USA > Mississippi > Mississippi : comprising sketches of towns, events, institutions, and persons, arranged in cyclopedic form Vol. I > Part 86
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During the interregnum, the State constitutional convention, called by the legislature while Quitman was in office, met at Jack- son on the second Monday of November, and resolved that the people of Mississippi were willing to acquiesce in the measures of adjustment, as passed by the congress of the United States. The convention also emphatically denied the doctrine of secession as a constitutional remedy, and by implication censured Quitman and his friends for the manner in which the convention was called. (See Const. Conv. of 1851.) "Foote was sanguine enough to be- lieve that this put at rest forever the question of secession in Mis- sissippi, and he publicly declared in the senate that no man with secession sentiments could be elected to the most insignificant office." (Garner.) On this subject Governor Whitfield said, in his message of January following: "Whatever may be our indi- vidual opinions as to the wisdom of this resolution, we are bound to respect it as the voice of the people; and it is the duty of all good citizens, having at heart the quiet, peace and good order of society, and who feel the necessity of union and harmony upon a great question in which their dearest interests are involved, to yield a willing and cheerful obedience to the will of the majority, when thus solemnly made known. The day, I fear, is not far dis- tant, when it will become necessary for the Southern States to unite for protection of their constitutional rights-nay, for the preservation of their existence as a people ; but from all considera- tions connected with the past, it is time that all further agitation should cease, not only in the National and State legislatures, but in the primary assemblies of the people. The country requires repose after the intense excitement which has agitated the public mind for the last two years, and it could derive no benefit from a course which would be only calculated to embitter the animosities of different sections, and keep alive the asperity of rival parties."
Gulf Coast. West Florida, limited south of the 31st parallel, was, before the running of the Ellicott line in 1798, "so bare of in- habitants that excepting the part of the Mississippi which apper- tains to it, and the towns of Mobile and Pensacola, the rest was a complete desert, and, exclusive of the garrison of the two last places, and the posts of St. Marks of Apalachy and Baton Rouge, there were only counted eight hundred men, in all the extension of the province, capable of bearing arms, and those of all classes and nations, amongst them very few Spaniards; indeed the number of these was not sixty. The emigration of the evacuated posts (after the survey) procured for West Florida a great number of colonists, which daily increased, to whom lands were granted by the govern- ment of Louisiana; but the greater part of these were Anglo- Americans, some Irish and Scotch, a few Germans, and about a dozen of Spaniards, the most of them unmarried." . (Pintado, dep- uty surveyor-general, quoted in Hamilton's Mobile). The settle- ment by Americans was no longer encouraged, when the chance of intrigue to possess the Mississippi valley had vanquished. Relig- ious restrictions were renewed in regard to immigrants. The grant-
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ing of lands was exclusively confined to Morales, the intendant, who was not a liberal-minded Spaniard.
Dr. White declined a military commission at the head of one of the territorial battalions, in 1798, believing he should have been more highly honored, and, according to Daniel Clark, he applied to his friend, Governor Gayoso, who appointed him commandant of a settlement on Pearl river, within the Spanish bounds, which Doc- tor White essayed to make, leading a few families there. The hostility of the Indians, however, compelled the return of most of them to Natchez district.
In American State Papers, III, 392, is a list of 150 and more "actual settlers in the district east of Pearl river in Louisiana, prior to the 3d of March, 1819, who have no claims derived from either the French, British or Spanish grants." From this it appears that Pierre Krebs claimed land on Pascagoula bay about 1789, and Hilaire Krebs, Isabella Glayde and Helen Moro in 1794. John B. Lamy was on the west side of Dauphin island in 1792 ; James White in 1800 on White's point, Pascagoula river; Mellite Le Sassier, 1803, at Bay St. Louis.
Gulf Coast Acquisition. The United States persistently urged, from 1784 to 1795, that Spain was entitled to nothing east of the Mississippi except East and West Florida, as they were bounded under the British government, claiming particularly that the north line of West Florida was the 31st parallel, between the Mississippi and Chattahoochee rivers. Barely had this dispute been settled, by Spain conceding the claim of the United States to that line and to free navigation of the Mississippi, and the line surveyed, in 1798-99, when the hopes of quiet were overturned by advices of the secret treaty of San Ildefonzo, Oct. 1, 1800. The fact of a cession became known, but not the terms, after the treaty of Madrid, March 21, 1801. The first report sent over by Rufus King, minister at London, was that Spain had ceded Louisiana and the Floridas to France. "Louisiana and the Floridas may be given to the French emigrants, as England once thought of giving them to the Ameri- can tories; or they may constitute the reward of some of the armies which can be spared at the end of the war." Influential persons in France persisted in the belief that the United States could be encouraged to separate into two governments, with the boundary line along the Alleghanies and Chattahoochee. Madison's instructions to Livingston, minister at Paris, were, that if the ces- sion had actually been made, to manifest good will, and propose that France cede the Floridas to the United States, "or at least West Florida," through which the rivers of Mississippi territory flowed to the gulf. If the Floridas were not ceded, then France was to be asked to persuade Spain to cede them to the United States. It was the policy of the United States to prevent France from acquiring any territory, if possible; at least, to gain the gulf coast as the price of assent.
Talleyrand refused to answer the queries as to whether any ces- sion had actually been made, and Napoleon, in 1802, was actively
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preparing a fleet and army to take possession of New Orleans. Livingston wrote home that it was "a darling project with the First Consul, who sees in it a means to gratify his friends, and to dispose of his armies." He was giving peace to the world, with France supreme on the continent of Europe, and he proposed at the same time to lay the foundation of her supremacy in North America, by recreating "La Louisiane," between the Alleghanies and the Rockies, a vast empire enclosing the mighty river. "I have but one hope left as to defeating this cession," wrote Liv- ingston, "It consists in alarming Spain and England." Spain was not subject to great alarm on the subject, except as she desired a natural boundary for Mexico; but England was easy to alarm, and needed no warning. In the same month that Gov. Claiborne wrote Madison, "I wish to God the United States could negotiate for East and West Florida, including the island of New Orleans," Madison was instructing Pinckney, at Madrid, that the United States would guarantee Louisiana against danger from the enemies of Spain, if Spain would cede New Orleans and all the lands on the gulf, east of the Mississippi.
The United States ministers could not discover what was ceded to France, if anything definitely. General Collot, who had visited Natchez and was intimately concerned in the scheme, said he be- lieved Pensacola and Mobile were included. Negotiations were going on between France and Spain regarding this question, the French endeavoring to have the eastern boundary made definite, but Spain replied, it appears, that the Floridas were not included in the cession, whereupon the French minister rejoined, Livingston heard, that "without the Floridas there could be no Louisiana," that is, no French establishment, for France desired command of the gulf. In November, 1802, Napoleon took possession of the Italian principalities of Parma and Placentia, the troops for New Orleans were ordered to embark at once, and Gen. Bournonville was sent to Spain to propose to give up certain Italian domain for a cession of the Floridas. This characteristic maneuvre appeared to fail. It was followed by a check in the whole business, then the suspension of depot at New Orleans aroused the United States. James Monroe was sent to Paris early in 1803 to treat with France or Spain, "for the purpose of enlarging and more effectually se- curing our rights and interests in the river Mississippi and in the territory eastward thereof," or, in other words, to secure the ces- sion of New Orleans and the Floridas, and Congress appropriated two million dollars for that purpose. But in March, while Spain yet refused to give up the Floridas to Napoleon, England was arming to defeat the peace that meant her commercial subjugation, and Napoleon realized that his dream of a Louisiana empire was vain, for his New Orleans expedition would not dare to leave the Holland ports. Then began the offers of Talleyrand to sell. "Would the United States take the whole of Louisiana?" No, re- plied Livingston, all we want is New Orleans and the Floridas. Talleyrand replied that Louisiana would be of little value without
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New Orleans; "What will you give for the whole?" On April 30 the treaty conveying Louisiana to the United States was signed, and the ambiguous words of the treaty of San Ildefonso were in- serted in it. For the first time, the agents of the United States read the treaty of San Ildefonzo, and understood the peculiar sit- uation. This famous treaty was entitled: "Preliminary and Se- cret Treaty between the French Republic and His Catholic Majesty touching the aggrandizement of His Royal Highness the Duke of Parma, in Italy, and the Retrocession of Louisiana."
The king of Spain engaged "to retrocede to the French Republic the colony or province of Louisiana, with the same extent it now has in the hands of Spain, and that it had when France pos- sessed it, and such as it ought to be after the treaties subsequently entered into between Spain and other States." The language re- sembles one of the ingenious optical illusions that change shape as one gazes upon them. Mobile and Biloxi were in Louisiana when France possessed Louisiana. Did Spain mean to retrocede. them? It would be impossible to discover from the declarations of Spanish or French diplomats what the intentions had been,. but as soon as the United States became concerned it was evident that Spain would insist on the narrowest possible interpretation. Livingsto.i tried to obtain an opinion from Marbois regarding the. east boundary of the ceded territory, and he would only say, "I do not know; I can give you no direction ; you have made a noble. bargain for yourself, and I suppose you will make the most of it." Livingston strongly recommended Madison, in taking possession of the cession, "to take posession, at all events, to the river Perdi- do. . I pledge myself that your right is good, and, after the explanations that have been given here, you need apprehend nothing from a decisive measure.'
June 7, 1803, Monroe and Livingston wrote to Madison: "We are happy to have it in our power to assure you, that, on a thor- ough investigation of the subject, we consider it incontrovertible that West Florida is comprised in the cession of Louisiana. West Florida was a part of Louisiana when it was in the hands of France, and it was not in her hands in any other situation. The transfer of the whole was on the same day, the 3d of November, 1762, that: being the day of the secret convention between France and Spain, and of the preliminary articles of the treaty of February 10, 1763, between those powers and Great Britain. The treaty of 1763 be- tween Britain and Spain by which the Floridas were ceded to the latter put Louisiana in her hands in the same state it was in the- hands of France ; and the remaining or third member of the article in the treaty of San Ildefonzo between France and Spain, under which we claim, by referring to that of 1783 (as to that between Spain and the United States of 1795), and of course in the above- character, only tends to confirm the doctrine. We consider our- selves so strongly founded in this conclusion that we are of opinion the United States should act on it in all the measures relative to
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Louisiana, in the same manner as if West Florida was comprised within the island of New Orleans.'
While the subject was being investigated by the Washington government, the Spanish minister protested against the cession being carried into effect at all, declaring that it was a violation of faith by Napoleon.
The transfer at New Orleans was made Dec. 20, 1803, without raising the question. Madison wrote to Livingston: "It does not appear that, in the delivery of the province by the Spanish authori- ties to M. Laussat [French commissioner], anything passed de- noting its limits, either to the east or west or the north; nor was any step taken by M. Laussat, either whilst the province was in his hands, or at the time of his transferring it to us, calculated to dispossess Spain, of any part of the territory east of the Missis- sippi. On the contrary, in a private conference he stated particu- larly that no part of the Floridas was included in the eastern boundary, France having strenuously insisted to have it extended to the Mobile, which was peremptorily refused by Spain. We learn from Mr. Pinckney that the Spanish government holds the same language to him. To the declaration of M. Laussat, however, we can oppose that of the French minister, made to you, that Lou- isiana extended to the Perdido; and to the Spanish government, as well as to that of France, we can oppose the treaty of San Ilde- fonzo and of September 30, 1803, interpreted by facts and fair in- ference. The question with Spain will enter into the proceedings of Mr. Monroe, on his arrival at Madrid. With respect to the posts in West Florida, orders for the delivery were neither offered to or demanded by our commissioners. No instructions have, in fact, been ever given them to make the demand. This si- lence on the part of the Executive was deemed eligible ; first, be- cause it was foreseen that the demand would not only be rejected by the Spanish authority at New Orleans, which had, in an offi- cial publication, limited the cession westwardly by the Mississippi and the island of New Orleans, but it was apprehended, as it has turned out, that the French commissioner might not be ready to support the demand, and might even be disposed to second the Spanish opposition to it;" secondly, that such circumstances would cause a "premature dilemma and resort to force;" and third, "because mere silence would be no bar to a plea at any time that a delivery of a part, particularly of the seat of government, was a virtual delivery of the whole." To which it might be added, that the opposition to the annexation of Louisiana was strong enough, without intensifying it by an attempt to take West Flor- ida by force of arms. But congress made an enactment regarding the District of Mobile (q. v.) which assumed that Mobile bay was within the boundaries of the United States, under the cession of Louisiana. (See Mobile District.) Spain protested against this as an act of violence.
Monroe was instructed to obtain an acknowledgment from Spain that Louisiana, as ceded to the United States, extended to
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the river Perdido, and a cession of all that remained under the name of Florida. No progress could be made with Spain, how- ever, and in May, 1805, Monroe was notified that Talleyrand had made his famous declaration on the side of Spain in regard to the gulf coast and Mobile. "The alternative presented by this event," said Madison, "is that of war, or a state of things guarding against war for the present, and leaving in vigor our claims to be here- after effectuated." The latter was evidently the course to pursue.
The Monroe mission resulted in elaborate discussions of the interpretation of the treaties, and ancient maps and chronicles, but nothing came of it. In March, 1806, Armstrong and Bowdoin, at Paris, were instructed to renew the negotiations with Yzquierdo, but the latter disclaimed authority. The obstruction of the Mobile navigation continued to arouse feeling in the United States, the Sabine river episode increased the excitement, and in the summer of 1807, when war with Great Britain was probable, there was a strong disposition to seize the Floridas to keep them out of the hands of the English. In 1809 all hope of negotiation was aban- doned. The period of the appropriation by congress of two mil- lion dollars had expired, and Spain was in no condition to nego- tiate. This was because in 1808, Napoleon, having failed to obtain Louisiana from Spain, began to take possession of Spain itself, which would involve Mexico and South America. After that Spain was crushed under the heel of war, as she had for centuries crushed other lands, and her Bourbons depended on the military genius of Wellington, for salvation. This condition continued un- til 1814, and part of this time Spain was not only occupied by for- eign armies but in the throes of political revolution. The Amer- ican inhabitants of Baton Rouge district embraced the opportunity to revolt in 1810, and the United States took possession eastward to Mobile bay. The revolt of Baton Rouge was followed by the revolt of the Argentine, Venezuela, New Granada and Mexico.
In the course of the discussion aroused in congress by the occu- pation of West Florida, with which Mississippi was so closely concerned, Henry Clay made this announcement of American law : "If a parent country will not or cannot maintain its authority in a colony adjacent to us, and there exists in it a state of misrule or disorder, menacing our peace, and if, moreover, such colony by passing into the hands of any other power, would become danger- ous to the integrity of the Union, and manifestly tend to the sub- version of our laws-we have a right, upon eternal principles of self-preservation, to lay hold of it."
Delegate George Poindexter, addressing his constituents re- garding the opposition of the New England party to the annexa- tion, said that if the dissension should encourage England to re- store Spanish authority or acquire the region for herself, he hoped "the government of the United States will permit the valor of its citizens to plant the American eagle on the walls of St. Augus- tine. That such will be the result of a struggle to trench upon our present limits, cannot be doubted. The God of nature mani-
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festly intended this great continent to be united under one com- mon government connected by a community of interests and of municipal regulations."
The voice of diplomacy was less manly. In 1811 Monroe, as secretary of state, took the position that "the province of West Florida to the Perdido was a part of Louisiana, while the whole province formerly belonged to France; that, although it was afterward separated from the other part, yet that both parts were again reunited in the hands of Spain, and by her reconveyed to France, in which state the entire province of Louisiana was ceded to the United States in 1803; that in accepting the cession and paying for the territory ceded, the United States understood and believed they paid for the country as far as the Perdido." Spain protested in 1811, through its representative, Mr. Foster, "The language held by the president at the opening of the late session of Congress, the hostile demonstrations made by the American forces under Captain Gaines, the actual summoning of the fort of Mobile, and the bill submitted to the approval of the American legislature for the interior administration of the province, are so many direct and positive proofs that the government of America is prepared to subject the province of West Florida to the au- thority of the United States."
The war with Great Britain, 1812-15, in which the United States was bound to protect the coast from falling into the hands of her powerful enemy, firmly cemented the region, west of the Perdido, to the United States. The situation remained unchanged during the few following years, except for the increase of filibus- tering. Natchez, New Orleans and Natchitoches were headquar- ters of the organizers of revolution in the Spanish possessions southward. Spanish commerce was preyed upon from Galveston, and the plunder sold in New Orleans. Gregor McGregor, in 1817, styling himself a general in the service of New Granada and Ven- ezuela, with a party organized at Charleston and Savannah, took possession of the port of Fernandina to establish an independent government. At the close of 1815, Napoleon being out of the way, there was a Spanish offer to renew the negotiations broken off in 1808. As a preliminary it was asked that "the part of West Flor- ida which the United States took possession of during the glorious insurrection of Spain, and have retained unto this day, should be restored to His Catholic majesty ;" and ports of the United States should be closed to vessels carrying flags of Carthegena, Mexico, Buenos Ayres, etc. Proof was demanded that the president was determined to "put an end to the incalculable extortions and in- juries which Spain has suffered for the space of seven years, from the gang of adventures who have assailed her from the bosom of this republic." Secretary Monroe rejoined with claims for dam- ages for the suppression of the deposit at New Orleans in 1802, and the ravages upon American commerce in the high seas. The western boundary of Louisiana was also in dispute as part of the general problem. Monroe claimed to know that if France had
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occupied the province of Louisiana under the treaty of San Ilde- fonzo, she would have held from the Perdido to the Rio Grande, and he asked the same for the United States. In January, 1817, Luis de Onis, treating with Monroe direct, rejected Monroe's offer to give up the western claim beyond the Colorado of the Gulf, in consideration of all Florida, but offered to cede all Florida, includ- ing Pensacola, the key of the gulf, if the United States would give back all the territory west of the Mississippi. To this Monroe promptly replied that it was unnecessary to prolong the discus- sion of limits. Spain then yielded enough to propose a western boundary on La Fourche, but nothing serious was done until De- cember, when Onis proposed that the king "would condescend to cede the two Floridas to this republic," in consideration of terri- tory equally useful to Spain, meaning the establishment of a nat- ural boundary in the west. John Quincy Adams took hold of the affair in 1818, and while he and Onis were discussing western boundaries and Onis was preparing voluminous historical docu- ments on the ancient empire of Spain, Andrew Jackson raided Pensacola, compelled its surrender and hauled down the Spanish flag. Upon the solemn protest of Spain, the city and territory were restored intact, but there appeared to be such power in the United States and such friendly support by England, that the restored Bourbons and the Holy Alliance of obsolete royalties in Europe dared not seek revenge. After this, Adams offered to give up the Rio Grande and accept the western line of the Sabine river, in con- sideration of an enormous extension of territory northwestward to the "South Sea," which Onis declared was more than had ever been dreamed of before. But the treaty was signed on that basis February 22, 1819, and after a delay occasioned by an attempt on the part of Spain to grant all the land in East and West Florida to court favorites, the treaty was finally ratified, Feb. 19, 1821. "All lands in West Florida to which Spain was entitled, and all lands in dispute with the United States," the Spanish court at- tempted, after the treaty was signed, to convey, by a fraudulent grant, to Don Pedro de Vargas, but the king was forced to annul this. A committee on legends for the historical map to accom- pany the United States census of 1900, made this report bearing on the Mississippi gulf coast: "The region between the Missis- sippi and the Perdido rivers should not be assigned either to the Louisiana purchase or to the Florida purchase, but marked with a legend indicating that the title to it between 1803 and 1819 was in dispute." Such is the independent historical opinion. The United States supreme court (II Peters 253), without attempting to discuss the treaty of San Ildefonso, held that the courts were bound to accept the construction of that treaty made by the treaty- making power, viz .: that the region embracing Mobile and Biloxi passed to the United States by the treaty of Paris, in 1803.
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