History of southeast Missouri : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people and its principal interests, Volume I, Part 23

Author: Douglass, Robert Sidney. 4n
Publication date: 1912
Publisher: Chicago : The Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 844

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It must be kept in mind, however, that these rigid instructions were not rigidly en- forced. The commandants of the various posts understood the very great desire of Spain for settlers in the new territory. That desire for settlers extended to the Americans, and it was the understanding that Americans should be admitted without any too rigid in- quiry into their religion. Some questions were asked, but those questions could be an- swered in the affirmative by almost any be- liever in the Christian religion. Any person who answered these questions satisfactorily was pronounced a good Catholic and per- mitted to enter the settlement. This took the place, it seems, of a declaration in form that the settler was a Catholic. It was explained to all of these settlers that their children must be brought up in the Catholic faith. Of

* History of Southeast Missouri, p. 521.

course the open practice of the Protestant re- ligion-the holding of public services-was forbidden. It seems, however, that no great diligence was exercised to prevent the hold- ing of prayer meetings, and other assemblies within private houses. Occasionally a minis- ter from the settlements of Illinois crossed the river and conducted these private services. It is said that more than one of these men was more than once warned, but the warnings usually came at the close of the visit, and no great effort was made to arrest or punish for the violation of the law. Of course, under these circumstances, no Protestant church house could be erected and no formal organ- ization made. For this reason the early re- ligious history of the state is a history of the Catholic church.

That history began, as we have seen, in 1759, when there began to be kept in the village of Ste. Genevieve a record of church affairs. The records mentioned show the fol- lowing persons to have had charge of the church in Ste. Genevieve at the dates given : Fathers P. F. Watrin, J. B. Salveneuve and John La Morinie, from 1760 to 1764; Father J. L. Meurin, from 1764 to 1768; Father Gi- bault, from 1768 to 1773; Father Hiliarie. from 1773 to 1777; Father Gibault, from 1778 to 1784; Father Louis Guiques, from 1786 to 1789; Father St. Pierre, from 1789 to 1797: and Father James Maxwell, from 1797 to 1814.

Father Meurin was a Jesuit, and was the only priest exempt in the order of 1763 which expelled the Jesuits from Louisiana. He re- mained in charge, and continued missionary work among the settlers and Indians for a number of years. He labored under exceed- ingly great difficulties. The property of the order to which he belonged had been confis-

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cated and there were many persons within the district who were hostile to him, on account of the fact that he was a Jesuit. IIe was not in very good standing with the Spanish of- ficials, though, the fact that an exception had been made in his favor shows him to have been appreciated at least to a degree by them. Meurin did not confine his labors to Ste. Gene- vieve, but ministered to the settlers on the east side of the river, also. He visited Kaskaskia, Fort Chartres, Fort St. Phillip and the settle- ments in the mining regions in Missouri. He was not only a missionary priest, he had been commissioned as vicar general of Louisiana, and this commission, which he attempted to exercise, resulted in a discussion concerning the authority under which he was commis- sioned. At the time of the transfer of Lou- isiana to Spain, the territory was under the spiritual jurisdiction of the bishop of Que- bec, and it was from him that Meurin had re- ceived his commission. While the question of spiritual jurisdiction seems to have been a religious one, it was not so regarded at that time. The Spanish authorities considered it to be a political question, and they refused to concede that an appointee of the bishop of Quebec could exercise any spiritual authority in the territory of Spain. They no longer re- garded the bishop of Quebec as the spiritual ruler of the territory, but conceived that place to be held by the bishop of San Domingo. In 1776 they asked for and obtained a formal transfer of the territory from the authority of the bishop of Quebec to the bishop of San- tiago de Cuba. Later this was transferred to the bishop of New Orleans, Cardenas. This dispute over jurisdiction and the existing hos- tility to the order to which he belonged, made the work of Father Meurin a difficult and la- borious one indeed.

Of the men mentioned as having been in charge at Ste. Genevieve, two, at least, deserve a more extended account. Father Gibault was a missionary who came to the Illinois country from Canada, about the year 1768. He bore with him a passport issued by Guy Carleton, lieutenant governor and comman- der-in-chief of the province of Quebec. Fa- ther Gibault lived in Kaskaskia, but he served as the priest of the church in Ste. Genevieve from 1768 until 1776, and again from 1778 until 1784. He did not confine his work to Ste. Genevieve, but seems to have visited Old Mines, La Salinas and, in fact, all the settle- ments on both sides of the river. Gibault de- serves a place in history because of the service which he rendered to George Rogers Clark, on the occasion of Clark's capture of Vin- cennes. The priest went with Clark from Kaskaskia to Vincennes, and used his influ- ence among the French people at that place to secure their submission to the authority of the United States and their adherence to its gov- ernment. That this influence was very great. we may well suppose, Clark specially ac- knowledged the obligation he was under for the service rendered. In 1792 Father Gibault removed from Kaskaskia to New Madrid where he seems to have served as priest un- til his death in 1802. He was a man of con- siderable ability and energy. He was indus- trious and devoted to the work of preaching among all of the people of the territory. He was most probably a man of very tender heart and great sympathy, for we find that he was reproved at times by his superior, Father Maxwell, the vicar general of Upper Louisi- ana, for his failure to collect funds for mar- riages and other services. This reprimand came from Maxwell because he was entitled to a part of these fees.

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Soon after Father Gibault's appointment to New Madrid and his removal there, he be- gan and completed the erection of a build- ing for church purposes, and a house for the residence of the priest. He has left a de- scription of this early church building. It was constructed of wood and was ample and commodious in size and perfect in its ap- pointments for all of the services of the church. Of course this building has long since disappeared, together with the very site on which it was erected.

The second man noted as among the priests of Ste. Genevieve deserving of a further men- tion was Father James Maxwell. He was a native of Ireland, an educated man and one of superior ability. He resided in New Bour- bon a short distance from Ste. Genevieve, and rode to his services at that place. He was appointed vicar general of Upper Louisiana in 1792, and held this post for about seven- teen years. He was held in the highest es- teem and regard by the people among whom he labored, and he accomplished a great work for the church. He was killed by being thrown from the horse while riding home from the service at the church in Ste. Genc- vieve. Maxwell was very diligent in looking after the matter of land grants from the Spanish government. It is said that at one time he had received grants amounting 10 more than 120,000 arpents of land. The land thus claimed by him was scattered over a con- siderable part of the district of Ste. Gene vieve, but his claim to the greater number of these tracts was finally denied and he was left in possession of only about three hundred and twenty arpents.

The first church building in Southeast Missouri was erected in the old village of Ste. Genevieve at a date which we are unable

to fix. It was previous to the great flood, be- cause after the year of that flood the village was moved to its present site. The church which had been erected was moved to the new site in 1794. It was a wooden structure, but large and well suited to the purposes for which it was dedicated. It was used by the inhabitants of Ste. Genevieve until the year 1835. It was then so old and dilapidated that it was torn down to make way for the erec- tion of a larger and more suitable structure.

Until the transfer of Louisiana to the United States, the priests were supported by the government of Spain. The salaries were paid in this way and the government also looked after the erection and care of the dif- ferent buildings. It is said that the ordi- nary pay of the priests was about six hundred dollars a year. Besides this there was usually furnished a priests' house, and there were some other minor compensations. This was a very small salary, of course, but considering the time and circumstances under which they were placed, it was sufficient for the sup- port of priests. Of course this government support was discontinued with the transfer to the United States. From that time the money for buildings and for the pay of church officials had to be secured from the congregation itself. As was right, the prop- erty of the church was transferred or con- firmed to the church. The buildings in Ste. Genevieve and New Madrid were in this way transferred to the proper officers of the church. There was also a tract of land in Little Prairie belonging to the church and the title to this was confirmed by the government. The work of these missionaries and priests was, of course, rendered more difficult by rea- son of the cutting off of the support of the government. They could no longer be as-

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sured that their salaries would be paid regu- larly and without any question, they must look to the congregation which they served, and the only revenues were voluntary gifts to the ehureh. Just as the matter worked out everywhere, however, the change was made and the work of the church carried on in spite of this change.

We eannot fail to pereeive that the work of the missionaries in Missouri at this early time was both arduous and dangerous. There were few roads. Those in existence were sim- ply paths through the wilderness. The de- voted priests often rode for hundreds of miles in the course of the year, traveling from one settlement to another along these paths through the woods and aeross the streams ; they were exposed to all the dangers of the wilderness. They were sometimes attacked by the Indians, and sometimes in peril from the wild beasts. They must have suffered great hardships from exposure to the weather, and from their distance from eivilization. There has never been a laek, however, of men willing to endure hardships and to face dan- gers in the work of spreading the gospel. The services that these men rendered eannot be fully estimated. They helped to redeem the wilderness and to plant standards of religion and morality in communities that must other- wise have been entirely unreclaimed.

Religious enterprise by no means eeased with the transfer of Louisiana in 1804. In the year 1815 the Reverend W. F. Dubourg, who had been an officer of the church at New Orleans, undertook a journey to Rome and while there was eonseerated bishop of the dio- cese of New Orleans. The territory over which he was to exereise spiritual authority and jurisdiction ineluded all of Louisiana, both Upper and Lower, and stretched from

the Mississippi river to the Pacific ocean. It was an enormous task to be undertaken by any man, but the new bishop was fitted for the work. He possessed industry, learning and devotion to the work. He had also, what was indispensable to him in the work of his position, an insight into human character and the ability to select those assistants who would be useful to him in his work. While he was in Rome he chose a number of men and persuaded them to return with him to Louisi- ana. He had been greatly impressed at Rome by the preaching of Father De Andreis. This priest was a most remarkable man. He was highly educated, distinguished for his abil- ity as an orator and as a teacher, and he oc- eupied a high position at Rome. Neverthe- less, he yielded to the persuasion of Bishop Dubourg and, accompanied by some others, among them Father Joseph Rosati, departed for the new seene of his labours.

The bishop, himself, was detained, but Fa- ther De Andreis, with the rest of the party, arrived in St. Louis in 1817. They had come by way of Bardstown, Kentucky, the resid- ence of Bishop Flaget, who accompanied them on their trip to St. Louis. After remaining some days in St. Louis and making prepar- ation for the coming of Bishop Dubourg, the party started baek down the river. They met the bishop at Ste. Genevieve. Here in 1818, the Bishop celebrated the first pontifieal high mass ever celebrated in Upper Louisiana. Dubourg fixed his seat at St. Louis and en- tered on the work of his great diocese with tremendnous energy and zeal. He had from at first seen the necessity of the establishment of a school for the training of priests. One of the purposes he had in mind in persuading Father De Andreis to come with him to this country was to make use of his great learning and ability as a teacher in the foundation of

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the seminary which he had in mind. Accord- ingly, six hundred and forty acres of land in Perry county near the site of Perryville was bought for the sum of eight hundred dollars. This was to be the site of the new seminary. The first structures located upon it were sim- ply log cabins. In 1819 the first students were received for instruction. Father De Andreis was the first president of the seminary and conducted the work of organizing and equip- ping it. Ile served in this position until his death, when he was succeeded by Father Jo- seph Rosati.

It is somewhat difficult to avoid getting an incorrect notion of these people. It must not he supposed that all of them were rude or rough and turbulent. There were among them many excellent people. Sparks, on his biography of Daniel Boone, says that to avoid falling into this error people should remember that the west received emigrants of various sorts. "Small numbers of them had fled from the scene of crime," he continues, "but a large majority were peaceable, industrious, moral and well disposed, who, for various mo- tives, had crossed the great river, some from

love of adventure, some from that spirit of restlessness which belongs to a class of people, but a much larger number with the expecta- tion of obtaining large tracts of land which the government gave to each settler for the trifling expense of surveying and recording.

"Under the Spanish government the Ro- man Catholic faith was the established re- ligion of the province and no other christian sect was tolerated by the laws of Spain. Each emigrant was required to be un bon Catho- lique, as the French express it, yet by the con- nivance of the commandants of Upper Lou- isiana and by the use of a legal fiction in the examination of Americans who applied for land, toleration in fact existed.

Many Protestant families, communicants in Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian and other churches, settled in the province and remained undisturbed in their religious prin- ciples. Protestant itinerant clergymen passed over from Illinois and preached in the log cabins of the settlers unmolested, though they were occasionally threatened with im- prisonment; these threats were never exe- cuted. (Spark's Biography, Vol. 23, p. 166.)

CHAPTER X

TRANSFER TO THE UNITED STATES

FEELING OF THE FRENCH SETTLERS-SETTLEMENTS FOUNDED UNDER TIIE RULE OF FRANCE- EMIGRATION FROM THE WESTERN STATES-WHY SPAIN FOSTERED THE MOVEMENT OF AMERI- CANS ACROSS THE RIVER-QUESTION OVER THE NAVIGATION OF THE MISSISSIPPI-RESTRIC- TIONS ON COMMERCE-TREATY OF ILDEFONSO - NEGOTIATIONS FOR PURCHASE OF NEW OR- LEANS-OFFER OF ALL LOUISIANA-MOTIVES OF NAPOLEON IN SELLING LOUISIANA-CERE- MONIES ATTENDING THE ACTUAL TRANSFER-CAPTAIN AMOS STODDARD AND HIS AUTHORITY- SIGNIFICANCE OF THE TRANSFER.

We have thus seen that Spain neglected Louisiana territory, giving to it practically no consideration after the time of De Soto. France seized the opportunity which was hers and took possession of the country, but in 1759 France lost Canada to England, and having lost Canada she lost the key to Lou- isiana. In 1762, by the secret treaty of Fon- tainbleau, she ceded to Spain all her posses- sions in America; Spain, however, did not take full possession of the territory until in 1768. This delay was caused by the opposi- tion of the French settlers of Louisiana. These settlers were unwilling to believe for a long time that France had sold them: The Spanish officers who came to take over the government at St. Louis met with resistance and returned to New Orleans without having received the country from France. Finally, however, Spain sent a governor in the person of Count O'Reilly, who came equipped with sufficient power to compel the acknowledg- ment of the authority of Spain.

It will be seen that French settlements in Upper Louisiana were confined to Ste. Gene-

vieve and a few small settlements around the lead mines. St. Louis was founded by the French, it is true, but this was not until the year 1764, two years after the signing of the treaty that transferred the country to Spain. Cape Girardeau, New Madrid, St. Michaels, Cook's Settlement, Murphy's Settlement at Farmington, and Herculaneum, were all set- tled during the rule of Spain, some of them by the French, however, and some by Americans. The town of New Madrid was laid out by Colonel Morgan, an American in the service of the Spanish government. He brought to his new town a number of French settlers. These French who came to Louisiana after tlie transfer to Spain came for the most part from east of the Mississippi river. They did not wish to live under the power of Great Britain or of the United States; they pre- ferred to emigrate to Louisiana which had once been a possession of France. though now belonging to Spain.

One of the motives, as we have seen, was to escape the Northwest ordinance of 1787. Many people who lived iu the Northwest

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territory were slave owners and when slav- ery was prohibited by the ordinance they decided, instead of losing their slaves to emi- grate across the river and live under the rule of Spain. Many of them doubtless came without thinking that in making the change they were in reality giving up their allegi- ance to the government of the United States and falling under the government of Spain. There seems to have been a feeling existing in the American people that the territory west of the river was not destined long to remain under Spanish control but that it would event- ually become a part of the territory of the United States, and so these people, unwilling to lose their property and feeling that they would probably aid in a movement to secure for their country more territory, crossed the river and took up their life in Upper Louisiana.

The Spanish government fostered the move- ment of both French and Americans to their new territory. They developed the lead in- dustry and were diligent in planning new settlements and in improving the resources and conditions of the country. It was for- tunate for the United States, however, that the Spanish did not possess a talent for col- onizing. They held to the "bullion theory" that is, that wealth consists in gold and silver only ; and they believed that a colony existed for the benefit of the mother country. They looked to the colonists in Louisiana to produce supplies of gold and silver and other metals for the enrichment of Spaniards at home. In spite, however, of this false attitude, the government of Spain was, perhaps, as well adapted to the development of the country as was the government of France. Neither of these great nations possessed the real coloniz- ing ability that distinguished the English.

The Spanish governed Louisiana from New Orleans. Here resided the governor; a lieu- enant governor resided at St. Louis; and Ste. Genevieve, St. Charles, Cape Girardeau and New Madrid were the centers of districts and the places of residence for commandants. Very strict enforcement of law was insisted upon. We find the settlers at Ste. Genevieve afraid to chastise the Indians even when they had committed outrages, without at first re -· ceiving permission from the Spanish officials.

The period of Spanish rule in Louisiana was coincident with the growth of western United States. American settlers were pour- ing by the thousands into Kentucky and the Northwest territory. These settlers soon de- veloped the resources of the country and came to have many things for export. The surplus products of the American settlers in the states just east of the Mississippi river were considerable in quantity and in value, but the way to the east was long; the roads led across the mountains; they were rough; travel was exceedingly difficult; the only possible method of shipment in large quan- tities was upon the river. The surplus prod- ucts of the states on the river were loaded on flat boats and keel-boats and dispatched down the river to New Orleans; but the Span- ish officials at New Orleans greatly hampered and restricted this trade. They were jealous of the growing power of the United States. They were afraid that the Americans on the east side would attempt to take possession of the territory on the west; and, too, the Span- ish people were not a trading people. They had little or no sympathy with the quick and efficient American spirit ; they were mediae- val in their manners and customs; everything that was done must be done according to form and ceremony; taxes were imposed; the

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method of procedure was slow ; all these things greatly irritated the Americans who traded through New Orleans. They were pushing and energetic, impatient of delay, placing a small value on forms and not inclined to sub- mit to the exactions of the Spanish. It was not possible to carry on this trade without de- positing goods which came down the river at New Orleans and awaiting the arrival of trad- ing ships, but the jealousy of the Spanish led them to forbid the deposit of goods. Thus for a long time trade down the river was virtually denied to the Americans.

Such a situation could have but one result. Through the later part of the eighteenth cen- tury there arose a strong demand on the part of the people of the west that the United States should acquire from Spain the free navigation. of the Mississippi river and the control of the port of New Orleans. These things were to be secured either by purchase or by war.

In 1800 Napoleon, then at the head of the government of France, began negotiations with the Spanish government for the trans- fer of the Spanish possessions in America to France, and on October 25th, of that year, there was signed a secret agreement between France and Spain by which Spain agreed to transfer Louisiana to France in exchange for certain territory in Italy. This agreement was kept secret, because Napoleon did not wish it to become known until he was ready to land a large army in New Orleans and thus take possession of the country. Some hint of this agreement, however, escaped and came to England. England, at that time engaged in a contest with Napoleon, objected seriously to the transfer and made such representations to the Spanish government as to prevent the consummation of the transfer for nearly two

years. It was not until in 1802 that the for- mal treaty which transferred Louisiana to France was signed. Even at this date Na- poleon was not ready to take possession of his new territory. He had decided that the island of San Domingo offered the best base for the operation of his fleet and army, and had, therefore, attempted to take possession of this island. His effort to do so was resisted by Toussaint L'Ouverture. He had found great difficulty in subduing this uprising in San Domingo, and was not prepared to enter New Orleans in force at the time of the signing of the treaty.

By this time the demand on the part of the West that the United States government should get possession of New Orleans had grown so greatly that it could not any longer be resisted. On January 11, 1803, Jefferson, then President, appointed James Monroe as minister extraordinary to France. Monroe was instructed by Jefferson to purchase New Orleans and the Floridas. He was expected to pay for this territory the sum of two mil- lion dollars. In fact, negotiations had been carried on for some time by Livingston, the minister to France. After Monroe's arrival negotiations proceeded, but on April 11, 1803, Talleyrand, the French minister of for- eign affairs, said that he was ordered by Na- poleon to offer to the American officials, not New Orleans alone, but the whole of Louisi- ana. This offer came as a very great surprise. It had not been the intention of the Ameri- cans to purchase all of Louisiana. The im- portance, however, of securing this territory for the United States was so felt by Living- ston and Monroe that they agreed to the pur- chase of the entire territory for the sum of fifteen million dollars.

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History of southeast Missouri : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people and its principal interests, Volume I, Part 23

Author: Douglass, Robert Sidney. 4n Publication date: 1912 Publisher: Chicago : The Lewis Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 844

Author: Douglass, Robert Sidney. 4n
Publication date: 1912
Publisher: Chicago : The Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 844