USA > Louisiana > History of Louisiana, the Spanish domination > Part 23
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49
cumstances that had occurred, and of the intention of a few members of the Company to have recourse to Great Britain for their own private views and benefit. It was in my power to cause that disposition to evaporate, and, the better to obtain this result, I abandoned the project of introducing families into West Florida. I then suc- ceeded in persuading them as I wished, and, with the view of conciliating the interests of the company with those of Spain, I consented to be appointed their general agent to negotiate with you, as I have already expressed it above, and thereby be enabled to treat for the esta- blishment of the new colony, combining their interests with those of Louisiana, on principles of reciprocal ad- vantage and defence.
" These premises being taken for granted, it remains for me to inform you that, some time in June next, I intend to depart for New Orleans in order to have frank, sincere and unreserved conferences with you on these matters. I will do nothing without your approbation and consent, because I aim at nothing else than serving the interests of Spain, to which I am hereditarily attached, abandoning all other pursuit, more lucrative for my family, in order merely to follow the bent of my inclination. I need not say to you how much the Com pany and myself rely on your honor, secrecy, and good will, on which depends our security, as you may infer from what I have so ingenuously related. The Company waits only for your determination, in order to carry its plan into execution in a short time, &c., &c.
* *
"The plan of the Company, with your co-operation, will contribute not a little to procure the utmost credit for your administration, immortalizing your name as that of one of the most useful vassals of the crown of Spain, and the political father of Louisiana. Events will soon
WILKINSON'S OPINION OF O'FALLON. 293
happen, in which I must inevitably act with you in conformity to all your desires."
On the 20th of June, Wilkinson wrote from Frank- fort, Kentucky, to Governor Mirò: "Sir, since my last letter of the 20th of May, I have had several favorable occasions to converse with Dr. O'Fallon, general agent of the South Carolina Company in Yazoo, and I have the satisfaction to be able to assure you that his plan, his principles and his designs agree perfectly with ours. At the beginning, he operated with much precaution, concealing his true intentions, until having sounded me, and I not fearing to unbosom myself to him, he opened to me his breast, and I found his sentiments to be so uniformly like mine, that he won much on my confidence. I believe, however, that it is my duty to inform you, that he appears to be a man of a light character, al- though he is not lacking in education and intelligence, because, at his time of life, being forty-five years old, and with many gray hairs, he allows his flightiness and puerile vanity to peep out. But, if the sentiments which he invariably expresses are to be believed (and I am inclined to put faith in them), he is a great friend to Spain.
" He writes to you, by this occasion, in terms which, I flatter myself, will be agreeable to you. I have in- duced him to do so, because I thought it proper that you should have a pledge for his not retracting the sen- timents which he has manifested to me and by which he has gained my confidence."
On the 10th of August, Mirò sent to his government copies of all the preceding correspondence, and a de- tailed account of what he had done in relation to the important matters which had been submitted to his consideration. " O'Fallon's propositions," said Mirò, " which he alleges to be founded on credentials which
-
294
MIRÒ'S CAUTIOUS RESERVE.
he will exhibit on his arrival, require the most serious reflections, because it is necessary to weigh the advan- tages resulting from their being accepted, with the dan- ger of permitting such a settlement in such close conti- guity with the possessions of his Majesty, or to speak more to the point, of taking, as it were, a foreign State to board with us. I will therefore presume to offer to you a few observations, which my very limited intelli- gence suggests to me, in order that they may serve as materials which may be of some use to you in proposing to his Majesty what you may deem best. With regard to myself, I consider as too hazardous my venturing to express a precise and positive opinion on so delicate a subject."
After this exceedingly modest exordium, Mirò pro- ceeds to handle with some assurance what he had appa- rently approached with such timidity. He said that, according to a plan transmitted to him by General Wilkinson, the inferior limit of the territory conceded to the South Carolina Company was at a water-course called Cole's Creek, eighteen miles above Natchez; ex- tending to the 33d degree of latitude, thirty miles above the mouth of the Yazoo. "The whole of which terri- tory," said Mirò, "belongs to his Majesty, from the bank of the Mississippi to landward, for 120 miles, east and west, more or less, where begin the possessions of the Indians. These lands are very rich, particularly those belonging to his Majesty. The United States have not consented so far to have their limits determined in that region, and maintain the right which, in their opinion, they derive from their treaty of peace with Great Bri- tain, unduly granting them a portion of the banks of the river Mississippi, down to the 31st degree, which is to be found at thirty-six miles below the fort of Natchez. They labor with incessant ardor to gain the Indian
MIRÒ AND THE SOUTH CAROLINA COMPANY. 295
nations, because, no doubt, they look upon them as a barrier which now prevents them from taking possession of the territory which they claim; whilst these tribes would help them to it, if friendly. Should the plan of colonization of the South Carolina Company be permit- ted to be carried into execution, all the hopes of the United States would vanish, or at least they would find it no trifling enterprise to send an army in order to gain their point, and the territory still retained by his Ma- jesty would extend to eighteen miles above Natchez, which is the most populous portion of the whole district.
" But should the proposition made by the South Caro- lina Company be rejected, Louisiana would be in con- tinual danger of being attacked, without the co-operation of Congress, by the sole forces of the Company, which will easily find in the settlements on the Ohio such indi- viduals as it is easy to incite unto war by tendering them the hope of plunder. In that case, the expenses which his Majesty would have to incur in the defence of his possessions would be a matter of serious con- sideration.
" Among the other advantages likely to result from the formation of that new and independent State, which would soon have a large population, may be ranked the extension of commerce it would procure for New Orleans, if declared a free port, to which all nations would then resort. A slight duty on exports and imports would, in a few years, secure to his Majesty a large revenue.
" With regard to the territory granted to the Virginia Company in the Yazoo district, it extends from the 33d degree, which is the upper limit of the other Company, to 34° 40' north, comprehending, on account of the sinuosities of the Mississippi, 120 miles along its banks by 120 in depth. I do not think that we have a positive right to those lands, which are the
·
296
MIRÒ AND THE SOUTH CAROLINA COMPANY.
hunting grounds of the Chickasaws, who could, with justice, oppose the settlement contemplated by the Vir- ginia Company. As the leaders in this Company act from the same motives which influence the first, to wit, the South Carolina Company, what I have said as appli- cable to the former, is equally so to the latter, inasmuch as they would both pursue the same course. This would also prove true in relation to the Tennessee Company, whose concession runs from the mouth of the Tennessee river to about 120 miles back, and belongs to the terri- tory bought from the Chickasaws and Cherokees. The course pursued by these three Companies would reopen a favorable field in Kentucky and the other Ohio set- tlements for the operations of Wilkinson, who, so far, has been working without much success. These are the advantages to be expected.
" But I think that it would be preferable for Spain to people that territory on her own account, rather than yield it to the South Carolina Company. Its soil is richer than that of any other portion of this province, and I know that there are many in America who have their eyes fixed on it, particularly on the part called Walnut Hills. Hence it results, that it would be of the utmost importance to people that district with subjects of his Majesty, because, if once thickly inhabited, its population would contribute to the defence of Louisiana against any of the machinations of the settlements on the Ohio, or of the Virginia Company on the Yazoo, whose colony would be contiguous, should their plan be carried into execution. It is true that emigration to this province is slower than we ought to have expected, from the numerous offers to bring families here. Colonel Morgan has contented himself with making a publica- tion to excite emigration, but he has remained inactive in his residence of New Jersey, without in the least
297
MIRÒ AND THE SOUTH CAROLINA COMPANY.
prosecuting his plan of an establishment below the mouth of the Ohio, whither he had promised to move immediately, nor has he written one word. General Wilkinson says that Morgan has been checked in his enterprise by the commercial privilege granted to Kentucky.
" Should the proposition of the South Carolina Com- pany be refused, the government ought to look for means to foster emigration. This leads me to renew the propositions which I have made, to declare New Orleans a free port for all the European nations, and even for the United States of America, and to clothe me with the power, either to restrain, or stop altogether, as I may deem it opportune, the commerce of Kentucky and the orher settlements. on the Ohio. You will then see Louisiana densely peopled in a few years, his Majesty defraying all the expenses of the colony out of the duties which will be collected in his name, and out of the profits made on his tobacco purchases, which he will be able to effect at still lower prices, although tobacco now sells here for less than in any other of his dominions.
"I believe that I am not in error when I affirm, that to confine Louisiana to trade with our nation, would be to ruin her. At this very moment, France has the real monopoly of the commerce of this colony, although theo- retically and legally it ought to be exclusively in the hands of the subjects of his Majesty. The colonists, to whom goods and merchandise are consigned, have no interest in them, and merely lend their names to the true importers. Therefore, if the Spaniards have no share in this trade, the whole profits of which are enjoyed by the French, would it not be more advan- tageous to have it divided between the English, the Dutch, &c., through whose competition the inhabitants of Louisiana would have their wants supplied at a much
298
MIRÒ AND THE SOUTH CAROLINA COMPANY.
cheaper rate, and would sell their produce higher. These commercial franchises would, as I have said before, greatly increase the population, and thereby secure to his Majesty the possession of Louisiana, which is the key of the kingdom of New Spain .*
"This policy I recommend, in case the proposition of the South Carolina Company be rejected, but should it be accepted, I think the same policy equally advan- tageous ; because, should a colony be established by that Company in the territory it has obtained from Georgia, it is to be feared that the conformity of lan- guage, manners, and religion, the free and public exercise of which would be permitted, would draw thither a con- siderable number of the families now established in the Natchez district, thereby increasing the forces and power of the new State. So great an evil would require an extraordinary remedy, and the only efficacious and ap- plicable one would be the grant of a free trade to Loui- siana. The magnitude of the peril to be obviated would have to conquer the reluctance felt to make this conces- sion."
Another danger had also struck Mirò, and impressed him with serious misgivings. Where was the proof that the Company was sincere in its intentions, and would adhere to its propositions ? Would it not devise some means of eluding them ? Had it not perhaps, in antici- pation, prepared to do so, and would it not be ready for the excuse in due time ? Were it to take possession of the extensive domain which it claimed as its own, and were it to establish there a large population, how could it be dispossessed if the occasion required it ? But should these apprehensions not be well founded, and not be con- firmed by the subsequent actions of the South Carolina
* Llave del Reyno de Nueva España.
299
MIRÒ'S SUGGESTIONS.
colonists, would there not be a serious cause for fearing that, from the impulse of a natural affection, they would be disposed to support the United States in their still pending territorial pretensions to the 31st degree of lati- tude, and to the navigation of the Mississippi ?
" Besides," continued Mirò, "it is self-evident that it would be extremely perilous to have, so close to us, so powerful a neighbor, who might, without our being able to prevent him, prepare for the conquest of this province, by insensibly providing himself with artillery, and all the other implements he might require to execute his design. The Crown could not resist an enterprise of the kind, without going to an expense which it is not able to incur. Therefore, should it be determined not to adopt the remedy which I have proposed (the grant of free trade), it is now less difficult to prevent the esta- blishment contemplated by the South Carolina Company, than it would be to meet successfully the fatal results which it may have, and we had better prepare ourselves. to act accordingly."
Mirò then suggested, that it might be proper to pursue a middle course between rejecting and admitting the propositions of the Company. It consisted in permitting them to colonize the aforesaid territory, on condition that they should declare themselves the subjects of his Catholic Majesty, and submit to the same regulations imposed on all emigrants. In Mirò's mind, however, sprang up another dark misgiving. "These people," he said, "are imbued with the conviction that those lands belong to them by purchase, and, in order to obtain them, they may momentarily accept of all sorts of con- ditions. But would they not violate them, as soon as they should find themselves powerful enough to do it with impunity ?
"I will now." continued Miro, "communicate to you
300
SPAIN AND THE HALF-BREED M'GILLIVRAY.
the measures which I have resorted to, in order to pre- vent any one of the three Companies from carrying its scheme into execution." He then goes on explaining, how he had excited the hostility and secured the opposi- tion of all the Indian tribes to the Americans. "I have recommended them," says he, " to remain quiet, and told them, if these people presented themselves with a view to settle on their lands, then to make no concessions and to warn them off; but to attack them in case they re- fused to withdraw ; and I have promised that I would supply them with powder and ball, to defend their legi- timate rights."
With regard to O'Fallon, Mirò informed his govern- ment that he would so demean himself, as to permit that individual to retain some hopes of success in his mission, and added that he would endeavor to induce O'Fallon to accompany him to Havana, whither he intended to go in October, to confer with the Captain-General on the interesting matters which he had to manage.
In those important conjunctures, McGillivray, the fa- mous chief of the Talapouches, found himself much courted by the Spaniards and the Americans. He had been invited by Washington to cease his hostilities, and to repair to New York, to confer on the articles of a definitive treaty of peace. The wily chief availed him- self of this circumstance with considerable skill, to raise himself in the estimation of Mirò, and to put his services at a higher price. He wrote to that Governor that, al- though he should conclude a treaty of peace with the Federal Government, yet he would ever remain faithful to his old friends the Spaniards, and he asked from the Court of Madrid many favors, with an annual stipend of fifteen thousand dollars to carry on hostilities against the projected establishment of the South Carolina Com- pany, if not against the United States. But he obtained
301
THE CABILDO'S MEMORIAL TO THE KING.
only a pension of two thousand dollars, with a regular salary for his interpreters, and the promise of ammunition, arms, and other military supplies in case of need .* The whole correspondence of this half-breed Indian warrior and diplomatist evinces a remarkable degree of shrewd- ness, information, and talent.
Thus it is seen that Louisiana had been, for several years, the focus of very important intrigues, the object of which was no less than to destroy the great American confederacy which had just been formed, and which was soon destined to operate so powerfully on the rest of the civilized world. But the mass of the population of the colony had been ignorant of, and was indifferent to, the plots, schemes, and diplomacy of their rulers. A cause of agitation and an object of more immediate consequence to them, was a royal schedule, issued on the 31st of May, 1789, in relation to the education and occu- pation to be given to slaves, and the manner they were to be treated, in all the dominions of his Catholic Majesty. Some of the regulations it contained proved exceedingly unpalatable in Louisiana, and the Cabildo or Council remonstrated on them, on the 23d of July, 1790, in a document which they addressed to the King. His Majesty, it seems, had ordered that chaplains should, on every plantation, attend to the religious education of the negroes. The colonists observed, that this could not be complied with for several reasons ; and they might have rested satisfied with the first, which was-that there were not priests enough, even to fill the curacy of every parish ; the next was-that there were few planters that were not considerably in debt on account of recent inun- dations and conflagrations, and of the scarcity and exor- bitant price of every necessary of life, wherefore the
* Mirò's despatch of the 10tn of Aug:ist, 1790. McGillivray's letter to Mirò, May 8th, 1790
302
THE CABILDO'S MEMORIAL TO THE KING.
great majority had not the means of paying the salary which it would be requisite to give to so respectable a class of men ; and besides, that a good many of the plantations were distant from each other-which circum- stance would prevent the same chaplain from officiating on them ; that the greater number of the planters were very poor, and their houses too uncomfortable to afford proper accommodation for the ministers of the Gospel.
With regard to the article of the schedule which re- quired the sexes to be kept separate, they said that it was impossible to conform to it without the greatest inconveniences, because the works to be executed on a plantation frequently required that all the hands be kept together, in order to use them to the best advan- tage according to circumstances; that to divide the hands would increase the costs and trouble of supervi- sion; that most of the planters had only a few negroes, with whom they and their sons worked in the field, and that they could not afford to separate the males from the females, because they would have no distinct occu- pation to give to them respectively; that the slaves labor under the inspection of their masters, and of the sons, or overseers of their masters; that the work is proportioned to the sex, the strength, the age, and the health of each of them, and that no abuses have resulted from both sexes working together; that even admitting that the vigilance of their superiors should be at fault, the slaves would be prevented from indulging in certain excesses by the fatigues of the body, which are their best corrective, although their labors are moderate, and ample time is allowed them for their own benefit and purposes, according to the intentions of his Majesty.
In relation to the amusements which the slaves were permitted to enjoy on every holiday, after having dis- charged their religious duties, without their being per-
.
303
THE CABILDO'S MEMORIAL TO THE KING.
mitted to go from one plantation to another, the Cabildo remarked that this could be applicable to the large estates only. "But," said they, "where there are only three or four slaves, how could they divert themselves, if the sexes were separated ? Would they not grow desperate when hearing the distant sounds of dancing and music, without being able to join in the festival ?" &c. &c. .
As to the prohibition in relation to the working of negroes on holidays, the Cabildo observed that it was, occasionally, impossible to do otherwise, because it be- came necessary, at times, not to keep the Sabbath, in order not to lose the fruits of the labors of the whole year; but that the negroes were either compensated for it in money, or were allowed other days of rest in the place of those which had been taken away from them.
As to the article in the royal schedule which enjoined the marriage of the slaves, the Cabildo declared that it was the most critical and difficult of all the obligations imposed by the King upon the planters, because the master would frequently not have the means of buying the female that his slave might choose, or the master of the female might also not be in a situation to purchase the male; and, besides, because such forced sales and purchases would give rise to frauds, heart-burnings, and many other inconveniences which are self-evident and need no description. "On the other hand," they said, " negroes have an almost insuperable aversion to mar- riage, and the efforts which have been made to establish and encourage that institution among them have always proved fruitless. The habits, contrary to it, among those living machines, are so powerful, that all attempts to persuade them to receive from the church that sacra- ment have been foiled so far. To force it upon them ,would produce general discontent, and perhaps the worst
-
. 304
THE CABILDO'S MEMORIAL TO THE KING.
consequences .* The masters would infallibly lose some of their slaves, who would run away, if any compulsion was used to make them contract real marriages, on ac- count of their conviction that it would be subjecting them to the evils of a double servitude, and that mar- riage is a source of disgusts and miseries produced by the continual discords which it breeds among those of their class, and from which celibacy is free, in which opi- nion they are confirmed by a long experience.
" Although the article 10," continued the Cabildo, " relative to the prevention of excessive punishments by the masters and overseers, is dictated by the spirit of prudence and those feelings of humanity which are na- tural to the soul of your Majesty, still it offers, sire, to the indocile and unquiet character of the negroes a vast field for machinations against their masters, by inducing them to institute against said masters continual lawsuits founded on complaints suggested to them by their dis- satisfied and rebellious humor, and on pretexts which they will invent according to their own fancy and to suit their own purposes. Notwithstanding that the en- lightened uprightness of the tribunals is a guaranty in favor of the masters, that they shall not be punished without well authenticated causes, still when the com- plaints against them shall have been proved to be mali- cious, no chastisement inflicted on the negroes can be a sufficient indemnification for the loss of time and other damages which they shall suffer, whilst their slaves,
* Siendo mas poderosa la costumbre contraria en esta gente maquinal que todas las persuasiones con que se intente reducirlos a desposarse por la Iglesia ; de modo que el obligarlos a ello seria indubitablemente un motivo, no solo de general descontento sino acaso de pesimas consequencias. Estos amos perderian infaliblemente algunos de sus esclavos que se irian profugos, si se les quisiese sugetar a contraer verdaderos matrimonios, por la preocupacion que reina entre ellos de ser esa una doble esclavitud, y un manantial de disgustos por las discor- dias continuas que tienen los casados de esta clase, y de que viven exentos los que no lo son, acreditado uno y otro por larga experiencia entre los negros.
305
THE CABILDO'S MEMORIAL TO THE KING.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.