USA > Louisiana > Louisiana : its history as a French colony. Third series of lectures > Part 16
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On the 22d of November, the Superior Council ad- dressed to the Duke of Praslin a letter, in which they begged him to support the representations they sent to be laid at the foot of the throne. In this letter, they recapitulated all the grievances of the colonists against Ulloa, dwelling on the tyranny, eccentricity, and inflexi- bility of character of that officer, and the excessive in- decency of his deportment. They said: "The court could not without a violation of its oath, to support the laws, and without being recreant to the most essential obligations imposed by religion and humanity, refuse to a whole colony, groaning under its miseries, the justice which it claimed, with so much earnestness, against the oppression of that officer. In fulfilling its duty in that respect, the Council certainly prevented the commission of a striking act of despair, which would have tarnished the lustre of the French name. Under the influence of these motives, the Court rendered against that officer a decree, of which a copy is forwarded to your Excel- lency." To this letter was annexed the document, con- taining the representations, which were to be laid before the King, in the name of the Council.
In those representations, the Council made the most seductive description of the prosperity of the colony at the time of the cession, a description which it is impos-
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sible to look upon as corresponding with facts. But with Ulloa, as they affirmed, came the most disastrous change in the situation of the province. " He arrived at the Balize," they said, "on the 22d of February, 1766 ; a tragical event deprived him of eleven of his sailors. Rain, thunder, and a storm introduced him to the inha- bitants of New Orleans, on the 5th of March, at noon." After mentioning these bad omens, they then recapitu- lated the grievances which have already been stated, and made to them some additions, for instance : That Ulloa maintained that he was the king of the colony ; that he treated with the utmost contempt the Superior Council, whose powers he wished to destroy, and vio- lated all those rights which had been secured by the treaty of cession and the King's letter to D'Abbadie ; and that he carried the infraction of the most sacred privileges so far as to create a new council, which had, among other powers, exclusive jurisdiction over all questions connected with the regulations or decrees on exportation, importation, and other commercial matters. The sentences rendered by that tribunal were annexed to the petition, in order that the King might judge of their illegality. The Superior Council further alleged that three Acadian families, having arrived in the colony · at their own expense, asked Ulloa for leave to buy land in the vicinity of their relations and friends, in the up- per part of the Mississippi river ; but that Ulloa, irritat- ed by th cries of their children, by the critical state of a woman which was on the eve of becoming a mother, and by the representations of the men, forbade their re- maining in the colony, and had them put on board of an English ship sailing for New England ; and that he de- clared his intention to sell as slaves other Acadians, who had darcd to make some humble representations to him; that the subjects of France were threatened with
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slavery, whilst Negroes were raised by degrees to the dignity of freemen; that he hastened to show his antipathy to the population of the colony, by sending to Havana for a nurse for his child, in order that it might not suck one drop of French blood. "What pernicious principles are these !" they exclaimed. " What barbarous dispositions !"
They further represented that, through the mis- deeds of Ulloa, the colony had been thrown into such a state of misery, that half of it was reduced to live on rice and corn ; and that, without the wise precautions of Foucault, who had a certain quantity of these articles of food brought down to New Orleans, fathers and mothers would have had, even in the capital, nothing to offer but tears to the plaintive cries of their famished children ; that the people became persuaded that Ulloa rejoiced at the success of his attempts to starve them, and that he was determined to reduce the subjects of France to have no other food than the tortilla * ; that a general feeling of despair pervaded the colony ; that all the colonists, deprived of their ordinary aliments, were condemned to fatten vampires with their life blood, and that, by a malicious and restrictive legislation, they were prevented from acquiring the means of paying their old debts. . The Superior Council then proceeded to relate the events which preceded the revolution, those of the revolution itself, and what had followed. They con- cluded with supplicating the King to retake possession of the colony, and annul the treaty of cession.
" Your Majesty," they said, " will find in all the citi- zens brave soldiers, who offer to shed their blood and sacrifice their fortunes, to protect the Mexican provinces of Spain and to support your allies, provided they belong
· In Spain, a dish of eggs, and in Mexico, of corn flour, fried in oil or lard, in the round shape of a pie.
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only to you, Sire, their most honored Lord and King, Louis the well beloved. O great King, the best of kings, father and protector of your subjects, deign, Sire, to receive into your royal and paternal bosom your devoted children, who have no other desire than that of dying your subjects. It is the wish of this co- lony. Your Superior Council has thought it their duty to convey the expression of it to Your Majesty. Deign, Sire, to ward off from your subjects new misfortunes. Their hearts are ulcerated, and bleeding from the wounds inflicted by tyranny and despotism. The bene- fits conferred by the best of kings can alone, Sire, make
your people happy. Those who are accustomed to the blessings of a government which is envied by all the other nations, will never be able to subject themselves to the system of exclusiveness and to the despotism which prevail in all the Spanish possessions. Men are born under laws, which become gradually familiar and dear to them, in proportion as from childhood they grow into manhood, when their attachment to them can no longer be destroyed. Men who have reached the meri- dian of life cannot, of their own free will, remould their character, their heart, their honest and time-honored habits. It can only be accomplished by force. What a modification of their existence does it require! What a struggle, Sire, for citizens who are born the subjects of such a King as Louis the well beloved ! Deign again, Sire, listen with favor to the general wish of the colony, and to the most humble representations of your Superior Council."
This address to the King is in a tone of exaggeration which must have weakened the effect it was intended to have. It was not in the temperate language which cha- racterizes truth ; but it seemed rather to have been written under the influence of the deepest feelings of
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FOUCAULT'S LETTER TO THE DUKE OF PRASLIN. 223
anger and hatred. None could believe that it was the intention of Ulloa to deprive the new subjects of his Catholic Majesty of their ordinary articles of food, and to reduce them to live on nothing but the tortilla. It was natural to infer that those who could hold it as a heinous crime in Ulloa, to have given a Spanish nurse to his child, were too prejudiced or too irritated to see things in their true light, and to make a fair report on what had oc- curred. There were good grounds for suspecting them of swerving from truth, perhaps involuntarily and uncon- sciously, in their allegations. The fact is, that there might have been some just reproaches to be addressed to Ulloa, but that his faults were far from being as se- rious as they were represented to be.
With regard to the new tribunal established by Ulloa, and which was the cause of so many bitter complaints, as usurping the powers of the Superior Council, it was composed of three Spaniards : Loyola, the commissary of war ; Don Estevan Antonio Gayarre, the contador or royal comptroller ; Don Jose Melchior d'Acosta, the commander of his Catholic Majesty's frigate, and four Frenchmen : Reggio, a retired captain of infantry ; Olivier de Vezin, chief surveyor of the colony; De La Chaise, an honorary member of the Superior Council, and Dreux, a captain of militia. It held its sittings in the house of Destrehan, the ex-French treasurer of the colony.
With the Superior Council's address to the King, there went at the same time a letter from Foucault to the Duke of Praslin, in which he justified as well as he could, but in very guarded language, the revolution that had taken place, and in which he said of Ulloa : " With- out taking possession of the colony, and even without exhibiting his credentials, he arrogated all powers to himself. He was very harsh and absolute, of extremely
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difficult access, and refusing to listen to every represen- tation. He showed without the least hesitation or equi- vocation an implacable hatred for the French nation, and marked every day that he passed here with acts of in- humanity and despotism." He then goes into the details of all his exertions to prevent the expulsion of Ulloa, and declares that it originated in the many causes of irritation and provocation which the people had; he says that he harangued them several times to induce them to remain quiet, and affirms, in direct contradic- tion of Aubry's declarations in one of his despatches, that, on the breaking out of the insurrection, he joined his efforts to Aubry's, in order to tranquillize the public mind. He concludes with saying that all the colonists hope to resume the privileges and name of Frenchmen, and that, rather than lose these precious advantages, they would quit the colony with their negroes, chattels, goods and all the other property susceptible of being carried away, leaving nothing but a desert to the Spa- niards.
Three days later, on the 25th of November, Aubry wrote to the same minister : " I beg you, my Lord, to deign to cast your eye on a letter, which I had the honor to write to you, on the 30th of March, 1767. You will . see, in three different passages, that I foresaw the un- fortunate event which has occurred. I had informed you that Mr. de Ulloa was not the proper person to govern this colony, notwithstanding his vast intellect, his talents, his learning, his great reputation in all the academies of Europe, and although he is full of honor, of probity, and of zeal for the service of his sovereign. He does not possess the necessary qualifications to command. Frenchmen. Instead of endeavoring to gain the hearts (which is absolutely necessary in a change of government,) he has done all that could tend to
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AUBRY'S LETTER TO THE DUKE OF PRASLIN. 225
alienate them. He seemed to despise the first men of the colony, and particularly the members of the Supe- rior Council. By his indiscreet expressions, and by threats which shadowed the forthcoming of a fright- ful despotism, he caused the Spanish domination to be dreaded, and gave rise to the supposition that he did not like our nation. He has alarmed every body, and, by a deportment as unbecoming as it was surprising in a man of so distinguished a mind, he has not a little con- tributed to draw down upon himself and his nation the storm which has swept him away.
"In another letter of the 4th of April, 1768, I had the honor to inform you of the deplorable state and of the frightful misery to which this colony is reduced. The uncertainty about the ultimate fate of the French paper currency, the prolonged delays in the payment of the debts of his Catholic Majesty, who has assumed the expenses of the colony, the scarcity of specie, the in- solvability of three fourths of the debtors, a diminution in the value of lands and negroes and of every kind of property, amounting to a loss of two thirds, the regret of passing under a foreign domination, which inspires the people with the apprehension of their being unhappy, the Governor's want of capacity to conciliate the affec- tion and esteem of the inhabitants, the news of a decree rendered by his Catholic Majesty, which deprives the colony of its commerce with the Islands and with France -all these motives united, and made still more power- ful by the effects of the extreme misery which has pre- vailed here for so long a time, and which increases daily, have at last goaded the people into desperation, and produced this fatal revolution, which would not have happened, had I had at hand only a body of three hun- dred men.
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AUBRY'S LETTER TO THE DUKE OF PRASLIN.
" It would perhaps be dangerous, at this moment, to impress the culprits with too deep a sense of their offence and of the rigorous punishments to which they expose themselves. The vicinity of the English settlements re- quires that we should proceed with great caution. Otherwise, it is to be apprehended that despair might drive the insurgents into something still worse.
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" I remain at the head of a colony, which has been set topsy turvy by the late revolution, and in the midst of a people who, after looking upon themselves as Spa- niards during three years, now detest that nation, and wish not to lose the character of French subjects. With the exception of the officers, whose conduct I cannot but commend, of a handful of old soldiers who have re- mained faithful, and of a small number of honest people who support me, the rest of the colonists, from the first to the last, wish to preserve the name, character and privileges of Frenchmen."
In another despatch of the same date, Aubry informed the French government that the English had evacuated, in September, the posts of Natchez and Iberville, in conformity with the orders of General Gage, and that they had established their head quarters at St. Augustin, leaving only fifty men at Pensacola and twenty-five at Mobile. Aubry inferred that the object of the English was to concentrate their forces, in consequence of a certain agitation in New England, where had been cast the seeds of that revolution which was to break forth in 1776. "I was waiting only," said he, " for the arrival of the Spanish troops, to deliver up the colony, and to return to France to render an account of my conduct, when a general rebellion of the inhabitants of this pro- vince against the Spanish Governor and his nation, which it was not in my power to oppose, and which occurred on the 28th and 29th of October, destroyed in a moment
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the work of four years, and all the dispositions which I had taken on behalf of the crown of Spain. An auda- cious petition, insulting to the Spanish nation, rebellious against the King of France, whose orders it set at naught, and signed by six hundred planters and other inhabitants, was presented to demand Ulloa's expul- sion," &c., &c .- Such being the light under which a French Governor considered this act of the colonists, it is not astonishing that the Spaniards should have looked upon it as a most heinous offence, and should have punished it accordingly.
Thus was the revolution accomplished. A popula- tion, which hardly numbered eighteen hundred men, able to carry arms, and which had in its bosom several thousands of black slaves, whom it was necessary to intimidate into subjection, had rebelled against the will of France, had flung the gauntlet at the Spanish monarchy, and was bearding a powerful nation, whose distinguished trait of character did not consist in the forgiveness of injuries, particularly when her pride was wounded. With regard to France, it was evident that it was vain to rely on her support, since it was the consciousness of her weakness which had compelled her to give up that colony, and to offer it to the King of Spain, who did not care for it. Besides, should France have been disposed to assist the colonists, how could she withdraw the donation she had pressed upon Spain, without indemnifying her for her expenses in the colony, and without punishing the authors of an out- rage, to which she had exposed an ally, whose sole object, in accepting the donation of Louisiana, was to be serviceable to the donor! The colonists had long since sent to France intelligent men, as delegates, to urge upon the king their wishes, that the cession of Louisiana be rescinded; and those delegates, on their
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return, must have informed them of the true state of things, and made it known to them, how fruitless it would be, to endeavor to force France into the resump- tion of a province, which she considered as a burden, and whose expenses she could no longer meet, on account of the embarrassed situation of her finances. It is therefore impossible not to be astonished at seeing ' one of these delegates engaged in a conspiracy against the Spaniards, and not to wonder at the temerity of the colonists, in attempting a revolution, of which the direful consequences to them it was but too easy to foresee.
In the mean time, Ulloa had arrived at Havana, and, on the 4th of December, wrote as follows to the Mar- quis of Grimaldi, one of the ministers in Spain :
" There being a rumor, on the 28th of October, that the insurgents intended to attack my house during the night, and to take possession of all the effects of value which they might find in it, on giving me a receipt for them, in order to enable me to be reimbursed by the treasurers of his Majesty, as rebels generally proceed in a case of insurrection, and having been warned also that they had resolved to do the same with the King's treasury, where they expected to find a capital of more than one hundred thousand dollars, and to attack the frigate of his Majesty, the Volante, in which they imagined also that there was money, and, finally, that their intention was to get hold of the papers of the government, and particularly of my correspondence with your Excellency, I retired on board of the frigate, whither I carried along with me all these papers, in order to keep them safe from all danger.
" On the 27th, being made aware of what was brew- ing, I had taken all the measures which circumstances had permitted, to put the frigate in a state of defence,
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and to prevent that the King's flag be insulted. No attempt of the kind had been made on the 1st of November, when I embarked with all my household in a French ship for Havana, in conformity with the summons which had been addressed to me.
" On the 16th of November, I went over the bar at the mouth of the river, and arrived yesterday at Havana, after a very painful navigation, the result of a departure so precipitate as not to give me time to provide for any thing.
" I briefly related to the Governor of this place what had happened, and, in the evening of the same day, a council was held to deliberate on what it would be proper to do, in order to afford assistance to the Spanish and French troops in Louisiana. But it was impossible to come to any determination, on account of many difficulties which presented themselves. The day after to-morrow, there will be another council, to ascertain what remains to be done, and what would be most likely to meet the views of his Majesty. The last council was composed of the Governor, of the Marquis of Rubi, lieutenant general, and of Michel de Altariva, intendant of the army.
" My opinion was, that I ought to proceed on my way to Spain, in the first vessel sailing from this port, not only to present your Excellency with a detailed account of what had occurred, and to solve the doubts and difficulties that may arise, but also to furnish your Excellency with the necessary informations to secure the accomplishment of his Majesty's views, either with regard to the principal chiefs of the rebellion, or on other points ; for, I am aware that, in such cases, it is very important to know well, not only the nature of the means to be employed, but also the time and the cir- cumstances most opportune for their use. But those
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gentlemen were of a different opinion, and it seemed to them that it would be more prudent for me, to wait for the orders of his Majesty, to execute what it might please him to decide in this affair, and they thought that the interval of four or five months, which it would require to receive the instructions of his Majesty, would not be detrimental to his service.
" I therefore yielded to their sentiment, although with reluctance, considering that much time would have been gained, had I followed my first impulse, since it . would have been as easy for me to go to Spain as to forward a letter."
At the same time, he sent to the Marquis of Grimaldi a despatch containing a relation of the events of the 28th and 29th of October, and the following observa- tions :
" I beg you to recall to your memory a letter, which I wrote to you in March, 1766, a few days after my arrival in New-Orleans, in relation to the character of the inhabitants. What I communicated to you on the subject, was founded on the preliminary informations which Governor Aubry had given to me, and on a letter which I received from Mr. de Kerlerec, in which he gave me an abstract description of the colony, and pitied me much for having been sent to govern such a country, and finally, on what I had experienced myself, during the few days that had elapsed since my coming to this province, as well as on the liberty which the . merchants had taken, to present me with a kind of manifesto, containing different articles, on each of which they asked mne for a decision, in order that they might frame their measures accordingly. I sent to your Excellency a copy of that memorial, in order that you might know the audacity of the people with whom you would have to deal, who aimed at no less than forcing
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their sovereign to capitulate with them, and whose expressions, far from being respectful and supplicating, were imperious, insolent and threatening.
" About three months before the outbreak of the revolution, it was known that Mr. de Bienville, the brother of Noyan, and Mr. Masan, the son of the con- spirator of that name, had gone secretly to Pensacola, through a canal on the plantation of the latter, which communicated with lake Borgne, without its being ascertained what was the object of their voyage.
" About the same time, a Frenchman, who was a stranger in the colony, and who had come to take possession of certain property belonging to his nephews, then in France and minors, being exasperated at a decree which the Council had rendered against him, under the dictation of Lafrenière, and witnessing my want of power to have done to him such justice as he thought he deserved, assured me that there were traitors in the town, and that those traitors were persons intrusted with high powers, giving me to understand that they were the very persons who, to-day, make a figure at the head of the insurrection.
" When the insurrection began to manifest itself, the persons who were not participators in it, and whose number was pretty considerable, loudly declared what had been the motive of Bienville and Masan's visit to Pensacola, and the conspirators themselves did not hesitate to confess, that these emissaries had gone to solicit the assistance of the English governor general, and to beg him to send troops to support the rebels, after the breaking out of the insurrection. It seems that the Governor's answer was not favorable. For, the said Governor, having reflected maturely on that affair, sent them back, without encouraging their designs.
" It is proper that your Excellency should know that
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their plans underwent more than one modification, and that one of them was, as reported, to transform this colony into a republic, under the protection of Eng- land ; but seeing that they could not obtain from her the assistance which they wished for, they came to the determination to rise without it, and to trample under foot the orders of their sovereign.
" Hence the origin of the conspiracy. It is proper that I should make you acquainted with the interests and the relations of the inhabitants among themselves, in order to give to every one his due.
"The commissary Foucault has always kept up a scandalous connection with a certain widow called Pradel, living with her, even when he resided in a different house, and frequently cohabiting with her on a plantation, which borders on the upper precincts of New-Orleans. About the same time when Bienville and Masan repaired secretly to Pensacola, Madam Pradel went with Foucault to her plantation, the dwell- ing house of which is contiguous to the town, and there they spent their nights, coming to town only during the day. On the breaking out of the insurrection, it was publicly said that there were in that residence frequent suppers, at which were present Lafrenière, his relations, and the other conspirators, and that, after the convivi- alities were over, these men passed the rest of the night in the garden, where they had their conferences, so that it is not doubtful but that the blow was struck from that quarter.
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