USA > Louisiana > The province and the states, a history of the province of Louisiana under France and Spain, and of the territories and states of the United States formed therefrom, Vol. I > Part 13
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It is fairly certain that at this time the French explorers ascended the Missouri as far as the Platte river of Nebraska, but were there prevented from going any higher by the Panis or Pawnees. Governor D'Bienville particularly desired to go far enough up the Missouri and its branches to reach those Indian nations which had large numbers of Spanish horses and which had an established trade with the Spaniards of New Mexico. It was thought by him that the Spaniards would be found among the Pawnees, but when that tribe was reached about the year 1704, it was learned that they were still further to the west or southwest. So much was heard from the Indians of the Spanish ' mines of copper, silver and gold, that the French were eager to reach the mining country. It was even reported that the Span- iards used pack-mules to carry off the ore. The few Sioux that were seen spoke of a river flowing to the westward. It was the mystery that the French were ever after-the unknown river, mines, riches, so they pushed on until the dream was dissipated in mist.
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Soon after this event, D'Bienville sent messengers to the Madeline river (Bayou Teche) to ascertain what tribes resided thereon ; and by this means learned that seven nations occupied the course of that stream, among whom were the Attakapas, or man-eaters. In the summer of 1703 M. D'Chateauguay, the brother of D'Iberville and D'Bienville, arrived at Mobile with seventeen Canadian colonists, a goodly supply of provisions and an abundance of agricultural implements, etc. In Mây, 1704, there arrived at Mobile from France the ship Pelican, mounting fifty guns, and having on board Father D'Lavente engaged in the missionary service, four priests, two grey nuns, and twenty-three poor, but wholly respectable, young women, all of whom or nearly all of whom were afterward married to the single men of the col- ony. They were under the care of Father Huet, one of the priests. This was the first shipment of unmarried women to Louisiana, but was not the last. The Pelican also brought out two companies of soldiers to reinforce the colonial ranks, which had become sadly depleted by death and other causes. In Feb- ruary, 1703, a boat came down the river with the news that Juchcran D'St. Denis, lieutenant general of Montreal, had *Beaurain, Journal Historique.
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reached the mouth of the Ouabache (Ohio) river with thirty-four Canadians, and designed to form a settlement there for the pur- pose of trading with the Indians for buffalo skins, robes, etc. This settlement was actually made, as before stated, and seems to liave thrived. M. D'Lambert commanded the settlement for M. D'St. Denis. Late in January, 1705, he arrived at Mobile with all his force, having been scared away by the hostility of the neighboring savages among themselves, and leaving behind 13,000 buffalo skins belonging to his employer. The site of this camp was probably where Cairo, Ill., was afterward located; but this is disputed and is uncertain.
In December, 1704, intelligence was received by D'Bienville that an English armament was fitting out in the Carolinas for the capture of Mobile and the reduction of the French fort on the Mississippi. As France and Great Britain were now at war, and as the report seemed true and the attack imminent, D'Bienville instructed D'St. Denis to abandon Fort Iberville, and to bring all his munitions of war, all his merchandise and all his sokliers to Mobile to assist there should an attack be made. This abandon- ment left the settlers on the Mississippi in the vicinity of the fort without protection from the Indians as well as from the English; accordingly, the most of them also went to Mobile for security, thus leaving not a single settlement of the French on the mighty Mississippi in what is now the Louisiana Purchase.
In January, 1705, the melancholy news was received in the colony that D'Iberville had died of yellow fever at sea. It was now realized that, owing to the European war, the colony would very probably be left pretty much to its own fate. Thus far the colonists, strange as it may seem, had not become self-sustaining so far as provisions were concerned; they had continued to be dependent on the supplies received from France and brought out by D'Iberville. Now, it was realized, they must depend on them- selves; and the outlook was black, indeed, to these poor people, who did not seem to have sense enough to go to work. In their distress they received much assistance from the Spaniards of Florida, for Spain and France were at war with England. In November, 1705, there arrived at Mobile two boats of coureurs de bois from the Illinois country, among whom was M. Laurain who claimed to have explored the Missouri river for a long distance. Hle gave an account of the Indian tribes inhabiting that river and its branches.
In February, 1708, the news was received that M. D'Muys had been appointed to succeed D'Bienville as governor of the colony,
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and Diron D'Artaguette had been appointed intendant commis- sary to succeed M. D'La Salle. But M'Muys died on the voyage, and D'Bienville continued to serve as governor. The latter was charged with divers acts of mismanagement and misconduct ; and it was concluded that contentions over him in the colony war- ranted his removal. D'Artaguette was a man of great force of character. He first made inquiries as to the needs of the colon- ists and was told that they were satisfied with the country and the climate, but wanted horses to work the plantations, which had recently been opened. Many concessions along the Mississippi, on both sides of the river, had been granted to Frenchmen, and the time was now opportune to improve them, so it was thought. D'Artaguette, himself, had a large grant on the west side of the Mississippi at Cannes Bruslés (Burnt Canes). At this time, early in 1708, the colony consisted of fourteen officers, seventy- six soldiers, thirteen sailors, three priests, six mechanics, one Indian interpreter, twenty-four laborers, twenty-eight women, twenty-six children and eighty Indian slaves. All the others had been cut off by death or had returned to France. About this time D'Eraque and six men were sent to the Illinois country with orders to the French there to prevent war being made by thie Indians of the upper Mississippi against those of the lower stream. These men visited Kaskaskia and Cahokia, and journeyed a long distance up the Missouri river, having in view particularly the establishment of peace with all the tribes along that river and its branches, especially the Osage river.
The death of D'Iberville was the occasion of an attack on the character of D'Bienville. The only physician in the colony, Bar- rot, attempted to weaken his influence. D'La Salle, whom the his- torian Gayarre depicts as a public nuisance, did everything in his power to crush D'Bienville.' The latter felt that, owing to the fact that he had so few soldiers, his prestige with the Indians had almost entirely vanished. Two parties arose: One which sus- tained D'Bienville, and one which bitterly opposed hin. At a period in which all should have been united, all were at sword's points, writing violent and more or less false letters to the French court, and doing everything in their power to crush the opposition and rise to the control of affairs. D'Bienville did not take the proper precautions to protect his name with the French minister, and accordingly was dismissed by that individual upon the reit- crated requests of his enemies and without having been heard in his own defense. After the death of D'Muys, who was appointed
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to succeed him, the ministry seems to have gained more light on the subject, because D'Bienville was reappointed and D'LaSalle was recalled. A reaction followed and the administration of D'Bien- ville was approved. Diron D'Artaguette, who had been appointed to succeed D'La Salle, reported that the accusations against the governor were slanders of the most pronounced character. In the meantime the colony languished, and it is not to be wondered at. The population remained at a standstill, there being not over two hundred and eighty persons of settled habits in the colony. In addition, there were about sixty Canadian traders who con- stantly shifted their locations. There were about 102 cattle, 1,400 hogs and 2,000 fowls in the colony. This was the state of things in 1708.
Little continued to be done of a self-sustaining nature, and in 1700 the colonists were reduced to a sustenance of acorns. D'Bienville requested that he might be permitted to exchange his Indian slaves for negroes, offering three Indians for two negroes ; but his request was not well received by the ministry. He further requested that a few of the colonists who had managed to make some money, and desired to return to France, should be prevented from doing so. It was not long before the old recriminations against D'Bienville broke out with greater violence than ever ; but he now was awake to the slanders and retaliated with as much vir- ulence as his enemies. Provisions became so scarce in 1710 that the men in the colony were distributed around among the Indians in order that they might obtain food. In this miserable condition the colony passed to Crozat.
Prior to 1712 military law ruled the Louisiana colony. The military commandant was chief constabulary and chief executive. His word was law, but he was accountable to his king, and was sometimes sharply taken to task. Considering the weakness of the colony and the comparative strength of the British settle- ments on the Atlantic coast, the wonder grows why the latter did not, during some of the wars between France and England, invade and capture the feeble French establishments on the Mississippi. Had England taken such a course at an early date, she would have been saved the tremendous strain of the Seven Years' War. In 1712 the total population of Canada was about 18,000, while that of the English colonies was fully 400,000. How easy it would have been, with the aid of the Iroquois and the Chickasaws, the latter called "the Iroquois of the South," to have crossed the Alleghanies to the Monongahela, thence sailed down to the mouth
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of the Ohio, where they could have fortified a powerful post, and prepared for operations both up and down the Mississippi. An army of 5,000 whites and as many Indians could easily have per- formed this exploit, and within one year have transformed Louis- iana into an English dependency. This could have been done by the British Atlantic colonies, without asking the mother country . for a dollar or a man. Think of the enormous expenditures of blood and treasure at a later date by the English, and wonder why a conquest that could have been so cheaply bought was not ordered into execution during Queen Anne's War from 1702 to 1713. The only excuse offered for not having done so is that the acquisi- tion of Louisiana was not considered worth the price of its pur- chase. The genius of Pitt a little later retrieved this oversight.
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CHAPTER IV
The Grant to Crozat
N EVER under the sun was there a more promising or a more beautiful land than that which was given to the merchant Crozat. Never was there a man better fitted from per- sonal experience to measure the new country at its true worth. It had been a time for memory and for tears; but now the won- derful fertility of the soil, the balm of the climate, the kisses of the fragrant winds, the cheerful music of the rivers, and the land- scapes spread out in hazy enchantment, invited millions from plebeian existence in Europe to the nobility of free and happy homes in the New World. Would the promises of the exhaust- less acres and the sweetness of domestic life meet a responsive sound in the breast of the cavalier, who had sprung from an ancestry of gold-worshippers and from a history of chivalric con- quest ? Did Crozat possess the superb penetration that bases the wealth of a state upon the innumerable products of the soil? Were the bloody lessons of Mexico and Peru destined still to spread a ganzy cobweb of gold over the brain of European mer- chants and statesmen? It was the duty of Crozat to go to his colony, and give it the light of his personal supervision. It remained for him to crown the achievements of his life with an immediate dissipation of the idle dreams about Louisiana. Ilis opportunity was to visit the colony, learn of its minerals, ascertain the wealth of the soil, publish the truth to the world, and build up an empire from the prodigal gifts of nature. His mission was to eliminate from the bright prospect the restless cavalier, the unprincipled adventurer, the disaffected noble, and to herald on every European breeze the certainty of permanent contentment and abundant means in beautiful Louisiana. An excellent com-
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mentary on the times is afforded by an observation of what he did in this splendid opportunity.
On the 17th of March, 1713, the frigate Baron de la Fosse arrived at Mobile with the news that a treaty of peace had recently been concluded at Utrecht between France and England. This intelligence was received with the roar of cannons. It was also learned that the king had granted a monopoly of the colony for a term of years to M. Crozat, who designed to improve the conditions prevailing in Louisiana to the utmost, for his own profit and for the happiness and prosperity of the people. Among the passengers on the above vessels was Antoine de la Motte Cadillac, who had been appointed governor-general of Louisiana, and his family consisting of Mde. de la Motte, their sons and daughter and servants. On the same vessel came twenty-five young women from Brittany, who had volunteered to cast their lots in the new colony under M. Crozat, with the expectation of securing husbands and obtaining respectable homes. Under this new regime M. Duclos became intendant commissary ; M. Le Bas, comptroller of finances; M. De Richebourg, M. Dirigoin and La Loire des Ursins, agents and directors of the proprietor, M. Crozat. At the time the colony was thus turned bodily nolens volens over to M. Crozat, it comprised about four hundred persons, and by this time twenty negroes had been added to the inhabitants, all the slaves of the whites. There were not to exceed three hun- dred horned cattle in the colony. The ship that brought over these people also brought an immense supply of arms, ammu- nition and provisions, all of which was deposited in the magazines and public stores for future distribution. The old colonists were now jubilant, because it was thought their season of trials and dangers was past. Everybody assumed a more cheerful tone, and all began to put their hearts in their work of building up homes in Louisiana. Many grants were made along the Mississippi in what is now Louisiana, on both sides of the river. The proprietor ordered Frenchmen sent westward and eastward to the colonies of the Spaniards in Mexico and Florida, for purposes of trade; and others were ordered sent to the Illinois country to explore for mines of any valuable mineral. MM. Jonquiere and Dirigoin, the latter one of the directors of the proprietor, were sent to Vera Cruz to exchange merchandise for the cattle and horses of the Spaniards, and if possible to establish a free trade between Louis- iana and Mexico. The latter request was refused, but the for- mer was partially complied with, wherenpon the Frenchmen were ordered to depart from the country. Agents were sent up the
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Mississippi with instructions to visit all the Indian tribes and exchange merchandise for their valuable furs. Every means was sought by the proprietor to make his patent profitable. His fortune, as well as his reputation, was at stake. But he did not understand the country. He made the same mistake they all made in supposing the land was flowing with gold, silver and jewels. He also presumed that an immense fortune could be made from the furs alone, and he was right if he could have had a cold country and the monopoly of that trade.
The Marquis du Chatel, otherwise known as M: Crozat, to whom the king granted Louisiana, September 14, 1712, for the term of fifteen years, was an able and prominent financier, who had rendered himself conspicuous during the reign of Louis XIV. The patent reads as follows :
"Lou's, by the grace of God, King of France and Navarre: To all who shall see these present Letters, Greeting. The care. we have always had to procure the welfare and advantage of our subjects have induced us, notwithstanding the almost continual wars which we have been obliged to support from the beginning of our reign, to seek for all possible opportunities of enlarging and extending the trade of our American colonies, we did in the year 1683 give our orders to undertake a discovery of the coun- tries and lands which are situated in the northern part of Amer- ica, between New France and New Mexico; and the Sieur de la Salle, to whom we committed that enterprise having had success enough to confirm a belief that a communication might be settled from New France to the Gulf of Mexico by means of large rivers ; this obliged us immediately after the peace of Ryswick to give orders for the establishing a Colony there, and maintaining a garrison which has kept and preserved the possession, we had taken in the very year 1683 of the Lands, Coasts and Islands which are situated in the Gulf of Mexico between Carolina on the east and Old and New Mexico on the west. But a new war having broke out in Europe shortly after, there was no possibility till now of reaping from that new colony the advantages that might have been expected from thence, because the private men who are concerned in the sea trade, were all under engagements with other colonies, which they have been obliged to follow; and whereas upon information we have received concerning the disposition and situation of the said countries known at present by the name of the Province of Louisiana, we are of opinion that there may be established therein a considerable commerce, so much the more advantageous to our kingdom in that there has
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hitherto been a necessity of fetching from foreigners the great- est part of the commodities which may be brought from thence, and because in exchange thereof we need carry thither nothing but commodities of the growth and manufacture of our own kingdom : we have resolved to grant the commerce of the country of Louisiana to the Sieur Anthony Crozat our Councillor, Secre- tary of the Household, Crown and Revenue, to whom we entrust the execution of this project. We are the more readily inclined hereto, because his zeal and the singular knowledge he has acquired in maritime commerce, encouraged us to hope for as good success as he has hitherto had in the divers and sundry enterprises he has gone upon, and which have procured to our kingdom great quantities of gold and silver in such conjunctures as have rendered them very acceptable to us.
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"For these reasons being desirous to show our favor to him, and to regulate the conditions upon which we mean to grant him the said commerce, after having deliberated this affair in our Council, of our certain knowledge, full power and royal author- ity, we by these presents signed by our hand, have appointed and do appoint the said Sieur Crozat solely to carry on a trade in all the lands possessed by us and bounded by New Mexico and by the lands of the English of Carolina, all the establishments, ports, havens, rivers, and principally the port and haven of the Isle of Dauphine, heretofore called Massacre; the river of St. Louis, heretofore called Mississippi, from the edge of the sea as far as the Illinois; together with the river of St. Philip, heretofore called the Missouri; and of St. Jerome, heretofore called Oua- bache, with all the countries, territories, lakes within land, and the rivers which fall directly or indirectly into that part of the river of St. Louis.
"I. Our pleasure is, that all the aforesaid Lands, Countries, Streams, Rivers and Islands be and remain under the Government of Louisiana, which shall be dependent upon the General Gov- ernment of New France, to which it is subordinate; and further, that all the lands which we possess from the Illinois be united, so far as occasion requires, to the General Government of New France, and become part thereof, reserving however to ourselves the liberty of enlarging, as we shall think fit, the extent of the government of the Country of Louisiana.
"II. We grant to the said Sieur Crozat for fifteen successive years, to be reckoned from the day of enrolling these presents, a right and power to transport all sorts of goods and merchandise from France into the said Country of Louisiana, and to traffic
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thither as he shall think fit. We forbid all and every person and persons, company and companies, of what quality and condition soever, and under any pretence whatever, to trade thither, under penalty of confiscation of goods, ships and other more severe pun- ishments, as occasion shall require ; and for this purpose we order our Governors and other officers commanding our troops in the said country forcibly to abet and assist the directors and agents of the said Sieur Crozat."
He was permitted to open all sorts of mines in Louisiana, and was required to turn over one-fifth of the gold, pearls and precious stones discovered, and one-tenth of the product of other mines, to the king. It was stipulated that his proprietary in the mines should be forfeited if they were left unworked for the period of three years. He was granted the exclusive right to vend all sorts of merchandise, including powder and fire-arms to the whites and the Indians ; and was likewise granted the exchi- sive right to buy of the natives or otherwise furs, skins, leather, wool, etc., but was forbidden to deal in castor (beaver). He was given property in all settlements for the culture of silk, indigo, wool, leather, and the working of mines, veins, minerals, mills, etc., and the ownership of lands on which the same should be sit- uated. Three years of neglect worked a forfeiture. 'The "edicts, ordinances and customs and the usages of the mayoralty and. shrievalty of Paris" were prescribed for the laws and customs "in the said country of Louisiana." Crozat was required to send to Louisiana every year two ships laden with "twenty-five tuns of victuals, effects and necessary amunition for the maintenance of the garrison and forts of the Louisiana :" and to carry out the troops destined for the colony. "He shall be furthermore obliged to send on board each ship, which he shall cause to set out for the said country, ten young men or women, at his own election." The king bound himself to furnish Crozat ten thousand pounds of gunpowder each year at actual cost. All wares and merchan- dise sent out by Crozat to his colonies were exempted from duty ; and all exported by him, or re-exported from French ports, were likewise exempted. In case he desired goods, not to be obtained in France, he could procure them by passing them through the government custom-houses. 'The canoes, feluccas and other ves- sels owned by the king, thien in Louisiana, were ordered turned over to Crozat, upon condition that he should replace them at the end of his charter .:
"XIV. If for the cultures and plantations which the said Sieur Crozat is minded to make, he finds it proper to have blacks in the
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said country of the Louisiana, he may send a ship every year to trade for them directly upon the coast of Guinea, taking permis- sion from the Guinea Company so to do; he may sell those blacks to the inhabitants of the colony of Louisiana, and we forbid all other companies and persons whatsoever, under any pretense whatsoever, to introduce blacks, or traffic for them in the said country, nor shall the said Sieur Crozat carry any blacks else- where."
"XV. He shall not send any ships into the said country of Louisiana but directly from France, and he shall cause the said ships to return thither again ; the whole under pain of confiscation and forfeiture of the present privilege."
"XVI. The said Sieur Crozat shall be obliged, after the expira- tion of the first nine years of this grant, to pay the officers and the garrison which shall be in said country during the six last years of the continuance of this present privilege: the said Sieur Crozat may in that time propose and nominate the officers, as vacancies shall fall, and such officers shall be confirmed by us if we approve them."
The terms of the charter to Crozat were as liberal as could be desired. It remained now for that shrewd business man to work success from the deplorable conditions. In the colony were about three hundred persons, besides seventy-five Canadian traders and one hundred soldiers. In addition there were prob- ably twenty negroes and a number of Indian slaves. But Crozat himself did not put in an appearance. He attempted by proxy to succeed in a most difficult undertaking, where tremendous energy, large expenditures and supreme tact and experience were requi- site. Crozat so far misunderstood the conditions as to instruct Cadillac to look for mines and seek the far-off and elusive trade of Mexico. Ere long there were again two parties struggling for the mastery and control, as if the mastery was really worth strug- gling after, with Cadillac the leader of one side, and D'Bien- ville the leader of the other. Unquestionably, the latter, though only lieutenant governor, was endeavoring to dictate the policy. of colonial administration. Cadillac was not the man to receive unsolicited advice with perfect equanimity, much less could he endure dictation ; war between the factions therefore resulted. Cadillac refused even to be dictated to by the company. When told to give every encouragement to agriculture, he appeared to take great offense ; and instead of doing so continued his search after precious stones. He wrote to the ministry, "Give the colon- ists as much land as they please. Why stint the measure? The
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