USA > Louisiana > A history of Louisiana, Volume II > Part 18
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The Spanish commissioners, Salcedo and Casa Calvo, and Laussat, the French commissioner, arrived at the city hall at twelve o'clock, and the ceremonies of the transfer took place with great solemnity. Three chairs were placed in the council-chamber, and Governor Salcedo sat in the middle one, with Casa Calvo and Laussat in the others. The French commissioner handed the governor his cre- dentials from the First Consul, and the order of the King dated October 15, 1802, for the delivery of the province. These papers were read publiely, and Salcedo, rising from his seat, handed Laussat the keys of New Orleans. Casa Calvo then announced that the inhabitants of Loui- siana who should not wish to retire under the Spanish domination were absolved from their oath of fidelity to the Catholic King. The three commissioners afterward went to the main balcony of the city hall, and the Span- ish flag was lowered from a high staff in the center of the
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Place d'Armes, and the French flag hoisted to the top. Volleys of artillery saluted both flags. The French troops were represented only by a few officers.
In his narrative of these proceedings Judge Gayarre says:
The square was occupied by the Spanish troops and some of the militia of the colony. It was remarked that the militia had been mustered with difficulty, and did not exceed one hundred and fifty men. It was the indication of an unfavorable feeling, which had been daily gaining strength, and which Laussat at- tributed in his despatches to the intrigues of the Spanish authori- ties. Although the weather had been tempestuous in the pre- ceding night and in the morning, and continued to be threatening, the crowd around the public square was immense, and filled not only the streets, but also the windows, and even the very tops of the neighboring houses.
The procès-verbal of the proceedings was drawn up in French and in Spanish, and signed by Salcedo, Casa Calvo, and Laussat.
In a despatch to Minister Miguel Cayetano Soler, dated December 5, 1803, Intendant Morales says : 15
On November 30, at 12 o'clock, took place the transfer of the province. There was not a single demonstration of joy when the French flag was raised, and there were many tears when the Spanish flag was taken down.
He relates that on December 1 Laussat celebrated the event with a ball and a supper, when many persons stayed at his house until six o'clock in the morning of December 2. Morales says he expressed to Laussat his surprise that
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he should have taken possession of the province before the arrival of the American commissioners, and the colonial prefect replied that he had done so in order to convince the cabinet of Great Britain that the transfer had been formal and not virtual. On December 4 there was a solemn mass at the cathedral, attended by the prefect and the French officials and a detachment of militia, and the prefect required of the bishop 16 that, in the antiphone where prayer is said for the King, the names of the Re- public and of the First Consul be substituted for that of the King of Spain. The bishop refused to do this, and by a compromise a French priest who was at that time in New Orleans sang the mass.
Governor Salcedo received orders,17 as soon as the transfer to France should be accomplished, to go to the Canary Islands to enjoy his retreat, and the Marquis de Casa Calvo was intrusted with the settlement of the boundaries of the province. From that time, says Laus- sat, the marquis displayed in his relations with him "a great deal of nobility, of grace, and even of magnifi- cence," and as a proof of these pleasant relations the prefect sent to Paris copies of invitations to balls given by Casa Calvo in his honor, and by him in honor of Casa Calvo.18 To give an idea of the customs and manners of 1803, we reproduce here those invitations in the original:
El Marqués de Casa Calvo, Comisario de S. M. C., espera mere- cer de la atencion de V. se servira acompañarle el dia 8 del corriente á las siete de la noche en la Casa de Bayle, en la qual obsequia al Señor Prefecto Colonial y Comisario de la Republica Francesa por la toma de posesion de esta Provincia.
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M .- Le Citoyen Laussat, Préfet Colonial, Commissaire du gouvernement français, pour la reprise de la Louisiane des mains de l'Espagne et sa remise aux Etats-unis, vous prie de participer, chez lui, Jeudi Prochain, 23 Frimaire (15 Décembre ) à une soirée, qu'il dédie à M. le Marquis de Casa Calvo, Brigadier des Armées Espagnoles, l'un des Commissaires de S. M. C., en retour du noble et brillant accueil qu'il a fait en lui ces jours derniers au Repré- sentant de la Nation Française, et en signe de l'union et de l'amitié qui règnent entre leurs deux Augustes et Puissants Gouvernements.
A sept heures du soir.
NOUVELLE-ORLÉANS, le 19 Frimaire an XII
et 11 Décembre, 1803.
The prefect adds that Casa Calvo's ball is said to have cost fifteen thousand francs. Laussat himself was not less magnificent in his entertainment, if we believe the testimony of C. C. Robin, who was in Louisiana at the time of the transfer of the province, and who gives an interesting account of the customs and manners of 1803.19 Speaking of the prefect and his wife, and of the recep- tions given by them, Robin says:
The Louisiana ladies appeared there with a magnificence that was astonishing in such a colony, and that magnificence could be compared with what is most brilliant in our principal towns in France. The stature of the ladies, generally tall, and their fair complexion, which was set off to advantage by their light dresses adorned with flowers and rich embroideries, gave a fairy- like appearance to these festivities. The last one, especially, astonished me by its magnificence. After the tea, the concert, the dances, the guests descended at midnight into a hall where, on a table of sixty to eighty covers, rose from the midst of
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rocks the temple of Good Faith, surrounded with columns, and surmounted by a dove; underneath was the statue of the alle- gorical goddess. But further, outside of that hall, the brilliance of the lights attracted the guests under an immense gallery closed by awnings. Forty to fifty dishes, served in different styles, were offered to the choice of four or five hundred guests who were assembled in little groups.
Robin speaks of the products of Louisiana, and says that in 1802 there were seventy-five sugar-houses in the colony, producing five million pounds yearly. He cal- culates how much sugar can be produced in Louisiana, and makes brilliant predictions for the future of that industry. A century later Robin's predictions were re- alized, and there were in the State of Louisiana planta- tions that produced each more sugar than was produced in the whole colony in 1802.
The events that took place in 1803 were of such deep significance for the future of Louisiana and of the United States that, as much as possible, we shall allow the men of that time to relate their history themselves. On December 12 Laussat announced the transfer to France on November 30,20 and added:
Consequently, Citizen Minister, the domination of the Repub- lic is established in fact and in right in Lower Louisiana, which comprises essentially its population and its cultivation. Louisiana is in truth only there; there are not twenty soldiers in the upper posts, including the Illinois, which are seven hundred leagues from here. The French name is blessed; that of Bonaparte ex- cites enthusiasm; we are regretted, and we shall be very much regretted. All repeat it to me and at every minute; one sees only
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uniforms and cockades of our national guards ; but what is due to our government will be generally felt, and the Louisianians will remain forever attached in heart to the French.
On the day of the transfer, November 30, 1803, Laus- sat addressed this proclamation to the Louisianians:
The mission that brought me among you across the sea, through a distance of seven thousand and five hundred miles, that mission on which I had long rested so many fond hopes and so many ardent wishes for your happiness, is now totally changed ; and the one with which I am now charged, less gratifying but still equally flattering to me, offers me one source of consolation, which springs from the reflection that in its results it will be more advantageous to you.
The Commissioners of His Catholic' Majesty, in conformity with the powers and orders which they and I have respectively received, have just delivered to me possession of the province. You see the flag of the French Republic now displayed, and you hear the repeated reports of her guns, announcing to you, to-day, on all sides, the return of the French domination. It will be for an instant only, Louisianians, and I am on the eve of transferring the possession of this colony to the Commissioners of the United States. They are near at hand-I expect them soon.
The approaching struggle of a war begun under the most sanguinary and terrible auspices, and threatening the safety of the four quarters of the world, had induced the French Govern- ment to turn its attention to Louisiana, and to reflect on her destinies. Considerations of prudence and humanity, connecting themselves with those of a more vast and durable policy,-worthy, in one word, of the man whose genius weighs, at this very hour, in its scales, the fate of so many great nations,-have given a new direction to the beneficent intentions of France toward Louisiana. She has ceded it to the United States of America. Preserve thus,
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Louisianians, the precious pledge of the friendship which cannot fail to grow from day to day between the two republics, and which must so powerfully contribute to their common repose and their common prosperity.
The third article of the treaty of cession cannot escape your attention. It says: "That the inhabitants of the ceded terri- tories shall be incorporated into the Union of the United States, and admitted, as soon as possible, according to the principles of the Federal Constitution, to the enjoyment of all the advantages and immunities of citizens of the United States; and that, in the mean time, they shall be maintained and protected in the free enjoyment of their liberties and property, and in the unrestrained exercise of the religion they profess." Thus are you, Louisianians, suddenly invested with the rights and privileges appertaining to a free constitution and government, secured and guaranteed by force of arms, cemented by treaties, and tested by time and experience. You will be incorporated with a nation already numerous and powerful, renowned besides for its industry, its patriotism, and the degree of civilization and knowledge it pos- sesses, which by its rapid progress seems destined to the most brilliant rank that a people ever enjoyed on the face of the earth. It has been happily blessed with such a position that its success and its splendor cannot, at least for a long time, interfere with its felicity.
However benevolent and pure may be the intentions of a mother country, you must be aware that an immense distance between the two secures liability to oppression and exactions, and prevents the correction of abuses. The facility of concealing these has a tendency to corrupt the man who at first looks upon them with aversion and fear. From this day forth, you cease to be exposed to this fatal and dangerous disadvantage.
By the nature of the government of the United States, and of the privileges upon the enjoyment of which you immediately en- ter, you will have, even under a provisional government, popular rulers, whose acts you will be at liberty to censure, or to protest
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against with impunity, and who will be always in need of your esteem, your suffrages, and your affection.
The public affairs and interests, far from being interdicted to your consideration, will be your own affairs and interests, on which the opinions of wise and impartial men will be sure to exercise, in the long run, a preponderating influence, and to which you could not even remain indifferent without exposing yourselves to bitter repentance.
The time will soon come when you will establish for yourselves a form of government which, although respecting the sacred principles consecrated in the social pact of the Federal Union, will be adapted to your manners, your usages, your climate, your soil, and your peculiar localities.
It will not be long before you shall feel the advantages of an upright, impartial, and incorruptible administration of justice, in which the invariable forms and the publicity of judicial pro- ceedings, together with the restraints carefully imposed over an arbitrary application of the laws, will cooperate with the moral and national character of the judges and jurors, in affording to the citizens the most effective security for their persons and property.
The principles and legislation of the American people, the encouragement they have given to the interests of agriculture and commerce, and the progress they have made in those two de- partments of industry, are well known to you, Louisianians, par- ticularly from the many advantages you have derived from them for some years past.
There is not, and there cannot be, a metropolitan government which will not establish a more or less exclusive colonial monopoly. On the contrary, from the United States you have to expect a boundless freedom of exportation, and only such duties on your imports as may be required by your public wants and the necessity of protecting your home industry. The result of unlimited com- petition will be to cause you to buy cheap while selling dear, and your country will become an immense warchouse or place of
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. deposit, affording you unlimited profits. The Nile of America, the Mississippi, which flows, not through parched deserts of sand, but through the most extensive and the most fertile plains of the new world, will soon see its bosom darkened with a thousand ships belonging to all the nations of the earth, and mooring at the quays of another Alexandria.
Among them your eyes will, I hope, Louisianians, always dis- tinguish with complacency the French flag, and your hearts will never cease to rejoice at the sight of its glorious folds. This we firmly hope. I solemnly profess it here in the name of my coun- try and government.
Bonaparte, by stipulating in the seventh article of the treaty of cession, that the French shall be permitted, during twelve years, to trade in this province without paying higher duties than the citizens of the United States, and exactly on the same footing, had, as one of his principal aims, that of giving to the ancient relations existing between the French of Louisiana and the French of Europe sufficient opportunity and time for renewing, strength- ening and perpetuating themselves. A new bond of union will be formed between us from one continent to the other, the more satisfactory and durable from the fact that it will be entirely founded on a constant reciprocity of sentiments, services, and advantages. Your children, Louisianians, will be our children, and our children will be yours. You will send yours to perfect their education and their talents among us, and we will send ours to you to increase your forces and, by contributing their share to your labors and industry, assist you in wresting from an un- subdued wilderness its reluctant tributes.
It has been gratifying to me thus to describe, somewhat at length, the advantages that are secured to you, in order to soothe your complaints of being forsaken, and the affectionate regrets which a sincere attachment for the country of your ancestors has caused so many of you to express. France and her government will hear of it with gratitude and with corresponding love. But you will be convinced ere long that, by the treaty of cession, she
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has conferred upon you the most eminent and most memorable of blessings.
The French Republic is thus the first to give to modern times the example of voluntarily emancipating a colony, in imitation of the liberal policy pursued toward those colonies whose existence we love to recall to memory, as constituting one of the most brilliant periods of the days of antiquity. Thus, now and for the future, may a Frenchman and a Louisianian never meet, in any part of the world, without a mutual feeling of tender emotion, and without exchanging the affectionate appellation of " bro- thers "! May this word hereafter be the only one sufficiently expressive to convey an adequate idea of their eternal friendship and reciprocal reliance!
On the same day that Laussat was put in possession of Louisiana, November 30, 1803, he issued the proclama- . tion quoted above and abolished the cabildo. He insti- tuted instead a municipal government, as follows: Éti- enne de Boré, mayor; Destrehan, first adjoint; Sauvé, second adjoint; members of the Council, Livaudais, Pe- tit Cavelier, Michel Fortier, Villeré, Johns, Donaldson, Faurie, Allard, Tureaud, and John Watkins. Labatut was treasurer, and Pierre Derbigny was secretary.
The Black Code, given to the province at the time of the French domination, was maintained by Laussat. The prefect accepted the services of a company of infantry for the preservation of order in New Orleans, comprised of about one hundred and twenty American citizens under the command of Daniel Clark, the consul. Bellechasse was made colonel of the militia, and all the officers were recommissioned by Laussat.
Although Louisiana was soon to be transferred to the
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United States, it was important that in the mean time it should not be left without a government, and the French colonial prefect administered the affairs of the province with tact and energy. From November 30, 1803, Laus- sat was expecting at any moment the arrival of the Ameri- can commissioners, to whom he had been ordered to de- liver the province. The transfer from France to the United States was accomplished on December 20, 1803.
CHAPTER X
THE CESSION TO THE UNITED STATES
Withdrawal of right of deposit-Absolute need of the Mississippi-Living- ston's prophetie words-Excitement in the United States-Jefferson's mes- sage-James Monroe sent to France-Address of Ross in the Senate- Debates-Bonaparte renounces Louisiana-Livingston's conversation with Talleyrand and Barbé-Marbois-Bonaparte prepares article third of the treaty -The treaty signed-Spain objects.
E have mentioned the order of In- tendant Morales, dated October 16, 1802, withdrawing from the Ameri- cans the right of deposit at New Or- leans, which had been granted by the treaty of 1795. Although the King, on March 1, 1803, disapproved of the order of Morales, the excitement in the West occa- sioned by the intendant's injudicious order brought about finally the cession of Louisiana to the United States. As the news of the cession of the province to France was now generally known, it was believed that the withdrawal of the right of deposit had taken place at the request of the French government, which desired to exclude the Americans from the port of New Orleans.1 For some time there had been causes of dissension be- tween the two republics. Corsairs had been permitted by the Directory to capture American ships in the ports of
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· the French colonies, and in 1799 the Government of the United States had retaliated by sanctioning the cap- ture of French vessels. Bonaparte, fortunately, put an end to those hostilities by an agreement signed on Sep- tember 30, 1800. It was stipulated that indemnities should be paid for any illegal captures; but in 1802 the " spoliation claims," as they were called, had not yet been settled, and the dissension with France still existed.
The population east of the Mississippi in 1802 com- prised about eight hundred thousand souls, and they had an absolute need of the navigation of the Mississippi. They declared that the river belonged to them, that its tributaries flowed through their lands, and that its mouth was the only outlet for their waters. They said that if Congress did not protect them, they would take measures to protect themselves, and threats of taking possession of New Orleans were freely made.
Robert R. Livingston had been sent as minister to France in 1801; but he had been unable to obtain any definite information about the cession of Louisiana to France, and on May 1, 1802, Secretary of State Madi- son wrote to him to inquire into the extent of the cession, " particularly whether it includes the Floridas as well as New Orleans." The minister was also instructed to " endeavor to ascertain the price at which these, if in- cluded in the cession, would be yielded to the United States." "It would be," added Madison, " a most pre- cious acquisition."
Livingston prepared a memoir on Louisiana to show that it would not be to the interest of France to acquire
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the province, and he gave a copy of his memoir to Joseph Bonaparte, who showed it to the First Consul. The lat- ter read the paper and expressed his desire to be on good terms with the United States. Meanwhile, Livingston was writing prophetic words to James Madison:
I have every reason to believe that the Floridas are not included. They will, for the present at least, remain in the hands of Spain. There never was a government with which less could be done by negotiation than here. There is no people, no legislature, no counselors. One man is everything. He seldom asks advice, and never hears it unasked. His ministers are mere clerks; and his legislature and counselors parade officers. Though the sense of every reflecting man about him is against this wild expedition, no one dares to tell him so. Were it not for the uneasiness it ex- cites at home, it would give me none; for I am persuaded that the whole will end in a relinquishment of the country, and transfer of the capital to the United States.
Daniel Clark arrived in France at that time and saw General Victor, who had been appointed Captain-Gen- eral of Louisiana. Clark appears to have obtained little information from Victor; and Madison, on November 27, wrote to Charles Pinckney, the American minister at Madrid, with regard to the order of Intendant Morales concerning the right of deposit at New Orleans. Speak- ing of the Western people, Madison said: " The Missis- sippi to them is everything. It is the Hudson, the Dela- ware, the Potomac, and all the navigable rivers of the Atlantic States, formed into one stream."
Livingston, in Europe, had obtained little satisfaction from the French government with regard to its inten-
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tions concerning Louisiana. In the United States the excitement and the interest in the matter were growing, and on December 15, 1802, President Jefferson, in a message to Congress, expressed himself as follows: " The cession of the Spanish province of Louisiana to France, which took place in the course of the late war, will, if carried into effect, make a change in the aspect of our foreign relations, which will doubtless have just weight in any deliberations of the legislature connected with that subject." Again, on December 22, 1802, in a message to the House of Representatives, the President said he was " aware of the obligation to maintain in all cases the rights of the nation, and to employ for that purpose those just and honorable means which belong to the character of the United States." To this message the House of Representatives answered that they relied with perfect confidence on the wisdom and vigilance of the Executive, and that they held it to be " their duty to ex- press their unalterable determination to maintain the boundaries and the rights of navigation and commerce through the river Mississippi, as established by existing treaties."
It was not known, says Barbe-Marbois, whether France would attempt to claim new frontiers to its province and revive old titles contrary to the interests of the United States. The harm done to the inhabitants of New Orleans by Morales's prohibition order caused the inten- dant to modify it, and he rendered it practically inopera- tive, but still the alarm caused by it continued among the Western people. There were persons in the United
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States who were more friendly to England than to France; but Jefferson believed it would be to the interest of the American Republic to be on good terms with the French government, and he was confident that the diffi- culty about Louisiana could be settled amicably. He resolved, therefore, to send an envoy extraordinary to Paris. He chose for that mission his friend James Mon- roe, and on January 10, 1803, asked him to accept it as a great sacrifice, expressing the unbounded confidence which the administration and the people of the West had in him.
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