USA > Louisiana > A history of Louisiana, Volume II > Part 17
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To live in peace and in friendship with all your neighbors, to protect your commerce, to encourage your agriculture, to people your deserts, to favor labor and industry, to respect properties and habits and opinions, to render homage to religion, to do honor to probity, to preserve to laws their empire, and to correct them only. with moderation and with the light of experience, to maintain a diligent and firm police, to introduce a permanent order and econ- omy in all the branches of public administration, to bind more closely every day the bonds which a common origin, the same cus- toms, the same inclinations, establish between this colony and the mother country-that is, Louisianians, the honorable mission upon which your Captain-General (the General of Division Victor), your Colonial Prefect, and your Commissioner of Justice (the Citizen Aymé) congratulate themselves with being intrusted here.
The reputation of the Captain-General has preceded him. He was a companion in arms of the First Consul, and was distin- guished by him from the beginning of the campaigns of the famous Army of Italy. In less fortunate days he astonished Suvarow, by precipitating his flight. He was finally one of the lieutenants of Bonaparte at the battle of Marengo. But with those titles that have made his name illustrious, he brings you,
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Louisianians, the sincere desire to render it dear to you by all the virtues, the cares and the labors that, from the chiefs, may bring about the happiness of peoples. His ardor for your inter- ests, the purity of his intentions, the correctness of his views, the affability of his manners, adding new merit to so much valor, and his military laurels, assure him your affection and your confidence.
He takes to you troops that have caused the earth, even as far as these distant shores, to resound with the renown of their valor and their exploits. Batavia, since the peace, has admired their good conduct and their excellent discipline; you will admire them like her. You will find at last, Louisianians, in the Commissioner of Justice, enlightenment, equity, impartiality, disinterestedness ; he comes to you, known in advance, and powerfully recommended by the renown of his talents, of his banishment, and of his mis- fortunes. You will congratulate yourselves, therefore, in every respect, that you have become Frenchmen again; you will feel more, from day to day, the value of this beautiful title, object of envy over the whole globe.
We know, nevertheless, Louisianians, and we do not wish to conceal it, that, for thirty years, Spain, by the mildness of a generous government, has tried to make you forget the bloody fault of an agent unworthy of this noble nation. It is not we who will advise you to repay her with ingratitude. We shall en- deavor to vie in beneficent efforts with the distinguished chiefs whom she gave you.
Your devotion to the French Republic, our common country, your gratitude to those who reunite you to it and who send us, the daily spectacle of your growing prosperity, will be the recom- pense to which we shall constantly aspire, for a zeal and trouble of which the only limits will be those of the accomplishment of our duties and of our wishes.
At New Orleans, 6th Germinal, year XI of the French Republic. LAUSSAT.
By the Colonial Prefect, the officer of administration acting as secretary. DAUGEROT.
PIERRE CLÉMENT DE LAUSSAT 1756-1835
Colonial Prefect and Commissioner of the French govern- ment, who received the Province of Louisiana from Spain on November 30, 1803, and transferred it to the United States at New Orleans, December 20, 1803. From a paint- ing by Jean François Gille Colson, executed in 1786, be- longing to his lineal descendant, Mr. A. Du Pré de Saint- Maur, Château de Bernadets, near Pau, France.
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FEASTS
1903]
The Argo, a French vessel, arrived in April with muni- tions of war, but Victor did not appear. Meanwhile, Gov- ernor Salcedo and Intendant Morales gave splendid dinners to Laussat, who returned them with magnificence. Several ladies were the ornament of these feasts, and toasts to the King of Spain and to the First Consul were received with a thousand " Vivats!" which were repeated by the artillery of the city and of the port. The toast of the prefect to " the happiness of Louisiana " was received with rapture and was saluted with twenty-one guns. These days, marked with so much cordiality, were ended with music and dancing.
In April, 1803, C. Baligant, professor of drawing and chief sculptor of the port of Brest, arrived in New Or- leans. In the month of May M. Visinier established a French and English school, and J. M. Bart an insti- tution which he placed under the patronage of all honest people.
On May 7, 1803, the Marquis de Casa Calvo arrived to act as commissioner with Salcedo in delivering the prov- ince to Captain-General Victor. Casa Calvo's arrival was marked by ceremonious visits from all the officials in New Orleans.
On October 16, 1802, Intendant Morales had again taken away from the Americans the right of deposit in New Orleans, but on May 21, 1803, Morales announced that the King had not ratified the interdict. This order of Morales was the last vexatious act against the Ameri- cans, as news of the cession of the province to the United States was soon to reach Louisiana.
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By a proclamation dated May 18, 1803, Don Manuel de Salcedo and Don Sebastian Calvo de la Puerta y O'Farrill, Marquis de Casa Calvo, announced that His Majesty had decided to retrocede Louisiana to the French Republic, and " that the cession of the colony and island of New Orleans would take place in the same man- ner in which France ceded to His Majesty the said colony and island; in accordance with which the limits of the two banks of the river St. Louis or Mississippi shall re- main as they have remained according to article seven of the definitive treaty of peace concluded at Paris on Feb- ruary 10, 1763; and, consequently, the establishments from Manchac or Iberville River, as far as the line that separates the American territory from the domains of the King, remain in the power of Spain and annexed to West Florida."
The commissioners promise that the King will continue the pensions to widows and others, and they manifest the hope that the French government will allow the people of Louisiana to enjoy all the privileges they had pos- sessed under the rule of Spain. We may remember that Louis XV, in ceding Louisiana to Charles III, had also been very solicitous for the welfare of his former sub- jects whom he was compelling to become Spaniards.
It is curious to note the names of the streets in New Orleans in July, 1803. The house and lot of Jean Gra- vier, suburb St. Mary, are for sale. There are seven lots fronting on Rue St. Charles, Rue des Pigeonniers, and Rue des Fourneaux. In September, 1803, Jean Gravier announces for sale houses and lots on the following
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SCHOOLS
1803]
'streets : Poydras, Calalou, Salcedo, Eviat, Giro, Brique- terie, Cours du Cirque, Julie, Gravier, Fortier, and St. Charles.
On May 15, 1803, Rufus King, United States minister to England, announced to Lord Hawksbury the acquisi- tion by the United States of the province of Louisiana from France, as it was possessed by Spain. The answer of the English government was very friendly.
By an advertisement of Bidetrenoulleau, "Place de l'Église," dated September 17, 1803, we may conclude that the Natchitoches tobacco and the Macouba were the best in Louisiana at that time. The same number of the " Moniteur " (No. 361) contains a remarkable announce- ment that a gold coin has been found, and will be re- turned to the owner if he pays the cost of advertising.
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We have seen that in 1803 there were several schools and artists in New Orleans. On October 1, M. Guil- laume, pupil of the celebrated Monge, offered his services to teach arithmetic, geometry, and navigation. He prom- ised to explain facts about the sphere in each lesson. On October 8 Mme. Perrault opened a school for young ladies. As the Ursulines' school was flourishing, and the Spanish school was still in existence in Royal Street, the people of New Orleans in 1803 had good opportunities to instruct their children. On October 15, Regnier of- fered to teach the Louisianians the noble art of fencing.
In the same volume of the " Moniteur " the only adver- tisement about amusements, besides that of Lafon's pro- posed theater, is an invitation from Meyere, physicist, to come and see the " Invisible Woman " or the " Magic
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. Box." The last number of the volume, November 12, 1803, contains l'Abbé Roland's advertisement of his " Academy of Education." We have laid stress on this point to prove that the Louisianians of 1803 were cer- tainly patrons of education.
Governor Salcedo, who had been mentioned as having received Laussat on his arrival, had been appointed gov- ernor on October 24, 1799. He had been King's lieutenant . in the island of Teneriffe, and was brigadier-general of the royal armies. He arrived in New Orleans in June, 1801, and Casa Calvo, who had been governor ad interim from the death of Gayoso de Lemos, sailed for Havana. Intendant Lopez also left the province, and was succeeded by the contador Morales, who appears to have been a man of little tact. On November 26, 1802, Don Carlos Martinez Yrujo, Spanish minister at Washington, had written to Intendant Morales that he had received infor- mation from the Secretary of State that the port of New Orleans and the navigation of the Mississippi had been closed to the Americans. The Secretary had called atten- tion to the bad consequences that Morales's order would produce, and to the claims that might arise for serious damage to the American commerce. On January 15, 1803, Morales had replied that he assumed sole responsi- bility for the order, as he wished to eradicate the numer- ous obstacles and abuses that resulted from the right of deposit.3
We have already mentioned Laussat's arrival in New Orleans on March 26, 1803, and we have related his re- ception by the Spanish authorities. The news of the ces-
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ADDRESS TO LAUSSAT
1803]
sion of Louisiana to France would have been received with greater joy if it had not been that the colonists feared the fate of Santo Domingo,4 which had been ruined by the insurrection of the blacks. Bonaparte had issued a proclamation in which he said: "Inhabitants of Santo Domingo, whatever be your valor and your origin, you are all free, all equal before God and before the Re- public." General Leelere himself had said, on arriving in the island: " I promise liberty to all the inhabitants." Those fine promises were not kept, for shortly afterward slavery was reestablished in Santo Domingo, and negroes were forbidden to enter France. Nevertheless, the news from the island was very disquieting to the Louisianians.
In spite of these anxieties of the colonists, Laussat re- ceived from the inhabitants of New Orleans, on April 9, 1803, the following address : 5
CITIZEN PREFECT: France has rendered justice to our senti- ments, in believing in the unalterable attachment which we have preserved for her. Thirty-four years of a foreign domination have not weakened in our hearts the sacred love of country, and we return to-day under her banner with as much joy as we had grief when we had to part from it. Happy the colonists of Louisiana who have lived long enough to be witnesses of this reunion, which they have never ceased to desire and which satisfies their dearest wishes.
In an age so fertile in astonishing events, without doubt, things greater, more imposing, more memorable have happened, but nothing perhaps offers a picture as interesting, as touching, as that of victorious and triumphant France extending a protect- ing hand to children formerly cast away from her bosom by weak- ness and prevarication, and offering to share the fruits of a
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glorious peace, which has terminated in such a brilliant manner the most bloody and the most terrible of revolutions.
You have signalized, Citizen Prefect, the return of the French Government by an authentic testimonial of its beneficent views. Your proclamation of the 6th Germinal, in announcing them to us, has penetrated us with gratitude for its paternal care. The first benefactions of the French Republic are already felt, the happy choice of the chiefs whom it puts at our head, and whose honorable reputation had reached us, the picked troops it sends to protect our hearths, are sure guaranties of the happiness and prosperity it prepares for us. We offer to it in return our devo- tion, our obedience and our love, and we swear to render ourselves forever worthy of belonging to it.
The French Republic would perhaps attach less value to the homage of our fidelity, if it saw us relinquish without any senti- ment of regret the sovereign who has lavished his favors upon us during the time he has reigned over us. This culpable indif- ference is not in our hearts: the regret at losing him occupies a space beside the joy of regaining our former country; and it is by preserving an eternal remembrance of his favors, that we wish to render ourselves worthy of the benefits and attachment of the French Republic.
This address, which was written with singular simpli- city and dignity, was signed by the principal inhabitants of New Orleans. We give here the names of all the signers: " J. Lanthois, Jh Faurie, M. Fortier, J. G. Dus- ser, B. Giraudeau, G. Debuys, C. B. Dufau, J. Dupuy, H. Fortier, Pierre et Ant. Carraby, A. Peytavin, Ca- velier père, F. Duplessis, Labatut, M. Lefebvre, J. Gour- nier, Paul Lanusse, Jean Archinard, Stephen Zacharie, Zénon Cavelier, N. Boudousquié, Guerbois, J. B. Déjan, J. F. Merieult, J. Soulié, Lille Sarpy, Roques, Bougand,
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NAMES OF SIGNERS
1803]
Durel aîné, Charpin, F. Jacob, Pierre Hardy, Hazeur frères, Chs Torsty, Galebert, P. Isaac Blois, Fortin, Le Fort, Boré, P. Paillet, Joseph Gravier, Antonin Jung, D. Desessarts, L. Caillavet, Sn Dueourneau, A. Harang, Ths. Porée, Lauve et Gaillard, Joseph Tricou, Vander, S. Girod, Boutte, Robelot, D. Barran, Harrell, Jacques Guesnon, J. B. Verret, R. J. Ducros, J. Hiriard, J. B. Passement, Etienne Trepagnier, L. S. Fontaine, Pail- lette, Duplessis, Jean Paillet, Jacques Goujon, Bosonet, Arnaud Magnon, P. Cazelare, Mondet, A. Baudin, Pierre Millet, Jean Louis Maroteaux, J. Livaudais, Li- vaudais père, P. Derbigny, N. Broutin, St. Avid, Ber- nard, Ene Plauché, L. Chabot, Cortés, Ant. Boudousquié, François Blache, C. Déjan, Fortier fils, L. Courcelles, Baritot jeune, L. Cornu, Joseph Piseros, Chs. Parent, Baptiste Durel, A. Garidel."
The planters of Louisiana, in their turn, sent an ad- dress to Laussat, dated 16th Germinal, year eleven, as follows : 6
CITIZEN PREFECT: Your proclamation of the 6th Germinal, giving us the certain assurance of our reunion with the French Republic, has given our souls the rapture of supreme felicity ; it was the object of our most ardent desires. The old men repeat on all sides : " We may die now, we are French," and the young men: " The dawn of happiness is rising for us." Already their young hearts are inflamed with the sentiments that distinguish true republicans. Our common mother, in sending us some of the soldiers who have conquered liberty, must expect us to know how to imitate them when it shall be necessary to defend it. Fol- lowing the footsteps of the warrior of Marengo, we can know only victory or death.
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[1803
Thanks be to the Hero who directs the brilliant destinies of France. He has attended to the happiness of the Louisianians, and we reenter the bosom of our country. We shall see floating on our shores that banner which has guided our brave brothers in the midst of combats. Our hearts, truly French, have not ceased to follow them at least by our vows. We groaned with them when the awful reign of anarchy was tearing the bloody flanks of our dear and unfortunate mother, and we gave our- selves up to the greatest joy on hearing that the immortal Bona- parte had at last seized with a firm hand the helm of the ship of the Republic, tossed about for so long a time by the storms of faction.
We should be unworthy of that name which brings us glory, if we did not imitate the example of generosity which you give us, in acknowledging that we have not to complain of the Spanish Government. We have not groaned under the iron rod of despot- ism. Our unfortunate relatives and friends have, it is true, red- dened with their innocent blood the soil they wished to preserve for France. A feeble and unfeeling Government wished to tear us away from her, but it is only to the atrocious soul of a for- eigner, and to an extreme abuse of confidence, that we owed our misfortunes.7 Plaintive shades, if you still wander in the places that witnessed your execution, forget your sorrows; your chil- dren, your friends, are recalled in the bosom of that cherished mother, and their tears of gratitude will wash out the blood you lost. Long ago we proved to the Spaniards, on the plains of Baton Rouge, Mobile, and Pensacola, that we do not consider them accomplices of those horrors. Bonds of relationship and of friendship unite us to most of them. Let them still enjoy, on the soil of liberty, all they possess, and let them share with us the favors of our brothers.
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The address of the planters, like that of the inhabi- tants of New Orleans, did justice to the mild and pater-
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LAUSSAT'S LETTERS
1803]
nal government of Spain after O'Reilly's departure from the colony. It was signed as follows: " A. Trou- ard, D. Pain. In my name and in that of the planters of St. John the Baptist parish, second German Coast, Man- uel Andry. Jacques Delagroue, Noel Perret, P. St. Martin fils, L. Foucher, Chs. Perret."
It was General Victor who had been empowered to receive the province from the Spanish commissioners, and not the colonial prefect; therefore the latter, in the ab- sence of Victor, was without authority, and Salcedo and Casa Calvo governed the colony in the name of the King of Spain. We quote here a few extracts from Laussat's letters written during his stay in Louisiana.
On his arrival he wrote to the minister: 8
We have been received everywhere, by compatriots either by birth or by origin, with testimonials of the most expansive and generous affection. I have found only hearts entirely French, and, it must be said, entirely Bonaparte. It is impossible to speak for an instant of the Republic, of its wars, of its treaties of peace, of its destinies, without hearing his name continually mentioned and always in terms of admiration. We whom he has sent are seen in him, and we are received on his account with joy and hope.
On the 22d Germinal he wrote: º
The population here is extremely active, industrious, and full of emulation. Everything is to be done, but I am convinced that it will amply repay the government for its advances and its cares. The solid policy that has prevailed at the head of France after several years of an unfortunate experience concerning re- ligious worship, its establishments, its ministers, its monasteries,
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A HISTORY OF LOUISIANA [1803
its properties, has produced here the most happy effect. One of the most marked has been the preservation of the convent of the nuns of St. Ursula, who are the only resource this country enjoys for the education of girls. From the moment of my arrival this has been a great event about which public joy has been loudly manifested. I owe also an honorable testimonial to the customs, the spirit of toleration, the principles of submission of the eccle- siastical chiefs and notably of the vicar-general, Dr. Thomas Flassett. Their conduct on this occasion is such as the govern- ment might desire it to be.
Laussat says that everything in New Orleans is so immoderately dear that his salary of fifty thousand francs, however large it may appear, will be hardly suf- ficient if he wishes to conform to the dignity of his of- fice, the intentions and the greatness of his government. On the 5th Messidor he says very sensibly : 10
The repeated introduction of negroes in a new colony under the tropics is, without doubt, a present advantage; but if this colony has such a climate and soil that the African race is not indis- pensable to its cultivation, one finds sooner or later that this introduction has produced great harm. Such is the case with Louisiana.
He adds that white men would have sufficed for the cultivation of the sugar-cane.
In the summer of 1803 rumors reached Louisiana that the province had been sold to the United States. Laus- sat would not believe it, and he wrote: 11
The news of the cession to the United States is an impudent and incredible falsehood, and it is only a canard put forth by
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LAUSSAT'S DESPATCHES
1803]
the party which, at this time of elections and on the expiration of Jefferson's Presidency, has thought, by divulging this news suddenly, to assist the partisans of the President.
Laussat was mistaken. Louisiana had indeed been ceded by France to the United States; the treaty of ces- sion had been signed at Paris on April 30, 1803.
Judge Gayarre quotes a despatch from the colonial prefect, in which the latter seems to be hostile to the con- tinuation of the right of deposit granted to Americans. Laussat said: 12
In conformity with the right reserved by Spain to establish the place of deposit elsewhere after the expiration of a certain time, should it be required by her interests, it would be proper to designate, instead of New Orleans, the Balize, or some other untenable spot.
Judge Gayarre, however, does not mention the follow- ing despatch, which appears to indicate that Laussat was much more hostile to the English than to the Americans:13
My positive aim about the Anglo-American deposit is briefly this: To favor extremely the Anglo-Americans in their exports by the river, because they can be only of products and goods of their Western States; to embarrass them as much as possible in their imports, because they will always be composed essentially of English goods. The more the modifications of the treaty of . October 27, 1795, should approach this result, the more would they be to the interest of the Republic, either in this country, where it should seek continually to obtain the affection of the people, already numerous, by whom the left bank of the Missis- sippi is occupied, or in the entire world, where the Republic struggles alone against the commercial despotism of its rival- England.
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Laussat was making fine projects for the development of Louisiana by encouraging immigration, and he even asked that families be sent to him from the new Rhine de- partments, if they wished to emigrate. To his great sur- prise, he received from the French Government a letter announcing the cession of the province to the United States.
In this letter the minister said that he had written the day before to Laussat, announcing that he had been appointed commissioner to take possession of Louisiana, and that full powers had been sent to him, as well as an order from the King of Spain to the governor of the province relative to the transfer.14 A copy was sent the colonial prefect of the treaty between the French Repub- lic and the United States, and the reasons for the ces- sion of the province were given. These were, briefly, as follows: The desire of averting war in North America, of settling some points of controversy between the Re- public and the United States, and of preventing all new causes of controversy that might have arisen from the neighborhood of the French colonies; the need which the latter have of men, agriculture, and aid; finally, unavoid- able circumstances, forethought, and the intention of compensating, by an advantageous arrangement, the in- evitable loss of a country which war was about to put at the mercy of another nation.
The prefect was instructed to call the attention of the Louisianians to the kind disposition of the First Consul, as set forth in the treaty. He was informed that he had been appointed commissioner to deliver the province to
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TRANSFER TO FRANCE
the United States, and as there were no French troops in Louisiana, he was instructed to proceed, as soon as pos- sible, to the transfer from Spain, and to deliver the prov- ince on the same day to the American Government.
The act of transfer took place on Wednesday, No- vember 30, 1803 (8 Frimaire, an XII), at twelve o'clock. In the morning, according to Barbe-Marbois, the Span- ish militia and the regular troops were placed in battle array in the square in front of the city hall,-that build- ing called the Cabildo at present in New Orleans,-which will be forever celebrated in American history. Within its walls took place the transfer of Louisiana from Spain to France, and from France to the United States.
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