USA > Louisiana > Historical memoirs of Louisiana, from the first settlement of the colony to the departure of Governor O'Reilly in 1770; > Part 17
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M. le Marquis, on surrendering his sword, said to him : "I have, during my whole life, borne it in the French king's ser-
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·vice. I regret that I did not use it better. If it be a crime to be too good a Frenchman, I die guilty, for I die a French- man."
M. de la Frenière and M. de Mazan, who both held offices in the colony, were thrust into cells under the buildings occupied by the Spanish troops .* This apparently more distinguishing treatment was only an additional precaution of the general. The others were conveyed on board various ships, and all care- fully watched.
Their property was confiscated, sentinels were placed in their houses, and their papers examined and seized. A Spanish guard was put over the Secretary, and a French one over M. Foucault's, the commissary. Aubry, at O'Reilly's request, took a false step; he did more. He went to Foucault's house and wished to interrogate him. " Have you any order from your king and mine, establishing you my judge?" said Fou- cault, "if not, I protest against your injustice, and will only account to the judges who shall be appointed to examine your conduct and mine. In consequence, sir, I demand a pas- sage on the first vessel for France. One will sail to-morrow, . and I shall, with your permission, embark." O'Reilly and Aubry durst not refuse. Foucault embarked the next day, and on reaching France was transferred to the Bastile, where he is still detained.t -
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* In pulling down this old building, which had for some years after served for a Spanish prison, cells, (under the ground,) were discovered, in one of which were found a quantity of human bones ; the remains, probably, of unfortunate prisoners who had been left there to perish.
f .M. Foucault, President of the Superior Council of Louisiana, succeeded M. de Rochemore, as commissaire ordonnateur of the province, in June, 1761. He acted with great duplicity towards the revolutionists. He took an active part himself against Ulloa, but in his official correspondence with the French cabinet he had so equivocated, as to be able when the time camo to side with the victorious party. In order to justify himself for having convened the council
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The number of victims was not completed ; one more was to be arrested. This victim was dear to the colony by the great- ness of his family, by his birth, and by the signal services of his ancestors, to whom was due the discovery and settlement of Louisiana. This victim was still more precious by his personal merit. M. Noyan was the son of an old royal lieutenant of Louisiana, whose name is never uttered without respect and gratitude. M. de Bienville, governor and founder of New- Orleans, was his uncle, as was Iberville, an officer eminent in the navy for his talents, and in the colony for having brought over the first colony, and declared himself its protector and support. M. de Noyan was only thirty-two .* Nature seemed to have delighted in blending in this young man all exterior graces, as well as those qualities of mind and heart which attract esteem and love. He might have been considered a model of per- fection, were not nature so chary of it. His countenance was noble, frank and becoming, his manners pleasing, his stature tall, his bearing manly, his voice sweet and captivating. He had, in a word, all the graces that a man can have. His mind was agreeable and just ; he had a general aptitude for all he undertook. His soul was a union of all the qualities that con- stitute an honest man; he had also those which render a man dear and precious; for to rectitude, which might if possible be called ultra, he joined great generosity and beneficence; he
which expelled Ulloa, he wrote to his government, that " he had been compelled to yield only by force." " It must be admitted," says Gayarre, "that in the drama in which he was engaged he acted lus part with a consistency of infamy, and a cool systematic regularity of treachery, which must obtain for him much credit with congenial minds." When he arrived in France he was thrown into prison, but afterwards released, and rewarded with an office in the East Indies.
His correspondence while in Louisiana is very voluminous, and covers a period of nine of the most eventful years in the history of that province.
* The defence of Noyan, Doucet, and Caresse may be found in the archives of the department, " De la Marine et des Colonies," Paris.
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was compassionate, mild, affable, but at the same time full of courage, firmness and nobility. A good citizen, a good patriot, a good friend, a good father; reproached only with a too ex- treme delicacy ; and for this only, because it proved his ruin. He had served in France, and was by leave captain of cavalry in Louisiana; this reason would seem to shield him from arrest. This is perhaps the reason why O'Reilly left him at liberty two days after the detention of the gentlemen of whom I have spoken. The whole colony unanimously entreated this young man to fly from Spanish wrath. De Noyan had married de la Frenière's daughter ; his intimate connection with his father-in-law was notorious, and he was known to be one of those marked out for Spanish vengeance. In vain they em- ployed all imaginable arguments to induce him to evade by flight. Full of confidence in his own innocence, he always opposed it as a buckler to the representations made him. When they reminded him that innocence was often sacrificed to so- called policy, he reminded them of his honor, which made his fate inseparable from his father-in-law's. When they showed him that, in safety, free to act and make his representations, he would be of real service to M. de la Frenière, he seemed to yield to this powerful argument ; but his pledge to his father- in-law not to forsake him, soon prevented his following the prudent advice given him. O'Reilly had just published an amnesty,* by which he seemed to declare that the anger of his
O'REILLY'S PROCLAMATION. 4
* " In the name of the King, we, Alexander O'Reilly, commander of Benfay- an, in the order of Alcantara, major and inspector-general of the armies of his Catholic majesty, captain-general and governor of the province of Louisiana, in virtue of the orders of his Catholic majesty and of the powers with which we are invested, declare to all the inhabitants of the province of Louisiana, that whatever just cause past events may have given his majesty to make them feel his indignation, yet his majesty's intention is to listen only to the inspirations of his royal clemency, because he is persuaded that the inhabitants of Louisiana
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Catholic majesty would fall only on those arrested, and that this monarch would pardon the others. This amnesty proba- bly induced the unfortunate resolution taken by De Noyan to face all, rather than debase himself by a flight which the Spaniards would have regarded as a confession of the crime laid to his charge. Death seemed to him less frightful than a breach of his word.
. O'Reilly at last arrested De Noyan. His pretended regret, and the manner in which the arrest was made, prove at least the consideration to which he was entitled. He was conduct- ed on board a Spanish frigate and treated with the greatest distinction.
Shall I paint the despair of the wretched wives of these gentlemen? Shall I dwell on the state to which Mme. de Noyan in particular was reduced? But sixteen and a half years' old, the most deep and tender affection had for the last eighteen months united her to the amiable man, whose portrait we have just drawn. Daughter of M. de la Frenière, niece of M. de Villeré, slic wept at once the detention of husband, father and uncle, and shuddered every moment at the horrid forebodings that filled her soul. But the cruel O'Reilly incessantly reassured these ladies as to the lives of those they loved. He repeatedly sent to tell them to dismiss their fears, as the detention of the prisoners would not be long, and that they would soon see them free. Thus the tyrant flattered their fond hopes, to ren- der the blow he was preparing more keen and penetrating.
would not have committed the offence of which they are guilty, if they had not heen seduced by the intrigues of some ambitious, fanatie and evil-minded men, who had the temerity to make a criminal use of the ignorance and excessive credulity of their fellow-citizens. These men alone will answer for their crimes, and will be judged in accordance with the laws. So generous an act on the part of his majesty might be a pledge to him that his new subjects will endeavor every day of their lives, to deserve by their fidelity, zeal and obedience, the pardon and protection which he grants them from this moment."-Gayarre.
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. Shall I follow these gentlemen in their imprisonment? Shall I tell how M. de Mazan, seized with a terrible disorder, beheld his wife in vain implore permission to watch beside her husband ? Nay, more : the son of that old soldier offered to remain in prison till his father's recovery. Nothing could move the cruel and barbarous general. Mazan spent his ill- ness in prison.
A month or so after their arrest the examinations began .*
* It appears from a MS. copy of the process verbal of this trial before me, that O'Reilly based his prosecution of the leaders of this revolution upon a statute of Alfonso XI., which is the first law of the seventh title of the first partida, which denounces the punishment of death and confiscation of property against those who excite any insurrection against the king or state, take up arms under any pretence of extendimg their liberty or rights, and against those who give them any assistance.
The prisoners pleaded against the jurisdiction of the court, which was over- ruled. They denied the facts with which they were arraigned; they contended if they did take part, they did so while the French flag was still waving over the province of Louisiana, and while yet French laws were still in force ; that the facts set forth did not constitute an offence against the laws of Spain ; that they were not bound to bear the yoke of two sovereigns ; that O'Reilly could not cominand the obedience. nor respect of the colonists, until he had made known to them his powers, and that the King of Spain could not count upon their alle- giance until he extended to them his protection.
This trial and the proclamation of O'Reilly, fixes, beyond a doubt, the period when Spanish law was substituted for French jurisprudence in Louisiana.
The powers of O'Reilly were unlimited, and extended to a total change of the laws, the fiscal and military condition of the country, and upon which the treaty of cession. remained entirely silent ; although the letter from the king to M. d'Abadie held out some delusive hopes that they might not be.
Afterthe execution of the prisoners, O'Reilly caused to be published in French, an abridgment of Spanish law, with references to the books in which they are contained, which he promulgated for the government of the province until the Spanish language should be better understood, and the colonists better able to read the Spanish laws in their original idiom.
This publication, which is printed in the appendix to this volume, was follow_ ed by an uninterrupted observance of the Spanish code in all its parts. It is in evidence that O'Reilly's ordinances were never repealed. They were approved of in 1772 by the Council of the Indies, and to give greater force to what O'Reilly had done, they reconunended that cedules be issued to that effect.
"Happily," says Judge Martin, " the Spanish laws and those of France pro-
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During the interval O'Reilly had received the depositions of all who wished to speak. Animosity, resentment, jealousy, cupidity, ambition, terror and weakness, excited base and vile minds to dare to calumniate the worthiest of men. And what were the feelings of those generous patriots, when they. beheld themselves falsely accused by their own countrymen,* by ceeded from the same origin, the Roman code ; and, as there is a great similarity in their rights, testaments, successions, &c., the translation was hardly perceived by the mass of the inhabitants before it became complete, and very little incon- venience resulted from it." The Supreme Court of Louisiana have, on several occasions, substantially sustained this view of the question, upon which now no doubt should rest.
* Aubry is here particularly alluded to, for the supple and servile part he played throughout the whole of this period ; notwithstanding which, he was a brave and accomplished officer, and had served with distinction in Italy, before he came to Louisiana. In 1759 he was ordered by the commandant of Fort Chartres, Illinois, to ascend the Ohio, and relieve Fort Duquesne, which was then menaced by an English force under Major Grant. On the 14th of Septem- ber he arrived at the fort, and after examining the position of the English, he sallied out the next day and attacked thein with great bravery. After a hard- fought battle, they retreated in great disorder, and left three hundred men dead on the field. On hearing the defeat of Major Grant, General Forbes sent forward a detachment under the command of Col. Washington to support Grant. As he drew near the fort the French troops became disheartened, and Aubry ordered the fort to be set on fire, and by the light of it he sailed down the Ohio, and returned to Fort Chartres. Washington on the next day planted his banners on its ruins, and named it Fort Pitt.
In the following year Aubry was ordered with a strong force to Niagara, where he again attacked the English with great intrepidity, and while leading his men he fell covered with wounds. He was taken prisoner by the English. After his release he went to France for his health, and was rewarded for his bravery with the eross of St. Louis. On recovering from his wounds he return- ed to Louisiana, and on the 4th of February, 1765, he succeeded D'Abadie, (who had died very suddenly, ) as Governor of Louisiana.
On the 5th of March, 1766, Ulloa arrived in Louisiana, but as there was no time fixed by the treaty of cession to deliver the province to Spain, he deferred from time to time to take possession until a stronger force should arrive from Spain. In the mean time the colonists became dissatisfied, and a revolution broke out, which finally led to his expulsion.
Aubry protested against the decree of the Superior Council, and immediately informed his government of all that had taken place. The merchants and plan- ters published a memorial to justify the expulsion of Ulloa, which will be found published in this volume.
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Frenchmen for the most part loaded with their favors? To crown their torture they needed but to know their accusers, and the Spaniards had the cruelty to name them.
. It would be too long to dwell in detail on all the horrors called into being in those fearful moments. Why cannot I. transmit to posterity the names of the wretches who had the
On the 24th of July, O'Reilly arrived at the Balize with three thousand troops, and on the same day he sent Bouligny, his aid, to announce his arrival to Aubry.
On the 1Sth of August, 1769, Aubry delivered up the province, and on the next day O'Reilly addressed a letter to Aubry, asking a statement of all that had transpired in the colony from the departure of Ulloa until his arrival, and the names of the chiefs of the revolution. On the 23d, he addressed Aubry another letter on the same subject, requesting him to furnish all the documents necessary to convict the chiefs.
On the 24th, Aubry addressed a letter to O'Reilly, giving him the informa- tion he required ; and on the first of September he wrote the following dispatch to the French Minister :-
Monseigneur, -J'ai eu l'honneur de rendre compte ù votre grandeur de la prise de possession de la Louisiane par M. le Général O'Reilly, et de toutes les circon- stances qui ont accompagne ce memorable événement.
Depuis ce temps M. le Général s'est occupeé á prendre la connaissance la plus exacte de la cause de la révolte du vingt neuf d'Octobre, 1768, et des auteurs d'un attentat qui à mis cette colonie a deux d'oigts de sa perte. J'ai reçu une lettre de lui le, 19, d'aout, dont est cy joint la traduction exacte par la quelle il me marque, qúétant gouverneur de cette province pour sa majesté trés Chretienne et present à tout ce qui s'y est passé, il desirait que je · l'instruisisse des causes de la révolte et dês noms de ceux qui ont séduit et excité le peuple à se présenter les armes à la main, et pour expulser par la violence M. Dn. Antonio de Ulloa, elù par sa majesté Catholique gouverneur de pays, et me prie également de lui marquer le nom des auteurs de tous les excès qu'on à après continué envers tous les officers et la troupe Espagnols.
J'ai l'honneur de vous adresser, Monseigneur la copie exacte de la résponse en date du 20, d'Aont que j'ai cru que le devoir de mon etat m'obligeait de faire à M. le Général, dans laquelle je lui, expose avec tout l'honneur et la vérité dont je suis capable toutes les connaissances que j'ai sur les causes de ce malheureux événement. et sur les principaux auteurs de tous les excés.
Le 21. à huit heures du matin, M. le Général me communiqu'a pour la premiere fois les orders de S. Mté. pour faire arreter et juger selon les lois les chefs de cette conspiration, ce dont je n'avis aucune connaissance auparavant, Jl les fit tous assembler chez lui sous differens prétextes, et en ma présence il leur dit :
"Messieurs, la nation Espagnole est respectée et venerée par toute la terre. La
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vileness to depose against their countrymen ? But the public voice points them out, and their deed brands their name with infamy. Rapidly would I pass over the fearful picture I have yet to trace. I would fain-but I have resolved to be exact- 1
. Let us conclude these sad details.
On the 24th of October, 1769, the Spanish council, on hear-
Lorisiane est donc le seul pays de l'univers ou on l'ignore, et ou on manque aux égards qui lui sont dus. S. Mte. Catholique est tres offensee de tous les ecrits qu'on a imprimes et qui outragent son gouvernement et la nation Espagnole, ainsi que de la violence et de l'attentat qui à été commis envers son gouverneur, ses officiers, et ses troupes. Elle m'ordonne de faire arreter, et juger selon les lois, les auteurs de tous ces excès, et de ces violences, après leurs avoir lû les ordres de S. Mté. a se sujet, M. le Général leur ajouta, Messieurs, vous êtes accusés d'être les chefs de cette révolte, je vous arrete au nom du Roi, je souhaite, que vous puissiez prouver votre innocence, et être a même de vous rendre bien- tot les épées que je viens de vous oter. Vous produirez toutes vos défenses devant les judges équitables qui sont devant, ce seront eux qui instruiront votre procès, et qui vous jugeront, il ajouta, on & coutume en Espagne de Sequestrer les biens et les fortunes des prisonniers d'Etat, les vôtres le seront par conséquent, mai vous devez être certains que vous serez traités avec tour le soin possible dans l'endroit qui vous est destiné, et à l'égard de vos femmes et de vos enfans, soyez persuadé que je leur feraì donner tous les secours dont elles pourront avoir besoin."
Aussitol plusieurs officiers accompagnez d'un détachement de Grenadiers les ont conduits dans les endroits qui leur est destiné, savoir, au quartier et dans les Vaisseaux de S. Mté. Catholique.
J'ai l'honneur de vous adresser, Monseigneur, le nom du petit nombre de ceux que M. le Général a été obligé indispensablement de faire arreter cequi prouve sa générosité et sa bonté, y en ayant bien d'autres que leur conduite criminelle mnl'état dans le cas d'eprouver le me'me sort, et afin de tranquiliser le peuples, ft les habitants qui étaient alarmés M. le Général a fait publier aussitot au nom du Roi un pardon général pour tout ce qui s'est passé, à l'exception de ceux qui ont séduit le peuple à commettre ret attentat les quels seront jugés selon les lois ; cette ordonnance affichée et publice dans les quatre coins de la ville, au son des tambours et de différens instrumens, accompagnes de toutes les compagnies de Grenadiers, a produit un très bon effet, et causé une satisfaction générale.
Le 23, au matin, j'ai regn une lettre de M. le Général dont j'ai l'honneur de vous envoyer la traduction exacte, par laquelle il me marque qu'on lui a remis l'original d'un papier qui a pour titre, mémoire des habitants et negocians sur l'évènement du 29 d'October, qui s'est trouvé chez l'imprimeur Braud, avec l'ordre signé de M. Faucault, faisant fonctions d'ordonnateur, pour qu'il soit imprimé, et qu'attendu que ce libelle est ofensaut, au plus hant degré, a à l'autorite et au respect du a sa majestió Catholique, et est diffamatoire à toute la nation Espag-
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say calumnies refuted by the accused and by three-fourths of the colony, dared to pronounce on the gentlemen arrested the most sanguinary sentence. Let us pass for a moment over the inhumanity of this sentence to regard merely its irregularity.
First, if we believe the Spaniards themselves, they had no judges but O'Reilly and the Auditor. But let us not admit facts
nole, et que le crime de M. Faucault est plainement justifie par sa signature, il ne laisse aucun doute, qu'il n'ait été un des chef et principaux moteurs du sou- levement et excès commis contre Monsiur Don Antonio de Ulloa, et le gouverne- ment de S. Mté. Catholique, M. le General me prié en conséquence de faire saisir avec la plus grande sureté et promptitude la personne de M. Foucault, afin que la justification faite de sa conduite trés infidèle, et criminelle nous puissons l'un et l'autre en rendre compte a nos souverains respectifs avec la remise du me'me proces ; J'ai l'honneur de vous addresser, Monseigneur, la repouse que j'ai cru quo le devuir de mon état, m'oblieait de faire à le Général ; quoi qu'avec bien de la doulur je n'ay pù me refuser à une aussi juste demante de sa part ; enconsequence j'ai ordonner à M. de Grandmaison cy-devant Major d'aller avec Messrs. de la Mazetierè, le plus ancier Captaine, et Aubert, Aide-Major, arreter au noin du Roi, Faucault, dans sa maison où j'ai envoyé aussitôt, avec l'agrément de Monsieur le Général, un détachément Français et deux officiers qui sont relevés tour les jours lesquels j'a rendui responsables de sa personne. J'ai aussi ordonné a MI. de Grandmaison de mettre les celles sur les papiers, assiste de Messrs. de la Maze- tiere et Aubert, en présence de M. Bobé, faisant fonction de controleur de la Marine, lequel j'ai chargé du soin de la comptabilite, le rendant responsable du mal qu'il pourrait faire, quoi que je ne l'en croye nullement capable, attendu qu'il est hoñete homme, et a toujours dèsaprouvé la conduite de son chef.
Le 26, d'Avout tous les principaux habitans de la campagne et ceux de la ville, on prêtes, solemnellement serment d'obéissance et de fidelité à S. Mté. Catholique entre les mains de MI. le Général. Cette ceremonie s'est faite avec beaucoup d'ordre et de dignité ; je lui ai présenté tous les corps chacun selon leur rang ; M. le Général leur a prononcé a haute voix toutes les obligations aux quelles le serment les engageait, et les liait ; il leur a dit qu'ils avaient un pleine et entiére libertié pour le faire, ou pour le refuser ; que ceux qui ne vou- laient point s'y engager étaient les maîtres, et qu'il leur donnerait tous le temns et les faciliteés pour arranger leurs affaires, et se retirer dans leur Patric. Presque tous généralement l'on prété avec zèle, et jose assurer qu'ls seront dorénavant aussi fidelles sujets de S. Mté. Catholique qu'ils l'ont été du Roi très Chretien ; après que tout le monde a eu prete Serment j'ai été avec tous Messieurs les officiers an devant de MI. le General, et lui ai dit que nous étions trés flattés et honorés de servir sous les ordres d'un général aussi recommandable que lui, que nous étions prets à repandre notre sang pour le service du Roi d'Espagne . comme pour celui du Roi de France. et qu'en agissant ainsi, nous exécuterions la volonté du Roi notre maitre, ce qui'etait la seule chose que nous desirions ; il
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so incredible; let us suppose the council named to try the victims, was composed of a competent number of judges, the proceedings would still be irregular.
One man accuses another, equity demands that they be con- fronted, and discussion is generally the torch that guides the judge. But here they merely wished a mask to cover an
a été entièrement satisfait de cette demarche, et nous a fait la réponse la plus obligeante.
La fête de la St. Louis, celle du Dimanche, et les occupations que nous avons eues le jour qu'on a preté serment de fidélité, ne m'ont pas permit de faire lever les celles qu'on avaient apposés sur les papiers de M. Foucault que le 28. l'ordonne ce jour à M. de Grandmaison cy-devant Major, Messrs. de la Mazetieres et Trudeau, Capitaines assistés du Sr. Garic, notaire de cette ville, de se trans- porter dans la Maison de M. Foucault, pour en présence de M. Bobé, controleur de la Marine, procéder à la reconnaissance et levée des cellés apposés le 23. Du present mois sur les bureaux et cabinets contenant les papiers et comptes des finances et autres comptabilités pour eusuite étre remis à M. Bobeé à l'exception des papiers qui pourront avoir raport à i'evénement du le 29 d'October, les quels doivent in m'être remis par M. de Grandmaison.
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