USA > Louisiana > Louisiana : its history as a French colony. Third series of lectures > Part 25
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340
EXECUTION OF THE PRISONERS.
of executing the original sentence of the Court, to have the prisoners shot, but without removing the infamy which would have resulted from their suffering death on the gallows. O'Reilly assented to this request, and Francisco Xavier Rodriguez, the clerk of the Court, drew a process verbal of the execution, which took place in his presence, at three o'clock in the afternoon. It ap- pears by this process verbal that Nicolas Chauvin de Lafrenière, Pierre Marquis, Joseph Milhet, Jean Baptiste Noyan and Pierre Caresse, being taken out of prison, and with their arms well pinioned, were conducted, under a heavy escort of grenadiers, to the place of execution, which was occupied by a large body of Spanish troops forming a square. The prisoners being introduced into the middle of this square, Rodriguez, the clerk of the Court, read to them their sentence in Spanish, and it was then repeated to them in French by Henry Garderat, assisted by two other interpreters, Jean Baptiste Garic, and the Lieutenant of artillery, Juan Kely, who had all been specially appointed by O'Reilly to act as inter- preters on the trial. Then a copy of the sentence was delivered into the hands of the public crier, who went round, and read it to all the troops and to the people, in a loud and intelligible voice. After these preliminaries were over, the last act of the drama was performed, and the well directed fire of a platoon of grenadiers ended the lives of those unfortunate men. It is said that they met their fate with unshaken fortitude.
On the next day, the 26th of October, the same Rodriguez caused to be burnt, on the public square, all the copies of the " Memorial of the Planters, merchants and other inhabitants of Louisiana," which had been discovered and gathered up together.
Masan and his companions were immediately trans- ported to Havana, and imprisoned in fort Moro. It may
0
1
341
DEATH OF AUBRY.
· be as well to state now that the son of Masan went to Madrid, threw himself at the feet of the King, and begged that his father be pardoned, or that he be permitted to take that father's place. The prayer of this generous young man, which was warmly supported by the French ambassador, touched the King, who granted a full pardon, not only to Masan, but also to Doucet, Boisblanc, Milhet, Poupet and Petit. None of them returned to Louisiana, and it is believed that they went to reside at the Cap Français in St. Domingo.
Aubry left Louisiana for Bordeaux in the brigantine called the Père de Famille. This vessel had entered the river Garonne, when she met a heavy storm and went down, near the Tower of Cordouan, with all on board, save the captain, a physician, a sergeant and two sail- ors, who succeeded in reaching the land in safety. The King, in order to show how much he appreciated the services of Aubry, granted a pension to the brother and to the sister of that officer. Aubry, before his departure from Louisiana, had been offered a high grade in the Spanish army, as a token of satisfaction at the liberal course which he had pursued towards that nation in the colony, but he refused, on the ground that he intended to devote the remnant of his days to the service of his native country. Some there were who thought that those whom they loved so dearly, had unjustly suffered, mostly in consequence of the imprudent denunciations of that officer and of his servility to O'Reilly and the Spaniards. By them his melancholy end was looked upon as an act of the retributive justice of Heaven.
It is related that, among the confiscated slaves of La- frenière, there was one named Artus, who had the re- putation of being an admirable cook. O'Reilly sent for Artus, and said to him : " You are now the King of Spain's property. Until you are sold, you shall be my
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342 .
COMMENTS ON THE EXECUTION.
cook." "You had better change your mind," answered the negro. "I would poison him who ordered my master to be killed." It is also reported that one of Caresse's slaves, whose name was Cupidon, and who was an excel- lent house servant, refused peremptorily to perform these functions for O'Reilly, because, as he boldly said, " he would not serve his master's assassin." O'Reilly seemed to appreciate the noble sentiment which actuated these faithful slaves, and dismissed them, without resenting the determination which they had both so fearlessly ex- pressed. If these anecdotes are true, they show that negroes are capable of heroic attachment for those that hold them in bondage, and that O'Reilly was not a man of an unamiable disposition.
The bloody execution which took place in Louisiana caused a good deal of excitement in France, and it seems that the French government instructed its agents in Spain, to ascertain what effect it had produced on the Spaniards themselves. I have under my eye a letter written to one of the French ministers by a Mr. De- puyabre, a French agent at Cadix, in answer to the in- quiries which had been addressed to him, and in which he says : " All the relations of that event, which were sent from Louisiana to Havana, agree in blaming the rigor with which General O'Reilly punished the most distinguished citizens of Louisiana. The Spaniards here, and others, whatever nation they belonged to, have expressed their detestation of such an act. You know better than any body else what were the orders of which O'Reilly was the bearer, and you can thereby judge whether that officer kept himself, or not, within the sphere of his powers."
It must be recollected that the Marquis of Grimaldi, on the departure of O'Reilly from Spain for Louisiana, had sent to the Count of Fuentes, the Spanish ambassa-
343
COMMENTS ON THE EXECUTION.
dor at the Court of Versailles, a despatch winter intended to be laid before the French ministry,
which he had said: "It seemed proper to invest Don Alexandro O'Reilly with these extensive powers, on account of the distance at which we are from that coun- try. But, as the King, whose character is well known, is always inclined to be mild and clement, he has ordered O'Reilly to be informed that his will was, that a lenient course be pursued in the colony, and that expulsion from it be the only punishment inflicted on those who have deserved a more severe one."
It would seem, from this document, that O'Reilly should have contented himself with having expelled from the colony those who had deserved a severer punishment -for instance the pain of death. But were the instruc- tions shown to the Court of France and those really given to O'Reilly of the same nature ? That is the ques- tion. If O'Reilly received the instructions which are mentioned in the despatch of the Marquis of Grimaldi, would he have dared to disobey them, and would he, when such strong appeals were made to him to save the lives of Lafrenière and his companions, have had the unblushing effrontery, on refusing that boon, to plead the orders of the King, and thus, falsely, to throw upon · his sovereign the odium of a measure, which was con- trary to the expressed will of that very sovereign ? Had he assumed this responsibility, on account of some unforeseen circumstances or reasons, would he not have accounted for those circumstances or reasons in his despatches to his government? But, far from using the language of apology or exculpation, for having acted with severity, in violation of his positive instruc- tions, he, on the contrary, applauds himself for the ex- treme lenity of the course he pursued. This is demon- strated by the despatch which he sent to the Marquis
344
DESPATCH OF O'REILLY TO GRIMALDI.
of Grimaldi, to give an account of the closing of the trial and of the execution of the sentence of the Court :
"The trial which began here," said he, "against the twelve chiefs, movers and accomplices of the insurrec- tion which took place in this province, is at an end. Six of them, having deserved death, were sentenced to be hung ; but one of these culprits having died in prison, five only were executed, and, as there is no executioner here, they were shot on the 25th of this month (Octo- ber), at three o'clock of the afternoon. The six others were sentenced to be imprisoned in one of the King's cas- tles, that is, one for life, two for ten years and three for six years, and the property of the twelve was confiscated."
" The six who were sentenced to be imprisoned will be sent to day to one of the forts at Havana. I trans- mit to the Captain General of that place a copy of the judgment, in order that he may proceed to carry it into execution."
"The property of these prisoners had been seques- trated, from the beginning of their trial. I have just given the necessary orders for the liquidation of said property in accordance with the laws, in order that what belongs to the widows and other creditors may be given to them, and the balance be delivered up into the King's treasury."
" This judgment wipes off entirely the insult made to the dignity and authority of the king in this province, and checks the effects of the bad example which had been given to the subjects of his Majesty. Every body acknowledges the necessity, the justice, and the clemency of this judgment, which sets up an example ever to be remembered. What renders it still more efficacious, is the diligence with which this affair was conducted, and the incontestable nature of the evidence on which this judgment was founded.
345
FEELINGS AND IDEAS OF THE TIME.
"I will treat, for the future, with marked gentleness, all those who signed the representations addressed to the Council, and it will be a great consolation to the public, to know that I shall leave in this colony no painful recollection of that audacious outrage. I will conci- liate and tranquillize the public mind by all the means in my power, and nothing will be more conducive to this end, than to let the people know, that all past occurrences shall be forgotten, and that every one shall receive from the government the protection and favor which he may deserve."
This candid exposition which O'Reilly made of his sentiments proves, that he thought himself entitled to much credit for the lenity of his acts. Everybody, says he with exultation, acknowledges the necessity, the justice and the clemency of this judgment, which sets an example ever to be remembered. And it must not be forgotten that Governor Aubry, writing to his own government, takes the same view of the course of action adopted by O'Reilly. I have the honor, said he to the French minis- ter, of sending a list of the small number of those whom the general was indispensably obliged to have arrested. This proves his generosity and the kindness of his heart, con- sidering that there are many others, whose criminal conduct would have justified their being treated in the same manner.
To judge fairly of the feelings and ideas of these men, we must transport ourselves back to the days in which they lived, we must adopt the turn of mind which education, habits and associations had given them, and we must become impregnated with the political, social and moral atmosphere in which they had been born. In this age, the treatment which was inflicted on Lafre- nière and his companions may be looked upon as tinged with cruelty, if appreciated with our modern feelings of humanity, and with those notions of right and wrong,
346
FEELINGS AND IDEAS OF THE TIME.
which now prevail throughout the civilized world. In 1851, Lafrenière and his accomplices would not, proba- bly, have been condemned to an ignominious death, for doing what they did in 1768. They had resisted the exercise of powers which they thought oppressive to them, and which were wielded by an officer, whom they believed to be clothed with dubious authority ; they had resorted to every. means, even violence, not to be severed from that kingdom, to which the colony was indebted for its birth. But they had shed no blood ; and when experience demonstrated to them that their schemes of being re-annexed to France, or to set up for themselves under an independent government, were visionary ; when O'Reilly arrived with such forces as it would have been madness to cope with, they tendered, at once, their full and entire submission to the govern- ment of Spain. It must be recollected, however, that a century ago, the slightest attempt against royal author- ity was considered as one of the most heinous crimes that 'could be committed, and was punished with a severity, which now would not be tolerated by public * opinion ; and that offences which then were deemed to deserve death, would not now be the cause even of put- ting a man on his trial. It is not astonishing therefore that both Aubry and O'Reilly should have honestly thought that, to pick out of the rebellious colonists twelve leaders only, six of whom should be shot, and six imprisoned for a greater or lesser period of time, and to grant a full and unconditional pardon to the rest, was an extremely merciful act. Besides, tliere is no doubt but that O'Reilly was moved by considerations of policy. As Spain did not intend to keep up a large military force in Louisiana, it was necessary to produce such an impression on its inhabitants, as to prevent the repeti- tion of what had occurred ; and above all, it was expe-
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347
CHARGE OF DUPLICITY AGAINST O'REILLY.
dient to set a salutary example before the other colonies, to deter them from similar enterprises, and to show, in the language used by the Duke of Alba, in the written opinion on the affairs of Louisiana which he presented to the king as a member of his cabinet : that the king knew and was able to repress any attempt whatever, deroga- tory to the respect due to the royal authority.
Some there are who accuse O'Reilly of treachery and duplicity, on account of the interpretation which they put on the marked civilities which he proffered to the leaders of the insurrection, when they were introduced to him, and on the exceedingly courteous language which he addressed to them. They believe that these men had a right to infer from O'Reilly's deportment, that their past deeds were forgotten, and that they would not be brought to trial; it is said that O'Reilly lulled them into security, in order to keep them within . his reach, and to prevent them from seeking their safety in flight, until he should be ready to arrest, at the same time, all the chiefs of the late revolution whom he had singled out. These suppositions derive some strength, it is true, from the opinion expressed by Bouligny, him- self a Spanish officer, who was present at the interview between the delegates of the colonists and O'Reilly, at the Balize, and who said : that the general sent them back with good hopes that their past faults should be forgotten. It is not astonishing, therefore, that Lafrenière, Marquis and Milhet should have shared with Bouligny such flat- tering impressions. The secret intentions of deceit attributed to O'Reilly may have been true, but still, in justice to him, it must be remarked that the extreme courtesy of his language and of his deportment is not sufficient, of itself, to warrant the conclusion that it was dictated by duplicity. It was, on the like occasions, the natural tone of the high bred gentlemen of the time,
· 348
ANECDOTE OF CARDINAL RICHELIEU.
although it may sound to us as smacking of dissimula- tion, or affectation. Numerous other instances might be cited of the wrong interpretations to be given to the actions and language of the men of past ages, if, as I have already observed, we judge of them according to the criterion of our present usages and customs. I will, in illustration of my assertion, select one instance only, which is striking.
The Cardinal of Richelieu had been, for many years, presiding, as prime minister, over the destinies of France, and had defeated more than one conspiracy against his life and power, formed by the highest nobility, by the mother, and the brother of the king, who hated the state of insignificance to which that master mind had reduced them, and often by the king himself, who used to become their secret accomplice, when in one of his fits of disgust at the thraldom in which he was kept by his proud and domineering min- ister. Now that the cardinal was broken down by dis- ease and fast approaching his grave, his enemies again lost patience, and gathered under the leadership of young Cinq-Mars, who had become the favorite of the weak king. Hardly had the conspiracy been set on foot, when the wily cardinal had become acquainted with all its workings. Determined to strike a last blow, which would be so crushing that it would, for the future, put an end to such enterprises, he appeared to be wrap- ped up in fancied security, waiting patiently, for two years, with the self-confidence of genius, until the fruit of his revenge be ripe, before he plucked it. Only on the eve of the breaking out of the conspiracy was it, that, although in a dying condition, he came out in his strength of mind, if not of body, and with one single thrust of his crippled foot, demolished instantaneously the structure which had been so laboriously erected
349
ANECDOTE OF CARDINAL RICHELIEU.
against him. He terrified the king out of his little wits, brought down almost to his knees the king's vile brother, Gaston D'Orleans, to ask pardon for his share in the conspiracy, and annihilated all those of his ene- mies whom he thought worthy of his notice. Cinq- Mars and De Thou were those he had particularly sin- gled out for his vengeance. De Thou, being in prison at Tarascon, where the infirm cardinal had himself trans- ported, was ordered to the presence of his mortal enemy, to be by him interrogated, The manner in which they met is remarkable. Let it be remembered that both were aware of the relative positions in which they stood to each other. The Cardinal had made up his mind to have De Thou's head cut off; De Thou knew it, and the Cardinal was conscious that his inten- tions were no secret for the prisoner. Therefore there could be no attempt, and there could be no wish, to deceive each other. Yet, see how they behave when face to face. The Cardinal, who was in bed and prop- ped up by cushions, when De Thou was ushered into the room by the guards, greeted him with a gentle salute, and, inviting him to be seated by the bed on which he, the Cardinal, was reposing, said, with the utmost suavity of manner : "Sir, I beg you to excuse me for having given you the trouble of coming here." "My Lord," answered De Thou, "I consider the invitation as a favor and an honor." The rest of the interview was in the same style. Was it deceit, irony, affectation or dissimula- tion ? Neither the one nor the other. It was the cus- tomary tone of exquisite politeness familiar to two men, who were equally mindful of their respective rank and character, and whose minds were so framed, that they never lost sight, for one moment, of the old adage : that a gentleman is worth another. Times have changed, and the highest in the land, were he brought before a Justice
350
MAISONS D'ACADIENS.
of the Peace, not for a matter of life and death, but on a charge of petty trespass, would probably be interrogated in a more commanding tone. But is it to be inferred that, on the occasion I have related, Cardinal Armand Du Plessis, Duke of Richelieu, and the real king of France, acted with hypocrisy towards De Thou ?
The inventories made of the property of the twelve gentlemen, whom the decree of the Spanish tribunal had convicted of rebellion, afford interesting proofs of the Spartan simplicity which existed in the colony. Thus the furniture of the bedroom of Madam Villere, who was the wife of one of the most distinguished citizens of Louisiana, and the grand-daughter of De Lachaise, who came to the colony, in 1723, as ordaining commissary, was described as consisting of a cypress bedstead, three feet wide by six in length, with a mattress of corn shucks and one of feathers on the top, a bolster of corn shucks, and a coarse cotton counterpane or quilt, manufactured probably by the lady herself, or by her servants; six chairs of cypress wood, with straw bottoms ; some candlesticks with common wax, the candles made in the country, &c., &c. The rest of the house was not more splendidly fur- nished, and the house itself, as described in the inventory, must have looked very much like one of those modest and unpainted little wood structures which are, to this day, to be seen in many parts of the banks of the river Mississippi, and in the Attakapas and Opelousas parishes. They are the tenements of our small planters who own only a few slaves, and they retain the appellation of Maisons d' Acadiens, or Acadian houses, Villere's planta- tion, situated at the German coast, was not large, and the whole of his slaves, of both sexes and of all ages, did not exceed thirty-two. His friends and brother con- spirators, who were among the first gentlemen in the land, did not live with more ostentation. All the seques-
351
POLISHED MANNERS OF THIE COLONISTS.
trated property being sold, it was found that, after having distributed among the widows and other creditors what they were entitled to, and after paying the costs of the trial and inventories, the royal treasury had nothing or very little to receive. These costs, however, were mo- derate, for they amounted only to 782 livres, or about $157, for each of the persons convicted.
There were but humble dwellings in Louisiana in 1769, and he who would have judged of their tenants from their outward appearance would have thought that they were occupied by mere peasants, but had he passed their thresholds he would have been amazed at being welcomed with such manners as were habitual in the most polished court of Europe, and entertained by men and women wearing with the utmost ease and grace the elegant and rich costume of the reign of Louis XV. There, the powdered head, the silk and gold flowered coat, the lace and frills, the red heeled shoe, the steel- handled sword, the silver knee buckles, the high and courteous bearing of the gentleman, the hoop petticoat, the brocaded gown, the rich head-dress, the stately bow, the slightly rouged cheeks, the artificially graceful de- ., portment, and the aristocratic features of the lady, formed a strange contrast with the roughness of sur- rounding objects. It struck one with as much astonish- ment as if diamonds had been found capriciously set by some unknown hand in one of the wild trees of the forest, or it reminded the imagination of those fairy tales in which a princess is found asleep in a soli-" tude, where none but beasts of prey were expected to roam.
" One of the first acts of O'Reilly's administration," says Judge Martin, in his history of Louisiana, " was an order for a census of the inhabitants of New Orleans. It was executed with great accuracy. It appeared that
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352
CENSUS OF THE INHABITANTS.
the aggregate population amounted to three thousand one hundred and ninety persons, of every age, sex and color. The number of free persons was nineteen hun- dred and two; thirty-one of whom were black, and sixty- eight of mixed blood. There were twelve hundred and twenty-five slaves, and sixty domiciliated Indians. The number of houses was four hundred and sixty-eight. The greatest part of them were in the third and fourth streets from the water, and principally in the latter.
" No census was taken in the rest of the province, but, from a reference to the preceding and succeeding years, the following statement is believed to be cor- rect :-
" New Orleans, as before, - -
- 570 Bayou St. John and Gentilly, - 307 -
Tchoupitoulas, -
4192
St. Charles, - -
-
- 639
St. John the Baptist, -
- 544
Lafourche, - - 0
- 267
Iberville, - -
- 376
Pointe Coupée, -
- 783
Attakapas, -
- 409
Avoyelles, -
-
- 314
Natchitoches,
-
811
Rapides,
47
Ouachita, -
- 110
Arkansas, - -
.
- 88
St. Louis (Illinois), -
-
- 891
13,538
About half of this population. was white.
" The exports of the province, during the last year of its subjection to France," says the same author, " were as follows :
.
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3190 From the Balize to the town, -
-
-
353
CONCLUDING REMARKS.
In Indigo, - -
- $100,000
Deer skins, -
-
-
-
- 80,000
Lumber, -
- 50,000
Naval Stores, -
-
-
-
- 12,000
Rice, peas and beans, -
-
4,000
Tallow, -
-
-
-
-
4,000
$250,000
An interlope trade with the Spanish colonies took away goods worth - - 60,000
. "The colonial treasury gave bills on govern- ment in France for - - - - 360,000 -
So that the province afforded means of remit- tance for - - -
- $670,000
"Few merchant vessels came from France; but the Island of Hispaniola carried on a brisk trade with New Orleans, and some vessels came from Martinique. King's vessels brought whatever was necessary for the troops, and goods for the Indian trade."
" The indigo of Louisiana was greatly inferior to that of Hispaniola ; the planters being quite unskilful and inattentive in the manufacture of it. That of sugar had been abandoned, but some planters near Near Orleans raised a few canes for the market."
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