USA > Louisiana > History of Louisiana, the Spanish domination > Part 17
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" 1 do not anticipate any obstacle from Congress, because, under the present federal compact, that body can neither dispose of men nor money, and the new government, should it establish itself, will have to encounter difficulties which will keep it weak for three or four years, before the expiration of which I have good grounds to hope that we shall have completed our negotiations, and shall have become too strong to be subjected by any force which may be sent against us. The only fears I have, proceed from the policy which may prevail in your Court. I am afraid of a change in the present ministry, and in the administration of Lou- isiana, of the possibility of which event you are better judges than I can be, and I beg you to be explicit with me on the subject.
"In my last, I mentioned a letter which I had ad- dressed to Gardoqui. I took the precaution to put it open into the hands of the Baron De Zillier,* in Phila- delphia, my relation and trusty friend, who has since written to me that, after mature reflection, he had thought it best not to deliver it.
* Quere, Villiers ?
211
WILKINSON'S FLATBOATS.
"I have applied* to Mr. Clark, my agent in New Orleans, with regard to sending me merchandise by the way of the Mississippi. This is of the utmost importance for the accomplishment of our wishes, because the only tie which can preserve the connection of this section of the country with the Atlantic States is the necessity under which we are, to rely on them altogether for the supply of such articles as are not manufactured among us; and when this people shall find out that they can procure them more conveniently through this river, the depen- dent state in which they are will cease, and with it all motives of connection with the other side of the Apala- chian mountains. Our hopes will then be turned towards you, and all obstacles in the way of our nego- tiations will have been removed; for which reasons, I flatter myself that you will find it expedient to favor this measure, and will have the kindness to grant to Mr. Clark the necessary protection to carry it into execu- tion.
" Referring you to the preceding observations, and to the information which Major Dunn will give as to what I may have omitted, I beg you to accept my wishes for your happiness, and to believe me to be, with the highest and warmest personal respect and esteem, your obedient, humble and ready servant."
On the 15th of June, Mirò sent to Spain a copy of Wilkinson's letter with the following observations :
" The flatboats of Brigadier-General Wilkinson have just arrived with a cargo which cost seven thousand
Most of these despatches, if not all, were originally in cypher; they are to be found at length and in Spanish in the archives of Spain. Copies made in com- pliance with a resolution of the Legislature of the State of Louisiana, under the supervision of M. de Gayangos, a gentleman distinguished for his learning and literary works, and also under the direction of his Excellency Romulus Saunders, who was then the U. S. Minister Plenipotentiary at Madrid, are deposited in the office of the Secretary of State at Baton Rouge.
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212
SPANISH LOAN TO WILKINSON.
dollars in Kentucky, under the care of Major Dunn, who has delivered me the letter of which I forward a transla- tion. It will make you acquainted with the state in which is the principal affair mentioned in my confiden- tial despatch No. 13. This Major confirms all of Wil- kinson's assertions, and gives it out as certain, that, next year, after the meeting of the first assemblies in which Kentucky will act as an independent State, she will separate entirely from the Federal Union; he further declares that he has come to this conclusion from having heard it expressed in various conversations among the most distinguished citizens of that State : that the direction of the current of the rivers which run in front of their dwellings points clearly to the power to which they ought to ally themselves, but he declares that he is ignorant of the terms on which this alliance will be proposed. The said Brigadier-general, in a private letter addressed to me, adds that. he flatters himself with the prospect of his being the delegate of his State to present to me the propositions offered by his countrymen, and that he hopes to embrace me in April next.
"From the beginning, he had informed me that he was not possessed of any pecuniary means. Here an individual, on the recommendation of the Intendant Navarro, had loaned him three thousand dollars. . He now begs me not to seize his cargo, as he has pledged the product of its sale to refund that sum, and to pay his crew and the amount due on the tobacco which he had bought on credit, and as the balance is to enable him to support himself without embarrassment, which will contribute to preserve and increase his influence in his State.
" Although his candor, and the information which I have sought from many who have known him well, seem to assure us that he is working in good earnest, yet I am
213
M'GILLIVRAY'S LETTER TO MIRÒ.
aware that it may be possible that his intention is to enrich himself at our expense, by inflating us with hopes and promises which he knows to be vain. Nevertheless, I have determined to humor him on this occasion, &c. &c. * * *
*
"As you may have seen, Wilkinson had promised a volume of information when his flatboats should come down. He has kept his word, and transmitted to me various newspapers containing articles on the Mississippi, the letters of the American, Sullivan, which Don Diego Gardoqui must have communicated to you, and a paper of his own, full of reflections on the new federal govern- ment, the establishments on the Ohio, and the navigation of the Mississippi, of which the only passage worthy of occupying your Excellency's attention is the last one, in which he says to me, that 'If Sullivan presents himself on this side of the Apalachian mountains, I may rest assured that his journey will soon be at an end, and that there will be obstacles in his way, to prevent him from becoming troublesome to this province, as he boasts of.""
On the same day, Mirò forwarded to his government the copy of a letter addressed, on the 25th of April, by McGillivray, the chief of the Talapouches and the pen- sioned ally of the Spaniards, to the Governor of Pensa- cola: "I must inform you," said the Indian chief, "that since the departure of Garion with my last letters, two delegates from the district of Cumberland have arrived with proposals of peace to this nation. They represented to me that they were reduced to extremities by the incursions of our warriors, and that, to obtain peace and our friendship, they were disposed to submit to whatever conditions we might choose to impose; and, presuming that it would have a powerful influence with me and would secure them my favor, they added that they
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214
INTRIGUES IN CUMBERLAND DISTRICT.
would throw themselves into the arms of his Majesty as subjects, and that Cumberland and Kentucky are deter- mined to free themselves from their dependence on Congress, because that body cannot protect either their persons or their property, or favor their commerce, and they therefore believe that they owe no obedience to, a power which is incapable of benefiting them.
"These deputies desired to know my sentiments on the subject of their propositions; but as it embraces important political questions, I thought proper not to divulge my views. My answer was, that, in the first great council held by this nation, these matters would be considered, and that, in the mean time, all hostilities would cease, and that peace would be finally established, when its conditions should be agreed upon." McGilli- vray's correspondence, if proceeding from his own pen, denotes in that half-breed a man of considerable educa- tion and of singular abilities, not supposed generally to exist in those of his race and position.
Commenting on this letter in a despatch of the 15th of June, Mirò said: "I consider as extremely interesting the intelligence conveyed to McGillivray by the deputies, on the fermentation existing in Kentucky with regard to a separation from the Union, &c.
" Concerning the propositions made to McGillivray by the inhabitants of Cumberland to become the vassals of his Majesty, I have abstained from returning any pre- cise answer," &c., &c.
*
" As it may happen, however, that deputies may soon come here from that part of the country, I beg your Excellency to prescribe to me the course which I am to pursue as the most agreeable to his Majesty."
Whilst all these intrigues were on foot, the population
215
CENSUS OF LOUISIANA IN 1788.
1
of Louisiana was steadily increasing, and Colonel Peter Brian Browin," among others, with a number of families, provided with passports from Gardoqui, had arrived to settle in the district of Natchez. A census was taken this year, 1788, and presented the following results :
City of New Orleans,
5,338
From the Balize to the city,
2,378
At the Terre aux Bœufs,
661
On the Bayous St. John and Gentilly,
772
Barataria,
40
Tchoupitoulas,
7,589
Parish of St. Charles,
2,381
St. John the Baptist,
1,368
St. James,
1,559
Lafourche,
1,164
do interior,
1,500
Iberville,
944
Pointe Coupée,
2,004
Opeloussas,
1,985
Atakapas,
2,541
New Iberia,
190
Ouachita,
232
Rapides,
147
Avoyelles,
209
Natchitoches,
1,021
Arkansas,
119
St. Genevieve,
896
St. Louis,
1,197
Manchac,
284
Galvezton,
268
Baton Rouge,
682
Feliciana,
730
Natchez,
2,679
Mobile,
1,468
Total,
42,346
There were about as many whites as there were slaves, and the free colored persons numbered about 1,700. In 1785, the census had given a total of 31,433 souls ; thus the increase had been considerable, and would appear still more so, if it be true, as it was then asserted, that
* The name is thus spelt in the Spanish manuscript.
216
NAVARRO'S MEMORIAL.
this last census was short of the real number, and that the population at the time ought to have been computed at least at 45,000 souls.
This year, Mirò, who, it will be recollected, had been appointed, in 1785, Judge of Residence to inquire into the official acts of Unzaga, received a commission to the same effect with regard to Galvez, under whom he had served, who had led him to victory, whom he loved as his chief and companion in arms,-Galvez, who now was the powerful Viceroy of the kingdom of Mexico, and whose uncle* had been so recently the omnipotent minister of the King of Spain ! It seems that the minister who signed this commission and sent it to Mirò, can hardly be supposed to have refrained from a smile at the mockery he was perpetrating.
In the spring of 1788, Martin Navarro, the gifted In- tendant of Louisiana, who had won the esteem, respect, and attachment of all classes, during his long residence in the colony, left it for Spain, and the two offices of Intendant and Governor were united in the person of Mirò. Considering the importance of the great scheme of which Mirò was one of the main springs, it was thought necessary to facilitate his operations by exposing him to no interference with his authority on the part of a col- league in power. Besides, to appoint a new Intendant would have been to initiate another person, who might lack prudence and discretion, into secrets which it was good policy to keep within the breasts of as few indi- viduals as possible, and this might have been objected to by Wilkinson and his associates, as endangering their safety. Navarro's last official despatch was a memorial which was to be submitted to the king, and in which, at the request of the Minister of the Department of the
* Jose de Galvez, Marquis de la Sonora, died in 1786.
217
NAVARRO'S MEMORIAL.
Indies, he expressed his views in relation to Louisiana. In this document, the Intendant depicted in vivid colors the dangers which Spain had to apprehend for her Ameri- can colonies, from the thirteen provinces that had lately become independent and had assumed their rank among the nations of the earth, under the appellation of the United States of America. He dwelt with peculiar em- phasis on the ambition and the thirst of conquest which his keen eye could already detect in the breast of the new-born giant, who, as he predicted with remarkable accuracy, would not rest satisfied until he extended his domains across the continent, and bathed his vigorous young limbs in the placid waves of the Pacific. When was there a truer prophet ? And how was this dread event, so clearly foreseen, to be prevented ?- By sever- ing the Union-by dividing from the Atlantic States the boundless West, where so much power was already slumbering in the lap of the wilderness. To effect this, was not, in his opinion, very difficult, if the propitious circumstances, then existing, were turned to advantage without loss of time, and by the use of proper means. "Grant," said he, "every sort of commercial privileges to the masses in the western region, and shower pensions and honors on their leaders." This memorial produced a deep impression at Madrid, and confirmed the govern- ment of Spain in the policy which it had begun to pursue.
D'Argès had, in consequence, received instructions from Gardoqui and from the Count of Florida Blanca, one of the members of the Cabinet of Madrid, to do all that was in his power to procure the dismemberment of the American Union. He had come to solicit assist- ance and co-operation from Mirò ; but, to his great as- tonishment, he was detained in New Orleans by the Governor, under various pretexts, and not permitted to
218
SPANISH INTRIGUES IN THE WEST.
ascend the Mississippi, on his way to the West. In a despatch of the 7th of August, addressed to the Count of Florida Blanca, Mirò explained his reasons for so doing. "Being obliged," said he, "to conceal from D'Arges the true cause of Wilkinson's visit to New Or- leans, I told him only, that the General had presented to the Court a memorial approved by me, in favor of the district of Kentucky, with a view to opening a trade between this colony and that province. He cannot con- ceive why I am losing, as he thinks, so much time, and why I do not hasten to avail myself of the permission given by your Excellency to carry on an enterprise, to which he would join his contribution of labor, at the propitious moment when the inhabitants of Kentucky are framing the Constitution of that State. His inten- tions are praiseworthy, if sincere, as I believe them to be. But my mind, although not very acute, has not been without detecting that the jealous ambition of a man easily produces feelings of enmity in his breast, and that, when two individuals work together in the same undertaking, the first who discovers that his companion is to reap all the merit of the success, if obtained, is apt, instead of contributing to it, to use for its defeat the very knowledge and experience which he has acquired in the matter.
"My not permitting D'Arges to ascend the river will not be productive of any injury to the royal service, and his being allowed to be in competition with Wilkinson, when they cannot be made acquainted with their reciprocal mission, would produce results of a serious nature, and, thus, I hope to obtain the approbation. of your Excellency for detaining him here, until I receive the instructions of his Majesty on the main question."
On the 28th of August, Mirò wrote to his Government : " In compliance with the orders given by the American
219
d) ANISH INTRIGUES IN THE WEST.
Brigadier-General, James Wilkinson, to his agent here, this individual has invested the product of the sale of tobacco, with an additional sum of money, in merchandise, with which he has loaded a boat. This cargo, which has required an outlay of $18,246 and six reals, is com- posed of eatables and dry goods destined for the Ken- tucky market.
" The establishment of this trade is of the utmost consequence for the success of our great project, which I disclosed and explained in the confidential despatch No. 13, to which is annexed the memorial of the said Bri- gadier, because it is exceedingly important that the Western people should see, before declaring themselves . for a change of domination, that the true channel through which they have to be supplied with the objects of their wants, in exchange for their own productions, is the Mississippi."
Mirò explains at length the facilities of that commerce, and demonstrates how much more advantageous it would be for the Western people than that which they have been forced to carry on, across the mountains, with the Atlantic States.
"The great obstacle," continues he, "which Wilkin- son's agent, who is also interested in this commercial adventure, has to encounter, is the difficulty to ascend as far up as the falls of the Ohio without being attacked by the Indians, but I have encouraged him to attempt it at all hazards, and I have proposed to him to send two expresses to Wilkinson, one through the Talapouche territory, and the other through the Chickasaw nation, to notify the General of the coming up of his boat, in order that he may send an armed one to the mouth of the Ohio, which, with the twenty rowers who man this boat, will, I hope, be sufficient protection to secure its safety. I have written to Wilkinson not to sell the
220
COL. MORGAN'S MEMORIAL.
goods at a higher price than what they cost here, be- cause it is highly important that this first essay should inspire the inhabitants of Kentucky with the most flat- tering hopes.
"I have good reasons to expect that the arrival of this boat will produce the most agreeable sensation among these people, and will make them feel more keenly that their felicity depends on the concession of such commercial facilities by his Majesty, and for the acquisition of which I conceive that there are few sacri fices which they would not make; and therefore I hope with the utmost confidence, that his Majesty will approve all that I have done, on this and other occasions-which course has secured to me the most profound tranquillity in this province, whilst I am waiting for instructions in so great and important an affair."
On the 7th of September, Colonel Morgan addressed from New Jersey to Gardoqui, a very curious memorial, in which he proposes to establish on certain conditions an immense colony near the mouth of the Ohio. Those conditions he stipulates at length, and declares that, if they are strictly adhered to, the population which he will draw to that settlement will, in ten years, amount to at least one hundred thousand souls. He expatiates on the advantages which would result therefrom to Spain, and, in return for what he promises to do, he desires that the rank of colonel enjoyed by him in the army of the United States, against whose government he expresses himself with some bitterness of feeling, and which he accuses of having acted with bad faith towards him, be secured to him; that he be granted a concession of twenty miles square, with a pension for the rest of his life, and that other boons and advantages be guarantied to himself and to his family.
On the 4th of October, Gardoqui answered Colonel
221
GARDOQUI'S LETTER TO MAJOR DUNN.
George Morgan from New York, expressing the warmest opprobation of that gentleman's plan of colonization, and informing him that he had forwarded it to be submitted to the king, and that he doubted not but that all that was applied for would be granted. "As you seem anx- ious," said he, "not to lose any time, I forthwith transmit a passport, and letters for the Spanish authorities, so that you may go at once, and examine the territory in which you contemplate making your settlement. On your arrival at New Orleans, you will act in concert with the Governor, who will give you all the facilities you desire, and, in your progress through the West, on your way to the capital of Louisiana, you will assure the inhabitants of his Majesty's desires to grant them all the favors and privileges which may secure their pros- perity."
Gardoqui, on the 7th of the same month, wrote also to Major Dunn, to entreat him to make his fellow- citizens acquainted with the sincere wish which he, Gardoqui, entertained, to procure, as he expressed it, the happiness of that Western world, provided they should understand their own interests, and second his operations without loss of time .*
On the 3d of November, Mirò thus expressed himself in a despatch to the Minister Don Antonio Valdès, in relation to the grand scheme of dismembering the Union: "This affair proceeds more rapidly than I had presumed, and some considerable impetus is given to it by the answer of Congress to the application of Kentucky to be admitted into the Union as an independent State. That answer is, that the new federal government which is soon to go into operation will take their wishes into
* Procurar la dicha de los habitantes de ese mundo occidental, siempre que conozcan sus propios intereses, y segunden mis movimientos, sin perdida de iempo.
,
222
OLIVER POLLOCK AND JOHN BROWN.
consideration, and will act thereon. This information Don Diego Gardoqui must have communicated, but he did not what follows.
" Oliver Pollock, a citizen of Philadelphia, who arrived. here three days ago, in a vessel from Martinique, has declared to me that Brown, a member of Congress, who is a man of property in Kentucky, told him in confidence that, in the debates of that body on the question of the independence of that Territory, he saw clearly that the intention of his colleagues was, that Kentucky should remain under the jurisdiction of Congress, like the county of Illinois, and that a Governor should be appointed by them for that province as for the other ; but that, as this was opposed to the welfare of the inhabitants of Ken- tucky, he was determined to return home (which he did before Pollock's departure from Philadelphia), and, on his arrival, to call for a general assembly of his fellow citizens, in order to proceed immediately to declare themselves independent, and to propose to Spain the opening of a commercial intercourse with reciprocal advantages ; and that, to accomplish this object, he would send to Pollock the necessary documents, to be laid before me and to be forwarded to your Excellency. He requested Pollock to prepare me for it in anticipa- tion.
" Your Excellency will therefore rest assured that Brown, on his arrival in Kentucky, finding Wilkinson and his associates disposed to surrender themselves up to Spain, or at least to put themselves under her protec- tion, will easily join them, and it is probable, as Wilkin- son has already foretold it, that, next spring, I shall have to receive here a deputation appointed in due form.
"I acted towards Pollock with a great deal of caution, and answered him as one to whom had been communi.
223
INUNDATIONS IN LOUISIANA.
cated some new and unlooked for information, giving him to understand, that I could not pledge to him my sup- port before seeing the documents which he expected," &c., &c.
These intrigues, of which Louisiana was the focus, were the most interesting events which marked her history in the year 1788. In the course of the same year, the fortitude of the colonists, whose number Spain was so anxious to increase, had been sorely tried by inundations which had devastated the post of St. Gene- vieve, at Illinois, and the districts of Manchac, Baton Rouge, and other settlements. The principal sufferers were the Acadians, to whose relief the Colonial govern- ment found itself obliged to come, to the amount of $12,000 .* The Bonnet Carré Levee, which is now a cause of so much expense and danger, possessed the same characteristics in 1788. The inhabitants of the German coast petitioned Mirò to come to their assistance, and one Antoine Peytavin proposed to borrow from the royal Treasury, on giving good security, the sum of $16,000 payable in six years, and on binding himself to stop the crevasse at that spot, and to reconstruct a strong embank- ment, provided the full property of the lands, the front of which he would have to protect, be made over to him.
On the 12th of February, 1789, Wilkinson wrote from Lexington, Kentucky, to Governor Mirò : "Immediately after having sent you my despatch by Major Dunn, I devoted all my faculties to our political designs, and I have never since turned aside from the pursuit of the important object we have in view. If subsequent events have not come up to our expectations, still I conceive that they are such as to inspire us with flattering hopes
* Mirò's despatch, August 28th, 1788.
224
WILKINSON'S INTRIGUES.
of success in due time, and, although in the conjectural opinions which I presented to you and Navarro, I may, in some particulars, have been deceived, you will yet see that, in the main, I expressed myself with a prophetic spirit, and that important events have occurred, to confirm the accuracy of my sentiments.
" When Major Dunn left Kentucky, I had opened my- self only to the Attorney General Innis, and to Colonel Bullitt, who favor our designs, and indirectly I had sounded others, whom I also found well disposed to adopt my ideas. But, having made a more strict examination, I discovered that the proposed new government of the United States had inspired some with apprehensions, and others with hopes-so much so that I saw that this cir- cumstance would be a cause of some opposition and de- lay. I also perceived that all idea that Kentucky would subject itself to Spain must be abandoned for the pre- sent, and that the only feasible plan to the execution of which I had to direct my attention was that of a sepa- ration from the United States, and an alliance with Spain, on conditions which could not yet be defined with precision. I considered that, whatever be the time when the separation should be brought about, this district being then no longer under the protection of the United States, Spain might dictate her own terms; for which reason, I embraced without delay this last alternative.
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