USA > Louisiana > History of Louisiana, the Spanish domination > Part 34
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" These are about all the articles of exportation which are supplied by Louisiana, in return for the objects of importation which she receives from France in time of peace. There may be added to the above statement about one hundred thousand dollars, in return for the commodities which are smuggled from Louisiana into the harbors of the Gulf of Mexico; and, in time of peace, it is the commerce of France and St. Domingo which gets hold of all this specie, in exchange for wines, oils, soaps, eatables and other articles of French manufacture.
" The planter does not hoard up, however considerable may be the result of his agricultural labors. After hav- ing consumed so much of it as is necessary to supply his wants, he employs the rest in improving his estate. Ambition and activity are his characteristics; all that he requires is encouragement.
" The only taxes known in Louisiana are a duty of six per cent. on the exports, valued according to a very moderate estimation. The same duty is paid on all foreign imports.
" Spain has, so far, retained possession of this colony for political reasons. It is onerous to her, as it was onerous to France during all the time that the latter power possessed it, since the custom-house duty, which
442
PONTALBA'S MEMOIR.
is here the only source of revenue, does not produce annually one hundred thousand dollars, and since the ordinary expenditure required by the colony rises up every year to five hundred and thirty-seven thousand dollars, without including the extraordinary expenses.
" The inhabitants of Louisiana, as subjects of the King of Spain, have the right to carry to all the ports of the Gulf of Mexico the products of their soil, and when they resort to Havana, Cuba, Vera Cruz and Campeachy, only for the apparent purpose of selling their boxes, timber and tobacco, they smuggle in a considerable quantity of merchandise of French manufacture, such as silk stuffs, ribbons, muslins, lawns, lace and jewels, and the vessels engaged in that trade always bring back to Louisiana four times more dollars than the apparent value of their outward cargoes. Those harbors in the Gulf of Mexico furnish nothing for return cargoes be- yond dollars and Campeachy wood. This last article will only serve as ballast for the ships returning to France.
"If, in consequence of the cession of Louisiana to France, Spain closed to that province all her harbors in the Gulf of Mexico, this measure would deprive the colony of the principal resources which constitute its present prosperity, and the exports not being commen- surate with the imports which it requires, its commerce would decay, and the colony itself would receive a blow which would keep it palsied, until it should become sufficiently peopled to enable it to produce more than she imports.
" Louisiana wants working hands. Give her popula- tion, and she will become an inexhaustible source of wealth for France. Give her population, whatever be the means employed, but give her population.
"Here is an estimate of what that province gives
443
PONTALBA'S MEM( IR.
annually in return for the commodities she receives from France and St. Domingo in time of peace, but which, in time of war, she has permission to procure, wherever she can, in the ports of neutral or allied powers.
4,000,000 lbs. sugar at $8 per 100 1b. $320,000
4,000 barrels of molasses, at $15 each
- 60,000
100,000 lbs. indigo -
- . .
- 100,000
200.000 lbs. tobacco -
.
-
16,000
Furs of divers kinds - - 100,000
Timber, &c., furnished to St. Domingo in time of peace - 50,000
200,000 boxes, annually sent to Havana, and sold for
225,000
2,000 barrels of rice, annually exported to St. Domingo, Cuba, and Campeachy, at the average price of 50,000
Dollars, imported by the Government to meet the annual ex- penses of the colony
537,000
(The extraordinary expenses of the Government absorb the amount of the Custom-house duties, amounting to one hundred thousand dollars.)
The returns for the contraband commodities introduced by the vessels of Louisiana into the Spanish ports of Cuba and of the Gulf amount to
500,000
Total in dollars - $1,958,000
"In time of peace, it is the commerce of Bordeaux, Marseilles and Nantes which absorbs all this capital, and the whole trade is even engrossed by vessels from these ports. As soon as they have deposited their cargoes at New Orleans, they avail themselves of the time required for the sale of those cargoes and the collecting of the debts due to them, to make a voyage to Havana, or Vera Cruz. They carry thither a cargo of sugar-boxes, and never fail to dispose at the same time of the objects of luxury which they bring from France for that purpose, and, on their return to New Orleans, they find their cargoes for Europe ready prepared.
" It is only since the war with Great Britain does not prevent any intercourse with France, that the King of Spain has allowed the province of Louisiana to trade with neutral nations, because the Court of Madrid could
1
444
PONTALBA'S MEMOIR.
not but be aware that the colony could not do without that foreign trade. Whereupon, it has so turned out that the United States now monopolize the commerce of Louisiana, which, by this means, has hardly suffered at all during the long period of the European wars.
"It would be much to the interest of France and Lou- isiana to prohibit the introduction of timber from the United States into the French colonies. Then the price of the Louisiana timber, which is better, would be kept up, and the merchants of the province, instead of export- ing thither twenty cargoes of timber annually, would send two hundred, and, instead of taking for their return cargoes melons and dollars, as do the Americans, would bring back French dry goods and French liquids, which they would pay for in specie, because the sale of their timber cargoes would not be of sufficient amount to sup- ply them with return cargoes. Besides, wages will diminish in Louisiana in proportion to the increase of population, and consequently its timber will become cheaper.
" By this sketch it appears, that the objects of expor- tation from Louisiana amount at present to $1,958,000 ; but, from the moment that France shall be in possession of it, if that province is not permitted to continue its commerce of sugar-boxes in the Gulf of Mexico, the importation will be limited to the agricultural products of its soil, the value of which amounts now to about $696,000 ; but then the deficit will be $1,260,000, which it now receives from its trade in boxes and its appendages, and also from the disbursements of Spain to meet the necessary expenses of the colonial adminis- tration.
"I must not omit to say, that every sort of paper money, by causing the ruin of this province, would in the end become onerous to the government, and profit-
445
TREATY OF ST. ILDEPHONSO.
able only to some stockholders, who are always interested in proposing its issue. The government will easily pro- cure funds in Louisiana, by resorting to bills of exchange on the national treasury at home. It is useless to say, that this resource would fail from the very moment they should not meet with ready payment on their becoming due.
"The good intelligence which exists between France and Spain would also afford to the former the resource of drawing to advantage, for the expenses of the colony, dollars from Vera Cruz, on making reimbursements for them in Europe. Spain would find it to her interest to receive her capital without other costs and risks than those of transportation from Vera Cruz to New Orleans.
" This is all the information which I have been able to gather during a residence of eighteen years in Louisiana, where I was employed by the government in a superior office," &c., &c.
This able document gives so very faithful a delineation of Louisiana, at the time, by one whose authority is in- ferior to none, that I felt justified in transcribing it at length. It holds up also to France golden visions of maritime power which would have given her a wonder- ful preponderance in America, but which she was not destined to realize.
Pontalba's memoir was presented on the 15th of Sep- tember, 1800, and, on the 1st of October, a treaty was concluded at St. Ildephonso, the third article of which is in these terms : "His Catholic Majesty promises and engages to retrocede to the French Republic, six months after the full and entire execution of the above condi- tions and stipulations relative to his Royal Highness, the Duke of Parma, the colony or province of Louisiana, with the same extent that it now has in the hands of Spain, and that it had when France possessed it, and such as it
446
TREATY OF ST ILDEPHONSO.
ought to be after the treaties subsequently entered into between Spain and other states." The stipulation rela- tive to the Duke of Parma was, that as a compensation for that Duchy and its dependencies, which were ceded to France by that prince, who belonged to the Spanish branch of the house of Bourbon, and as a compensation also for the cession which the King of Spain made of Louisiana to the same power, the Duke of Parma should be put in possession of Tuscany, which was to be erected into a kingdom, under the name of Etruria, by the great king maker and king destroyer, Napoleon Bonaparte. As France was then at war with England, the treaty was carefully concealed from the knowledge of the public, because Louisiana might have been easily attacked and conquered by the English, who were masters of the sea.
CHAPTER VIII.
SALCEDO'S ADMINISTRATION.
1801 to 1803.
DON JUAN MANUEL DE SALCEDO, a Brigadier-General in the armies of Spain, arrived in Louisiana about the 15th of June, 1801, to act as governor of the provinces of Louisiana and West Florida; and his predecessor, the Marquis de Casa Calvo, who, it will be remembered, had entered on the duties of his office in the fall of 1799, sailed immediately for Havana.
The Americans, as neighbors, had always been con- sidered as very unsafe for Louisiana, and one of Salcedo's first measures was directed to check what he thought to be the dangerous designs of some men belonging to that nation. Thus, in a despatch of the 13th of July, he informed his government that he had sent up to Natchi- toches all that was necessary to arm and equip the militia of that district," " with the view of counteract- ing the projects of the American bandit, Philip Nolan, who had introduced himself into the interior of the provinces of New Spain, with thirty-six armed men."
Although it had been the policy of the head of the French government to conceal from the public his trans- actions with the court of Madrid in relation to Louisiana,
* Con el fin de contrarestar los designios del bandido Americano, Felipe Nolan, el cual se habia introducido en las provincias internas de Nueva España con treinte y seis hombres armados.
448
RUFUS KING'S DESPATCH.
still some knowledge of it had at last transpired, and Mr. Rufus King, the United States Minister at London (for they had none at the time at Paris), wrote the fol- lowing despatch to the Secretary of State at Washing- ton, on the 29th of March, 1801: "In confirmation of the rumors of the day, Carnot's answer to Bailleul, published during the exile of the former, states the pro- ject which had been discussed in the Directory, to obtain from Spain a cession of Louisiana and the Flori- das. A reference to that performance, copies of which I, at the time, sent to the department of State, will show the manner in which it was expected to obtain the con- sent of Spain, as well as afford a clue to the views of France in seeking this establishment. What was then meditated has, in all probability, since been executed.
The cession of Tuscany to the Infant, Duke of Parma, by the treaty between France and Austria, forms a more compact and valuable compensation to this branch of the house of Spain than was formerly thought of; and adds very great credit to the opinion which, at this time, prevails both at Paris and London, that Spain has, in return, actually ceded Louisiana and the Floridas to France. There is reason to know that it is the opinion of certain influential persons in France, that nature has marked a line of separation between the people of the United States living upon the two sides of the range of mountains which divides their territory. Without discussing the considerations which are sug- gested in support of this opinion, or the false con- sequences, as I wish to believe them, deduced from it, I am apprehensive that this cession is intended to have, and may actually produce, effects injurious to the Union and consequent happiness of the people of the United States. Louisiana and the Floridas may be given to the French emigrants, as England once thought of
449
RUFUS KING'S DESPATCH.
giving them to the American Tories . or they may con- stitute the reward of some of the armies which can be spared at the end of the war.
"I learn that General Collot, who was a few years ago in America, and a traveller in the Western country, and who, for some time, has been in disgrace and con- finement in France, has been lately set at liberty ; and that he, with a considerable number of disaffected and exiled Englishmen, Scotchmen, and Irishmen, is soon to proceed from France to the United States. Whether their voyage has any relation to the cession of Louisiana is a matter of mere conjecture; but, having heard of it in connexion with that project, I think proper to men- tion it to you.
" What effect a plain and judicious representation upon this subject, made to the French government by a minister of talents and entitled to confidence, would be likely to have, is quite beyond any means of judging which I possess; but on this account, as well as on others of importance, it is a subject of regret that we have not such a character at this time at Paris."
On the 1st of June, Mr. King, resuming the same sub- ject, said : "On this occasion, among other topics of conversation, his Lordship (Hawkesbury) introduced the subject of Louisiana. He had, from different quarters, received information of its cession to France, and very unreservedly expressed the reluctance with which they should be led to acquiesce in a measure that might be followed by the most important consequences. The ac- quisition might enable France to extend her influence and perhaps her dominion up the Mississippi, and through the lakes, even to Canada. This would be realizing the plan, to prevent the accomplishment of which, the Seven Years' War took place ; besides, the vicinity of the Flori- das to the West Indies, and the facility with which the
29
450
RUFUS KING'S DESPATCH.
trade of the latter might be interrupted, and the islands even invaded, should the transfer be made, were strong reasons why England must be unwilling that the terri- tory should pass under the dominion of France. As I could not mistake his Lordship's object in speaking to me on this subject, I had no difficulty or reserve in ex- pressing my private sentiments respecting it ; taking for my text the observation of Montesquieu, 'that it is happy for trading powers, that God has permitted Turks and Spaniards to be in the world, since of all nations they are the most proper to possess a great empire with insignificance.' The purport of what I said was, that we are contented that the Floridas remain in the hands of Spain, but should not be willing to see them trans- ferred, except to ourselves."
On the 9th of June, Mr. Madison, the Secretary of State, addressed Mr. Pinckney, the American Minister at Madrid, in these terms : "On different occasions since the commencement of the French revolution, opinions and reports have prevailed, that some part of the Spanish possessions, including New Orleans and the mouth of the Mississippi, had been or was to be transferred to France. Of late, information has been received through several channels, making it probable that some arrangement for that purpose has been concerted. Neither the extent of the cession, however, nor the consideration on which it is made, is yet reduced to certainty and precision. The whole subject will deserve and engage your early and vigilant inquiries, and may require a very delicate and circumspect management."
Alarmed at the consequences of a cession of Louisiana by Spain to France, the government of the United States lost no time in sending a minister to France, and gave that important mission to Robert R. Livingston. On the 28th of September, 1801, the Secretary of State wrote
451
MR. MADISON TO MR. PINKNEY.
to him : "From different sources information has been received that, by some transaction concluded, or contem- plated, between France and Spain, the mouth of the Mississippi, with certain portions of adjacent territory, is to pass from the hands of the latter to the former nation. Such a change of our neighbors in that quarter is of too momentous concern not to have engaged the most serious attention of the Executive. It was accordingly made one of the subjects of instruction to Mr. Pinckney, our minis- ter plenipotentiary at the Court of Madrid. You will find an extract of the passage hereto annexed, No. 1. A paragraph connected with the same subject, in a letter to Mr. King, is also extracted and annexed, No. 2. In these extracts you will see the ideas entertained by the Executive, and the general considerations which it is pre- sumed will have most tendency to dissuade the parties from adhering to their object. As soon as you shall have prepared the way by the necessary inquiries at Paris, it will be proper for you to break the subject to the French Government, and to make the use of those considerations most likely to give them full weight."
When the anxieties of the United States Government were thus excited, preliminaries of peace were signed between France and England, on the 1st of October, 1801; and the former power was secretly preparing to avail itself of its treaty with Spain in relation to Loui- siana, of the 1st of October, 1800, which had been re- newed in all its dispositions on the 21st of March, 1801. Mr. King, the American Minister at London, succeeded in procuring a copy of that secret treaty, and forwarded it to Washington city, with the following note to the Secretary of State, dated on the 20th of November : " If the annexed copy of the treaty* between France and
* Annals of Congress, Session of 1803, p. 1017. Appendix.
452
TREATY BETWEEN SPAIN AND FRANCE.
Spain, respecting the establishment of the Prince of Parma in Tuscany, be genuine, of which I have no reason to doubt, you will perceive the value which these powers seem to have placed upon Louisiana, the cession whereof to France is confirmed by the 7th article of this treaty.
"I am in hopes that I shall be able to obtain and send you a copy of the treaty ceding Louisiana to France. This would enable us to determine whether it includes New Orleans and the Floridas. * *
"It is not a little extraordinary that, during the whole negotiation between France and England, not a word was mentioned on either side respecting Louisiana, though this government was not ignorant of the views of France in this quarter."
In the meantime, Mr. Livingston had arrived in Paris, where his presence was so much wanted, and on the 12th of December, said in a despatch to Mr. Madison : "In addition to what I wrote yesterday, I have only to mention, that I am more and more confirmed, notwith- standing what I there say of the minister's assurance, that Louisiana is a favorite object, and that they will be unwilling to part with it on the condition I mentioned. Speaking of the means of paying their debts to one of their ministers, yesterday, I hinted at this. His answer was: 'None but spendthrifts satisfy their debts by sell- ing their lands ;' adding, however, after a short pause, ' but it is not ours to give.'"
On the 30th of the same month, Mr. Livingston com- municated his views to Mr. Rufus King at London, on the important subject which so keenly excited the atten- tion of the government of the United States: "I took occasion," said he, "on my first private audience of the Minister of Exterior Relations, to press him directly upon the subject, taking the common reports as a foundation
453
LIVINGSTON'S DESPATCH TO RUFUS KING.
to my inquiry. He explicitly denied that anything had been concluded, but admitted that it had been a subject of conversation. I know, however, from a variety of channels, that it is not a mere matter of conversation, but that the exchange has actually been agreed upon ; that the armament destined, in the first instance, for Hispaniola, is to proceed to Louisiana, provided Tous- saint makes no opposition. General Collot, whom you may have seen in America, was originally intended for governor of the province, but he is, at present, out of favor. I think it probable the minister will justify his concealment to me, by its not having been definitively closed with Spain, as this, though determined between the two governments, may form an article in the general treaty. His absence (being at Lyons) prevents my coming to something more explicit with him. That Spain had made this cession (which contravenes all her former maxims of policy), cannot be doubted . but she is no longer a free agent.
" I wish to know from you in what light this is seen by England. It will certainly, in its consequences, be extremely dangerous to her, as it will give an almost unbounded power to her rival.
" It puts Spain in a perpetual state of pupilage, since she must always tremble for the safety of her colonies, in case of rupture. To avoid this evil, she must grant every commercial and political advantage to France. Her manufactures will find their way, through this chan- nel, into every part of the Spanish territory, to the ex- clusion of those of Britain. Our Western territory may be rendered so dependent upon them as to promote their political views, while the interest they have always nur- tured with the Indians, and the natural character of the peasantry of Canada, may render the possessions of Britain very precarious, to say nothing of the danger
454
LIVINGSTON'S DESPATCH TO RUFUS KING.
which must threaten her islands, in case a respectable establishment should be made by France in Louisiana, which will not fail to be the case, as the territory is un- commonly fine, and produces sugar, and every article now cultivated in the islands.
" I suggest these, hints, that they, with many others which may occur to you, may be made use of with the British ministry, to induce them to throw all the ob- stacles in their power in the way of a final settlement of this business, if it is not already too late. You know, however, the importance of not appearing yourself, or permitting me to appear much opposed to it, if you find the thing concluded, since it might be made use of to embroil us with France, and Britain will have sufficient address to endeavor to keep up a mutual jealousy, if possible, between us."
" On the following day (31st of December), he wrote to Mr. Madison : " The business of Louisiana is very dis- agreeable to Spain, as far as I can learn. If it should be equally so to Britain, perhaps it may meet with some obstacles. It is a favorite measure here. Marbois told me yesterday it was considered important to have an outlet for their turbulent spirits ; yet would not expli- citly acknowledge that the business had been concluded."
" In the fall of this year, the Intendant of Louisiana, Don Ramon de Lopez y Angullo, surrendered his office into the hands of Don Juan Ventura Morales, the comp- troller, who was to fulfil his functions ad interim, and prepared to depart for Spain. But, in settling his ac- counts, it seems that he got into serious difficulties with his successor, who brought some accusation against him before the Spanish ministry. In answer to it, Lopez complained bitterly of Morales, who, he said, threw* in
* Formando un dilatado proceso por la cosa mas clara, insignificante, infundada é injusta, y como la astucia y perversa malignidad de su corazon, y del asesor
455
REVOLUTIONARY SPIRIT IN THE COLONY.
his way interminable delays and litigation on the clearest and most insignificant points, and on grounds which were unfounded and unjust. " Wherefore," continued he, " considering that the crafty and intense maligni- ty of Morales and of his satellite, the assessor (Serano) who is also my mortal enemy, know no bounds, I again beg your excellency (the minister in Spain) to suspend your decision until," &c., &c.
Governor Salcedo seems not to have been very well pleased with the spirit which prevailed in the colony ; for, in a despatch of the 2d of March, 1802, he violently complained of the choice made by the Cabildo, or city council of New Orleans, of one Jose Martinez de la Pedrera, as their assessor, and he even begged leave to drive him out of the colony. He represented that this individual, ever since his arrival from' Bayamo, had busied himself in raising up parties, in fomenting dissen- sions and in breathing the fire of discord into the breasts of the principal members of the community, and had treated with proud contempt the only two men learned in the law who were to be found in the province. He added : "It is important to repress* the pen and tongue of the said Pedrera, who is a bold man, and a dangerous character among a population, the larger portion of which is composed of foreigners, disagreeing in their religious opinions and customs, whose natural dispositions are op- posed to a prudent and gentle submission to the laws, and who are anxious to introduce innovations harmoniz- ing with the maxims of liberty which favor, as they
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