn, G. C. Walker, T. J. Garner, Judge Gilbert Marshall, W. Kenner.
Searcy County: Judge William Wood, William Kavanaugh, E. M. Hale, Judge Joseph Rea, Will- iam Ruttes, Joe Brown, V. Robertson, T. S. Hale, Judge J. Campbell.
Sevier County: Judge John Clark, R. Hart-
field, G. Clark, J. T. Little, Judge David Foran, P. Little, William White, Charles Moore, A. Hartfield, Judge J. F. Little, Henry Morris, Judge Henry Brown, George Halbrook, Judge R. H. Scott, S. S. Smith.
Sharp County: John King, Robert Lott, Nich- olas Norris. William Morgan, William J. Gray, William Williford, Solomon Hudspeth, Stephen English. John Walker, L. D. Dale, John C. Gar- ner. R. P. Smithee, Josiah Richardson, Judge A. H. Nunn, William G. Matheny.
Union County: John T. Cabeen, John Black, Jr., Judge John Black, Sr., Benjamin Gooch, Alexander Beard, Thomas O'Neal, Judge G. B. Hughes, John Cornish, John Hogg, Judge Hiram Smith, J. R. Moore, John Henry, John Stokeley, Judge Charles H. Seay, W. L. Bradley, Judge Thomas Owens.
Van Buren County: Judge J. L. Laferty, P. O. Powell, N. Daugherty, Philip Wail, L. Will- iams, Judge J. B. Craig, Judge J. M. Baird, J. McAllister, Judge William Dougherty, A. Mor- rison, George Counts, A. Caruthers, W. W. Trim- ble, R. Bain, J. O. Young, George Hardin, A. W. McRaines, Judge J. C. Ganier.
Washington County: L. Newton, Lewis Evans, John Skelton, Judge Robert McAmy, B. H. Smithson, Judge John Wilson, James Marrs, V. Caruthers, James Coulter, J. T. Edmonson, Judge J. M. Hoge, James Crawford, John McClellan, Judge W. B. Woody, W. W. Hester, Judge John Cureton, L. C. Pleasants, Isaac Murphy, D. Calla- ghan, Judge Thomas Wilson, W. L. Wallace and L. W. Wallace.
White County: Judge Samuel Guthrie, P. W. Roberts, P. Crease, Michael Owens, M. H. Blue, S. Arnold, J. W. Bond, William Cook, J. Arnold, Milton Saunders, James Bird, Samuel Beeler. James Walker, Martin Jones, Philip Hilger, James King, L. Pate, John Akin, Reuben Stephens, Sam- uel Guthrie.
Woodruff County: Rolla Gray, Durant H. Bell, John Dennis, Dudley Glass, Michael Hag- gerdon, Samuel Taylor, James Barnes, George Hatch, John Teague, Thomas Arnold and Thomas Hough.
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HISTORY OF ARKANSAS.
The above were all prominent men in their lo- calities during the Territorial times of Arkansas. Many of them have left names and memories inti- mately associated with the history of the State. They were a part of those pioneers "who hewed the dark, old woods away," and left a rich inheri- tance, and a substantial civilization, having wealth, refinement and luxuries, that were never a part of their dreams. They were home makers as well as State and Nation builders. They cut out the roads, opened their farms, bridged the streams, built houses, made settlements, towns and cities, render- ing all things possible to their descendants; a race of heroes and martyrs pre-eminent in all time for the blessings they transmitted to posterity; they repelled the painted savage, and exterminated the ferocious wild beasts; they worked, struggled and endured that others might enjoy the fruits of their heroic sacrifices. Their lives were void of evil to mankind; possessing little ambition, their touch was the bloom and never the blight. Granted, cynic, they builded wiser than they knew, yet they built, and built well, and their every success was the triumphant march of peace. Let the record of their humble but great lives be immortal!
The New Madrid earthquake of 1811-12, com- mencing in the last of December, and the subterra- nean forces ceasing after three months' duration, was of itself a noted era, but to the awful display of nature's forces was added a far more important and lasting event, the result of the silent but mighty powers of the human mind. Simulta- neously with the hour of the most violent convul- sions of nature, the third day of the earthquake, there rode out at the mouth of the Ohio, into the lashed and foaming waters of the Mississippi, the first steamboat that ever ploughed the western waters-the steamer "Orleans," Capt. Roosevelt. So awful was the display of nature's energies, that the granitic earth, with a mighty sound, heaved and writhed like a storm-tossed ocean. The great river turned back in its flow, the waves of the ground burst, shooting high in the air, spouting sand and water; great forest-covered hills disap- peared at the bottom of deep lakes into which they had sunk; and the "sunk lands" are to
this day marked on the maps of Southeast Mis- souri and Northeast Arkansas. The sparse popu- lation along the river (New Madrid was a flourish- ing young town) fled the country in terror, leav- ing mostly their effects and domestic animals.
The wild riot of nature met in this wilderness the triumph of man's genius. Where else on the globe so appropriately could have been this meet- ing of the opposing forces as at the mouth of the Ohio and on the convulsed bosom of the Father of Waters? How feeble, apparently, in this contest, were the powers of man; how grand and awful the play of nature's forces! The mote struggling against the "wreck of worlds and crush of mat- ter." But, "peace be still," was spoken to the vexed earth, while the invention of Fulton will go on forever. The revolving paddle-wheels were the incipient drive-wheels, on which now ride in tri- umph the glories of this great age.
The movement of immigrants to Arkansas in the decade following the earthquake was retarded somewhat, whereas, barring this, it should and would have been stimulated into activity by the advent of steamboats upon the western rivers. The south half of the State was in the possession of the Quapaw Indians. The Spanish attempts at colonizing were practical failures. His Catholic majesty was moving in the old ruts of the feudal ages, in the deep-seated faith of the "divinity of kings," and the paternal powers and duties of rulers. The Bastrop settlement of "thirty fam- ilies," by a seigniorial grant in 1797, had brought years of suffering, disappointment and failure. This was an attempt to found a colony on the Ouachita River, granting an entire river and a strip of land on each side thereof to Bastrop, the government to pay the passage of the people across the ocean and to feed and clothe them one year. To care for its vassals, and to provide human breeding grounds; swell the multitudes for the use of church and State; to "glorify God" by repressing the growing instincts of liberty and the freedom of thought, and add subjects to the possession and powers of these gilded toads, were the essence of the oriental schemes for peopling the new world. Happily for mankind they failed.
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HISTORY OF ARKANSAS.
and the wild beasts returned to care for their young in safety and await the coming of the real pioneers, they who came bringing little or nothing, save
a manly spirit of self-reliance and independence. These were the successful founders and builders of empire in the wilderness.
CHAPTER IV.
ORGANIZATION .- THE VICEROYS AND GOVERNORS-THE ATTITUDE OF THE ROYAL OWNERS OF LOUISIANA- THE DISTRICT DIVIDED-THE TERRITORY OF ARKANSAS FORMED FROM THE TERRITORY OF MISSOURI -THE TERRITORIAL GOVERNMENT-THE FIRST LEGISLATURE-THE SEAT OF GOVERNMENT -OTHER LEGISLATIVE BODIES -- THE DEULLO-ARKANSAS ADMITTED TO STATEHOOD --- THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTIONS-THE MEMORABLE RECONSTRUCTION
PERIOD-LEGISLATIVE ATTITUDE ON THIE QUESTION OF SECESSION -THE WAR OF THE GOVERNORS, ETC., ETC.
N the preceding chapter are briefly traced the changes in the government of the Territory of Louisiana from its discovery to the year 1803, when it became a part of the territory of the United States. Discovered by the Spanish, possessed by the French, divided and re-divided between the French, Spanish and English; set- tled by the Holy Mother Church, in the warp and woof of nations it was the flying shuttle-cock of the great weaver in its religion as well as allegiance for 261 years. This foundling, this waif of nations, was but an outcast, or a trophy chained to the triumphal car of the victors among the warring European powers, until in the providence of God it reached its haven and abiding home in the bosom of the union of States.
As a French province, the civil government of Louisiana was organized, and the Marquis de San- ville appointed viceroy or governor in 1689.
UNDER FRENCH RULE.
Robert Cavelier de La Salle (April 9,
formal). 1682-16S8
Marquis de Sanville. 1689-1700
Bienville 1701-1712
Lamothe Cadillar. 1713-1715
De L'Epinay.
1716-1717
Bienville. 1719-1723
Boisbriant (ad interim). 1724
Bienville 1732-1741
Baron de Kelerec. 1753-1762
D'Abbadie. 1763-1766*
UNDER SPANISH RULE.
Antonio de Ulloa. 1767-1768
Alexander O'Reilly 1768-1769
Louis de Unzaga. 1770-1776
Bernando de Galvez. 1777-1784
Estevar Miro.
1785-1787
Francisco Luis Hortu, Baron of Caron- delet. 1789-1792
Gayoso de Lemos. 1793-1798
Sebastian de Cosa Calvo y O'Farrell. .1798-1799
Juan Manual de Salcedo. 1800-1803
From the dates already given it will be seen that the official aets of Salcedo during his entire
* Louisiana west of the Mississippi, although coded to Spain in 1762, remained under French jurisdiction until 1766.
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term of office, under the secret treaty of Ildefonso, were tainted with irregularity. Thousands of land grants had been given by him after he had in fact ceased to be the viceroy of Spain. The contract- ing powers had affixed to the treaty the usual ob- ligations of the fulfillment of all undertakings, but the American courts and lawyers, in that ancient spirit of legal hypercritical technicalities, had given heed to the vicious doctrine that acts in good faith of a de facto governor may be treated as of questionable validity. This was never good law, because it was never good sense or justice.
The acts and official doings of these vice-royal- ties in the wilderness present little or nothing of interest to the student of history, because they were local and individual in their bearing. It was the action of the powers across the waters, in reference to Canada and Louisiana, that in their wide and sweeping effects have been nearly omnip- otent in shaping civilization.
Referring to the acquisition of Canada and the Louisiana east of the Mississippi River, Bancroft says that England exulted in its conquest ;* enjoying the glory of extended dominion in the confident expectation of a boundless increase of wealth. But its success was due to its having taken the lead in the good old struggle for liberty, and it was destined to bring fruits, not so much to itself as to the cause of freedom and mankind.
France, of all the States on the continent of Europe the most powerful, by territorial unity, wealth, numbers, industry and culture, seemed also by its place marked out for maritime ascend- ency. Set between many seas it rested upon the Mediterranean, possessed harbors on the German Ocean, and embraced between its wide shores and jutting headlands the bays and open waters of the Atlantic; its people, infolding at one extreme the offspring of colonists from Greece, and at the other the hardy children of the Northmen, being called, as it were, to the inheritance of life upon the sea. The nation, too, readily conceived or ap- propriated great ideas and delighted in bold re- solves. Its travelers had penetrated farthest into
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