USA > Louisiana > History of Louisiana, the Spanish domination > Part 24
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under the pretext of suing for justice, will abandon their labors, and will compel their masters to suspend the cultivation of their estates, in order to account for their conduct, or that of their overseers. To this must be added the disgrace of their being confronted with their own slaves. It would be enough to discourage a large number of the planters, and cause them to renounce the pursuits of agriculture in order to avoid seeing them- selves so frequently and so causelessly exposed to vexa- tions and contumelies."
This is a mere condensed abstract from the long pub- lication addressed by the Cabildo or Ayuntamiento of Louisiana to the King, and which is an interesting docu- ment, well worthy of an entire perusal, as embodying the views and feelings of the community on the peculiar organism of an institution, which has so entwined itself round the very vitals of the Southern States, that, be it continued, modified, or extinguished, it must, in its ulti- mate results, exercise for centuries, if not for ever, socially and politically, for good or for evil, the most direct, powerful, and incessant influence on their condition, their prosperity, and their very existence.
It seems that Mirò, during his long residence in Louisiana, had not become sufficiently enamored with it to forget good old Spain, and that he had applied several times to be permitted to return to the land of his ances- tors and of his birth. On the 12th of October, he wrote again to the Count de Campo Alanga, the minister of the department of the Indies, to be employed at home in that department, and he founded his pretensions on his knowledge of the French and English languages, and his long and familiar acquaintance with the affairs of America, on which he had obtained, as he alleged, the most minute and varied information during his protracted residence on that continent. "I have now had the
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306
APPREHENSIONS OF AN ENGLISH WAR.
honor," said he, " of serving the King, always with dis- tinguished zeal, for thirty years and three months, of which, twenty-one years and eight months in America, until the state of my health requires my return to Europe."
This year, the people of Louisiana again suffered exten- sively from the inundations of the Mississippi. They were also greatly disquieted by the apprehensions of a war with Great Britain, on account of the high grounds taken by that power towards Spain in regard to the settlement at Nootka Sound. An invasion of Louisiana by the British from Canada was a cause of serious fears in the colony, and became a subject of consideration even for the General Government of the United States. Washington had to turn his attention to the course he would pursue, should a passage be asked by Great Britain for her troops through the territory of the United States, or should that passage be effected with- out permission. These circumstances were considered by the United States as the most favorable they could have, to press their claim to the navigation of the Mississippi; and Carmichael, their chargé-d'affaires at Madrid, was instructed, not only to urge this demand with the most tenacious earnestness, but also to aim at putting the use of that river beyond the reach of molestation or dispute for the future, by obtaining for the United States the island of New Orleans and the Floridas. The United States were not then ready to give millions for such an acquisition, " but," said they to Spain, "the friendship of the United States gained by this liberal transaction, and the security which that friendship would procure for the dominions of Spain on the West of the Missis- sippi, would be a fair and sufficient equivalent for the desired cession. Not only would the United States have no object in crossing that stream, but their real interest
NEGOTIATIONS BETWEEN SPAIN AND THE U. s. 307
would also require that Spain should retain the immense possessions she claimed to the West of it." Besides, the navigation of the Mississippi is. of such absolute necessity to the United States, that they must, sooner or later, acquire it, either through separate action and by the exertion of their own individual power, or in conjunction with Great Britain. This is the decree of Providence, written on the very map of the Continent of America, and therefore it cannot be resisted by human agency, however obstinate and powerful it may be in its opposi- tion. Was it not the part of wisdom to anticipate an irresistible event, and make the most of it, by gently and peacefully facilitating its accomplishment, which otherwise would inevitably be brought about by vio- lence ?"-Such was the language of the United States, but it failed to obtain from Spain the boon which they craved. She, probably, had some misgivings as to the duration of their promised friendship, if they once ex- tended their empire to the left bank of the Mississippi, from the mouth of the Ohio to the Gulf of Mexico. Some sudden and unexpected cause of quarrel might easily occur from the very proximity of the two flags, which the width only of the river would separate ; and should thus the two nations bend their necks to drink from the same stream, one of them might complain that the already turbid waters of the Mississippi were made still more so by the other, and might turn into reality the fable of the wolf and the lamb. As to the assertion that the United States would never have any interest nor feel any temptation to cross the river, it is probable that Old Spain shook her experienced head at the bold- ness of the declaration and at the credulity which it im- plied on her part. She well knew, on the contrary,
* Martin's History of Louisiana, vol. ii., p. 105.
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308
FAILURE OF MIRO'S SCHEMES.
that, if the young giant of the wilderness once planted his foot on the left bank of the mighty river, he would ere long leap across it, as if it were a puny rivulet, and that, in the exulting consciousness of his growing and unconquerable strength, and, with the rough club borrowed from his native forests, beating down the flag and crushing the polished panoply of chivalrous and time-honored Spain, he would soon stride across Texas towards the fat provinces of Mexico and the halls of the Aztec emperors. She could well read the book of des- tiny, but she thought that she had no immediate interest in hastening the events which were registered in that immortal record of the decrees of Providence.
The year 1791 found Mirò still the unwilling governor of Louisiana. But his intrigues in the West and South, to operate a dismemberment of the territory of the Union, seem to have been slackening, either from the expectation that he was soon to be recalled, or from distrust in his agents and doubts of the final success of his efforts.
Having been blamed for the quantity of tobacco which he had bought, the preceding year, for the account of the government, he wrote to the Cabinet of Madrid, on the 17th of January, to explain the motives by which he had been influenced, and to show that the King had obtained a considerable pecuniary gain by that operation; and, on the 20th of April, he returned to the same subject, recommending large purchases of tobacco, and expressing the opinion, that the carrying on of an extensive trade with the West would be the only means of protecting Louisiana against the resent- ment of the American settlements on the Ohio.
It appears by another of Mirò's despatches, that the whole revenue derived by the Government from the commerce of Louisiana, including the net produce of the
309
REVENUE OF LOUISIANA IN 1790.
seizure and sale of contraband goods, amounted, in 1790, to 529,304 silver reales, or $66,163.
On the 18th of May, the King, alarmed at the revo- lutionary ideas which seemed to spread with fearful rapidity, had recourse to an expedient, which provokes a smile, and which does not redound much to the credit of the inventive faculties of the royal brains, or of those of his advisers. It consisted in the prohibition of the introduction into Louisiana of boxes, clocks, and coin, stamped with the figure of a woman dressed in white and holding a banner in her hand, with this inscription : American Liberty. It was feared that there might be a tongue and a voice in these inanimate objects. So much for the year 1791. But, in 1852, where is in the world the humble cottage and the royal palace in which the influence of American Liberty is not felt, despite the proscription of this hateful inscription ?
The French revolution, which had commenced in 1789, had produced one in St. Domingo in 1791, in that part of the island which belonged to France. The negroes, who, by a decree of the National Convention sitting in Paris, had been assimilated to the whites, being stimulated to go beyond the granted equality, and to claim, not only superiority over their brethren who could not boast of a black skin, but also the exclu- sive enjoyment of life and property to their detriment, rose upon those who had been their former masters, and butchered them without distinction of age or sex. Those who escaped from the tender mercies of the new-fledged, dark-faced freemen and citizens of France, fled to Cuba, Jamaica, the United States, and Louisiana. Among the refugees who sought an asylum in New Orleans, was a company of comedians from Cape Français, who opened a theatre a short time after their arrival. From that circumstance dates the origin of regular dramatic exhi-
310
MIRÒ'S DEPARTURE.
bitions in New Orleans. The new comers sought tc make a living in the best way they could, and more than one wealthy sugar planter, more than one pam- pered son of fortune, in days which had vanished like a dream, were seen opening humble schools, and became teachers of the alphabet, and of dancing, fencing, or fid- dling. They were not few, those who were reduced even to lower occupations. But they generally bore their misfortunes with becoming fortitude and dignity, and some rose again to rank and wealth.
The administration of Mirò terminated with the year 1791. This officer sailed for Spain, where he continued his military career, and, from the rank of Brigadier General, rose to that of Mariscal de Campo, or Lieute- nant General. "He carried with him," says Judge Martin in his History of Louisiana, " the good wishes and the regrets of the colonists." Mirò was not a brilliant man, like his predecessor Galvez, but had a sound judg- ment, a high sense of honor, and an excellent heart. He possessed two qualities which are not always found to- gether-suavity of temper and energy ; he had received a fair college education, possessed several languages, was remarkable for his strict morality and his indefati- gable industry, and joined to his other qualifications the long experience of one who had not lived in vain. He was a native of Catalonia, and had some of the distin- guishing traits of character of the population of that province. He left Louisiana entirely reconciled to the Spanish domination, which had been gradually endeared to the inhabitants by the enlightened and wise deport- ment of almost every officer who had ruled over them. Another circumstance had contributed to operate a sort of fusion, and establish bonds of friendship and consan- guinity between the two races. Thus, the most emi- nent among the Spaniards had, either from the shrewd
311
SPANISH DOMINATION GROWING POPULAR.
inspirations of policy, or from the spontaneous impulse of the heart, allied themselves to the families of the natives. Governor Unzaga had married a Maxent, Governor Galvez, her sister; the commissary of war, Don Juan Antonio Gayarre, the son of the royal comp- troller, had married Constance de Grandpré ; the in- tendant Odoardo, her sister; Bouligny, who since became Colonel of the regiment of Louisiana, a D'Auberville ; Colonel Piernas, a de Porneuf; Governor Mirò, a Ma- carty; Colonel, and afterwards, Governor Gayoso de Lemos, a Miss Watts ; and so on with many others whom it is unnecessary to mention. These were remarkable examples, which had never been given by the French Governors, and but seldom by the other high dignitaries of Louisiana, before it became a Spanish colony.
CHAPTER VI.
CARONDELET'S ADMINISTRATION.
1792 to 1797.
FRANÇOIS LOUIS HECTOR, Baron de Carondelet, a colo- nel of the royal armies of Spain, succeeded Mirò, on the 30th of December, 1791, as governor and intendant of the provinces of Louisiana and West Florida. When he received this appointment, he was governor of San Salvador in the province of Guatimala. He was a na- tive of Flanders, and had, by his acknowledged ability and unremitting exertions and zeal, risen to rank and importance in the service. of Spain.
According to Spanish usage, the Baron, shortly after entering upon the duties of his office, published his "Bando de Buen Gobierno," on the 22d of January, 1792. "Among the new regulations which it intro- duced," says Judge Martin in his History of Louisiana, "it provided for the division of the city of New Orleans into four wards, in each of which an Alcalde de Barrio, or commissary of police, was to be appointed. In order to procure to government a knowledge of all the inha- bitants, and every stranger among them or in the city, it was made the duty of all persons renting houses or apartments, to give the names of their new tenants to the Alcalde of the district, on the first day of their occupation, or, at farthest, on the succeeding one. The Alcaldes de Barrio were directed to take charge of fire engines and their implements, and to command the fire
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CARONDELET'S ADMINISTRATION.
and axemen companies, in case of conflagration. They were also empowered to preserve the peace, and to take cognizance of small debts.
"In one of his first communications to the Cabildo, the Baron recommended to them to make provision for lighting the city and employing watchmen. The reve- nue of the corporation did not amount, at this period, to seven thousand dollars. To meet the charges for the purchase of lamps and oil, and the wages of watchmen, a tax of one dollar and twelve and a half cents was to be laid on every chimney.
"In a letter to the minister, the Baron, this year, mentioned that the population of New Orleans was un- der six thousand.
" Having received instructions from the King to attend to the humane treatment of slaves in the province, he issued his proclamation, establishing the following regu- lations :
"1º-That each slave should receive, monthly, for his food, one barrel of corn, at least.
"2°-That every Sunday should be exclusively his own, without his being compelled to work for his master, except in urgent cases, when he must be paid for or indemnified.
"3º-That, on other days, they should not begin to work before daybreak, nor continue their labors after dark; one half hour to be allowed for breakfast, and two hours for dinner.
" 4º-Two brown shirts, a woollen coat and pantaloons, and a pair of linen pantaloons and two handkerchiefs, to be allowed, yearly, to each male slave, and suitable dresses to every female.
" 5°-None to be punished with more than thirty lashes, within twenty-four hours.
"6"-Delinquents to be fined in the sum of one hun
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314
FACTIONS IN THE COLONY.
dred dollars, and, in grave cases, the slave to be sold away to another."
On the 27th of April, Carondelet wrote to his govern- ment : "When I arrived at New Orleans, I found it divided into two factions-the one headed by Governor Mirò and backed by the Bishop, the assessor of the Intendancy, Don Manuel Serrano, &c .; and the other, composed of the Contador, or royal comptroller Don Jose Orue, the vicar Felix Portillo, who is a capuchin, Don Jose Ortega, &c. The most influential among the French had sided with one or the other party, according to the promptings of their own private interest, so that this capital was full of discord and animosities. Having shown myself indifferent to both parties, and quite re- solved to punish those who should prove intractable, I succeeded in effecting a reconciliation, at least ostensibly, with the exception of the comptroller and the assessor, who could not be brought to be on friendly terms with each other." He therefore recommended that both be sent out of the colony with their advisers. A summary manner of reestablishing harmony! He further said that the comptroller accused Mirò of having embezzled the funds of the King, but that this accusation had so far remained without proof.
On the 23d of July, he also informed his government of the reasons which had induced him to prohibit the introduction of negroes from Jamaica and the French Islands, leaving to the traders in that kind of commodity the faculty of providing themselves with it on the coasts of Africa. The Governor had adopted this measure at the solicitation of the members of the Cabildo, who were afraid of the importation of slaves infected with a spirit of insurrection.
Louisiana had always carried on a brisk trade with that portion of the island of St. Domingo which belonged
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315
CAPTURE OF WM. AUGUSTUS BOWLES.
to the French, and she therefore suffered considerably in consequence of the revolution operated by the blacks in that hitherto prosperous colony. In the month of August, she found herself threatened almost with famine, and she was relieved only by the arrival of one thousand barrels of flour, for which the Baron de Carondelet had sent in haste to Philadelphia.
On the 15th of September, he communicated to the court of Madrid the details of an important capture which he had made some months previous, in the person of William Augustus Bowles. This individual was a native of Maryland, and the manner in which he began life shadowed forth what he would be in riper years. Thus, instead of assisting his countrymen, who were struggling for their independence, he, at the age of four- teen, entered the British army as a foot soldier. His first steps in the military career seem to have been marked with signal success; for, a year after, in 1777, notwithstanding his extreme youth, we find him in Jamai- ca with the grade of ensign, and, as such, having the honor of bearing the proud banner of England. This was luck indeed for an American boy of fifteen ! Shortly after, he went with his regiment to Pensacola, and there the scene changes. William Bowles became guilty of such an act of insubordination, that he was deprived of his rank. In a fit of disgust, it is said that the young man stript himself of his English uniform, contemptu- ously flung it into the sea, and fled to the Indians, among whom he lived several years, and whose language he acquired to perfection. He married the daughter of a chief of the Creek nation, was naturalized among them, and became himself a chief, a great warrior, and there- fore an influential man. In 1781, when Galvez besieged Pensacola, Bowles* the deserter secured his pardon, and
* Pickett's History of Alabama, vol. ii., p. 115.
316
LIFE OF WM. AUGUSTUS BOWLES.
regained the good graces and favor of the English, by leading a party of Creeks to the assistance of General Campbell. But Bowles got tired at last of his Indian wife, of his Indian popularity, and of his Indian life, which, probably, did not afford him sufficiently ample scope for the versatility of his genius. Now he bids a long and glad farewell to the hospitable wilderness which had sheltered him, and he is next seen in New York. What is he doing there ? Why-forsooth, he has joined a company of actors, and is amusing himself with eliciting the applause of enraptured audiences, or perhaps is swearing oaths of deadly hatred at those spec- tators, whose evidences of disapprobation remind him of the hisses of those snakes which he left far away in the shady woods of Alabama. He followed that company of players to New Providence, where he continued to exercise the same profession, and, occasionally, tried his hand at painting portraits. Whether as a comedian, a painter, an American Tory, an ex-British officer, an Indian chief, or something else, it is certain that he won the confidence of Lord Dunmore, Governor of the Ba- hamas, who appointed him an English agent, to establish on the Chattahouchie a commercial house, with the view of entering into competition with the celebrated one of Panton in Pensacola, which was under the patron- age of the Spanish authorities. True to his mission, Bowles soon began to deal and intrigue among the Indians with his characteristic daring and address. He counteracted the influence of Panton, he undermined the power of McGillivray, and gave great annoyance to the Georgians, who resorted, however, with their customary decision, to a summary mode of redress, and sent him word, on a certain day when they had lost patience, that, if he did not depart within twenty-four hours, they would cut off his ears. Not wishing to incur this penalty,
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LIFE OF WM. AUGUSTUS BOWLES.
he hastily returned to New Providence, from which he was deputed to England by Lord Dunmore with a dele- gation of Creeks, Seminoles, and Cherokees, to enlist in their favor the protection of the British government, and secure its assistance in repelling American aggression. He and his Indian companions were well received at court, and their friendship was gained by valuable presents. Bowles did not disappoint his English allies, and on his return to America, says Pickett in his History of Alabama, " began a piratical war upon the coasting vessels of Panton, having taught his warriors to navigate the gulf. He captured some of the vessels, laden with arms and ammunition, ran them up in bayous, where he and an abandoned set of white men from the prisons of London, together with hosts of savages, engaged in pro- tracted debaucheries, and, day and night, made the woods echo with horrid oaths and panther screams." And yet this man is represented as having possessed the most winning address, and a gentleness of mien which did not exclude, when the occasion required it, the imposing and stern aspect of command. His was the sweetest of smiles, femininely beautiful, and apparently indica- tive of the bubbling well of human kindness within, " with the dark eye-brow that shaded at times the glance of fire." He was one of those impassioned beings, of those " demons in act, but gods at least in face," whom the Rembrandt of poetry-Byron-delighted to paint.
With Panton's merchandise, which he lavishly distri- buted among the Indians, Bowles regained his former popularity and influence among the Creeks, and became so bold as to accuse McGillivray of treachery to his own tribe, and attempt to overthrow that chieftain and usurp his place. . But McGillivray was fully his match, and went to New Orleans to arrange with Carondelet the capture of his restless enemy. The Court of Madrid
318
LIFE OF WM. AUGUSTUS BOWLES.
had instructed the Governors of Louisiana and of Pensa- cola, either to bribe Bowles into an alliance with Spain, or to seize him and his accomplices or supporters. "Con- sidering," said Carondelet, in a despatch of the 15th of September, "how important it was to the interests of his Majesty, to the security of these provinces, and the prosperity of the kingdom, to stifle, even in the very womb of conception, the dangerous intentions of this adventurer, to keep up the friendship of the Talapouches or Creeks, and to remove from their minds the erroneous impressions which he might have made on them, I took the most efficacious means to have him arrested in com- pliance with the orders of the King, and on the 12th of March, he was brought to me in this city, from which I sent him to Havana, where he embarked, on the 22d, in the frigate the Mississippi; which took to Spain my predecessor, the Brigadier-general, Don Estevan Mirò. I also caused to be transported to Havana Wm. Cun- ningham and Henry Smith, who were his accomplices in robbing the stores of William Panton at the Apalaches. *
"I have pursued my plan with perseverance, and I have succeeded in quieting almost all the Indians. I have, to all appearances, taken the most adequate measures to capture all the companions and accomplices of Bowles, and I will not desist from the prosecution of this object, until it be accomplished, since on its success depends, not only the tranquillity of these provinces, but also the secu- rity of the Mexican empire, for which they are a natural rampart, and barrier of protection." I cannot close this letter, without observing to your excellency that, by all means, the presence of Bowles in this latitude must be guarded against, and that he must be carefully detained
* Sino tambien la seguridad del imperio Mejicano de que son el antemural y natural barrera.
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LIFE OF WM. AUGUSTUS BOWLES.
in Europe." This sufficiently shows, without comments, the fears which the daring and talents of this adven- turer had excited in the Spanish Government, and the importance to which he had risen as a prisoner of state.
Bowles was carried to Madrid, where he was im- prisoned, and treated with alternate kindness and se- verity, but he was neither seduced nor intimidated. The government repeatedly offered him his liberty, with pecuniary and military rewards, if he chose to abandon the English service and enlist in that of Spain, by using his influence with the Creeks, to assist the Spaniards in Louisiana and the Floridas. Bowles was proof against all temptation, and has the merit of having remained true to his plighted faith. Seeing that nothing could be gained from his stubborn resistance, the ministry caused him to be transported to the island of Manilla in the Pa- cific Ocean, where he remained until February, 1797. In this year, for reasons unknown, perhaps with a view that he should be more securely guarded, as war had then broken out between Spain and England, he was ordered back to the Peninsula. "But," says Pickett in his His- tory of Alabama," he contrived on his way to escape, at Ascension Island, and reached Sierra Leone, where the English Governor gave him a passage to London. Mr. Pitt and the Duke of Portland provided for his necessi- ties in a munificent manner." Then, if we follow this personage in his romantic career, we see him leading a corsair's life, and privateering in the Gulf of Mexico, in a light English schooner, against the commerce of Spain, and particularly against the fat boxes of merchandise of Panton, the wealthy Pensacola merchant. Much to the relief of his victims, he was wrecked on the coast of Florida ; but nothing daunted, if he had to discontinue his operations on the blue waves of the sea, it was to renew them in the wilderness of the continent. He soon
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