USA > Louisiana > The history of Louisiana : from the earliest period, Volume I > Part 22
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The same unanimity did not prevail on a more im- portant question. It was proposed. in a council of war to which the officers of engineers, lately arrived from France, assisted, in the month of November, to remove the head quarters to the New Biloxi; a measure which was adopted, notwithstanding the opposition of Bienville and Hubert. These two ad- ministrators did not agree as to the place of removal.
Bienville objected to an immediate removal. He thought it would occasion considerable damage to the individuals, who had built at the present place, without any prospect of public or private advantage ..
He thought, however, that if a removal was deter- mined upon, New Orleans was the most proper place.
Hubert disapproved also of a removal. His opin- ion was, that New Orleans would answer only as a place of deposit ; that the spot, on which the city of Natchez now stands, was the most proper site for the
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capital of the province, and would ere long become its centre.
He felt so confident, in his hope of being able to induce the directors to adopt his plan, that a few days after, he sailed for France for this purpose: but he died shortly after his landing. He had ob- tained the grant of an immense tract on St. Cath- erine's Creek, on which he had made a large planta- tion with considerable improvements. This circum- stance was some evidence. that he considered this part of the province as that which presented the greatest advantage; but his opponents in the council, grounded on it a suggestion, that his vote was influ- enced by private interest.
Time has shown, that Bienville's view of the sub- ject was the best. The sandy coast of Biloxi, dis- tant from fertile land, difficult of approach for vessels of burden, and without a safe anchorage, offered so many disadvantages, that it is difficult to surmise, on what ground it became the choice of the majority. It presents nothing to the view, but interminable heaps of sand, interspersed with lagoons, and a growth of scattered stunted shrubs. The city of Nat- chez, after more than a century, has not as yet risen beyond the rank of a smart village. It will in time become the centre of trade, in a circle of a consid- crable radius ; but distant from the sea four hundred iniles, and. if time be the measure of distance, situated in those days, further from the Balize than Bour- deaux by water, it could have afforded but little pro- protection to the intermediate places between the sea and the settlements at Biloxi or Mobile.
Hubert's views were premature by several cen- turies. Had the French remained in possession of the whole province of Louisiana, with the extent it then had, no doubt, in the course of time, the spot on
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which the city of Natchez stands, might have become the centre of the population of the colony.
The majority was probably influenced by the com- mercial agents of the company, who viewed New Bi- loxi, as the spot- from which their store keepers at Mobile, Pensacola, Ship Island and the old Biloxi, might be more conveniently watched.
- Bienville complained, that these gentlemen thwart- ed his views, and prevented the company from reap- ing the benefit from his exertions, which they were calculated to produce.
A company ship arrived on the third of January, 1721, with three hundred settlers of the grant of Madame Chaumont, on Pascagoula river, and another landed in the following month, eighty girls from the Salpetriere, a house of correction in Paris, with one hundred other passengers. It seems the late order of council, prohibiting the transportation of vagabonds and convicts, was not considered as extending to females.
In their despatches to Bienville, by these ships, the directors expressed their grief, at the division which existed between him and their principal agents in Louisiana, by which the affairs of the company had been brought to such a situation, that it would be preferable, that the establishment had now to be begun. The report of the unfortunate condition of their concerns had excited great murmurs in France. and the direction was daily reproached for the im- inense expenses it had incurred: it was charged with having appointed chiefs too careless of the affairs of the company, and too careful of their own. That the regent, who was informed of the discredit, in which the stock of the company had fallen, so far from keeping the promise he had made of promoting him to the rank of a brigadier, and sending him the
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broad ribbon of the order of St. Louis, would have proceeded against him with severity, if he had not been informed that the company's agents in the co- lony. had thwarted his views: that the directors flat- tered themselves, that by sending out new agents, and the new arrangements that were about to be made, the state of things would be changed, and the regent become sensible of his merit; that his royal highness had told them, the king's graces were be- stowed on effective services only, and as it was sug- gested, that he (Bienville) might now merit them, it was proper to wait till he might prove himself worthy of them.
The directors, while they assured Bienville they would foster the regent's good dispositions towards him, did not conceal their disapprobation of the pro- motion he had made of some non-commissioned offi- cers. They instructed him, for the future to exercise the right of suspension only, and leave to them that of removal and appointment. They recommended to him to correspond with the Marquis de Vaudreuil, governor-general of New France, and to exert him- self to induce his Indian allies to declare themselves against the Sioux, whom the Foxes had engaged in their interest.
The fort at Kaskaskias was ordered by the compa- ny to be called Fort Chartres; that of Mobile, Fort Conde, and that of Biloxi, Fort St. Louis.
Orders were given to Pauger, to make a survey of the bay of Mobile, and the entrance of the Mississip- pi. .
Two hundred German settlers of Law's grant were landed in the month of March at Biloxi, out of twelve hundred who had been recruited. The rest had di- ed before they embarked, or on the passage. They were followed by five hundred negroes from the coast
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of Africa. This increase of population was rendered less welcome by the great dearth of provisions under which the colony laboured.
Bienville despatched a vessel to St. Domingo for a supply. He employed for this service, Beranger, who had lately arrived from Havana, where he had conveyed the Spanish hostages.
There came among the German new comers, a fe- male adventurer. She had been attached to the wardrobe of the wife of the Czarowitz Alexius Petro- witz, the only son of Peter the Great. She imposed on the credulity of many persons, but particularly on that of an officer of the garrison of Mobile, (called by Bossu, the Chevalier d'Aubant, and by the king of Prussia, Maldeck) who having seen the princess at St. Petersburg, imagined he recognized her features in those of her former servant, and gave credit to the report which prevailed, that she was the duke of Wol- fenbuttle's daughter, whom the Czarowitz had marri- ed, and who, finding herself treated with great cruel- ty by her husband, caused it to be circulated that she had died, while she fled to a distant seat, driven by the blows he had inflicted on her -- that the Czaro- witz had given orders for her private burial, and she had travelled incog into France, and had taken pas- sage at L'Orient in one of the company's ships among the German settlers.
Her story gained credit, and the officer married her. After a long residence in Louisiana, she follow- ed him to Paris and the island of Bourbon, where he had a commission of major. Having become a widow in 1754, she returned to Paris, with a daughter, and went thence to Brunswick, when her imposture was discovered; charity was bestowed on her, but she was ordered to leave the country. She died in 1771. at Paris, in great poverty.
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A similar imposition was practised for a while with considerable success, in the southern British provin- ces, a few years before the declaration of their inde- pendence. A female, driven for her misconduct from the service of a maid of honor of princess Matilda, sister to George III. was convicted at the Old Bailey, and transported to Maryland. She effected her es- cape before the expiration of her time, and travelled through Virginia and both the Carolinas. personating the princess, and levying contributions on the credu- lity of planters and merchants ; and even some of the king's officers. She was at last arrested in Charles- ton, prosecuted and whipped.
A company ship had sailed for Louisiana in 1718, with troops, and one hundred convicts, and had ne- ver been heard of. It was now discovered that, like the fleet of Lasalle, she had missed the Mississippi, and had been driven to the west. Her commander had mistaken the island of Cuba for that of St. Do- mingo. and had been compelled to pass through the old channel to get into the gulf. He made a large bay, in the twenty-ninth degree of latitude, and disco- vering he had lost his way, wandered for several days. His misfortune was increased by a contagious disease breaking out among the convicts. Five of his offi- cers, Bellisle, Allard, Delisle, Legendre and Corlat, thought it less dangerous to land, with provisions for eight days and their arms, than to continue on board. They hoped to meet some Indian, who might guide them to the settlements of the French; they were dis- appointed. All, except Belleisle, fell victims to hun- ger and fatigue : after burying the last of his compa- nions. he wandered for several weeks on the shore. living on shell fish and roots. At last, he fell in with three Indians who stripped him, and led him a prison- er to their village, in which he was detained for eigh-
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teen months ; he suffered much from hunger, fatigue, and the cruelty of his captors, At last, one of the lat- ter stole a small tin box. in which Bellisle kept his commission and some other papers. It was purcha- sed by an Indian of the Assinais tribe, and accidental- ly shewn to St. Denys, who prevailed on some of them to go and contract for Bellisle's ransom. He was thus released. and found his way to Natchitoch- es, where, after staying a while to recover his strength, he was furnished the means of reaching Biloxi.
Pauger, having completed the survey of the passes of the Mississippi, returned and made his report to Bienville. He found the bar a deposit of mud, about three hundred feet wide, and about twice that in length. It appeared to him it was occasioned by the current of the river and the flux of the sea which, greatly obstructing the current, caused the river to overflow. He took notice that the stream, being ve- 1 ry muddy, left on its shores and islands, heaps of timber, covered by annual layers of mud; the smal- ler timber filling up the interstices. In this manner, islands, and new land along the shore, were incessant- ly formed; and after a few years, canes and willows be- gan to rise on the crust formed by several layers. He expressed his opinion, that with little trouble, by gi- ving a proper direction to the floating timber. dykes might be formed along one of the channels, and by · sinking old vessels, so as to stop the others ; the velo- city of the water might be increased in the former, and a very great depth obtained in time; an opera- tion which he said was now forming in some parts of the passes-one of which he had noticed the prece- ding year, when he found on it but ten or eleven feet of water, and eight months after. from thirteen to four- teen ; while a bar had extended to the island of the Balize, which was one hundred and eighteen feet in LOU. I. 30
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width, and double that in length with an eminence in the middle, before which ships might ride in eighteen feet of water.
In the spring, a Guineaman landed two hundred and ninety negroes, and reported that another had caught fire, at the distance of sixty leagues from the shore ; part of the crew had saved themselves in the long boat, the rest perished.
Accounts were received from the Illinois that a par- ty of three hundred Spaniards had marched from San- ta Fe to the upper part of the province, while they , expected a fleet would attack it on the shore. Se- venty of them only had persevered in the attempt, gui- ded by Padouca Indians, who directed them so north- erly. that they reached the river of the Canseys near the Missouri, where they fell among Indians, allies of the French, who destroyed them all, except their chief, the swiftness of whose horse secured his safety.
On the fourth of June, two hundred and fifty pas- sengers, chiefly Germans, came in a company ship. Marigny de Mandeville, who had gone to France, where he had obtained the cross of St. Louis and the command of Fort Conde, returned in her, accompani- ed by d'Arensbourg, a Swedish officer, and three others.
By this vessel, the colonists learnt the failure and sudden departure from France of the celebrated Law. This gave room to the apprehension, that the settle- ment of the province might be abandoned or prosecu- ted with less vigour.
Another Guineaman landed three hundred negroes å·few days after.
John Law, of Lauriston, in North Britain, was a celebrated financier, who having gained the confi- dence of the Duke of Orleans, regent of France, set- tled at Paris; where, under the auspices of govern-
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ment, he established a bank, with a capital of twelve hundred thousand dollars. Soon after, government became largely interested in it, and it assumed the name of the Royal Bank. The original projector con- tinued at the head ofits affairs, and, availing himself of the thirst for speculation, which its success excited, formed the scheme of a large commercial compa- ny, to which it was intended to transfer all the privi- leges, possessions and effects of the foreign trading companies, that had been incorporated in France. The royal bank was to be attached to it. The regent gave it letters patent, under the style of the Western Company. From the mighty stream, that traverses Louisiana, Law's undertaking was called the Missis- sippi scheme. The exclusive trade to China and all the east Indies was afterwards granted to the company now called the India Company. Chancellor d'Agues- seau opposed the plan with so much earnestness, that the regent took the seals from him and exiled him to his estate.
The stockholders flattered themselves, that the vast quantity of land, and the valuable property the company possessed, would enable it to make profits far exceeding those of the most successful adventur- ers. Accordingly, the directors declared a dividend of two hundred per cent. The delusion was so com- plete, that the stock rose to sixty times its original cost. The notes of the bank took the place of the paper securities government had issued, and so great was the demand for them, that all the metallic medi- um was paid into the bank.
Charlevoix .- Laharpe .- Vergennes .- Dupratz.
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CHAPTER X.
Duvergier .- Benard de Laharpe .- Bay of St. Bernard .- De Masilliere, Dudemaine and Duplosne .- A Guinea- man .- Principal establishment ordered to be removed to New Orleans .- Survey of the river of the Arkansas .- The Marquis de Gallo .- Chickasaw hostilities .- Father Charlevoix .- Toulouse . Island .- Loubois .- Latour .- Price of Nogroes, Tobacco and Rice fixed .- Copper coinage .- Military, Civil and Religious divisions of the Province .- Larenaudiere-German Coast .- Pence with Spain .- Pensacola restored .- Chickasaw hostili- ties among the Yazous .- Fort on the Missouri .- Capu- chins .- A hurricane .- Hostilities committed by the Nat- chez .- An unexpected crop of rice .- The directors re- move to New Orleans .- A Swiss company deserts to Charleston .- Large grants of land .- Indigo .- St. Jo- seph abandoned .- Spanish force in the province of . Texas .- The Choctawos defeat the Chickasaws .- Alter- ations in the value of coin .- Jesuits .- The Catholic. the only religion tolerated .- Expulsion of the Jews .- Black Code .- Edict relating to correspondence .- Edict rela- ting to horses and cattle .- De la Chaise and Perrault .- Philip V. abdicates the throne .- Louis ascends it and dies .- Philip resumes the crown .- Superior Council. Treaties with the Jesuits, Capuchins and Ursuline Nuns. Perrier .- George II .- Girls de la Cassette .- Improve- ments in New Orleans .- Land regulations.
ON the fifteenth of July, Duvergier, who had late- ly been appointed Director, Ordonnateur, Command- ant of the Marine and President of the Council. land- ed at Pensacola. He brought crosses of St. Louis in Boisbriant, Chateaugué and St Denys.
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The Company, more intent on extending than im- proving its possessions in Louisiana, had determin- ed, notwithstanding the unanimous representations of Bienville and all the colonial officers, to have an es- tablishment on the gulf to the west of the Mississippi. For this purpose Bernard de la Harpe came over with Duvergier, having been appointed Commandant and inspector of commerce at the bay of St. Bernard. Masilliere, administrator of the grant of the Marquis de Mezieres, Desmarches, Dudemaine and Duplesne, his associates accompanied him.
The arrival of Duvergier with such ample powers gave much uneasiness to Bienvitle, who, while he re- mained in command, could not brook to be excluded from the presidency of the council. Chateaugué, who had the rank of a captain in the royal navy, thought himself injured by the command of the navy being given to another, and Delorme imagined his pretentions to the office of Ordonnateur had been overlooked.
Three hundred negroes arrived from Africa on the 15th of August.
The occupation of the bay of St. Bernard, notwith- standing the positive orders of which Laharpe was the bearer, was still viewed in Louisiana as a prema- ture operation, attended with considerable and use- less expense. requiring a number of men, who could not well be spared, and promising, if any, none but very precarious and distant advantages. The diffi- culty of protecting and supplying so distant a post, the extreme barrenness of the soil to the extent that had been explored, the ferocity of the Indians in the neighbourhood,some of whom were said to be anthro- pophagi, appeared to present unsurmountable obsta- cles, while no probable advantage could be contempla- ted, but the preservation of the possession, which La-
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salle had taken of that part of the country, thirty six years before, in which his life and that of the greatest part of his followers hadbeen sacrificed. Laharpe was now arrived with a commission, of which he was im- patient to avail himself, and Bienville gave his reluc- tant assent to the measure.
Beranger was directed to carry the new comman- dant and thirty men to the bay; fifteen barrels of flour and as many of meat were spared for their use.
The weakness of the detachment, and the small- ness of the supply (both, in the opinion of Laharpe inadequate) furnished him irrefragable proof that he was starting on an expedition, in which the best wishes of Bienville did not attend him. He weighed anchor on the twenty-sixth of August.
His instructions from the company were to take formal possession of the country, and to set up a post with the arms of France, on some conspicuous part of the shore-to build a fort and secure by treaties the amity and good will of as many of the Indian tribes as he could. If he met any Spanish force, in the country, he was directed to represent to the com- mandant, that it belonged to the crown of France, by virtue of the possession taken by Lasalle, in 1685, and in case he, or any other stranger, insisted on the right of staying, to remove him by force.
The order of the council for the removal of head quarters to Biloxi was now executed, and Bienville, with his staff removed thither, leaving Marigny in command at Fort Conde.
Since the departure of Law from France, the af- fairs of the company there, had fallen into great confusion and disorder, and very little attention was given to the supplies that were needed in Louisiana. None being procured by agriculture, provisions be- came extremely scarce. To provide against the
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distress of impending famine, such of the troops, as could be spared from the service of the posts, were sent, in small detachments, to Pearl river, Pascagoula and among the Indians, to procure their subsistence by fishing and hunting. Their unskilfulness, in this mode of seeking sustenance, made it necessary to have recourse to impressment. This measure caus- ed . great murmurs among the planters; but the scarcity of provisions was productive of more dread- ful consequences among the soldiers. Twenty-six men, who were in garrison at Fort Toulouse, on the river of the Alibamons, exasperated by hunger and distress, mutinied, and rising against Marchand, their commander, marched off with their arms and baggage, in the expectation of finding their way to the back settlements of Carolina. Villemont, the lieutenant, immediately rode to the village and prevailed on the Indians to go and way-lay the deserters; they were overpowered, by the savage assailants, but not with- out great carnage. Sixteen were killed, and two only escaped. The other eight being made prisoners, were brought to Fort Louis and soon after executed.
In the latter part of September, the colony was, in some measure, relieved by the arrival of a ship from France, with provisions. She brought accounts that the Regent had placed the affairs of the company under the direction of three commissioners. They were Ferrand, Faget and Machinet.
Laharpe returned from the bay of St. Bernard, on the third of October. He reported he had proceed- ed three hundred miles westerly from the Mississippi. On the 27th of August, he had entered a bay in lati- tude 29. 5. which he took for the one he was sent to. He found, on the bar, at its entrance, eleven feet of water, and having crossed it he sailed westerly; the sounding gave all along from fifteen to twenty feet.
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There was a small island, at the entrance of the bay. Bellisle, Laharpe's lieutenant, having gone on shore on the 29th, met a party of Indians, about forty in number, many of whom offered to come on board. He suffered six of them to enter his boat; others followed in four canoes. They were entertained on board of the vessel, and among other presents a dog, a cock andafew hens were given.them; they seemed greatly pleased with them.
On the next day, Bellisle having again landed with a few soldiers, was met by some of these Indians, who led him to their village. The French were hospita- bly received, and made a few presents to their hosts ; and the soldiers, with a view of showing them the effect of gun powder, made a discharge of their pieces.
Bellisle visited the Indians again on the next day. He told them the intention of the French, in coming to the bay, was to settle and live in friendship with the natives, and afford them protection against their enemies. They replied they would communicate . this to, and consult, their countrymen.
On the second of September, the Indians continu- ing to evince great reserve, the vessel proceeded farther westerly. Laharpe and Bellisle went several times ashore, attended by a few soldiers, to view the country, without seeing any Indians. Sailing N. W. and N. N. W. for two leagues, they came to an island, at the distance of a musket shot from the main. Here a number of Indians came on board, while many others appeared on the shore on horseback, ranged in battle array. This induced Laharpe to forbear landing. The vessel proceeded to another island near the main, and sailing farther on they found a river flowing through a wide prairie. The river was wide, its water excellent, and the current slow.
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Sailing along the coast, several miles farther, they cast anchor at night, before a cluster of cabins. La- harpe and Bellisle going ashore on the next day were coldlly received. The squaws began to yell. striking their sides and screaming horridly. The men asked Laharpe for some goods ; he answered all the goods the French had brought were still on board of their vessel, and the men in the boat had come with :o other intention than to see the country and pay the inhabitants a friendly visit : they were answered one should not come empty handed among strangers. A vehement debate ensued, which induced the French to apprehend that they would be massacred. The party, who were for moderate measures, at last pre- vailed, and the French were presented with some dried meat and roots.
Laharpe having repeated his intention of settling on the coast, the Indians expressed their absolute disapprobation of it ; urging that they were afraid of the French, notwithstanding he represented to them their opposition would bring down against them the Assinais and other tribes, allies of his nation. They persisted in asserting their fixed determination not to allow him to settle, and their wish that the vessel should depart.
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