USA > Louisiana > A history of Louisiana, Volume II > Part 14
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As soon as the treaty of Amiens was signed with Eng- land in 1802, General Victor was ordered by Minister Decrès to hasten the departure of his expedition and to take possession of Louisiana as quickly as possible. But before Victor had completed his preparations, cold wea- ther set in, and his four vessels were imprisoned in ice. He remained nearly six months in Holland, awaiting an opportunity to sail,-frimaire, nivôse, pluviôse, ven-
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tôse, germinal, and floréal, year II of the Republic, -- that is to say, until May, 1803. In the mean time the peace of Amiens between France and England was broken, the expedition to Louisiana was abandoned, and Victor never reached the colony of which he had been named captain-general. Laussat, the colonial prefect, had already sailed for New Orleans, and it was he, as Commissioner of the French Government, who received the province from Spain, and shortly afterward trans- ferred it to the United States.
In Volume LII, " Correspondance Générale," at the Ministry of the Colonies in Paris, are several letters of General Victor to Minister Decres and to the First Consul. The captain-general complains of the delay in furnishing provisions for the expedition, and in Novem- ber refers to the excessive cold weather. The following letter from him is interesting:
THE HAGUE, 28 Pluviose, year II.
To the Minister of Marine and of the Colonies.
CITIZEN MINISTER : The aide-de-camp who will have the honor to hand you the present letter goes to you to solicit anew the replacement of the advances which have been made to the officers, administrators, and employés of the Louisiana Expedition. The stay, long, unexpected, and extremely costly, which we are making in spite of ourselves in Holland has not only absorbed all our pecuniary means, but has reduced us to distress; and several among us, if you do not come promptly to our aid, will be forced to have recourse to the most unpleasant means to provide for indis- pensable needs. The request which I have the honor to make to you for the payment of the salary for the months past, and until the day of sailing, for all those who form the civil and military administration of the colony, seems to me entirely just. We are
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employed, and consequently paid, by the government, beginning with the first frimaire, first date fixed for the departure of the expedition. The causes of its delay cannot be attributed to us. By going to our destination, according to our desires, we should have received our salaries without any difficulty; our claims are, it seems to me, right; the hindrances which the Expe- dition suffers cannot destroy them; this supposition persuades me, Citizen Minister, that you will take into consideration my request and its motives, and that the officer who bears my repre- sentations will return with a favorable decision.
The thawing has begun; it makes us hope that we shall soon be able to continue the work of our preparations; but I must tell you (not to deceive your expectation as in the beginning) that, however diligent we may be in our preparations, it is utterly impossible that the Expedition should sail, either partially or totally, before a month.
The aide-de-camp will bring me the medals if they are ready. . I beg you to have them handed to him.
I have the honor to salute you with respect.
VICTOR.
The medals referred to were those that had been struck for the Indian chiefs in Louisiana. In this letter Victor asked for four months' pay for himself and his subor- dinates, or, as he says later, 93,683.66§ francs. The last letter of the captain-general of Louisiana was dated 27 floréal, year II. He sends back all the letters, docu- ments, and orders concerning the Louisiana Expedition, and also the letter of the King of Spain to the Spanish governor authorizing the retrocession of the province.
The following proclamation of General Victor is inter- esting and curious, inasmuch as the captain-general who issued it never saw the people to whom it was addressed:
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PROCLAMATION
In the name of the French Republic. Virtue. Country. The General of Division Victor, Captain-General of Louisiana, to the Louisianians.
DEAR LOUISIANIANS: By a treaty between the French Govern- ment and his Majesty the King of Spain, Louisiana has become again a property of the French Republic. I come, in the name of her First Magistrate, the immortal Bonaparte, to take pos- session of your interesting colony, and to associate its fortunes with the brilliant destinies of the French people.
Thus far, dear Louisianians, in spite of your wise behavior, and of all your efforts for the aggrandizement of your colony, you have only been able to give it the movement of your activity which you preserve in the narrow circle of your possessions: you have not been able to take advantage of all the resources that were offered to you for agriculture by a vast and fertile territory : you have not been able to use for an enlarged commerce all the wealth of your fortunate soil.
I come, in the name of your Government, to offer the means that are to multiply your happiness: I bring you laws that have caused the glory of the French Nation, as they have also assured its tranquility and its happiness. Surrounded by honest and enlightened magistrates, we shall rival with yours in establish- ing in your midst an incorruptible Justice. A wise and provident administration will give movement and life to agriculture and to all the branches of industry and commerce. I bring you, finally, new brothers, who, like me, knew you well enough, before uniting with you, to esteem and to cherish you.
Henceforth, all felicitously united, we shall form but one family, of which all the members will labor for the happiness of each one and the general prosperity. Having become your father, I shall have all the tenderness of one: without ceasing,
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I shall awaken the solicitude of the mother country to add what may be lacking to the colony.
Dear Louisianians : Fear nothing from this imposing mass of warriors that surrounds me. The glory that they have acquired in battle has merited your esteem; the virtues that distinguish them will induce you to love them. They will respect your rights and your properties, in case they are attacked, and I assure you that you will have cause only to be pleased with their conduct.
As for me, dear Louisianians, I shall have done enough for my happiness if I can assure yours by my vigilance and by my care. VICTOR.
Bonaparte had greatly honored Louisiana by appoint- ing Victor as its captain-general. That officer held in 1802 the high rank of general of division. He was born in 1764, and entered the army as drummer at the age of seventeen. In 1789 he obtained his discharge, settled at Valence, and married; but when the country was de- clared to be in danger he enlisted as a volunteer in 1792. He distinguished himself in all the campaigns in which he took part, was named general of brigade for his gal- lantry at the siege of Toulon in 1793, and soon afterward general of division. At the battle of Marengo in 1800 he commanded the vanguard with great valor and ability; and after the battle of Friedland in 1807, where he again distinguished himself, the Emperor Napoleon gave him the titles of Marshal of France and Duke de Bellune, and made him Governor of Berlin. He served with dis- tinction in Spain in 1809, and in the campaigns of 1812, 1813, and 1814.
When Napolcon abdicated in 1814, Victor offered his services to Louis XVIII, and he remained faithful to
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that monarch on the return of Napoleon from Elba in 1815. He occupied high offices during the reigns of Louis XVIII and Charles X, and when the latter was overthrown in July, 1830, the Duke de Bellune refused to serve the government of Louis-Philippe. He died in Paris in 1841, and has left an honored name which we are glad to see connected with that of Louisiana.
CHAPTER VIII
CONDITION OF LOUISIANA IN THE BEGINNING OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY-MEMOIR OF COLONEL JOSEPH XAVIER DELFAU DE PONTALBA, SEPTEMBER 15, 1801
The Pontalba family-Settlement of Kentucky-States of Kentucky and Ten- nessee-Transportation across the mountains-Importance of Louisiana with regard to Mexico-Ambiguity in treaty of 1783-District of Natchez attached to West Florida-Spain compelled to yield Natchez-Two ways of assuring a rampart to Mexico-Efforts of the western districts for inde- pendence-Attempts to form an alliance with Spain-Emigration from Kentucky arrested-Congress gains the affection of the Western people- Propositions made by Spain-Spain grants free navigation of the river- Treaty with the Indians in 1783-McGillivray's treaty not approved-Orders to receive all emigrants-Louisiana the key to America-Unlimited free- dom of commerce-Loans to emigrants-The United States attempt to settle the northwest-Defense of New Orleans-Louisiana the key to Mexico- Importation of negroes forbidden-Cultivation of the sugar-cane- Indigo-Tobacco-Cotton-Peltries and lumber -Louisiana a burden to the metropolis-The memoir sent to General Bonaparte by Minister Decrès.
HE name of the Pontalba family was originally Delfau, a family from Quercy, a province of France, of which the capital was Cahors. Fran- çois Delfau, born in 1678, was elected a capitoul of Toulouse in 1746. This was an office that conferred nobility on the occupant, and François Delfau was " écuyer, seigneur de la Roque Bouillac Roquefort, contreseigneur
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CAPTAIN DE PONTALBA
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de la Baronie de Camboulit." The Delfaus were also " seigneurs de Belfort, Pontalba, Loubéjac et autres lieux." 1
François Delfau died in 1757. He left six sons, all of whom held important offices. His third son, Jean- Joseph Delfau de Pontalba, arrived in Louisiana in 1732. He was sent to the fort of Natchez, and served there one year. He was next in New Orleans, then com- mandant at the Tunicas, and in 1736 an officer in Bien- ville's army during the unfortunate campaign against the Chickasaws. He became captain of infantry in 1749, after having important military commands, among others that of Pointe Coupée. He died in New Orleans in 1760, a Knight of St. Louis. He had married in 1748 Marguerite Magdeleine Broutin, daughter of a distin- guished military engineer. His son, Joseph Xavier Del- fau de Pontalba, author of the important Memoir on Louisiana that forms the greater part of this chapter, was born in New Orleans in 1754. He was sent to France to be educated, entered the army, served in the Regiment of Montauban, then in the Regiment of Guade- loupe, and distinguished himself at the siege of Savan- nah, in October, 1779, under the Viscount de Noailles and Admiral Count d'Estaing, both of whom recommended him highly, as did also Marshal de Noailles, father of the viscount. He retired from the French army with the rank of captain, and departed for Louisiana in 1784.
Captain de Pontalba married in 1789 Jeanne Fran- çoise Louise Le Breton, daughter of Barthélemy Le Bre- ton, or Le Bretton de Charmeaux, a former musketeer
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of the King of France. He became captain of the Regi- ment of Louisiana in 1790, commander of the militia companies at the " Côte des Allemands," lieutenant-colo- nel in 1791, and colonel of infantry in the Spanish army in 1800, after his return to Spain and then to France. In the French army he received the commission, in Decem- ber, 1802, of adjutant-commandant or staff-colonel, and was ordered to accompany Victor to Louisiana when the latter was named captain-general of that province. Colo- nel de Pontalba was made a Knight of St. Louis in 1814, and died at Mont-l'Eveque, France, in 1834. His only son, Joseph Xavier Célestin Delfau de Pontalba, was born in New Orleans in 1791, and was taken to France in 1796. He became a page of Napoleon in 1804, then a lieutenant in the French army and aide-de-camp of Mar- shal Ney, to whose wife he was related. He retired from the army in 1813, and died in Paris in 1878. He had married in 1811 Micaela Leonarda Almonester y Roxas, daughter of Don Andres Almonester y Roxas and of Louise de LaRonde.
Don Andres Almonester, whose name has been men- tioned often in this history, was born at Mayrena, Anda- lusia, and died in New Orleans on April 26, 1796, aged seventy-three years. He was buried in St. Louis Cathe- dral, where a marble slab commemorates his benefactions. He was founder and patron of the cathedral, which cost him $98,988, of the Royal Hospital and Church of St. Charles, and of a school for girls, and was the builder of the Casa Capitular, now known as the Cabildo, in New Orleans. It was believed that Almonester had made a
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PONTALBA'S MEMOIR
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gift of the Cabildo building to the city of New Orleans; but documents found by the writer and by Baron Édou- ard de Pontalba, a great-grandson of the alferez real, prove that the cost of building the Cabildo was refunded by the city to Almonester's widow and daughter. The amount was $28,500. Almonester was married on March 26, 1787, and his only daughter, Micaela, was born when he was seventy-one years old. As we have said, she mar- ried in 1811 Joseph Xavier Célestin Delfau de Pontalba. It was she who built the Pontalba Buildings at Jackson Square, the old Place d'Armes. Governor Mirò's wife was the aunt of Colonel Joseph Xavier Delfau de Pont- alba's wife.
The following is an extract from Pontalba's Memoir: 2
The chains of the Allegheny and Appalache Mountains divide into two parts the United States of America; the first, which is bounded by the ocean, contains the thirteen provinces, between which communication is easily established by rivers and roads ; the second, known by the name of occidental part or country of the West, bordering on Louisiana by lines which run from east to west, ends at the Mississippi, from the forty-second de- gree where is situated Pennsylvania, after which follow, going south, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia.
The establishments of that western part begin at the Monon- gahela and Allegheny rivers, at the junction of which is Fort Pitt, 40° 31' latitude; from that point these two rivers united form the Ohio, which falls into the Mississippi, in 36° 43', after a course of three hundred and ninety-six leagues ; and several other navigable rivers fall into the Ohio from the south, of which the principal are the Great Kanhawa, the Little Kanhawa, the Sandy, the Kentucky, the Cumberland, and Tennessee or Che-
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roky, which is the last and the nearest the Mississippi, from which its mouth is distant only nineteen leagues. All these rivers, and others less considerable, receive a multitude of small rivers which water this territory and facilitate the numerous establish- ments that I shall mention.
In 1760 there were a few inhabitants in the neighborhood of Fort Pitt, on the Monongahela River; but it was not till 1774 that the first five families arrived in Kentucky-the principal settlement of that western part. It begins at the Sandy River, one hundred and fourteen leagues lower than Fort Pitt, and in 1792 contained fifty thousand men able to bear arms, and to-day eighty thousand.
The principal districts of these immense countries are, be- ginning at the source of the Ohio, Monongahela with a part of the Allegheny, Kentucky, Cumberland, and Franklin, between which are scattered, at different distances, other small establishments, which, as they extend, will probably unite with those of the above-named States that are nearest to them. The best known are Randolph, the Little Kanhawa, Maton, Hoodford, Lincoln, Green, Bluestone, Logan, and Mirò.
The Monongahela district is between the limits of Pennsylva- nia and Maryland. Kentucky was a part of Virginia, but in 1791. that State was declared independent and formed the four- teenth of the United States. Cumberland and Franklin were part of North Carolina, and form now the fifteenth of the United States under the name of Tennessee.
Although Monongahela is distant only one hundred leagues from Philadelphia, the only outlet for its products, the enor- mous cost of transportation across the mountains would absorb the value, since a barrel of flour of one hundred and eighty pounds (which is the richest product of that country ) is worth in Phila- delphia four dollars in time of peace, and certainly it would cost much more to bring it there.
It is the same in Kentucky and Tennessee with tobacco, the principal staple of those districts ; so that all union of commerce
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becomes impossible between the countries on the western side and those of the Atlantic coast.
All this proves that the only outlet for their products is through the Mississippi; that Louisiana, holding them in the most abso- lute dependency, will always be the object of their ambition; that their position, their population, their means, will enable them to invade that province, whenever they shall wish to undertake it; and that to preserve it, it is proper to have communication with those who have the most credit among them, to grant them privi- leges until the province should be in a condition to defend itself from the torrent that threatens it. There is no doubt that if the dike breaks, the torrent will carry along everything in its way, for the inhabitants of Kentucky, alone or with those of the otlier districts, may, when they wish, and before one could have time to be informed of their projects, arrive at New Orleans, to the number of twenty or thirty thousand armed men, in great flat- boats, such as they construct every day for the transportation of their products, and a few gunboats, bringing with them pro- visions beyond their needs. The rapidity of the current of the Ohio and of the other rivers that fall into it, makes this under- taking easy, and their few needs hasten the execution of it. A powder-pouch, a bag of balls, their provision of cold flour-that is their equipment. Great adroitness, the habit of living in the woods and of bearing fatigue, supply what is lacking.
The importance of Louisiana should be the reason for taking extraordinary means to save it from the irruption with which it is continually threatened. If one considers it from the point of view of what it brings at present to the state, one will find that six per cent. custom-house duties for exports and imports, the only duties imposed, produce not more than one hundred thousand dollars a year, and the expenses borne annually for this province by the King of Spain amount to five hundred and thirty-seven thousand dollars.
What should draw attention upon Louisiana is, that it has a port on the Gulf of Mexico, in which no other power has any.
SAEL
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except the King of Spain. But what should give it still more importance and value is its position relatively to the Kingdom of Mexico, of which the Mississippi is the natural barrier. It should be rendered impenetrable, as that is the surest way to destroy for- ever the bold projects with which several persons in the United States fill their newspapers, designating through Louisiana the road to the conquest of Mexico; especially since the disputes that have arisen about the frontiers.
The long discussion about the boundary between the United States and Louisiana, which ended in 1797, came from an am- biguity in the treaty of peace of 1783,-an ambiguity introduced, without doubt, on purpose by England, to leave a subject of discord between Spain and the United States, without which it would have been necessary to stipulate that His Catholic Majesty should order the delivery to the United States of the district and fort of Natchez, which the King possessed then, after conquer- ing them.
When England possessed the United States and part of the province of Louisiana, the limits of Georgia being indicated on the charts, east and west, from the sea to the Mississippi, the district of Natchez was comprised in it; but the inhabitants of that post having represented that, for appeal in lawsuits, they were obliged to go to Georgia, His Britannic Majesty declared that the Natchez district should be dependent upon the Governor of Pensacola and form part of the province of West Florida. This province was thus increased as far as the line of Chaterpé, which had been drawn by the English and the Chickasaw and Choctaw tribes, from the territory of Mobile, forty-five leagues from the fort of that name, to Yazoo river, five leagues from its mouth in the Mississippi. So that West Florida, having been ceded to His Catholic Majesty by Great Britain, by the treaty of peace of 1783, was ceded in its entirety, with all that depended upon it at the time of the cession, of which Spain was already in possession by right of conquest, and which she never had agreed to surrender.
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A RAMPART TO MEXICO
The English, in the treaty of peace which they made at the same time with the United States, abandoned to them all the ter- ritory that in the earlier charts formed part of the provinces of the United States as far as the Mississippi, without consider- ing what His Britannic Majesty had detached from it and united to West Florida, and the line that was determined in this treaty, following the middle of the course of the Mississippi, to the thirty- first degree of latitude, abandoned to the United States all the cast side of that river to a point opposite the mouth of Red River, in the said river, twelve leagues below Natchez, and fol- lowing west and east from that point to the river St. Mary, left them all the district of Natchez, the most populous in Louisiana, and restricted the possessions of Spain near Mobile to a sandy territory which does not extend two leagues, and the rear of Pensacola to an untilled soil, which has not an extent of ten leagues.
From the year 1785 the United States wished to take possession of Natchez and of all the territory that was designated in the treaty. Spain constantly opposed this, and succeeded, by com- munication with the western provinces of the United States and by negotiations, in averting the hostilities with which she was often threatened, and in eluding those ill-founded claims of the United States until 1797, when she was obliged to accede to them or be exposed to the loss of the entire province.
Since the Americans have been in possession of these new limits, it becomes more important than ever to assure a rampart for the protection of Mexico. There are two ways to do this: the first is to people Louisiana so that the inhabitants may defend her; the second, to form a union with Kentucky and the other districts of the western country, so that they shall obligate them- selves to serve as a barrier against the United States : and in the mean time to preserve peace at any price with the United States.
This is what the Spanish Government has done constantly since 1787. It was aided in this by a powerful landholder,3 who joins to a great deal of influence among his compatriots great con-
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sideration acquired by the services he has rendered to the cause of liberty in the highest military ranks; who, since that time, has not ceased to serve Spain in her views, and who will display the same zeal for France, as he believes justly that a close union with Louisiana offers infinitely more advantage to his coun- try than a union with the United States.
This person, whose name I shall not mention, not to compromise him, but which I shall indicate when his services are needed, came to New Orleans in 1787. He made known to the Government the condition in which were Kentucky and the neighboring dis- tricts, and the efforts they were making then to obtain their in- dependence and the free navigation of the Mississippi, as well as the general opinion of offering to Spain to put themselves under her protection in case of refusal on the part of Congress. On that refusal this inhabitant of Kentucky based his hopes, and he offered then to devote himself to the success of the undertaking, by declaring himself a vassal of His Catholic Majesty. He promised as such to give - notice of all that might be under- taken by the inhabitants of Kentucky for or against Louisiana, and proposed, as a second means, to encourage emigration from the western countries bordering on Louisiana, in order to increase our forces. He departed with this disposition.
He returned to New Orleans in 1789 to renew to the Govern- ment his proposal to employ all means to procure for his district of Kentucky its independence of the United States, by forming with Spain an alliance, exclusive of all other powers, and at the same time actively promoting emigration to Louisiana.
(NOTE .- Four times, from 1786 to 1792, preparations were made in Kentucky and Cumberland to attack Louisiana, and always that same person thwarted them by his influence with his compatriots. I say this to indicate that France should not neg- lect to place him in her interest. ) .
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