USA > Idaho > Vigilante days and ways : the pioneers of the Rockies, the makers and making of Montana, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming, Vol. I > Part 2
USA > Montana > Vigilante days and ways : the pioneers of the Rockies, the makers and making of Montana, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming, Vol. I > Part 2
USA > Oregon > Vigilante days and ways : the pioneers of the Rockies, the makers and making of Montana, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming, Vol. I > Part 2
USA > Washington > Vigilante days and ways : the pioneers of the Rockies, the makers and making of Montana, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming, Vol. I > Part 2
USA > Wyoming > Vigilante days and ways : the pioneers of the Rockies, the makers and making of Montana, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming, Vol. I > Part 2
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46
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ghanies and the farthest ranges of the Rocky Mountains. The ridges of the eastern chain bow their heads at the north and the south, so that long before science became the companion of man, Nature herself pointed out to the barbarous races how short portages join his tributary waters to those of the Atlantic coast. At the other side his mightiest arm interlocks with the arms of the Oregon and the Colorado ; and, by the conforma- tion of the earth itself, marshals highways to the Pacific. From his remotest springs he refuses to suffer his waters to be divided ; but as he bears them all to the bosom of the ocean, the myriads of flags that wave above his head are all the en- signs of one people. States larger than king- doms flourish where he passes; and beneath his step cities start into being, more marvellous in their reality than the fabled creations of enchant- ment. His magnificent valley, lying in the best part of the temperate zone, salubrious and won- derfully fertile, is the chosen muster-ground of the various elements of human culture brought together by men, summoned from all the civilized nations of the earth, and joined in the bonds of common citizenship by the strong invincible attraction of republican freedom. Now that science has come to be the household friend of
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trade and commerce and travel, and that Nature has lent to wealth and intellect the use of her constant forces, the hills, once walls of division, are scaled or pierced or levelled ; and the two oceans, between which the republic has unassail- ably intrenched itself against the outward world, are bound together across the continent by friendly links of iron. From the grandeur of destiny, foretold by the possession of that river and the lands drained by its waters, the Bourbons of Spain, hoping to act in concert with Great Britain as well as France, would have excluded the United States, totally and forever."
In the early days of our republic the great national artery, so justly eulogized by our lead- ing historian, was the fruitful cause of the most dangerous intrigues, aimed at the perpetuity of our Union. The inhabitants of the Ohio and Mississippi valleys, cut off by the Appalachian range from all commercial intercourse with the Atlantic seaboard, were necessarily dependent upon the Mississippi for access to the markets of the world. The mouth of that river was, as to them, the threshold of subsistence. Exten- sive possessions, richness of soil, and immensity of production, were of little value, without the means which this great channel alone afforded
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for the establishment of commercial relations with other nations. The most prolific, as well as most unbounded, region of varied agricul- tural production in the world was comparatively valueless without this single convenience.
At the time whereof I write the mouth of the Mississippi and the country adjacent was owned and controlled by Spain, then a powerful nation, jealous of her possessions in America, and unfriendly to the young republic which had suddenly sprung into existence on the northern borders of her empire. She had assented to the stipulation in the treaty between Great Britain, the United States, and herself in 1783, in which the independence of our country was recognized, that the navigation of the Mississippi from its source to its mouth should be and remain forever free and open to the subjects of Great Britain and the citizens of the United States. The privilege, sufficient for ordinary purposes in time of peace, was liable at any moment and on almost any pretence, as we shall hereafter see, to be absolutely denied, or to be hampered with oppressive duties, or to be used for purposes dangerous to the very existence of our govern- ment.
The first individual to see the evils which
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might flow from a dependence upon this outlet to the ocean by the people living west of the Alleghanies, was Washington himself. He had carefully noted the flow of the rivers beyond the Alleghanies, and the portages between them and the rivers flowing down their eastern slope, at the time of his first visit into that region before the Revolution, and was only hindered from form- ing a company, to unite them by an artificial channel, by the occurrence of the Revolution itself. The year after peace was declared he again visited the country bordering the upper waters of the Ohio, and at this time regarded the improvement, not only of immense impor- tance in its commercial aspect to the States of Maryland and Virginia, but as one of the neces- sities of government. " He had noticed," says Mr. Irving, "that the flanks and rear of the United States were possessed by foreign and formidable powers, who might lure the Western people into a trade and alliance with them. The Western States, he observed, stood as it were on a pivot, so that the touch of a feather might turn them any way. They had looked down the Mississippi, and been tempted in that direction by the facilities of sending everything down the stream ; whereas they had no means of coming
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to us but by long land transportation and rugged roads. The jealous and untoward dis- position of the Spaniard, it was true, almost barred the use of the Mississippi; but they might change their policy and invite trade in that direction. The retention by the British Govern- ment, also, of the posts of Detroit, Niagara, and Oswego, though contrary to the spirit of the treaty, shut up the channel of trade in that quar- ter " [Irving's Life of Washington, vol. iv. p. 423].
His views were laid before the legislature of Virginia, and received with such favor that he was induced to repair to Richmond to give them his personal support. His suggestions and repre- sentations during this visit gave the first impulse to the great system of internal improvements since pursued throughout the United States.
While Washington was urging upon the peo- ple of Virginia the importance of a water com- munication between the head waters of the Poto- mac and the Ohio, and had succeeded so far as to effect the organization of two companies under the patronage of the Governments of Maryland and Virginia [Irving's Life of Wash- ington, vol. iv. p. 427], the people of the Western States, dissatisfied with the tax im- posed upon them to pay the interest on the debt
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of the country to France, were many of them abandoning their dwellings and marching towards the Mississippi, " in order to unite with a certain number of disbanded soldiers, who were anxious to possess themselves of a considerable portion of the territory watered by that river." Their object was to establish the Western Independ- ence and deny the authority of the American Congress, as McGillivray says in a letter to the governor of Pensacola [Gayarre's " History of the Spanish Domination in Louisiana," p. 159].
This Alexander McGillivray, the head chief of the Talapouches, or Creeks, was a half-breed, the son of Lachland McGillivray, a Scotchman, and a Creek woman. He was educated in Scotland. Pickett, the historian of Alabama, calls him the Talleyrand of Alabama; and Gayarre, in an extended eulogy, says of him : "The individual who, Proteus-like, could in turn, - nay more, who could at the same time, be a British colonel, a Spanish and an American general, a polished gentleman, a Greek and Latin scholar, and a wild Indian chief with the frightful tomahawk at his belt and the war paint on his body, a shrewd politician, a keen-sighted merchant, a skilful spec- ulator, the emperor of the Creeks and Seminoles, the able negotiator with Washington in person
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and other great men, the writer of papers which would challenge the admiration of the most fas- tidious - he who could be a Mason among the Christians, and a pagan prophet in the woods ; he who could have presents, titles, decorations, showered at the same time upon him from Eng- land, Spain, and the United States, and who could so long arrest their encroachments against him- self and his nation by playing them like puppets against each other, must be allowed to tower far above the common herd of men." McGillivray died 17th February, 1793. He was buried with Masonic honors, in the garden of William Pan- ton, in Pensacola. His death spread desolation among his people.
Martin Navarro, the Spanish intendant at New Orleans, united with remarkable sagacity and foresight a jealousy of the American popu- lation of the Western States, amounting almost to mania. His policy in regulating commercial intercourse with all neighbors was in the largest degree conciliatory and generous. From the hour of its birth, he predicted with singular accuracy the power and growth of the American republic. In 1786, speaking of the commercial relations between the province of Louisiana and the numerous Indian tribes which owned the adjacent territory, he says : -
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" Nothing can be more proper than that the goods they want should be sold them at an equi- table price, in order to afford them inducements and facilities for their hunting pursuits, and in order to put it within their means to clothe them- selves on fair terms. Otherwise they would prefer trading with the Americans, with whom they would in the end form alliances, which can- not but turn out to be fatal to this province."
The surplus productions of the Western set- tlements at this time had grown into a very considerable commerce, which, having no other outlet than the Mississippi, was sent down that river to New Orleans, where it was subjected to unjust and oppressive duties. The flatboat-men complained of the seizures, confiscations, extor- tions, and imprisonments which in almost every instance were visited upon them by the Spanish authorities. Infuriated by the frequency and flagrant character of these outrages, and deny- ing the right of Spain under the treaty of 1783 in any way to restrict the free navigation of the river, the Western people began seriously to con- template an open invasion of Louisiana, and a forcible seizure of the port of New Orleans. They laid their grievances before Congress and petitioned that body to renew negotiations with
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Spain, and secure for them such commercial priv- ileges as were necessary to the very existence of their settlements.
Navarro seconded these views, and writing to his Government says: "The powerful enemies we have to fear in this province are not the Eng- lish, but the Americans, whom we must oppose by active and sufficient measures." He then, by a variety of reasons, urges that a restriction of commercial franchises will only increase the em- barrassment of Spain. "The only way," he says, " to check them, is with a proportionate popula- tion, and it is not by imposing commercial restric- tions that this population is to be acquired, but by granting a prudent extension and freedom of trade."
By granting the Americans special privileges, donating lands to them, and affording them other subsidies, Navarro hoped to lure them from their allegiance to our Government. Very many, yield- ing to these inducements, moved their families into the Spanish province, and became willing subjects of His Catholic Majesty. The majority of those who remained, owing to the repeated failures and rebuffs they had suffered in their efforts to obtain free commercial privileges, were forced at length to consider the idea of forming
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a new and independent republic of their own. Their separation by distance and mountain bar- riers from the Atlantic States rendered all com- mercial intercourse impracticable between the two portions of the country. They were surrounded by savages, against whose murderous attacks their Government was unable to afford them adequate protection, and their commerce was burdened with oppressive and ruinous duties before it could gain access to the markets of the world. Besides these considerations, they were oppressed with heavy taxation to pay the interest on the great war-debt to France. These reasons, to any one who can identify himself with the period of our history now under review, would certainly seem sufficient to overcome a patriotism which had always been measured by the amount of sacrifice it was cap- able of making without any return. Our Govern- ment, still under the old confederacy, no longer bound by the cohesive elements of the war, was ready to fall to pieces, because of its inherent weakness. The majority of the people, both East and West, had little confidence in its stability. The leading patriots of the Revolution, alarmed at the frequent and threatening demonstrations of revolt made in all parts of the country, were at a loss to know how to avoid a final disruption.
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" What, then," says Washington in a letter to John Jay, "is to be done ? Things cannot go on in the same strain forever. It is much to be feared, as you observe, that the better kind of people, being disgusted with the circumstances, will have their minds prepared for any revolu- tion whatever. We are apt to run from one extreme to another. . . I am told that even respectable characters speak of a monarch- ical government without horror. From thinking proceeds speaking, then acting is often but a single step. But how irrevocable and tremen- dous ! What a triumph for our enemies to verify their predictions ! What a triumph for the advo- cates of despotism to find that we are incapable of governing ourselves, and that systems founded on the basis of equal liberty are merely ideal and fallacious." [Irving's Washington, vol. iv. p. 450.]
It was when the country was in this condition that the idea of a separate independence took form among the people west of the Alleghanies. Want of unanimity in the adoption of a basis for the new republic only prevented its organization ; for as soon as the question came under serious consideration, no less than five parties appeared, each claiming its plan to be the only one suited to the purposes in view.
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" The first was for being independent of the United States, and for the formation of a new republic unconnected with the old one, and rest- ing on a basis of its own, and a close alliance with Spain.
" Another party was willing that the country should become a part of the province of Louisi- ana, and submit to the admission of the laws of Spain.
" A third desired a war with Spain and the seizure of New Orleans.
" A fourth plan was to prevail on Congress, by a show of preparation for war, to extort from the cabinet of Madrid what it persisted in refusing.
" The last, as unnatural as the second, was to solicit France to procure a retrocession of Louisi- ana, and to extend her protection to Kentucky." [Judge Martin's Hist. of Louisiana, vol. ii. p. 10.]
Encouraged in their designs to lure the Western people into Louisiana, by this public evidence of their disaffection toward their own country, the Spanish authorities from this moment conceived the idea of working a dismemberment of our con- federacy and attaching the vast country west of the Alleghanies to the other Hispano-American possessions. Separate plans for effecting this ob- ject were formed by Miro, the governor of Louisi-
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ana, and Gardoquoi, the Spanish minister at Phil- adelphia. These officials were jealous of each other, and though partners in design, frequently clashed in their measures.
In June, 1787, General James Wilkinson, an officer of the Revolution, who had emigrated to the West a few months before, descended the Mississippi to New Orleans, with a cargo of flour, tobacco, butter, and bacon. His boat having been seized, Wilkinson, after a protracted inter- view with Governor Miro, parted from him with an order for its release and permission to sell his cargo free of duty. This arch-intriguer was per- mitted, during the entire period that his negotia- tions with Miro were in progress, to enjoy all the privileges of the New Orleans market free of duty. He sold large cargoes of tobacco, flour, and butter to the Spanish authorities on different oc- casions, and received from Miro very large sums of money at various times, to aid him in the work of dismemberment. We learn that at one time he sought to become a Spanish subject, but was dis- suaded by Miro, who, while he loved the treason, hated the traitor. At another time, in the midst of his intrigues, he besought Miro to obtain for him a portion of the country to which he could flee to escape the vengeance which would pursue
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him, in case his diabolical acts should be discov- ered by Washington. He remained in New Or- leans until September. During that period, at Miro's request, he furnished him with his views in writing of the political interests of Spain and the Western people. This document strongly advo- cated the free navigation of the Mississippi, and was sent to Madrid for the perusal of the king. But it was intended simply as a blind, to conceal the inception of an intrigue between Miro and Wilkinson for the separation of the Western set- tlements from the Union, and their adherence to Spain. It was soon ascertained that, coincident with the submission of this document, Wilkinson presented another to Miro, containing different representations, which was not made public.
In the meantime, Gardoquoi, acting without Miro's compliance, had invited the people of Kentucky and the region bordering the Cumber- land river to establish themselves under the pro- tection of Spain in West Florida, and the Florida district of lower Louisiana, offering as induce- ments that they might hold slaves, stock, provi- sions for two years, farming utensils and imple- ments, without paying any duty whatever, and enjoy their own religion. Allured by these promises, many Americans removed to Louisiana
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and became Spanish subjects. To encourage this work of emigration, Gardoquoi made a con- cession of a vast tract of land, seventy miles below the mouth of the Ohio, to Col. George Morgan upon his proposition to settle it with a large number of immigrants. In pursuance of this purpose, Morgan afterwards laid the founda- tions of a city there, which, in compliment to Spain, he called New Madrid.
Gardoquoi, fearful lest his plans might be dis- turbed by Miro, sent an agent to New Orleans to obtain for them the support of that functionary. Miro was deeply embroiled in the intrigue witlı Wilkinson - an enterprise, if successful, that would prove vastly more important than that of Gardoquoi. Concealing his purpose from the latter, Miro, on one pretext and another, avoided committing himself to plans which were certain, if prosecuted, to clash with his own. In Jan- uary, 1788, he wrote to Valdes, the minister for the department of the Indies : -
"I have been reflecting for many days whether it would not be proper to communicate to D'Arges (Gardoquoi's agent) Wilkinson's plans, and to Wilkinson the mission of D'Arges, in order to unite them and dispose them to work in concert. The delivering up of Ken-
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tucky into His Majesty's hands, which is the main object to which Wilkinson has promised to devote himself entirely, would forever constitute this province a rampart for the protection of New Spain."
In the course of this intrigue, Gardoquoi's agent stipulated to lead 1582 Kentucky families into the Natchez district. Miro ordered Grand- pre, the governor of Natchez, to make concessions of land to each family on its arrival, and require them to take the following oath: "We the undersigned do swear, on the Holy Evangelists, entire fealty, vassalage, and lealty to His Catholic Majesty, wishing voluntarily to live under his laws, promising not to act either directly or indirectly against his real interest, and to give immediate information to our commandants of all that may come to our knowledge, of whatever nature it may be, if prejudicial to the welfare of Spain in general and to that of this province in particular, in defence of which we hold ourselves ready to take up arms, on the first summons of our chiefs, and particularly in the defence of this district against whatever forces may come from the upper part of the river Mississippi, or from the interior of the continent."
" Whilst presenting to them these considera-
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tions," writes Miro, " you will carefully observe the manner in which they shall receive them, and the expression of their faces. Of this you will give me precise information, every time that you send me the original oaths taken."
In furtherance of his enterprise, Wilkinson spent several months in the Atlantic States, after leaving New Orleans. He wrote to Miro in cipher, on his return to the West, that all his predictions were verifying themselves. " Not a measure," he says, " is taken on both sides of the mountains which does not conspire to favor ours." About the same time he wrote to Gardoquoi in order to allay his suspicions. Receiving from Miro no immediate reply to his letter, he sent a cargo of produce down the river in charge of Major Isaac Dunn, whom he accredited to Miro as a fit auxiliary in the execution of their political designs. Dunn assured the Spanish governor that Kentucky would separate entirely from the Federal Union the next year.
While these schemes were in progress, the set- tlers in the district of Cumberland, reduced to extremities by the frequent and bloody invasions of the Indians south of them, sent delegates to Alexander McGillivray, head chief of the tribes, to declare their willingness to throw themselves
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into the arms of His Catholic Majesty, as sub- jects. They said that Congress could neither protect their persons or property, or favor their commerce, and that they were desirous to free themselves from all allegiance to a power inca- pable of affording the smallest benefit in return.
One of the difficult questions for the Spanish authorities to settle with the people they expected to lure to their embrace was that of religion. Spain was not only Catholic, but she had not abandoned the Inquisition, as a means of tortur- ing the rest of the world into a confession of that faith. Gardoquoi had promised all immigrants into Louisiana freedom of religious opinion. Miro, willing to make some concessions, would not concede entire freedom. Just at the time that a promise had been made of a large emigra- tion from the western settlements, Miro received a letter from the Reverend Capuchin Antonio de Sedella, informing him that he had been appointed commissary of the Iniquisition, and that, in order to carry his instructions into per- fect execution, he might soon, at some late hour of the night, deem it necessary to require some guards to assist him in his operations. A few hours afterwards, while this inquisitor was repos- ing, he was roused by an alarm. Starting up,
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Spanish Intrigues.
he met an officer and a file of grenadiers, who, he supposed, had come to obey his orders. " My friends," said he, "I thank you and his excel- lency for the readiness of this compliance with my request. But I have no use for your ser- vices, and you shall be warned in time when you are wanted. Retire, then, with the blessing of God." The surprise of the Holy Father may be conceived when told that he was under arrest. " What !" he exclaimed, " will you dare lay hands on a commissary of the Holy Inquisi- tion ? "
"I dare obey orders," was the stern reply, - and Father de Sedella was immediately conducted on board a vessel, which sailed the next day for Cadiz.
Miro, writing to one of the members of the cabinet of Madrid, concerning this unceremo- nious removal, says: "The mere name of the Inquisition, uttered in New Orleans, would be sufficient, not only to check immigration, which is successfully progressing, but would also be capable of driving away those who have recently come, and I even fear that in spite of my having sent out of the country Father Sedella, the most fatal consequences may ensue from the mere sus- picion of the cause of his dismissal." This was
1
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the first and last attempt of the Spaniards to plant the Inquisition in North America.
In the midst of these intrigues and schemes, Navarro, the talented intendant, was recalled by his Government, and returned to Spain. The two offices of governor and intendant thus became united in Miro. In his last official despatch, Navarro expressed his views of the province with considerable detail. He depicted the dangers which Spain had to fear from the United States, - predicting that the " new-born giant would not be satisfied until he extended his domains across the continent, and bathed his vigorous young limbs in the placid waters of the Pacific." A severance of the Union was, in his opinion, the only way this could be prevented. This was not difficult, if the present circum- stances were turned to advantage. " Grant," said he, " every sort of commercial privilege to the masses in the Western region, and shower pensions and honors on the leaders."
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