USA > Louisiana > A history of Louisiana, Volume II > Part 21
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'An exceedingly rare book has lately been discovered at Pau; it is the " Memoirs " of Laussat, in which he re- lates in detail the events that took place during his stay in Louisiana. We shall give here his narrative of the incidents relating to the transfers from Spain to France and from France to the United States."
At a quarter to twelve, on November 30, 1803, I went on foot to the City Hall, escorted by about sixty Frenchmen. The brig Argo saluted us as we passed. There was a considerable crowd on the square. The Spanish troops were on one side, and the militia on the other. The drums were beat when I passed by the guard-house. The commissioners of His Catholic Majesty ad- vanced to meet me to the centre of the hall. M. de Salcedo sat in the middle in an arm-chair, I on another at his right, and the Marquis de Casa Calvo on a third to the left. I presented my credentials and the order of the King of Spain. The Secretary, Don Andres Lopez de Armesto, was ordered to read the credentials of the commissioners of his nation, and Daugerot, marine clerk, under my orders, read my own credentials. The Marquis de Casa Calvo declared in a loud voice that the subjects who should not choose the Spanish domination were by right from this moment freed from their oath of fidelity. The governor handed to me, at the same time, in a silver dish, the keys of the forts St. Charles and St. Louis. He left his seat, and I took it.
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In all other accounts of the transfer it is said that the keys of the city were presented to Laussat. The latter says expressly that the Spanish governor, Salcedo, pre- sented to him the keys of the forts.
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After receiving the keys and signing the procès- verbal of the transfer, the three commissioners went to the balcony of the City Hall and witnessed the lowering in the square of the Spanish flag and the raising of the French flag. The Spanish commissioners then left the City Hall, and Laussat accompanied them to the top of the staircase. His secretaries and officers on his staff accompanied them down the stairs, where the Spanish offi- cers had received the French commissioner.
Laussat went then to the square, and, standing in front of the militia, he presented Bellechasse to them as their commander, and said: " I confide to you, in the name of the French Republic, these banners: you will defend them, you will honor them; they rise in your midst for the good of your country; they are here as on their native soil: French blood flows in the veins of most of you."
During these ceremonies cannon were thundering on all sides. When the Spanish flag was lowered from Fort St. Charles it was saluted with twenty-one guns by the fort and twenty-one by an eight-pounder that had been posted expressly in front of the prefect's house. When the French flag was raised above the fort it was saluted with twenty-one guns from the fort, twenty-one from the French brig, and twenty-one from the battery at the prefect's house.
. On December 1, 1803, Laussat received visits from
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Governor Salcedo, the Marquis de Casa Calvo, Inten- dant Morales, the clergy, and the principal military offi- cers. After a quarter of an hour, he went in his turn to the governor's house, found there the persons who had called on him, and resolved to give a great festival in honor of the French flag.
He invited to dinner seventy-five persons-Spaniards, 'Americans, and Frenchmen. There was card-playing for heavy stakes, and during the dinner three toasts were drunk: the first, with white champagne, to the French Republic and to Bonaparte; the second, with rose-colored champagne, to Charles IV and to Spain; the third, with white champagne, to the United States and to President Jefferson. Three salutes of twenty-one guns corre- sponded to the toasts. It was then night, and a last and noisy toast was drunk to the ladies.
The weather, which had been unsettled on November 30, was fine again, and a north wind, the coldest of the winter, had dried the ground. The wind, blowing with great force, somewhat disarranged the illuminations. Nevertheless, big fire-pots gave a brilliant light in front of the prefect's house. The doors had been removed, and. a hundred women, elegantly dressed, and a hundred and fifty to two hundred men were in the rooms. There was one English contra-dance to three French dances. The Marquis de Casa Calvo opened the ball by a minuet with Mme. Almonester; there were also character dances and waltzes. Mme. Livaudais and Mme. Boré, who had given up dancing, took pleasure in it again on this occa- sion. Supper was served at three o'clock, and at seven
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the danse des bateaux and the galopade were still to be danced. At eight o'clock in the morning the last persons left the house.
Laussat says that Casa Calvo spoke to him of the limits of the province, and that he answered that he would trans- mit the country, according to the terms of the treaty, without considering at all the application of these terms, which Spain would define with the United States.
Laussat told the members of the new municipal council that it would have been much easier for him to make use of the existing establishments in the transfer of the col- ony, but he had wished to render a great service to the Louisianians and to give them a signal proof of attach- ment and interest, by taking advantage of "that flash of power and of reign to deliver to them in some sort the fortresses, and to introduce into them the élite of the Louisianians."
` On December 8 Casa Calvo gave a ball in honor of Laussat, and on December 16 Laussat returned the com- pliment. Unfortunately a fire broke out at a short dis- tance, and a panic ensued, caused by the remembrance of the disastrous conflagrations of 1788 and 1794. At ten o'clock the fire was extinguished, and Laussat and Casa Calvo returned to the ball, which was most brilliant. For twelve hours there were boleros, gavottes, French and English contra-dances, and high playing. The rooms were illuminated with twenty " quinquets " and two hun- dred and twenty wax candles, and for supper there were seats at the large table for sixty persons, for twenty-four at the small table, and for one hundred and forty-six at
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thirty-two round tables, while hundreds of persons ate standing. Different kinds of gumbo were served; among others, with sea turtles. During the night there was an abundant buffet, with tea, coffee, chocolate, consommé, and bavaroises. The officers of the Spanish corvette Desempeño delayed their departure, attended the ball, and stayed at Laussat's house until half-past nine in the morning.
· The French commissioner heard at his ball that the American commissioners, Claiborne and Wilkinson, had landed with their troops at the Mather plantation, and Colonel Watson, temporary secretary, asked him when he would like to receive them. Laussat indicated De- cember 19, between twelve and two o'clock. Twenty-four dragoons preceded Claiborne and Wilkinson, and they were received with a salute of nineteen guns. Claiborne was tall and had an American complexion and bearing. He appeared gentle, and conversed well. Both he and Wilkinson wore scarfs. The next day Laussat called on the American commissioners in their camp. In his de- spatches he relates this visit in detail.8
The day that was to be the first of a new era for the banks of the Mississippi came at last. On December 20, at half-past ten o'clock, many officials and persons of all classes and professions met at Laussat's house and ac- companied him to the City Hall, whither he went on foot. The day was beautiful, and as mild as in the month of May. Pretty women and well-dressed men adorned all the balconies around the square, and at none of the pre- ceding ceremonies had there been so many spectators.
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· The eleven balconies of the City Hall were full of beauti- ful women. The American troops appeared, and with drums beating marched by platoons and placed them- selves on the river side of the square. Facing them, on the other side, were the militia.
The commissioners, Messrs. Claiborne and Wilkinson, were re- ceived at the foot of the stairs by Vinache, major of engineers, . Livaudais, major of militia, and by Secretary Daugerot. I ad- vanced toward them to the middle of the meeting-hall. Claiborne sat in an arm-chair at my right, and Wilkinson in another at my left. I announced the object of the ceremony. The commissioners presented to me their credentials, and their secretary read them in a loud voice. I ordered to be read afterward: (1) the treaty of cession ; (2) my credentials ; (3) the exchange of ratifications. I then declared that I delivered the country to the United States, repeating sacramentally the terms in which my powers were ex- pressed. I handed the keys of the city, adorned with tricolored ribbons, to Mr. Wilkinson, and immediately I released from their oath of allegiance to France such inhabitants as wished to remain under the domination of the United States.
'After the reading of the procès-verbal, in French by Daugerot and in English by Wadsworth, it was signed by the commissioners and by their secretaries. Claiborne, Wilkinson, and Laussat went to the principal balcony of the City Hall, and the French flag was hoisted. Captain Charpin, with his company of French citizens, had guarded the French flag since morning. Their sergeant- major, Legrand, received the flag from Naval Ensign Dusseuil, who had lowered it. Legrand wrapped it around his body, and with drawn sword, escorted by two
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· officers of the company, went back to his place in the center of the company. Laussat left the City Hall, and, standing before the militia, addressed them as follows:
Militiamen, you have given proofs of devotion and zeal for the French flag in the short time it has floated over these regions. The French Republic shall be informed of it. I present to you my thanks in the name of its government. You pass at this moment under the domination of the United States, which has become your sovereign. I deliver the command over you to its commissioners. Obey them as its representatives.
Laussat went then to the flag, and with drums beating marched with Captain Charpin's company. He says he will never forget this touching and august scene. Fifty French citizens, twenty-five hundred leagues from their country, rallied voluntarily to do homage to its flag,- " that flag, carried to these regions for a long domina- tion; that flag, which, for twelve years, has not ceased to march forward and to spread afar the glory of France, retrograding voluntarily to-day, and falling back in the direction of Europe."
Captain Charpin's company was composed of men who had served in the French army from the beginning of the Revolution. Their soldierly appearance and calm demeanor produced a great impression among the spec- tators, and tears were shed when the French flag disap- peared from the shores of Louisiana. The American troops presented arms as Laussat and his soldiers passed by, and the flags and the officers saluted.
In the evening of December 20 Laussat gave a dinner
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and a ball. The officers of the militia wore the tricolored cockade, and they said to the French commissioner: " We present ourselves to you, decorated with it. It will be for- ever dear to us, as will also the remembrance of your short stay in these regions." There were tears in their eyes, and Laussat was so much moved that he was able to say only a few words, and ran into his office. At the ball and at the dinner there were Spaniards, Frenchmen, and Americans, and, Laussat adds, " American women whose charms we had not yet celebrated." Supper was served at one o'clock, and the entertainment was ani- mated and brilliant.
Many marks of interest and regret were shown Laus- sat, and in concluding his narrative of the events of De- cember 20, 1803, the French commissioner says very feel- ingly:
When I reflect on what I wished and on what I did during my reign of twenty days, I am not dissatisfied. I shall leave these shores without fearing the remembrances of me that will remain here. I have described in detail all the circumstances that accom- panied successively this double revolution, whence were to arise such marvelous changes in the destinies of a people of French origin and of a vast country explored and made known to the world by France.
The American commissioners questioned Laussat about the limits. " They are," says the latter, " in a great error, which exists voluntarily or in good faith at Washington, from which place it has been communicated to them." They even claimed Mobile, but the French commissioner
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. disabused them, while declaring that he had no instruc- tions on that point.
A beautiful ball was offered to Laussat's wife by the City Council. Four commissioners-Mayor Boré and Councilmen Michel Fortier, Faurie, and Derbigny-did the honors. In the midst of the supper, a turtle-dove, perched on a branch of roses, alighted before Mme. de Laussat, and in a note in the bird's beak were the follow- · ing verses, which we give in French to show what was municipal poetry in 1803:
PORTRAIT DE MADAME DE LAUSSAT.
On voit réunis en elle Les vertus et les attraits ; On voit le portrait fidèle De son âme dans ses traits. 'Affable, sensible et bonne, Vertueuse sans fierté, Et belle sans vanité : Tout est charme en sa personne.
A curious incident happened at the ordinary public ball on Sunday, January 8, 1804. Two quadrilles were formed at the same time, one French and the other Eng- lish. An American threatened a musician with his cane, and a great tumult arose. Claiborne did not interfere at first, but Clark induced him to make use of his author- ity. Not being able to speak French, he was embarrassed and weak, and used persuasion rather than force with the American, who was an ordinary army surgeon. The French quadrille began again, but the American inter-
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rupted it with an English quadrille. Some one then ex- claimed: " If the women have a single drop of French blood in their veins, they will not dance." All the women immediately left the room. The Marquis de Casa Calvo was playing cards and laughing in his sleeve. He ordered gumbo to be served to two or three women who had taken refuge by him, and then he derisively continued his game.
Laussat told Claiborne that in the incident at the ball he had an intimation of the sentiments of the people of Louisiana, and advised him to see that these sentiments were not displayed in grave matters. Claiborne an- swered, " The Louisianians loved France very much. I have proofs of this every day." Laussat adds that it would require a very able American statesman to erase, by the gentleness of the new government, this tender pre- dilection.
On Sunday, January 22, 1804, there were again troub- lous times at the public ball, and this incident gives a good idea of the customs and sentiments at the time of the transfer of Louisiana to the United States. . We follow Laussat's narrative.
On January 11, there appeared in the "Telegraph " : a letter signed " Philadelphian," which denied the asser- tion that, at the moment when the French flag was lowered, with the exception of a little applause from a group of Americans, there were tears and sadness. The company of French citizens was insulted. The printer was called upon to say who was the author of the letter. He declared that it had been brought by Relf, of the firm of Chew and Relf, which was said to be Clark's firm.
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Relf denied that he was the author, and the company of citizens published a reply in the next number of the " Telegraph." Clark was the concealed author of the letter, and Laussat speaks harshly of him.
When the ball of January 22 began, the people were excited. The municipal authorities had ordered that there should be two turns of French quadrille, one turn of English quadrille, in companies of twelve dancers, and one turn of waltz. This order was followed, although, in the English quadrille, fourteen or fifteen dancers had slipped in. Another set, which had only twelve dancers, among whom was General Wilkinson, had hardly finished its turn when some complaints were made. One of the municipal commissioners, charged with the management of the ball, cried: "French quadrille!" It began, and all at once murmurs and complaints arose. General Wil- kinson was seen conducting with a friendly air toward the police a French citizen named Gauthier. The rumor spread that this young man was arrested. Wilkinson mounted on a bench and mingled a few words of bad French with English sentences. Claiborne stood on the same bench by the side of the general, and pointed with his finger at Mr. Lebalch, health officer, who had just ar- rived from Santo Domingo. Wilkinson having asked: " What do they want?" Lebalch had answered: "The execution of the regulations posted." Thereupon Wil- kinson had endeavored to arrest Lebalch. St. Avid took his part, as well as Teilh, and they were both beaten and bruised. General Wilkinson began to sing: "Hail Co- lumbia!" accompanied by the music of his staff, then
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" God save the King!" and the Americans uttered loud hurrahs. The French, on their side, sang " Enfants de la Patrie," then "Peuple Français, peuple de frères," and cried " Vive la République!" The noise was dreadful for some time, but finally Wilkinson and Claiborne with- drew, and quiet was restored. The next day the sensible Americans invited the Frenchmen to a " banquet of rec- onciliation," and the latter, after some hesitation, ac- cepted. Thus was ended that curious ball-room war.
In March, 1804, Laussat began to prepare for his de- parture. He called on all the persons who had been kind to him, and went to Boré's plantation to dine with him. His visit to Casa Calvo was conducted with minute Span- ish etiquette, as well as the latter's return of the visit. Laussat called also on Wilkinson and Claiborne, and spoke to them as follows:
After being intrusted with a public duty by my nation in a matter concerning your nation, in such a memorable circumstance, I come to-day, in the name of the French people, to salute the American people in the person of its commissioners. I shall con- gratulate myself on having taken part in this event, because, with- out doubt, Louisiana, dear to France, will find its happiness in it, and our respective nations new reason to love each other. It is pleasing for me to think that such sentiments are in the hearts, not only of the present members of the government of the United States, but also in the heart of every American citizen.
Wilkinson and Claiborne answered very graciously, and half an hour later returned in great pomp the French commissioner's visit. Laussat ends his narrative of these
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interesting events with the following flattering words about Louisiana: "Let us leave this country ; it grieves me too much to have known it and to part from it."
Before leaving the province,9 Laussat gave a curious and interesting testimonial of his satisfaction to the Loui- sianians who had most displayed their love for the country, of their ancestors. Knowing that they were all ardent hunters, and that they had always sought in preference French powder, the commissioner thought he could not make a better use of a small quantity of powder left than to distribute it among the following persons, who were the most eminent in Louisiana: " To Messieurs: Bore, mayor of the city, forty-five pounds; Bellechasse, colonel of militia, forty-five pounds; Destrehan, first adjoint, member municipal council, thirty pounds; Li- vaudais, major of militia, thirty pounds; Sauvé, second adjoint, thirty pounds; Robin de Logny, propriétaire, thirty pounds; Livaudais père, member of the munici- pal council, thirty pounds; Boisdoré, aide major, cap- tain en second of the militia, thirty pounds; Fortier, member of the municipal council and captain of the ar- tillery company, thirty pounds; Rillieux, captain of mi- litia, thirty pounds; Villeré, member of the municipal council, thirty pounds; Petit, member of the munici- pal council, thirty pounds; Faurie, member of the muni- cipal council, thirty pounds; Allard fils, member of the municipal council, thirty pounds; Ducourneau, thirty pounds; Haseur (three brothers), sixty pounds; Bois- blanc, thirty pounds; Lanthois, thirty pounds; Sibeur, thirty pounds; Labatut, treasurer of the city, thirty.
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pounds; Bernard Marigny, thirty pounds; Charpin, cap- tain of the company of French citizens, forty-five pounds; Bougaud, captain of French volunteers, thirty pounds. The total was seven hundred and sixty-five pounds.
On April 21, 1804, the French colonial prefect and commissioner left Louisiana for Martinique, where he served his government as colonial prefect. The colonial archives in Paris contain a letter written by Laussat from Martinique, in which he expresses his gratitude for the marks of satisfaction of His Imperial Majesty, trans- mitted by the minister, with the manner in which he had fulfilled his mission to Louisiana. Bonaparte, the First Consul, had become "His Imperial Majesty," and in Laussat's letter we see no longer the republican and fa- miliar "Citizen Minister," but the ceremonious " Mon- seigneur " and "His Excellency Vice-Admiral Decres, Minister of Marine and of the Colonies." We cannot blame Laussat for this change in his letters when we con- sider that kings and emperors were soon to bend the knee before the wonderful soldier of fortune who had placed on his head the crown of Charlemagne. The island of Martinique was attacked by the English on February 3, 1809, and was surrendered on April 24. Laussat was taken prisoner, and was exchanged, on December 23, 1809, for Alexander Cockburn, consul-general at Ham- burg. He arrived in Paris on January 4, 1810. He was appointed maritime prefect at Antwerp and remaincd there two years. He went then, as prefect of the de- partment of Jemmapes, to Mons, which he left on Feb- ruary 4, 1814, when the Allies invaded Belgium. His
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son, who was an officer in the French army, was wounded in Champagne and received the cross of the Legion of Honor. During the Hundred Days, Laussat was named baron and prefect of the department of Pas-de-Calais, but, as he was in the Pyrenees, he did not have time to go to the Pas-de-Calais before the fall of Napoleon. He was elected a member of the House of Representatives, but never took his seat in that body. His son served val- iantly at Waterloo.
During the Restoration, in 1819, Laussat was ap- pointed by Louis XVIII commandant and administra- tor of French Guiana. He stayed there until 1823. In 1819 he received the cross of St. Louis, and in 1821, on the occasion of the baptism of the Duke of Bordeaux, his title of baron, given him by Napoleon, was renewed. On January 1, 1825, he was placed on the retired list, with a pension of thirty-six hundred and seventy francs. His faithful secretary, Daugerot, died of yellow fever at Martinique. Laussat, the colonial prefect of Louisiana, like Victor, the captain-general, was a man of merit and of honor.
The preface to the Memoirs is dated Bernadets, near Pau, August 1, 1831. The book not only is interesting as a historical work, but is well written.
The following documents, referring to the transfer of Louisiana, are highly important and interesting:
January 16, 1804.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States: In execution of the act of the present session of Congress for taking possession of Louisiana, as ceded to us by France, and
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for the temporary government thereof, Governor Claiborne, of the Mississippi Territory, and General Wilkinson, were appointed commissioners to receive possession. They proceeded, with such regular troops as had been assembled at Fort Adams from the nearest posts, and with some militia of the Mississippi Territory, to New Orleans. To be prepared for anything unexpected which might arise out of the transaction, a respectable body of militia was ordered to be in readiness in the States of Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee, and a part of those of Tennessee was moved on to the Natchez. No occasion, however, arose for their services. Our commissioners, on their arrival at New Orleans, found the province already delivered by the commissioners of Spain to that of France, who delivered it to them on the 20th of December, as appears by their declaratory act accompanying this. Governor Claiborne, being duly invested with the powers heretofore exercised by the Governor and Intendant of Louisiana, assumed the government on the same day, and, for the maintenance of law and order, im- mediately issued the proclamation and address now communicated.
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