USA > Louisiana > Historical memoirs of Louisiana, from the first settlement of the colony to the departure of Governor O'Reilly in 1770; > Part 14
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1. To obtain that the privileges and exemptions which the colony has enjoyed since the cession made by the company to his most Christian majesty, should be maintained, without any innovations being suffered to interrupt their course, and disturb the security of the citizens.
2. That passports and permissions be granted from the governors and com- missioners of his most Christian majesty, to such captains of vessels as shall set sail from this colony to any ports of France or America whatever.
3. That any ship sailing from any port of France or America whatever. shall have free entrance into the river, whether it sail directly for the colony, or only put in accidentally, according to the custom which has hitherto prevailed.
4. That freedom of trade with all the nations under the government of his most
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king; they addressed his tribunal; but they thereby destroyed Ulloa's work; they opposed a legal obstacle to the chains he would have imposed. Ulloa menaced hanging, the galleys, &c.
Christian majesty be granted to all the citizens, in conformity to the king's orders to the late Mr. d'Abadie, registered in the archives of this city, and like- wise in conformity to the letter of his grace the Duke of Choiseul, addressed to the same Mr. d'Abadie, and dated the 9th of February, 1766.
5. That Mr. Ulloa be declared to have, in many points, infringed and usurped the authority hitherto possessed by the government and council of the colony, because all the laws, ordinances and customs direct that said authority shall not be exercised by any officer until he shall have complied with all the formali- ties prescribed ; and this condition Mr. Ulloa has not observed. He should, therefore, be declared to have infringed and usurped the authority of the govern- ment :- 1. For having caused the Spanish flag to be set up in several parts of the colony, without having caused to be registered in the archives of the Superior Council, the titles and powers which he may have had, and of which the assem- bled citizens may have been inforined. 2. For having, of his own accord, and by his own private authority, insisted upon captains being detained with their ships in the port, without any cause, and for having ordered subjects of France to be confined on board of a Spanish frigate. 3. For having caused councils, in which decrees were issued concerning the inhabitants of Louisiana, to be held in the house of Mr. Destrehan. They request that, on account of these grievances, and many others publicly known, and likewise for the tranquillity of all the citi- zens who apply for the protection of the council, they be freed, for the future, from the fear of a tyrannical authority, and exempted from observing the condi- tions in the said decree, by means of the dismission of Mr Ulloa, who should be ordered to embark on board of the first vessel which shall set sail. in order to depart, whenever he thinks proper, out of the dependencies of this province.
6. That orders be given to all the Spanish officers who are in this city, or scattered throughout the posts appertaining to the colony, to quit them, in order to depart likewise, when they shall think proper, out of the dependencies of the province ; and, finally, that the court be pleased to order that its decree, when rendered, be read, published, and set up in all the usual places of the town, and collated copies sent to all the posts of the said colony.
The foregoing representations being signed by five hundred and thirty-six persons-planters, merchants, tradesmen, and men of nete; considering, like- wise, the copy of the decree, published by orders of his Catholic majesty, neither signed nor dated, and another copy of an ordinance published in this city, by order of Mr. Ulloa, of the 6th of September, 1766; the interlocutory decree issued yesterday, upon the requisition of the king's attorney-general, ordering and directing that, before the decision of the court, the said representations be put in the hands of Messrs. Huchet de Kernion, and Riot de Launay, titular councilors, to be by them examined, and afterwards communicated to the king's council, in order that what the law directs may be enacted concerning them-all
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Aubry promised to support him. The inhabitants, informed of these resolutions, proceeded to Aubry's; they represented the evils under which they groaned, and the necessity of resisting the
these particulars being taken into consideration, the king's attorney stood up and said :
" Gentlemen,-The first and most interesting point to be examined is the step taken by all the planters and merchants in concert, who, being threatened with slavery, and laboring under grievances which have been enumerated, address your tribunal, and require justice for violations of the solemn act of cession of this colony.
"Is yours a competent tribunal ? Are these just complaints ?
" I shall now proceed to demonstrate the extent of the royal authority invested in the Superior Council. The parliaments and superior councils are the deposi- tories of the laws, under the protection of which the people live happy ; they are created and organized to be, from the very nature of their official tenure, the · sworn patrons of virtuous citizens, and they are established for the purpose of executing the ordinances, edicts, and declarations of kings, after they are regis- tered. Such has been the will and pleasure of Louis, the well-beloved, our liego Jord and king, in whose name all your decrees, to the present day, havo been issued and carried into execution. The act of cession, the only title of which his Catholic majesty's commissary can avail himself, to make his demands auctoritate et proprietate, was addressed to the late Mr. d'Abadie, with orders to cause it to bo registered in the superior council of the colony, to the end that the different classes of the said colony may be enabled to have recourse to it upon occasion, that instrument being calculated for no other purpose.
" Mr. Ulloa's letter, dated from Havana, July 10th, 1765, which expresse his disposition to do the inhabitants all the services they can desire, was addressed to you, gentlemen, with a request to make it known to the said inhabitants that, in thus acting, he would only discharge his duty and gratify his inclination. The said letter was, by your decree, after full deliberation, published, set up and registered, as a pledge of happiness and tranquillity to the inhabitants. Another letter of the month of October last, written to Mr. Aubry, proves that justice still continues to be administered in the colony in the name of Louis the well-beloved. It results from the solemn act of cession and its accessories, that the planters, merchants and other inhabitants have the most solid basis to stand upon, when they present you with their most humble remonstrances; and that you, gentle- men, are fully authorized to pronounce thereupon. Let us now proceed to a scrupulous examination of the act of cession, and of the letter written by Ulloa to the Superior Council. I think it likewise incumbent on me to cite, word for word, an extract of the king's letter, which was published, set up and registered.
" This very solemn act of cession, which gives the title of property to his Catholic majesty, secures for the inhabitants of the colony the preservation of ancient and known privileges ; and the royal word of sovereign lord, the king, promises, and gives us ground to hope for others, which the calamities of war
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violence of a man who had no recognized title. They reminded him of the king's letter, which enjoined them to apply to the council for the ratification of the articles of cession. They
have prevented him from making his subjects enjoy. The ancient privileges having been suppressed by the authority of his Catholic majesty's commissioner, property becomes precarious. The act of cession, which was the mere result of good-will and friendship, was made with reserves which confirm the liberties and privileges of the inhabitants, and promises them a life of tranquillity. under the protection and shelter of their canon and civil laws. As property accruing from a cession by free gift cannot be claimed and obtained, except on the condi- tion of complying, during the whole possession of said property, with the reserves contained in said act of cession, our sovereign lord, the king, hopes, and promises himself that, in consequence of the friendship and affection shown to him by his Catholic majesty, he (said C. M.,) will be pleased to give such orders to his governor, and to all other officers employed in his service in said colony, as may be conducive to the advantage and tranquillity of the inhabitants, and that they shall be ruled, and their fortunes and estates managed, according to the laws, forms and customs said colony.'. Can Mr. Ulloa's titles give authority to ordinances and orders which violate the respect due to the solemn act of cession ? The ancient privileges, the tranquillity of the subjects of France, the laws, forms and customs of the colony, are rendered sacred by a royal promise, by a registering ordered by the Superior Council, and by a publication solemnly decreed and universally known. The sole aim of the letter of our sovereign lord, the king, was to grant to the different classes of the colony a recourse to the act of cession. Therefore, nothing can be better grounded or more legal than the right of remonstrating, which the inhabit- ants and citizens of the colony have acquired by royal authority.
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" Let us proceed to an examination of the letter of Mr. Ulloa, written to the Superior Council of New-Orleans, dated the 10th of July, 1765. I shall here cite, word for word, the article relative to the Superior Council and the inhabitants :
· "' I flatter myself, beforehandt, that it will afford me favorable opportunities lo render you all the services that you and the inhabitants of your town may desire, of which I beg you to give them the assurance from me, and to let them know that, in acting thus, Ionly discharge my duty and gratify my inclinations.'
" Mr. Ulloa proved thereby the orders which he had received from his Catholic majesty, conformably to the solemn act of cession, and manifested a sentiment which is indispensable in any governor who is desirous of rendering good ser- vices to his king in the colonies.
" Without population there can be no commerce ; and without commerce, no population. In proportion to the extent of both is the solidity of thrones ; both are fed by liberty and competition, which are the nursing mothers of the state, of which the spirit of monopoly is the tyrant and step-mother. Without liberty there are but few virtues. Despotism breeds pusillanimity and deopens the abyss of vices. Man is considered as sinning before God, ouly because he retains his free will. Where is the liberty of our planters, of our merchants, and of all our other
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assured him, moreover, that Ulloa had no ground to fear his life ; that they respected the title with which he pretended to be invested, but at the same time requested Aubry that the assembled council should pronounce.
inhabitants ! Protection and benevolence have given way to despotism ; a single authority would absorb and annihilate everything. All ranks, without distinc- tion, can no longer, without running the risk of being taxed with guilt, do anything else but tremble, bow their necks to the yoke, and lick the dust. The Superior Council, the bulwark of the tranquillity of virtuous citizens, has sup- ported itself only by the combined force of the probity and disinterestedness of its members, and of the confidence of the people in that tribunal. Without taking possession of the colony ; without registering, as was necessary, in the Superior Council, his titles and patents, according to the laws, forms and customs of the colony, and without presentation of the act of cession, Mr. Ulloa has caused a · president, three councilors, and a secretary, nominated for the purpose, to take cognizance of facts which belonged to the jurisdiction of the Superior Council, and in which French citizens were concerned. Often did discontents and dis- gusts seem to force you to resign your places, but you have always considered it as a duty of your station of councilors to the most Christian king, to alleviate and calm the murmurs of the oppressed citizens. The love of your country, and the sense of the justice due to every citizen who applies for it, have nourished your zeal ; it has always been rendered with the same exactness, although you never thought proper to make representations on the infractions of the act of cession. You have always feared to give encouragement to a mass of discontented people, threatened with the most dreadful calamities ; you have preferred public tranquillity. But now the whole body of the planters, merchants and other in- habitants of Louisiana apply to you for justice.
" Let us now proceed to an accurate and scrupulous examination of the griev- ances, complaints and imputations contained in the representations of the planters, merchants and other inhabitants. What sad and dismal pictures do the said representations bring before your eyes ! The scourges of the last war, a suspension to this day of the payment of seven millions of the king's paper money, issued to supply the calls of the service, and received with confidence by the inhabitants of the colony, had obstructed the ease and facility of the circula- tion ; but the activity and industry of the planter, and of the French merchant, had alinost got the better of all difficulties. The most remote corners of the pos- sessions of the savages had been discovered, the fur-trade had been carried to its highest perfection, and the new culture of cotton, joined to that of indigo and tobacco, secured cargoes to those who were engaged in fitting out ships. The commissioner of his Catholic majesty had promised ten years of free trade, that period being sufficient for every subject of France. attached to his sovereign ford and king. But the tobacco of this colony being prohibited in Spain, where those of Havana are the only ones allowed, the timber (a considerable branch of the in-
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Aubry promised that the troops should be armed only ' to prevent disorder, and to prevent 'any intended violence to Ulloa. He was present at the council, when it was decided that Ulloa and all the Spaniards should leave the colony, and
come of the inhabitants) being useless to Spain, which is furnished in this article by its possessions, and the indigo being inferior to that of Guatemala, which supplies more than is requisite to the manufactures of Spain, the returns of the commodities of the inhabitants of this colony to the peninsula became a ruinous trade, and the said inhabitants were delivered up to the most dreadful misery. His Catholic majesty's commissioner had publicly declared his convic- tion of the impossibility of this country's trading with Spain ; all patronage, favor, encouragement, were formally promised to the inhabitants ; the title of · protector was decreed to Mr. Ulloa ; the hope and activity necessary to the suc- cess of the planter were nourished by the faith and confidence reposed in these assurances of the Spanish governor.
"But by the effect of what undermining and imperceptible fatality have we seen a house worth twenty thousand livres sold for six thousand, and plantations, all on a sudden, lose one-half or two-thirds of their intrinsic value ? Fortunes waste away, and' specie is more scarce than ever ; confidence is lost, and dis- couragement becomes general ; the planter's cries of distress are heard on every side ; the precious name of subject of France is in an eclipse, and the fatal decree concerning the commerce of Louisiana gives to the colony the last fatal stroke, which must lead to its total annihilation. The Spanish flag is set up at the Balize, at the Illinois, and other places ; no title, no letters patent were pre- sented to the Superior Council ; time flies apace ; the delays fixed for the liberty of emigration will soon expire ; force will tyrannize. We shall be reduced to live in slavery and loaded with chains, or precipitately to forsake establishments handed down from the grandfather to the grand-on. All the planters merchants, and other inhabitants of Louisiana call upon you to restore to them their sovereign lord, the king, Louis the well-beloved ; they tender to you their treasures and their blood, Frenchmen to live and Frenchinen to die.
" Let us proceed to sum up the charges, grievances and imputations :
"Mr. Ulloa has caused councilors, named by himself, to take cognizance of facts concerning French subjects, which appertained only to the jurisdiction of the Superior Council. The sentences of that new tribunal have been signified to, and put in execution against, Messrs. Cadis and Leblanc. Mr. Ulloa has sup- ported the negroes, dissatisfied with their masters. He has presented to the Superior Council none of his titles, powers and provisions, as commissioner of his Catholic majesty ; he has not exhibited his copy of the act of cession, in order to have it registered ; he has. without the said indispensable formalities, set up the Spanish flag at the Balize, at the Illinois, and at other places ; he has without legal authority, vexed, punished and oppressed subjects of France ; he has even confined some of them in the frigate of his Catholic majesty ; has, by
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that the act of taking possession should not be attempted till the French king had answered the representations of the inhabitants, whose deputies were named to bear them. Ulloa in fact left the colony. This frigate did not leave till five his authority alone, usurped the fourth part of the common of the inhabitants of the town, has appropriated it to himself, and has caused it to be fenced in, that his horses might graze there.
" Having maturely weighed all this, I require in behalf of the king :
" That the sentences pronounced by the councilors nominated for the purpose, and put in execution against Messrs. Cadis and Leblanc, subjects of France, be declared encroachments upon the authority of our sovereign lord, the king, and destructive of the respect due to his supreme justice, seated in the Superior Council, inasmuch as they violate the laws, forms and customs of the colony, confirmed and guarantied by the solemn act of cession.
"That Mr. Ulloa be declared to have violated our laws, forms and customs, and the orders of bis Catholic majesty, in relation to the act of cession, as it ap- pears by his letter, dated from Havana, on the 10th of July, 1765.
" That he be declared usurper of illegal authority, by causing subjects of France to be punished and oppressed, without having previously complied with the laws, forms and customs, in having his powers, titles and provisions regis- tered by the Superior Council, with the copy of the act of cession.
"That Mr. Ulloa, commissioner of his Catholic majesty, be enjoined to leave the colony in the frigate in which he came, without delay, to avoid accidents or new clamors, and to go and give an account to his Catholic majesty ; and, with regard to the different posts established by the said Mr. Ulloa, that he be desired to leave in writing such orders as he shall think necessary ; that he be declared responsible for all the events which he might have foreseen ; and that Messrs. Aubry and Foucault be requested, and even summoned, in the name of our sovereign lord, the king, to govern and administer the colony as heretofore.
"That no ship sailing from this colony shall be dispatched without passports signed by Mr. Foucault, as intendant commissary of his most Christian majesty. " That the taking possession of the colony can neither be proposed nor at- tempted by any means, without new orders from his most Christian majesty.
" That Messrs Loyola, Gayarre and Navarro be declared guaranties of their signature on the bonds which they have issued, if they do not produce the orders of his Catholic majesty, empowering them to issue said bonds and papers ; and that a sufficient time be granted to settle their accounts.
"That the planters, merchants, and other inhabitants, be empowered to elect deputies to carry their petitions and supplications to our sovereign lord, tho king.
" That it be resolved and determined that the Superior Council shall make re- presentations to our sovereign lord, the king ; that its decree, when ready to bo issued, be read, set up, published and registered.
"That collated copies thereof be sent to his grace the Duke of Praslin, with a
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months after; the garrisons that he had stationed in the various forts along the river all fell back on that of New- Orleans. This was all done without the slightest insult to the Spanish flag, or the Spaniards who remained in the colony.
" letter to the Superior Council, and likewise to all the posts of the colony, to be . there read, set up, published and registered."
The report being heard of Messrs. Huchet de Kernion and Riot de Launay, councilors and commissioners appointed for this purpose, the whole being duly weighed, and the subject deliberated upon, the attorney-general having been heard and having retired :
The council, composed of thirteen members, of which six were named ad hoc, having each of them given his opinion in writing, pronouncing upon the said re- presentations, has declared and declares the sentences rendered by the councilors nominated by Mr. Ulloa, and carried into execution against Messrs. Cadis and Leblanc, subjects of France, to be encroachments upon the authority of our sovereign lord, the king, and destructive'of the respect due to his supreme justice, vested in his Superior Council ; has declared, and declares him a usurper of illegal authority, in causing sobre's of France to be punished and oppressed, without having previously co ., Sed with the laws and forms, having neither produced his powers, titles ca. 1 provisions, nor caused them to be registered, and that to the prejudice of the pooh of insured to them by the said act of cession ; and, to prevent any violeare of ! populace, and avoid any dangerous tumult, the council. with it, u. ral p itself obliged to enjoin, as in fact it enjoins, Mr. Ils to hit these >wing him only the space of three days, either in the Inage.l . - Ifmajesty in which he came, or in whatever vessel he may tluok prover, and go and give an account of his conduct to his Catholic majesty. It has likewise ordained, and it ordains that, with regard to the posts established by him at the upper part of the river, he shall leave such orders as he judges expedient, making him at the same time responsible for all . the events which he might have Azeven. It has requested, and requests Messrs. Aubry and Foucault, and even summoned them in the name of our sovereign lord, the king, to command and severu the colony as they did heretofore. At the same time, it expressly forall those who fit out vessels, and all captains of ships. to dispatch any ve 1: ah any other passport than that of Mr. Fou- cault, who is to do the office et intendant commissary ; it has also ordered, and orders, that the taking possession for his Catholic majesty can neither be pro- posed nor attempted by any means, without new orders from his most Christian majesty ; that, in consequence, Mr. Ulloa. shall embark in the space of three days in whatever sbip he shall think proper.
With regard to what relates to Messrs. Loyola, Gayarre and Navarro, * the coun- cil has decreed that they may stay in the colony and discharge their respective functions until they have received new orders from his Catholic majesty, and shall
· Officers of the crown who accompanied the expedition of O'Rielly.
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From their own lips, the Spanish court should have taken evidence of the moderation of the colonists in so critical a moment. The unanimous report of all strangers there makes it out to have been a most extraordinary and surprising event for the order, decency and moderation to which all sponta- neously contributed. These testimonials of attachment to the king of France were the only clamors that disturbed silence and tranquillity during the three days that the inhabitants were assembled at New-Orleans. Immediately after Ulloa's departure peace and tranquillity reigned. Aubry met with the most marked obedience from the colonists, who awaited news from France, in the fond hope that there would be no change of rule.
remain sureties of their signatures for the bonds they have issued, except they produce the orders of his Catholic majesty. It has likewise authorized, and author- izes the planters and merchants to choose whatever persons they think proper, to take up their petition to our sovereign lord, the king, and has decreed that the Supc- rior Council shall in like manner make representations to our sovereign lord, the king ; it orders that the present decrce shall be read, printed, set up, published and registered in all places and posts of this colony, and that a copy of it shall be sent to his grace the Duke of Praslin, Minister of the Marine Department.
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