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 21
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"Sir: His Majesty the King having given orders to his min- ister near the United States of America to make known to that government the absolute muillity of the proceedings of France in disposing of Louisiana, which she had formally and positively engaged not to sell, I now communicate the same to you, in order that you may submit it to your government, which will thus receive it by distinct channels. At the same time, I must inform you, in reply to the assurance given me by you at our last con- ference that France had also ceded West Florida, that the said province never has at any time or by any title belonged to the French."
"I am &c PEDRO CERVALLOS."*
The opposition of Spain to the cession of Louisiana to the United States was communicated to the latter from Madrid by Charles Pinckney on August 2, 1803, in the following words : "He (Cervallos) then went on to converse with me on the sub- ject of the cession of Louisiana by the French to us, in which he expressed an opinion so important and extraordinary that I made a point of transmitting it to you by the post the next day by the rout of Lisbon, and which I trust you will soon received The substance was this: That in the cession of Louisiana by Spain to France, there was a secret article that France should never part with Louisiana except to Spain ; that if she ( France) should
* History of France; Wright.
+ American State Papers,
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ever wish to dispose of it, Spain should always have the right of pre-emption ; from which he argued that France had not the right to make such cession without the consent of Spain, and that he was astonished our commissioners had not applied to their Gov- emment to know the actual terms upon which France was to receive Lonisiana, and in fact to examine their title. I answered him by saying that he could not be more astonished at their not doing so than I was at his remark ; that he well knew Mr. Living. ston and myself had been applying for upwards of a year inces- santly to the Governments of France and Spain to know if Louisi- ana was ceded and upon what terms ; that for more than a year the most guarded silence was observed by both and that at last when Spain had answered and avowed the cession, not a word was men- tioned in his ( Mr. Cervallos's) letter to me of any secret article; that the letter only avowed the cession and that it had been made subject to the conditions of our treaty ; that I had transmitted this to Mr. Livingston and Mr. Monroe ; and I asked whether after the sight of this letter from him, acknowledging the cession, they could for a moment doubt the perfect right of France to sell. I then further asked him whether if Spain still continued in pos- session and our Government ratified the treaty there would be any hesitation on the part of His Majesty to give us the possession : to which he made no positive reply, nor could I bring him to do so during the whole evening. I could easily discover in the course of it that there exists at present much uneasiness on the part of this court with respect to the conduct of France in the sale of Louisiana, and particularly in the opation held by our com- missioners that it includes West Florida, which both Mr. Cerval- los and the Prince of Peace ( Godoy) expressly deny."
The action of the Spanish minister at Washington was equally emphatic and decisive. Mr. Madison wrote to Mr. Livingston on October 6, "Mr. Pinckney ( the American minister to Spain ) will doubtless have communicated to you his conversation with Mr. Cervallos (the Spanish prime minister), in which the latter denied the right of France to alienate Louisiana to the United States, alleging a secret stipulation by France not to alienate .* Two notes on the same subject have lately been presented here by the Marquis de Yrujo. In the first dated September 4, he enters a caveat against the right of France to alienate Louisiana, found- ing it on a declaration of the French ambassador at Madrid in July, 1802, that France would never part with that territory; and
. France freins to have deliberately violated this stipulation.
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affirming that on no other condition Spain would have ceded it to France. In the second note dated September 27, it is urged as an additional objection to the treaty between the United States and France, that the French Government had never completed the title of France, having failed to procure the stipulated recog- nition of the King of Etruria from Russia and Great Britain, which was a condition on which Spain agreed to cede the country to France." Mr. Madison presented conclusive arguments against the tenability of the Spanish opposition. Among other things he cited the reply of the Spanish prime minister to Mr. Pinckney at Madrid early in May that, "the entire province of Louisiana, with the limits it had when held by France, was retro- ceded to that Power, and that the United States might address themselves to the French Government in order to negotiate the acquisition of the territories which would suit their interest." He stated that the United States should proceed to carry out the provisions of the treaty. He further said, "The United States have obtained by just and honorable means a clear title to a terri- tory too valuable in itself and too important to their tranquillity and security not to be effectually maintained. And they count on every positive concurrence on the part of the French Govern- ment which the occasion may demand from their friendship and their good faith."
The Spanish opposition to the treaty was grounded on the fol- lowing principal reasons: 1. That the French government had contracted with the king of Spain the most solemn engagement never to alienate the province : 2. That the conditions under which France secured Louisiana by the treaty of San Ildefonso bad not been fulfilled, and therefore France could not convey a good and sufficient title. These objections were presented and argued by El Marquis de Casa Yrujo, the Spanish ambassador at Washing- ton, in communications to the secretary of state. The latter sent copies of the letters to the French ambassador at Washington, and requested to hear from him on the subject. On the first point above he replied that "the treaty of St. Ildefonso retrocedes Louisiana in full sovereignty and without any limitation as to the future domain of France. To operate a limitation so essential as is that to which the Court of Madrid appeals, nothing less would have been necessary, according to the nature of contracts in gen- . eral and of treaties in particular, than a stipulation to this effect inserted in the treaty itself .* A promise made fifteen months after
. Observe that the French ambassador did not deny the claim that his govern- ment had promised not to alienate 1 ousiana.
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the signature of this pact, and which might on one side have been yielded to the solicitations of one of the contracting parties, and on the other dictated by dispositions which might then exist in the other party, but which ulterior circumstances might have changed; such a promise cannot create in favor of Spain a right sufficient to enable her to charge with invalidity the transactions which have contravened it. The contrary pretension would cer- tainly confound all the principles relative to the nature of obli- gations and would destroy the solemnity of treaties. These gen- eral reasonings would receive a new force from the circumstances which are peculiar to different nations in relation to the subject of pacts ; but the undersigned will not enter into the examination of these circumstances, under the persuasion that general princi- ples sufficiently repel the pretensions of the Court of Madrid. On the second point the objections of that court do not appear to the undersigned to be better founded. It is known that the King of Etruria was placed on the throne since the treaty of St. Ide- fonso. We have a right to suppose that his Catholic Majesty was satisfied from that period with the measures and efforts employed by France to cause the title of this prince to be acknowledged by the other nations. It is at least what might be concluded from facts within the knowledge of all the world. In the treaty of Amiens, concluded on the 27th of March, 1802, Great Britain did not acknowledge the King of Etruria. Notwithstanding the silence of the court of London, on so solemn an occasion, that of Madrid ordered in the month of October following the delivery of the colony to France, as is proved by the royal cedula ta writing), which the undersigned has received and eslabited to Mr. Mali- son; a cedula which as all the world knows was long ago for- warded to the Captain General of Louisiana, who sent the Mar- quis de Casa Calvo to New Orleans to superintend its execution. To these conclusive observations the undersigned will add that the court of Madrid might have been informed in the course of the month of February last by its minister to the United States, that the American Government was sending to Paris a minister extraordinary in order to negotiate with the French Government the acquisition of New Orleans. If the court of Madrid had seen in the object of this mission an injury offered to its rights, what prevented it, after being thus carly apprised, from informing thereof the minister of the United States at Paris and the French Government, and from interposing before the conclusion of the treaty its intervention in a form adapted to suspend it? It does not appear that that court has taken at Paris any steps of this
215
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nature."* This was also in substance the reply of the secretary of state to the communications of the Spanish ambassador.
The necessary laws for taking possession were no sooner passed by congress in October, than steps were taken to put them into execution. A joint and several commission was forwarded to Gov. WV. C. C. Claiborne and Gen. James Wilkinson author- izing them to receive possession of the province and to occupy it. A separate commission was sent to Governor Claiborne as tem- porary governor. The contingency of forcible opposition from Spain was taken into consideration, and a considerable force was sent with the commissioners and another assembled at Natchez in readiness for any emergency-five hundred mounted militia from Tennessee being ordered to the latter place. They took with them "such regular troops as had been assembled at Fort Adams from the nearest posts and some militia of the Mississippi Territory." To be in readiness for any emergency that might arise "a respect- able body, of militia was ordered to be in readiness in the States of Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee. No occasion however arose for their services. The French officials in all respects supplemented and supported the proceedings of the United States. There was no indication whatever that Spain intended to use force to prevent the transfer of the province to the United States.ª
The messenger, M. Landais, sent from Washington to New Orleans with the commission to M. Laussat to receive the province from Spain and then turn it over to the United States, arrived November 23, 1803. The messenger traversed the Indian coun- try, going by land instead of by water, to gain time. On the 30th of November, M. Laussat, in his character of French commis. sioner, issued a proclamation, announcing to the mhabitants the cession of the province to the United States. To be sure of no mistake, all of the formalities were observed. On the same day all the Spanish troops and militia were drawn up in front of the city hall, and the inhabitants assembled to witness the proceed- mgs, so important to them. In the council chamber three chairs were provided, Governor Salcedo occupying the middle one. Laussat handed him a copy of the royal decree of October 15, 1802, by which the king of Spain ordered bis representative in Louisiana to deliver the colony to the French commissioner. At the same time Laussat produced his own authority to take pos- session of Louisiana on behalf of France. When all were read and pronounced satisfactory, Governor Salcedo left his chair and
· American State Papers.
.
216
THE PROVINCE AND THE STATES.
delivered the keys of the city to Laussat. The Marquis Casa Calvo announced that all Lousianians who did not wish to leave Louisiana were from that moment absolved from future allegiance , to Spain. At a signal the cannon outside were fired, the Spanish colors lowered, and the tri-color of France, after the lapse of nearly a century and a quarter from the discovery by La Salle, again announced the ascendency of the latter at the mouth of the Mississippi. France was again in possession .*
Twenty days later, or on' December 20, 1803, the same proceed- ings were enacted between the French and the Americans. Gen- eral Wilkinson in command of the American troops established his camp on the left bank of the river about half a league from New Orleans on the 17th and 18th of the month. On the 20th, by permission of Laussat, he entered New Orleans with his forces to take part in the proceedings. The French officers, troops and all the inhabitants as before assembled at the city hall. The American commissioners, Claiborne and Wilkinson, were there received by Laussat and the other French officials. The treaty of cession was formally read, as were also the various powers of the commissioners. Lanssat said, "In conformity with the treaty, I put the United States in possession of Louisiana and its depend- encies. The citizens and inhabitants who wish to remain here and obey the laws are from this moment exonerated from the oath of fidelity to the French Republic." The French flag was then lowered, and the stars and stripes raised over the heads of the multitude, amid the roar of the guns." The fate of Louisiana was finally settled ; but who is there to measure the joys an I grieis in the hearts of the people who had borne so much.
While the proceedings at New Orleans were designed to trans- fer the whole province to the United States, it was deemed best to observe the formalities of transfer in Upper Louisiana as well as in that city. Accordingly, the necessary powers were trans- mitted to Major Amos Stoddard by the French minister at Wash- ington to receive on behalf of France Upper Louisiana from the representative of Spain, which transfer was formally made on the 9th of March, 1804. The following day, March 10, he observed the formality of turning it over to a representative of the United States.}
Mr. Martin, the historian of Louisiana, said that on the 18thi of May, 1803, Governor Salcedo and Marquis Casa Calvo issued
. History of Louisiana: Marlin.
Sketches Historical and Descriptive of Louisiana: Stoddard.
F
1
217
THE CESSION TO THE UNITED STATES.
a proclamation to the effect "that the cession of the colony and island of New Orleans should be on the same terms as that of Ilis Most Christian to His Catholic Majesty ; and consequently the limits on both sides of the river St. Louis or Mississippi should continue as they remained by the fifth article of the definitive treaty of peace concluded at Paris on the roth of December, 1763 : and accordingly the settlements from the bayou Manshac as far as the line which separated the dominions of Spain and those of the United States should remain a part of the monarchy of Spain and be annexed to the province of West Florida."
The opinion of Mr. Livingston as to the causes which induced or determined the first consul to sell Louisiana to the United States, if no doubt existed of its being unbiased, should be worth more than that of any other American, owing to his unusual powers of pentration, to his intimacy with the French leaders and to his knowledge of French public affairs of that time. Ilis opinion was expressed in his letter of November 15, 1803, to Mr. Madison, as follows: "The war ( the one about to break forth between France and England) doubtless had its effect upon the First Consul; but it is equally true that every person he con- sulted had long before been convinced, and even the Consul's opinion shaken and I will venture to say by my means, of the little advantage France would derive from the possession of that coun- try; and he had even, as I have before informed you, through Joseph Bonaparte, given me assurances that such arrangements should be made as we should approve. The not selling was a personal point of honor, particularly as he was bound by the express stipulation of his treaty with Spain not to do so Nor until he found himself hampered by another personal considera- tion, to-wit: His promise to pay the American claims which I had purposely published, could he bring himself to take the step which the prospect of war and the spirited measures of our Goy- ernment, among which I number the special mission of Mr. Mon- roe, gave him the strongest apology for doing; particularly as in case of war he had no other means of keeping his word with us. On looking over the original instructions, of which Mr. Monroe was the bearer, I find that we were authorized to give fifty millions for New Orleans and the Floridas; so that we could without too an extraordinary assumption of powers, have gone to the price they expected for Louisiana." *
As soon as the transfer to the United States was formally
* American State Papers,
:
218
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accomplished, Governor Claiborne issued a proclamation recount- ing the circumstances of the transfer and declaring "that the government heretofore exercised over the said province of Louisiana, as well under the authority of Spain as of the French Republic, has ceased and that of the United States of America is established over the same; that the inhabitants thereof will be incorporated in the Union of the United States and admitted as soon as possible, according to the principles of the federal consti- tution, to the enjoyment of all the rights, advantages and immuni- ties of citizens of the United States; that 'in the meantime they shall be maintained and protected in the free enjoyment of their liberty, property and the religion which they profess; that all laws and municipal regulations which were in existence at the ces- sation of the late Government remain in full force; and that all civil officers charged with their execution, except those whose powers have been especially vested in me, and except also such officers as have been entrusted with the collection of the revenue, are continued in their functions during the pleasure of the Gover- nor for the time being, or until provision shall otherwise be made. And I do hereby exhort and enjoin all the inhabitants and other persons within the said province to be faithful and true in their allegiance to the United States and obedient to the laws and authorities of the same, under full assurance that their just rights will be under the guardianship of the United States and will be maintained from all force of violence from without or within." (December 20, 1803.)*
The Spanish government receded from its opposition to the transfer of Louisiana to the Carted States on the 14th of Fil ruary, 1804, the Spanish Minister of State, Don Pedro Cervallos, writing as follows to Charles Pinckney, American envoy to Spain : "At the same time that the minister of His Majesty in the United States is charged to inform the American Government respecting the falsity of the rumor referred to, he has likewise orders to declare to it that His Majesty has thought fit to renounce his opposition to the alienation of Louisiana made by France, not- withstanding the solid reasons on which it is. founded, thereby giving a new proof of his benevolence and friendship towards the United States." The Spanish minister at Philadelphia communi- cated the same information to Mr. Madison, secretary of state.
· American State Papers,
219
THE CESSION TO THE UNITED STATES.
"Philadelphia, May 15, 1804. "Sir :
"The explanations which the Government of France has given to his Catholic Majesty concerning the sale of Louisiana to the United States and the amicable dispositions on the part of the King my master towards these States, have determined him to abandon the opposition which at a prior period and with the most substantial motives he had manifested against the transaction. In consequence, and by special order of his Majesty, I have the pleasure to communicate to yon his royal intentions on an affair so important ; well persuaded that the American Government will see in this conduct of the King my master a new proof of his consideration for the United States and that they will correspond with a true reciprocity with the sincere friendship of the King of which he has given so many proofs."
"God preserve you many years "THE MARQUIS OF CASA YRUJO.">
An agreement as to the terms of the sale of Louisiana to the United States had no sooner been reached by the envoys of the two republies than steps were taken to draw up the necessary papers to that effect. Probably the most interesting of all these documents is the first draft drawn by Napoleon of the treaty man- uscript, never published in the United States until a few years ago, and obtained from the archives at Paris. The following is the full text of the original draft thus drawn by Napoleon :*
"Paris, 3 Mloreal, an 11 (April 23, 1%;).
"The First Consul of the French Republic, in the name of the French people, and the President of the U'nited States of Amer . ica, desiring to prevent all possible misunderstanding relating to the topics mentioned in Articles II and V of the Agreement of the 8th Vendemiaire, year 9 ( October ist, 1802), and wishing to promote as far as possible the close and friendly relations which at the time of the said Agreement were fortunately established between the two states, have named as Ministers Plenipotentiary Citizen Barbe Marbois, Minister of the Public Treasmy ( the American names are omitted), who, after having exchanged their credentials, have agreed on the following articles :
"Art. I. The French Republic yields and transmits to the United States of America all the right which it has acquired over
. American State Papers.
. Correspondance de Napoléon Premier, publice par ordre de L'Empereur Na- bolton III. (In the Library of the University of Wisconsin.)
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Louisiana through the treaty made with Ilis Catholic Majet. the King of Spain, the 8th Vendemiaire, year y of the Fren.t: Republic ; and in consequence of said cession, Louisiana, its terri- tory, and the dependencies appertaining thereto, shall become par: of the American Union, and shall constitute in due course one er several States according to the terms of the Constitution of the United States.
"Art. 11. The United States undertake to favor in a special way the commerce and navigation of French citizens and of the subjects of His Catholic Majesty, in the towns, harbors, roads, seas, rivers, etc., of Louisiana, and to especially secure to them by a privilege not in future to be granted to any other nation, the perpetual right of deposit and navigation which was conceded to the Americans by the Treaty of October 27th, 1795, between Spain and the United States.
"Moreover, it is agreed that in the ports and towns of Louisiana, French and Spanish commerce shall enjoy perfect freedom to import goods. French and Spanish vessels and merchandise shall never be subjected to any of the customs or dues which may be imposed upon the commerce of other nations. They shall, in the ports of Louisiana, be treated in all respects like French- American merchandise coming from some other American port.
"Art. III. Three other places of commercial deposit shall be accorded to France and Spain, on the right bank of the Missis- sippi, toward the mouth of the Red River and the mouths of the Arkansas and Missouri, and two points on the left bank of the Illinois River and toward the mouth of the Ohi. French per- chants shall enjoy in these places all the advant. co accorded to Americans by the King of Spain, on the 27th of October, 1795. It is also agreed that France may appoint in these places, as well as at New Orleans, commercial agents, who, according to Article X of the Agreement of the Sth Vendemiaire, year 9, shall enjoy the neual rights and prerogatives of such officials.
"Art. IV. It is agreed that the obligations assumed by the Gov- ernment of the French Republic as respects the debt due to Ameri- can citizens, specified in Article V of the Agreement of the Sith Vendemiaire, shall be held to be cancelled, and that the obligation shall be regarded as transferred by the present treaty, to the Gov- ernment of the United States, which undertakes to satisfy every claim which has been or may be addressed on that score to the Government of the Republic- it being well understood that the obligations contracted towand French citizens by the Government of the United States, by virtue of the said article, remain
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