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. II > Part 14
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But this result was an innovation in the immemorial policy of colonial exclusion of the Spanish government, and almost com- pletely obliterated certain revenues which were sacred to the Spanish sovereign, by flooding all of Louisiana with the contra- band (forbidden) of the United States. This finality had been anticipated and dreaded by the Spanish ministry. The proxim- ity of the Western states to Louisiana, the cheapness with which
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the goods sent down the river could be produced, and the case with which they could be placed in the hands of the Spanish con- sumer, enabled the industrious Americans to undersell Spain throughout the whole of Louisiana. The people readily bought from the American flatboats rather than from the Spanish vessels, because the prices of the former for the same articles were lower and usually the products were fresher and better. The Spanish duty on contraband was easily evaded by smuggling; and on staple articles, there being no duty, the Spanish producers were again undersold, owing mainly to the astonishing fertility of the American soil, and hence to the immense crops that were raised in the Ohio valley. The result was to place in the pockets of the Americans the revennes which had been dedicated from time immemorial to the Spanish crown. Complaints in regard to this state of things were made as early as 1798, and continued to grow in volume and severity during the next two years.
In the spring of 18of it became known in New Orleans that Louisiana 'had been retroceded to France, after which the com- plaints largely ceased, because the Spanish crown demands for revenues were no longer made or heard. Early in 1802 it became known in New Orleans that French officials and troops were soon to be sent to Louisiana to take formal possession of the posts, properties and revenues. The reasons for hostility to the Amer- ican trade were thus removed by the transfer of ownership, because the colonial policies of France and Spain were in many respects essentially unlike. It was at once realized that the com- mercial policy of France would be a dominant fa & r in Louisiana affairs, because France at this time was extremely pressed for ready money and the resumption of war with England was a probability of the near future. It was realized that the authority of Spain over Louisiana had passed to the republic of France, and that the citizens in that province would be required to con- tribute their share to the advancement of the French standard under the guidance of the Great Napoleon. While, therefore, Spanish authority in New Orleans had not yet been formally relinquished to France, the sovereignty of the latter over the future destiny of the province was distinctly recognized and in many things observed. Many of the citizens were French -- probably as many as were Spanish. Under the benign and righteous intiu- ence of the "Family Compact" they had learned to dwell together in unity ; but the French had not forgotten Governor O'Reilly nor the joys of living under the lilies of France. Such were ready to
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welcome the old glory of French military trappings, splendo: :. : heroics.
The scheme of Napoleon for colonizing Louisiana kindle d 1: liveliest sentiments of pleasure and pride in the breasts of 1. French residents. The New France that was thus to be create : west of the Mississippi, with New Orleans for its capital an ! metropolis, was a theme to conjure by ; and dreams of the grand- eur to be were not lacking among the romantic and emotional inhabitants. The belief was freely and openly confessed at New Orleans in 1801 and 1802. that the citizens of the western portion of the United States, because it would be made immensely to their advantage to do so, would voluntarily separate from the Atlantic states and apply for admission to the new republic or empire that was to be erected over the ashes of wigwams and the graves of their savage possessors. Already the authority exercised in the name of Spain was largely perfunctory ; and the star of Napo- leon, even in New Orleans in 1So2, attained a purity and brilliancy which it never acquired amid the intrigues and jealousies of the Parisian consulate. The distance that lent enchantment to the view hid from car and eye the dreadful din and bloody pictures of the European battlefields. Here the rhapsodical features shone out like a will-of-the-wisp, but the fitful light brought peace and content.
French influences were already at work in Louisiana. The name of Napoleon was on every tongue and every breeze. It was well known at New Orleans that the government of the United States was hostile to the French occupancy of the province, pri- marily because the ambition of Napoleon to found a new and dazzling empire or republic in Louisiana indicated if it did not portend the threatened division of the Union. President Jefferson wrote to Paris that the possession of Louisiana by France meant probable war between that country and the United States; in which case Great Britain and the latter would join forces on land and sea. To what extent this prediction would prove true became a matter of much solicitude to Napoleon, who read with intense interest the elaborate communications of Mr. Livingston, describ- ing the views of the United States, particularly those of the west- em inhabitants, in regard to the acquisition of Louisiana by the French republic. From Mr. Livingston it was learned by Napo- leon that the navigation of the Mississippi and the right of deposit at New Orleans or some other suitable place, were prized so highly by the western people and were so necessary to their prosperity,
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that a war of extinction would be waged by them before they would consent to their relinquishment. With this view of the case, it is surely not necessary to state that Napoleon saw his opportunity to strengthen wonderfully his American colonial domain. He saw that above all things, should the New France which he had projected be established, the acquisition of the Western states was the most to be desired; because it meant the absolute and exclusive domination of the Mississippi river by France, the perfection of the Napoleonic colonial scheme in Amer- ica, and the certain removal of all future entanglements with the United States. What, then, was the first thing that should be done? Plainly to ascertain the temper and sentiments of the peo- ple living between the Alleghany mountains and the Mississippi river. How could that be accomplished ? By obstructing their commercial privileges at New Orleans, as had been done previ- ously by Spain prior to the treaty of 1795. And fortunately for Napoleon, inasmuch as the province of Louisiana, though owned by France, had not yet been delivered to her, the deposits of the western people in New Orleans could be stopped at the instigation of the Grench government and the wrath of the Americans be diverted to Spain, which yet held outward possession. While it is not certain that the French government issned such an order to the intendant at New Orleans, the preponderance of evidence implies that the interdiction of the deposits in October, 1802, was occasioned by the indirect demand of some person high in author- ity in France. But however occasioned, the intendant issued the following writ of interdiction :
"As long as it was necessary to tolerate the commerce of Hell- trals which is now abolished, it would have been prejudicial to the province, had the Intendant, in compliance with his duty, pre- vented the deposit in this city, of the property of the Americans, granted to them by the twenty-second article of the treay of friendship, limits and navigation, of the 27th of October, 1795, during the limited term of three years. With the publication of the ratification of the treaty of Amiens, and the re-establishment of the communication between the English and Spanish subjects, that inconvenience has ceased. Considering that the twenty- second article of the said treaty takes from me the power of con- tinuing the toleration which necessity required; since after the fulfillment of the said term, this ministry can no longer consent to
· American State Papers.
· 11-10
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it without an express order of the King : therefore, and withes: prejudice to the exportation of what has been admitted in prop : time, l order, that from this date, the privilege which the Anker. icans had of importing and depositing their merchandise an ! effects in this capital, shall be interdicted : and, that the foregoing may be publicly known, and that nobody may allege ignorance, 1 order it to be published in the usual places, copies to be posted up in the public sitioes : and that the necessary notice be given of ' it to the officers of finance, the administrator of rents, and other - wise, as may be necessary. The present being given under my band, and countersigned by the underwritten notary of finance pro tempore, in the office of Intendency of New Orleans, October 16, 1802.
"JUAN VENTURA MORALES, "By order of the Intendant :
1
"PEDRO PEDESCLAUX." ·
When the news of the interdiction at New Orleans reached Mr. Pinckney at Madrid, he protested vigorously, and was answered that the Spanish government had issued no such order. He there- upon wrote to the Spanish minister of state the following letter : . "It is with particular pleasure I received from Your Excellency the information that this order of the Intendant had been issued by him without the knowledge of His Majesty or his Government, and that orders should be immediately sent to New Orleans, to the Intendant and proper authorities there, to regulate the com- merce and intercourse of the citizens of the United States in that port by the treaty of 1795, and to place the stone on the footing; it had been from the foundation of that treaty to the issuing of the Intendant's order."
The issuance of the interdiction caused great excitement at all the American settlements on the Mississippi and its branches 10 their uttermost ramifications. W. C. C. Claiborne, governor of Mississippi territory, in a letter dated October 28, 1802, asked Manual de Salcedo, governor of the province of Louisiana, "whether, since the deposit at New Orleans had been interdicted 'an equivalent establishment' had been assigned at another place on the Mississippi, according to treaty, for the deposit of American merchandise and effects." Governor Garrard of Kentucky in a letter to President Jefferson said. "The citizens of this state are very much alarmed and agitated, as this measure of the Spanish government will, (if not altered) at one blow, cut up the present and future prosperity of their best interests by the roots." Mr.
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Madison wrote to Mr. Pinckney on November 27, that "this pro- cceding is so direct and palpable a violation of the treaty of 1795 that in candor it is to be imputed rather to the Intendant solely than to instructions of his Government. The Spanish minister takes pains to impress this belief. . . But from whatever source the measure may have proceeded, the President expects that the Spanish Government will neither lose a moment in coun- termanding it, nor hesitate to repair every damage which may result from it. You are aware of the sensibility of our western citizens to such an occurrence. This sensibility is justified by the interest they have at stake. The Mississippi is to them every- thing."# The legislature of Kentucky passed a memorial to con- gress, complaining of the act of the Spanish authorities. Meet- ings of indignant citizens were held at many places throughout the west to protest against the act and ask for the removal of the interdiction.
The whole Mississippi situation, so far as it was known at that date, was laid bare in congress in February, 1803, by a protracted discussion which continued through several days. In the senate the discussion was occasioned by resolutions introduced by Mr. Ross of Pennsylvania. He took a strong position which meant the forcible occupation of New Orleans and the maintenance of American rights with militia and the regular army. Among other things he said :;
"To the free navigation of that river we had an undoubted right from nature, and from the position of our western country. This right and the right of deposit in the Island of New Orleans had been soleumly acknowledged and fixed by treaty in 1795. That treaty had been in actual operation and execution for many years ; and now without any pretense of abuse or violation on our part, the officers of the Spanish Government deny the right, refuse the place of deposit, and add the most offensive of all insults, by forbidding us from landing on any part of their territory and shut- ting us out as a common nuisance. By whom has this outrage been offered? By those who have constantly acknowledged our right, and now tell us that they are no longer owners of the coun- try. They have given it away, and because they have no longer a right themselves, therefore they turn us out who have an undoubted right. Such an insult, such unprovoked malignity of conduct, no nation but this would affect to mistake. And yet we
* American State Papers.
1 Annals of Congress.
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do not only hesitate as to the course which interest and honor ... "! us to pursue, but we bear it with patience, tameness and appart :.: unconcern. The calamity lights upon all those who 1 ... upon the western waters-a half million cut off from market."
Continuing, he said, "Look at the memorial from the legislature of the Mississippi territory now on your table :* that speaks a lan- guage and displays a spirit not to be mistaken. Their lives and fortunes are pledged to support you. The same may with equal `truth be asserted of Kentucky, Tennessee and the western people of Virginia and Pennsylvania. Is this a spirit to be repressed or put asleep by negotiation? If you suffer it to be extinguished, can you recall it in the hour of distress when you want it ? . . Suppose they (the western people) do go and do chase away the present oppressors and in the end are overpowered and defeated by a stronger foe than the present feeble possessors. They will never return to you, for you cannot protect them. They will make the best compromise they can with the Power commanding the month of the river, who in effect has thereby the command of their fortunes. Will such a bargain be of light or trivial moment to the Atlantic States? Bonaparte will then say to you, my French West India colonies and those of my allies can be supplied from my colony of Louisiana with flour, pork, beef, lum- her and any other necessary. These articles can be carried by my own ships, navigated by my own sailors. Ifyou on the Atlantic coast wish to trade with my colonies in those articles, you must pay fifteen or twenty per cent of an impost. We want no further supplies from you, and revente to Find must be the was hers of all future intercourse. What will you say to this? It will be vain to address your western brethren, and complain your com- merce is ruined, your revenue dwindles, and your condition is desperate. They will reply that you came not to their assistance when you might have saved them."
Having been interrupted in the course of his remarks, he resumed two days later and, among other things, said, "I have urged the importance of our rights in the navigation of the Mis- sissippi, founded in nature and acknowledged by compact. This is the great and only highway of commerce from the western country to the ocean. The Spaniards after a long execution of this treaty, have now flagrantly violated it and shut us out from all intercourse and from the right of deposit : they have plundered
. This was a protest against the interdiction, and an intimation that Mississippi territory was ready to assist in it , abrogation.
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our citizens upon the occan : carried our vessels into their ports and condemned them without the semblance of a trial. Our sea- men have been cast into prison and our merchants ruined. Thus assailed upon the ocean and upon the land by a long course of oppression and hostility without provocation and without apology, I know of but one course we can take which promises complete redress of our wrongs. Experience has proved that the compact is no security ; the Spaniards either cannot or will not observe their treaty. If they are under the direction of a stronger Power (France was referred to),* who will not permit them to adhere to their stipulations, or if they of their own accord inflict these indig- nities under a belief that we dare not resent them, it is equally incumbent upon us to act withont farther delay. The aggressors are heaping indignity upon you at your own door, at the very bor- ders of your territory, and tell you at the same time they have no right to the country from whence they exclude you. If they act thus without right, why not enforce yours by taking possession ? Will you submit to be taken by the neck and kicked out without a stinggle? Is there not spirit enough in the country to repel and punish such unheard-of insolence? Is not the magnitude of the interest at stake such as to warrant the most vigorous and decisive course which can express public indignation ? Go then, take the guardianship of our rights upon yourselves, trust it no longer to those who have so grossly abused the power they have had over it; reinstate yourselves in the possession of that which has been wrested from you and withheld by faithless men, who confess themselves no longer the owners of the country over which they are exercising these acts of injustice and outringe. Non- tion may perhaps, be wise; but this is the effectund measure to support it. When it is seen that you have determined to support your just demands with force, that you have already taken into your hands an ample pledge for future security and good behavior, your ambassador will be respected and attended to. But what weight will his remonstrance have in any country of Europe, when they hear of no military preparations to vindicate your pre- tensions, when they learn that you have been chased out of a pos- session confessedly your right, that you have been insultingly told, Begone, you shall not buy, you shall not sell, you are such a nui- sance we will have no intercourse with you? . It may be said that the Executive is pursuing another and very different course. The Executive will certainly pursue the course desig-
. This reference to France should be particularly noted.
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nated by the legislature. To the congress has been confided tt .: power of deciding what shall be done in all cases of hostility b. foreign Powers. There can be no doubt that by the law of natt :: and nations we are clearly authorized to employ force for our redress in such a case as this; that we have a just right to tal .. such measures as will prevent a repetition of the mischief and afford ample security for the future quiet enjoyment of the vio- lated right. If we leave it entirely to the Executive he can ons employ negotiation as being the sole means in his power. .
. . What will honorable gentlemen say on their return home to a peo- ple pressed by the heavy hand of this calamity when they inquire, What has been done? What are our hopes? How long will the obstruction continue? You answer: We have provided a rem- edy but it is secret (the debates and proceedings on this question were kept secret by congress). We are not allowed to speak of it there, much less here. It was only committed to confidential men in whispers, with closed doors; but by and by you will see it operate like enchantment ; it is a sovereign balsam which will heal your wounded honor ; it is a potent spell, or a kind of patent med- icine which will extinguish and forever put at rest the devouring spirit which has desolated so many nations of Europe. .
. This idle talk may amuse children. But the men of that country will not be satisfied. They will tell you that they expected better things of you, that their confidence has been misplaced, and will not wait the operation of your newly invented drugs; they will go and redress themselves. I say also let us go and redress our- selves ; you will have the whole nation with you. On no question since the Declaration of Independence has the nation felt so unanimous as upon this. . As to myself or my friend no agency is wished except that of uniting with you in rousing the spirit and calling out the resources of the country, to protect itself against serious aggression and the total suebjetion and loss of the western country. If you act boldly and promptly, with perfect unanimity, you will have no war, you will meet with no resistance. If the Spaniards resist you in taking possession of what by treaty they have acknowledged to be yours and what they now confess does not belong to them, the war certainly begins with them. Under all these circumstances, with these offers of support, can gentlemen doubt, can they venture to cry, Peace, peace, when there is no peace, but a sword? I entreat gentlemen to consider my resolution with candor. My intentions are solely the attain- ment of an object the loss of which will destroy the country where I reside and hazard the Union itself. If gentlemen think
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the proposed means inadequate, I will agree to enlarge them with cheerfulness; all I wish is that effectual means be voted and employed in this golden moment, which if lost never will return." He concluded by introducing the following resolution :*
"Resolved, That the United States have an indisputable right to the free navigation of the river Mississippi, and to a convenient place of deposit for their produce and merchandise in the Island of New Orleans ; that the late infraction of such, their unquestion- able right, is an aggression hostile to their honor and interest ; that it does not consort with the dignity or safety of this Union to hold a right so important by a tenure so uncertain; that it materially concerns such of the American citizens as dwell on the western waters, and is essential to the union, strength and pros- perity of these States, that they obtain complete security for the full and peaccable enjoyment of such their absolute right; that the President be authorized to take immediate possession of such place or places in the said island, or the adjacent territories as he may deem fit and convenient for the purposes aforesaid, and to adopt such other measures for obtaining that complete security as to him in his wisdom shall seem meet ; that he be anthorized to call into actual service any number of the militia of the States of South Carolina, Georgia, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, or of the Mississippi Territory, which he may think proper, not exceeding fifty thousand, and to employ them, together with the military and naval forces of the Union, for effecting the objects above men- tioned; that the sum of five millions of dollars be appropriated to the carrying into effect the foregoing resolutions, and that the whole or any part of that says he peal or ap; lied, on warrants drawn in pursuance of such directions as the President way from time to time think proper to give to the Secretary of the Treas- ury."
In spite of the secrecy enjoined upon the members of congress, the substance of the proceedings became known generally through- out the country and occasioned all shades of opinion among the partisans. The western people were highly pleased with the resolutions of Mr. Ross. They, as well as the substance of his speech, became known in every court of Europe, and did not a little to apprise other nations that it was possible to go too far in presuming that the United States would not defend its rights and its sovereignty. The resolutions were employed to excellent effect by Mr. Livingston in his negotiations with France to secure
. Annals of Congress .
العد وة له
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the cession of New Orleans, the Floridas, or portions of Louisiana to the United States. They were shown to Napoleon, Talleyrand and others, and the point was made that the United States wound never relinquish its right to the navigation of the Mississippi l .: "with their political existence." They were really the stronge ; argument used by Mr. Livingston to convince the French govern ment that the refusal to revoke the interdiction of the deposit. meant war with the United States." But as his course was pre- cisely what Napoleon designed, and what probably had resulted already from his indirect order to the intendant, the effect of the resolutions and the speech of Mr. Ross must have been strong with the first consul. He became satisfied that if the western people would undoubtedly go to war to maintain their right to the navigation of the Mississippi, they would not hesitate to sep arate themselves from the Atlantic states and attach themselves to New France ( Louisiana) to gain that right, rather than enter into a war with the powerful French republic in an attempt to obtain the same object. Great Britain was pleased with the reso- lutions, because they indicated that the United States would oppose the possession of the month of the Mississippi by France. Spain would no doubt support any position which France might assume. These were the flames lighted over the world by the resolutions. Every power that had an interest, direct or indirect, in the owner- ship of the month of the Mississippi, reflected seriously on these proceedings of congress.
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