USA > Louisiana > History of Louisiana, the Spanish domination > Part 33
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"Should this measure be adopted, it would become necessary to establish regulations determining the quan- tity of tobacco to be bought from every new settler, in the way in which it was done by the Spanish govern- ment. Such was the plan which it followed, and which was interrupted by the war.
"The commercial intercourse granted by the King to the inhabitants of Louisiana, although limited to the ports of France and of her colonies in time of peace, and extended to the ports of the United States in time of war, is fully sufficient to provide that province with the
* Probably, the agents employed by Spain made money, but it is to be doubted whether any considerable part of it found its way to the coffers of the govern ment.
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merchandise of which she may stand in need, and to procure an outlet for her commodities, with the excep- tion of her tobacco, which the royal treasury used to purchase, but it is not sufficient to promote a rapid increase of population."
M. de Pontalba then goes on with an enumeration of all the means best calculated to attract, in a short time, a large number of emigrants-among which means is the grant of free trade, if possible, with all the nations of the world-and says, that the duty of six per cent., which is the only one hitherto levied by the government, would, in that case, on account of the development which the resources of Louisiana would require, be soon amply sufficient to cover, and more than cover, the five hundred and thirty-seven thousand dollars which are the expenses of the present colonial administration.
" The means," says he, "which have, so far, been used to people Louisiana, instead of being onerous to the public treasury, have turned to its advantage; but what would be a still more powerful lever, would be the ap- propriation of three millions of francs to be loaned in the Western country in this way : to every emigrant one hundred francs to facilitate his voyage, and to provide for the first expenses of his establishment, on condition that this sum shall be reimbursed in three years, the head of every family and the last surviving member of it being responsible in solido; and should this sum be advanced to unmarried men (provided they be laborers and not vagabonds), four of them would be required to become parties to this obligation under the same condi- tions. This would provoke emigration, and I doubt not that, in less than two years, that sum of three millions of francs would thus have been employed, and would have procured thirty thousand individuals. The govern- ment may rest assured, that there would be no loss, or
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hardly any, in this operation. I do not mention the im- mense profit which would subsequently accrue from the increase of duty on imports and exports.
" The emigrants from Kentucky and the adjacent districts, being active and industrious farmers, would, when leaving their country, where they have no outlet for their produce, sell their lands to come and clear better ones which they would get for nothing, in a pro- vince where the government secures to them a lucrative sale of the fruits of their industry. Not only would they be promptly in a situation to liberate themselves, but they would cause the government, by which they would have been enticed away and protected, to feel the effects of the easy circumstances which it would have secured to them.
"This is not all. After having granted to Louisiana all that might be in her power, France would still have done nothing for her, if she did not give her, as governor, an honest, frank, just and good man, who, by his con- ciliating temper, would gain the affection of the inhabit- ants. They are of a mild, sensitive and remarkably grateful temper. The statement of one fact alone will be sufficient to show how much I ought to insist upon this point.
" After having done, in order to remain French, more than it was then permitted to subjects to do, after having seen the solicitations of their delegates rejected by the court of France, the inhabitants of Louisiana, after having deliberated among themselves, came to the resolution of relying on nothing else than their courage -which was the sole resource remaining to them. The result was the expulsion of the Spanish Governor, Ulloa.
" O'Reilly arrived with an army. He had caused himself to be preceded by words of peace, of indulgence,
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and forgetfulness of the past. The colonists, aban- doned by the mother country, thought that they were no longer bound to nurse and preserve for her the love which she rejected. They gave themselves up to the hope of an endurable condition under a new master, and received him without resistance. O'Reilly's conduct is but too well known. . It exasperated every heart, and caused the new domination to be abhorred.
" The Count of Galvez made his appearance, and inspired the public with confidence; for he was dis- tinguished for the affability of his manners, the sweet- ness of his temper, the frankness of his character, the kindness of his heart and his love of justice. Receiving, in 1779, the news of the declaration of war against the English, he convened the colonists around him. "Let them who love me follow where I lead," said he; and the next day, fifteen hundred creoles, among whom were many heads of families, gathered round him, and were ready to march to the enemy.
" The English were attacked before they knew that an expedition had been formed against them, and all their establishments on the Mississippi were carried sword in ' hand,* before the artillery which was following us was half way on the road to its destination. These are the men of Louisiana, who are, undoubtedly, well worthy of returning to the bosom of France. What is it that can- not be expected from them, when they shall be under the influence of the great man who is going to acquire and govern Louisiana !" &c., &c.
*
After going into the exposition of the defensive measures which are to be adopted for the protection of Louisiana, M. de Pontalba thus resumes his observations :
* This is not correct, the fort at Baton Rouge having been bombarded and carried only by the artillery. See page 129 of this volume.
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" Louisiana in the hands of France, may be called to the most brilliant destinies. What a series of prosperities does not promise to her the preponderance of the re- public ! And what a source of wealth would she not be for the metropolis! To secure this, all that is neces- sary is, to adopt a proper combination of all the means which ought to make her prosperous.
"No situation in the universe offers so many advantages as hers, and what remains to do is to know how to use them. The fertility of her immense territory, the abun- dance of her rich agricultural products which now secure to the planter an interest of 25 per cent. on the capital invested-these are her least advantages.
"New Orleans, the capital of Louisiana, is the only outlet for the most fertile of all countries, the extent of which in length exceeds six thousand miles, and the population of which marches onward with gigantic strides. That town must, of course, serve as a place of dépôt for the products of that immense country.
" France holds in her hands the key of Mexico when she possesses Louisiana, since her frontiers on the west side of the Mississippi extend beyond Natchitoches to the gates of St. Antonio, which is a dependency of Mexico.
" The effeminate people that occupy the more than fifteen hundred miles of territory which lie between that point and Mexico would easily become the prey of the first invader who should present himself even with moderate forces. But Spain, when ceding Louisiana to France, rightly sees in her naught but a protector, who is more capable than she is of guarding Mexico against the invasion with which that country is threatened; and a suitable return and equivalent for this protection must necessarily be, one day, the granting by Spain to Lou- isiana of permission to trade freely with all her ports in the Gulf of Mexico.
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" Spain, by this means, would remove any temptation that France might have of invading Mexico; for it becomes more advantageous for France to trade with that country through Louisiana than to acquire its posses- sion .. Now, should Louisiana enjoy the privilege of free trade both with France and the Mexican provinces, what portion of the earth would be more highly favored ? Where is the province that would offer so many advan- tages ? From every part of the world there would be thereto a rush of men led by ambition and the desire of bettering their condition ; and less than ten years would be sufficient to people that province, so as to make her formidable to her neighbors.
" The western districts of the United States, which are now tenanted by individuals of all nations, would soon be deserted, and would retain only such of their inhabitants as should not be able to find lands in Louisi- ana. It is then that these people will hasten to detach themselves from the United States, from which Nature, has separated them by a chain of mountains, and will solicit, if not their annexation to the Republic, at least their independence under the protection of France. All that is necessary for this is, so to favor the inhabitant of Louisiana as to make him love the government that protects him, and to render precious to him the domina- tion that makes him happy; then, both his interest and inclination will urge him to defend that government and domination.
" Almost all the Louisianians are born French, or are of French origin. It is with rage in their hearts that they lost their nationality. and although the truly pa- ternal domination of the King of Spain has, ever since an honorable catastrophe on the taking possession of the province by O'Reilly, secured their happiness, although
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it has preserved them from similar disasters to those which have devastated St. Domingo, still it is with en- thusiasm that they would again become French, if they had no apprehensions as to the organization to be esta- blished among them in relation to the blacks, whose emancipation would destroy the fortune of all, annihilate all the means of existence, and be the presage of the greatest misfortune.
"Louisiana cannot dispense with the slave trade. The excessive heat prevailing during the five months in which the hardest works are to be executed on the plantations, does not allow the use of free and white labor and renders the blacks indispensable.
"The enterprise of the inhabitants has been checked for several years ; otherwise, the number of the blacks would have considerably increased. On hearing the news of the St. Domingo insurrection, the negroes made an attempt to follow that example. They were repressed, and their ringleaders punished. The authorities then thought prudent to prohibit the introduction of that kind of population into the province, in order not to augment the number of slaves until the restoration of peace. This measure has saved the colony, because the activity of the colonists, the great advantages they have derived from the cultivation of the sugar-cane for the last five years, would have induced them to increase the number of the blacks to such an extent, that they would not have been able to keep them in subjection and would have become their victims.
"Since that time, the number of whites who have been attracted by the prosperity of the province has increased so much, that the government has, for a year past, revoked the preceding measure, but only in rela- tion to the negroes coming directly from Africa.
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"It is apparent that any innovation operating against the slave trade system would undermine the very foun- dations of the prosperity of the colony.
"The inhabitant of Louisiana, if made easy on this point and in relation to the imports and the duties to be paid thereon, would give half of his blood to be re- placed under French domination, and would shed the last drop of the remaining half to defend that domi- nation.
"The facility with which man can supply his wants in that colony is such, that two hours of daily labor are sufficient to procure him all the means of existence. The necessities of life are satisfied with hardly any trouble or expense. Several districts, such as those of Attakapas, Opeloussas and Natchitoches, furnish the colonists with thousands of heads of cattle-so that an ox, weighing from seven hundred to eight hundred pounds, costs no more than four dollars. Flour comes from the western provinces of the United States in such abundance, that bread is not higher than in France.
"The crops of rice and corn are so abundant, that the average price of a barrel of rice of one hundred and eighty pounds is from four to five dollars, and that of corn from forty to fifty cents, and this is what constitutes the main food of the planter and of his negroes. Every sort of game and fish is so plentiful, that they scarcely fetch any price at all. An exception must be made as to wages, which are very high. It is the case with every newly settled country in which population has not yet become dense.
"The products of this province consist of sugar, indigo, tobacco, cotton, rice, corn, millet, essences, common furs, timber, boards, planks, shingles, and boxes for the Ha- vana sugar.
"The want of success in the cultivation of indigo,
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which, for the last few years, has been almost every- where the prey of insects, the small results obtained from any other agricultural labor, have determined the planters to try again the experiment which had previ- ously failed-that of establishing sugar cane plantations. Formerly, there was considerable difficulty to be sur- mounted. It had always been thought that winter was a great obstacle to that culture. Experience has proved the contrary.
"The sugar cane, which requires in the West India islands eighteen months to reach its perfect maturity, is fit for use in Louisiana in seven months. It begins to spring up in March, towards the end of the winter, and is cut at the end of October.
"The impression was, that the planters would have, for the manufacture of sugar, no more time than the month of November and part of December, when the winter should happen to be mild, because the canes would be spoiled, if frosted when standing in the field. To obviate this danger, it would have been necessary for the inhabitant who occupies fifty negroes in plough ing his land, in planting and weeding his canes, to have four mills and more than two hundred negroes, to cut and grind them before the setting in of winter.
"Notwithstanding this, the planters did not give way to discouragement, and experience has demonstrated that the sugar cane which, at St. Domingo, becomes sour two days after its being cut, continues sound in Louisiana, when cut down and covered with its stubble on the ground, until it be manufactured into sugar. It is an invaluable advantage, which secures the success of sugar estates in Louisiana, and is the cause that its culti- vation in this province has become as rich a branch of industry and gives as much hope as in any of the most important colonies.
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"It is in 1795, that, with a small gang of thirty ne- groes, the first sugar plantation was established, and with such success, that the individual* who had made the undertaking, sold his crop of brown sugar to the Ameri- cans, in 1796, for twelve thousand dollars. The quality of that sugar was found at least equal to that of Marti- nique. This was enough to excite the emulation of all the planters who had some means, so much so, that, notwithstanding the difficulty of procuring, in time of war, sets of kettles-notwithstanding the prohibition of the introduction of negroes, which checked the increase of cultivation, there are, to-day, more than sixty sugar estates in Louisiana, which produce, annually, four mil- lions of pounds of sugar, which yield from twenty to twenty-five per cent. on the capital invested.
" This sketch is sufficient to give an idea of the pro- gress which this branch of industry is destined to make, as soon as the colony shall enjoy the blessings of peace. " The districts of Attakapas and Opeloussas, situated at one hundred and seventy-four miles from New Or- leans, on the banks of the Teche and Vermillion, which lie on the right side of the Mississippi, are of an immense extent, and the sugar cane succeeds there as well as on the river, and also in the Lafourche district and others.
" The indigo would be one of the most advantageous products of Louisiana, if it could be cultivated success- fully ; but it is exposed to so many casualties, that it has been abandoned by most of the inhabitants. Thus, this crop which rose, some years ago, to three hundred thousand pounds, has been reduced to one-third, and the cultivation of that plant diminishes every day, since the establishment of sugar plantations. But the impression is, that the sugar cane destroys the insects which are noxious to the indigo, and a piece of land, which has for
* Jean Etienne Boré.
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a long time been used for the cultivation of the sugar cane, may with success, it is thought, be turned over to the cultivation of the indigo. This article goes directly, in times of peace, to the ports of France, and can go no- where else. It is there that it is always sold to the best advantage. It is worth from seven to nine francs the pound.
" The district of Natchitoches is the only one which Is addicted to the cultivation of tobacco ever since the dis- trict of Natchez belongs to the Americans, when the new demarcation of limits took place in 1797. The quantity of tobacco thus produced rises to two hundred thousand pounds. In time of peace, the greater portion of it is exported to France, and the rest to Vera Cruz and Campeachy.
"The exportation of cotton from Louisiana does not exceed two hundred thousand pounds. This branch of agricultural industry is profitable enough (since the in- vention of certain mills to separate the seed from the silk) to justify small planters in consoling themselves for not having sufficient forces to go into the planting of the sugar cane.
" That cotton is very fine, but the silk is short. In time of peace, the whole of it is sent to France, where it is no doubt used to better advantage than anywhere else, since it sells there better than in any other country.
" There goes out of Louisiana, annually, more than one hundred thousand dollars' worth of furs, consisting prin- cipally of deerskin. Bear and beaver skins, together with the hides of wild beeves, and particularly furs of a fine quality are comparatively scarce. They meet with a ready sale in the ports of France.
" Louisiana supplies St. Domingo with a great deal of timber, planks, shingles, boards, essences, &c. She can- not sell them at so low a price as the Americans, because
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wages are twice as high there as in the United States, because also the quality of the wood being harder re- quires more labor, and because the voyages from Louis- iana are longer.
" Nevertheless, it is evident that it is more advanta- geous for St. Domingo to be supplied with timber from Louisiana than from the United States. In the first place, the quality is infinitely better ; in the next, the Americans, when introducing cargoes of timber into the French colonies, carry also thither a great quantity of dry goods, manufactured either by themselves, or by the English, and take molasses in return to the amount of only one-half of their exports, as the other half of the return cargo is always in specie, whilst the vessels com- ing from Louisiana, far from draining St. Domingo of specie, bring a good deal of it, in order to purchase their return cargoes, which consist of goods of French manu- facture, and also of wines and eatables. The shipowners are satisfied with a slight profit on the timber, which covers the expenses of freight. The cargoes of timber are a mere pretext, because every vessel sailing with a cargo of this nature, valued for instance at fifteen thou- sand livres, comes back from St. Domingo with a cargo of merchandise worth three or four times as much, and everybody knows that, with every cargo of timber, there goes in* contraband a sufficient quantity of dollars to pay for a return cargo, and, if those ships had not this object in view, their timber cargo would be an insuffi- cient consideration to induce them to undertake such voyages. This trade, which has been interrupted since the war, will take more extension under the domination of France, when the exportation of specie shall no longer be prohibited.
* The exportation of specie from Louisiana was prohibited.
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" The trade which occupies most ships in Louisiana is that of boxes, with which this province supplies the island of Cuba. Havana alone consumes two hundred thousand sugar boxes, which constitute about fifty cargoes. Those boxes, at fifty cents a-piece, give to the planters a revenue of one hundred thousand dollars ; to the carriers, as much for the freight; and to the merchants engaged in that trade, a profit of twenty-five thousand dollars. This is not all. It must also be taken into consideration, that there is not one of the vessels employed in carrying those boxes which does not smuggle into Havana a certain quantity of articles of French manufacture, and which does not return to New Orleans with twice the value of its cargo in specie, doubled as it is by the pro- fits of the sale and freight.
" These sugar boxes were formerly made at Havana with the cedar-wood, which is very common there. But Spain, since she possesses Louisiana, has, in order to favor her, permitted her to supply the island of Cuba and the other harbors in the Gulf of Mexico with the boxes required for the sugar crops; and since that per- mission, such boxes are no longer made in the Spanish establishments, where the quality of the wood being much harder, they cannot be furnished so cheap as by Louisiana.
"If the moment has not yet come to insist upon obtaining for Louisiana from Spain the grant of a free trade with the harbors in the Gulf of Mexico, France ought not at least to give up the sugar box trade with Havana, which Louisiana now enjoys. Since her cession to Spain, more than thirty saw mills have been con- structed near. New Orleans, on the banks of the Missis- sippi, to supply that trade, and these saw mills, should they be deprived of that outlet, would become valueless. Besides, these boxes, as I have said, constitute the freight
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of all the vessels which trade with Havana, and it would therefore deprive this colony of a precious commercial resource.
"It was to reward the inhabitants of Louisiana for the zeal they displayed in 1779 and 1780, when they conquered under General Galvez the English settle- ments on the Mississippi, and the towns of Mobile and Pensacola, that his Catholic Majesty granted them the privilege of free trade with France. His Majesty, should he be reminded of this fact, would not come to the harsh conclusion of depriving them of so interesting a branch of commerce as the supply of those sugar boxes, of which they have been in possession for the last thirty- four years-that is-ever since they have been under Spanish domination. The benefit which accrues from it to the island of Cuba deserves also some consideration.
" About ten thousand barrels of rice are annually exported from Louisiana to St. Domingo and Havana.
" The chief resource of the province of Louisiana is the money which is spent there by the government for the pay of its agents and officers. Five hundred and thirty-seven thousand dollars are annually sent to New Orleans from Mexico in three ships, which arrive at a regular interval of four months. This sum is divided among so many persons employed by the government, that each one consumes what he receives, so that it soon goes into the pockets of the farmer who feeds him, and of the merchant who supplies his other wants. The whole ends in finding its way into the coffers of the merchant, who supplies the farmer, whose crop, besides, is generally insufficient to pay his debts to said mer- chant.
" This sketch demonstrates pretty clearly that Louisi- ana still remains a burden to the metropolis, since the annual disbursements of Spain to keep up that colony
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amount to four hundred and thirty-seven thousand dol- lars, over and above the revenue derived through its custom-house. From that sum there may be deducted one hundred thousand dollars, which are uselessly spent at Pensacola. There remains a deficit of three hundred and thirty-seven thousand dollars, which the success alone of sugar-making in the colony justifies the govern- ment in the hope of being able to cover in a few years, as soon as a general peace shall permit the slave trade to be resumed, and as soon as the government shall take it in hand to people Louisiana.
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