USA > Tennessee > The civil and political history of the state of Tennessee from its earliest settlement up to the year 1796 : including the boundaries of the state > Part 42
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53
He sent, also, a talk to the Chickasaws. "There is no one among you," said he, "who is thirsty for war but Piomingo and his party; but as soon as they shall be informed of the fate of their lands they will grow wiser, and we will try to make peace by the aggressors making satisfaction to the party injured. You will give me," said he to "The Mad Dog," "a great deal of
430
HAYWOOD'S HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.
pleasure by coming to see me. You will be sure to return back joyful and satisfied. In the meanwhile I shake your hand, keep- ing you and your nation in my bosom."
If "The Mad Dog" did not suspect that the baron overacted his part, he must indeed have had the satisfaction to believe that there was a great alteration for the better in the Spanish disposition toward the Indians since the days of Pizarro and of the unfortunate Atahualpa. But the people of Tennessee will think it was toward themselves much altered for the worse since the baron's letter of May, 1793, to Gen. Robertson, on the sub- ject of corn sent to the bluff.
It was not until the last of April, 1795, that the commandant at New Madrid, having no doubt received recent instructions for that purpose, informed the Creeks that all Indian friends of the Spanish government must be friends to the United States. The Creeks, however, declared that they would never desist from war; and the Spanish officers in the next month were un- willing that any representation should go from the Choctaws to the President; and they threatened Pitchlynn, the interpreter, that if he went with the Choctaws the Spaniards would forfeit his effects. The talks of some of the Spanish officers, perhaps of inferior order, were yet unfriendly to the United States. Some of them threatened to put in jail Red Breath, a Choctaw chief, for his partiality toward the Americans, and he acknowl- edged to the agents of the United States that a part of the Choctaw nation was attached to the Spanish interest. "The Red Bird" said that the Spaniards tried to alter his mind, but could not, and that they had threatened to drive some of the Choctaws from their lands for their attachment to the United States.
In May and June the conduct of Gayoso, the Spanish Gov- ernor of Natchez, was provoking and as far from amicable as possible when unaccompanied by explanations. He appeared at the Chickasaw Bluffs, with intention to build a fort there; and between the last of May and the 9th of July he took pos- session of the bluff on the east side of the Mississippi, within the bounds of the United States. He came up the river with three galleys, which continued opposite the bluff until the ma- terials for erecting the block-house were prepared on the west side of the river, and brought to the east side, and the block-
431
HAYWOOD'S HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.
house was formed and erected, all of which was done with great haste. The Chickasaws complained to Gov. Blount of this in- vasion of their territorial rights; and on the 9th of November, 1795, after he had time to receive the President's instructions, he directed a letter by Col. McKee to Gov. Gayoso, at Fort St. Ferdinando, near the Chickasaw Bluff. He stated that the United States considered the establishment of a military post by the Spanish government upon the east bank of the Missis- sippi River, at or near the Chickasaw Bluff, as an encroachment upon the territorial rights of the United States, as well as of the Chickasaw nation; and that it was the expectation of the gov- ernment of the United States that he would demolish the fort, block-houses, or whatever description of military works may have been there erected, and would withdraw the troops from within their limits.
At this time the Spanish officers between. New Madrid and Fort St. Fernandino, and those of the galleys in the Mississippi, and some of them as high as the mouth of the Ohio, permitted no boats to pass without compelling them to report their cargo and destination, with a view, among other things, of preventing supplies which would relieve the Chickasaws from the effects of the great scarcity of provisions which prevailed among them, " owing to the shortness of crops, caused by withdrawing the ag- riculturists from tillage to take part in their military enterprises. Gov. Gayoso, in a letter to Piomingo, gave reasons for the step he had taken, which were not unsatisfactory to Gov. Blount, when a copy of that letter was transmitted to him by Gen. Rob- ertson. The Spaniards, however, as late as August, 1795, kept in all the four southern nations of Indians-their partisans- who exulted in the uneasiness occasioned whenever a proposal was made by the United States to purchase more lands. And whenever it so happened that they had no other cause of uneasi- ness, they repined at the extension of our growing settlements to- ward them. In secret they feared and hated. Col. McKee, who had been sent to Gov. Gayoso, did not return till the spring fol- lowing; and in the meantime intelligence had reached America of the treaty with Spain, which put an end to all controversies between the United States and that kingdom.
Seeing in the former part of this year the possession of their country usurped, their unquestionable right to the free naviga-
432
HAYWOOD'S HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.
tion of the Mississippi withheld, and pierced without end by uncourteous incivilities, which appeared to be used for splenetic gratification more than for any profitable result expected from them, the western people writhed with vexation and were impa- tient under the injuries they endured. The President, from the letter of the Governor of Kentucky, as well as from other sources, received intelligence of the restlessness of public feel- ing. It gave him a considerable degree of uneasiness, and to prevent consequences unfavorable to the repose of the Union in this time of danger and universal agitation, he came to the con- clusion to send to Kentucky a specially appointed messenger, to lay before the Assembly, if in session, and before the Governor, if they were not in session-the measures adopted by the United States in relation to the Mississippi, the causes which had in- tervened to retard the completion of the treaty, and the state of forwardness in which it then was. Mr. Innis, the gentleman se- lected and sent from Virginia, arrived at Frankfort, in Ken- tucky, and on the 16th of January, 1795, addressed a letter to Gov. Shelby, to make known his mission and the objects of it. Having received the Governor's answer, he proceeded, on the 15th of February, to lay before the Governor a written exposi- ·tion of all the subjects committed to his charge. In it he gave a correct history of all matters relative to the subject.
On the 24th of the preceding May a numerous meeting of citi- zens from different parts of the State of Kentucky assembled at Lexington and took into consideration, as they expressed it, the degraded and deserted state of the country, and the Spanish and British aggressions which they enumerated. They resolved, among other things, that the inhabitants west of the Appalachian Mountains are entitled by nature and by stipulation to the free and undisturbed navigation of the river Mississippi; that from the year 1783 to that day the enjoyment of this right had been uniformly prevented by the Spaniards; that the government, whose duty it was to have put them in possession of this right, has either through design or mistaken policy adopted no effect- ual measures for its attainment; that even the measures they have adopted have been uniformly concealed from the people or veiled in mysterious secrecy; that they had a right to expect and demand that Spain should be compelled immediately to ac- knowledge their right, or that an end be put to all negotiation
433
HAYWOOD'S HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.
on the subject; that the inhabitants of the western country had a right to demand that the frontiers be protected by the general government, and that the total want of that protection which they then experienced was a grievance of the greatest magni- tude; that the attainment and security of these "is the common cause of the western people, and that the resolutionists will unite with them in any measures that may be most expedient for that purpose; that measures ought to be immediately taken to obtain the sense of the inhabitants of Kentucky, that no doubt may be entertained of their opinions and determinations on this important subject, that we may be able when it shall be necessary to communicate as a State with the other inhabitants of the western country;" and finally they recommended to each county in the State of Kentucky to appoint a committee to give and receive communications on the subject, to call meetings in their counties, and when it should be expedient to call upon the people to elect proper persons to represent them in convention, for the purpose of deliberating on the steps which would be the most expedient for the attainment and security of their just rights. Much, also, they said of the insults and injuries done by Great Britain; and they seemed willing, though it is not known that they were prepared, to fight both nations, their Indian allies, and all others who would not condemn their conduct toward the United States.
These resolutions they accompanied with a remonstrance to the President which repeated the same sentiments, and with a freedom fully as much marked by its boldness as by its delicacy, and without much trial to blend them together. These were ex- pressions of the general opinions which all the people of the west entertained, all of whom, including those of the south-west- ern territory, were equally intended to be soothed by the expose which was then to be made. The oldest book in the world and the best political essay which ever was written shows what man will do in every situation, and particularly what assembled bod- ies of men will do who have just emerged into freedom from bondage. Like children, they cry for every thing they want, and oftentimes want what it is impossible at once to obtain. The remedy prescribed for such perverseness is patience, mild treatment, and persuasion; and that was the remedy which the President had chosen to use. To all the topics thus earnestly brought forward Mr. Innis had now to reply.
28
431
HAYWOOD'S HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.
The Senate of the United States had acted upon this remon- strance, and had declared that there was no foundation for the charge it contained against the government of the Union and its officers; and had recommended that a special commissioner be sent to Kentucky, to give to the people the true state of the matters which related to the subjects mentioned in the remon- strance and resolutions. Mr. Innis now proceeded to descant upon these topics: "In presenting," he said, "to the public view the origin and progress of the negotiation now depending be- tween the United States and the court of Madrid, respecting the navigation of the Mississippi, it may not be irrelevant to take a retrospective survey of the conduct of the Spanish government toward the United States at that period of their late war with England when the American Revolution began more interest- ingly to attract the attention of the nations of Europe. By re- verting to that juncture of our affairs, it will readily occur to ever recollecting mind that the conduct of the Spanish court was more lukewarm and distant toward the American States than that of any other European power, who from principles of long-established enmity and rivalry was equally interested in the dismemberment and consequent debility of the Brit- ish Empire. And although under the family compact of the house of Bourbon the nation in 1778 entered into a war with England as the ally and associate of France, yet she made no formal recognition of the independence of the United States; and neither in the origin or termination of the war did she seem to pay the least regard to the political interests of con- federated America.", Whether this cold conduct on the part of Spain proceeded from the discordancy of the principles of her government from those which produced our revolution and the proximity of our chartered boundaries to her pos- sessions on this continent, it is not material at this day to inquire. But this was believed to be a fact: that although Con- gress kept an agent with competent powers at the court of Mad- rid from a very early period of the war, yet no pact or treaty of any kind was ever entered into between the two nations. The reservedness on the part of the Spanish nation and their inti- mate connection with France during the existence of a monarch- ical form of government in that country rendered the political deportment of the United States toward the former nation a
435
HAYWOOD'S HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.
-
matter of delicacy and importance. By the friendship and as- sistance of France the establishment of our independence had been accelerated; and should it have been prematurely jeapor- dized by a conflict with any nation of Europe (and one at least, we may suppose, there was panting with eager wishes for such an inauspicious event to us), on France we must have again re- lied for reiterated assistance. Such being our real political sit- uation immediately after our peace with England in 1783, it be- hooved the councils of America to observe the utmost circum- spection and prudence with respect to all measures which might tend in the smallest degree to shake the alliance and good un- derstanding between France and the United States, or which could even embarrass that nation in the conduct she was to ob- serve toward her new allies and old friend. This was strikingly obvious to every person who bore in mind how much the safety and happiness of America at that early epoch of her independ- ence rested on the political relations in which certain powers of Europe stood with respect to each other and herself. But we were relieved from this delicate posture of affairs with respect to Spain by the arrival at New York ( the then seat of Congress ) of Don Diego Gardoqui, in quality of embassador from that court, some time in the spring of 1785, about two years after the peace at Paris. This gentleman had an audience and presented his credentials, by which it appeared that he was invested with authority to treat with the United States on the subject of com- mercial arrangements. Congress without delay appointed John Jay, Esq., then Secretary of Foreign Affairs, to enter into nego- tiation with him, being specially enjoined to make the right of the United States to the free navigation of the Mississippi, from its source to the ocean, the leading feature of any treaty which should be made by the contracting parties. This claim of the United States was brought forward and pressed at a very early period of the negotiation, and continued to be presented in different shapes through the whole course of a very lengthy and tedious transaction which took place between the congres- sional and Spanish agents on the subject of a commercial treaty. Mr. Gardoqui received the assertion of this right with affected surprise, denied its admissibility as a part of the contemplated treaty, and asserted with vehemence that his court could never assent to its validity on any principles. He invariably mani-
436
HAYWOOD'S HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.
fested an irritation of temper whenever our right to the naviga- tion of the Mississippi was urged upon him. This intemperance of the ambassador was deemed symptomatic of the spirit which prevailed on that subject at his court, with which, from the cir- cumstances before hinted at, a good policy dictated to America the propriety of observing the strictest harmony. Thus circum- stanced, the American negotiator resorted to the project of ced- ing to Spain the exclusive navigation of the Mississippi for twenty-five years, which was intended to operate not as an aban- donment of the right of the United States, but as the means to obtain an end-the recognition of that right on the part of Spain after the expiration of the above-stipulated period. It was well known that the proposal of this measure was still sore to the recollection of the citizens on the western waters, and that it created great alarm in the minds of the inhabitants of the At- lantic States also.
Candor required that this link in the chain of historical facts should be unfolded to view; and in the same spirit of candor it could be asserted to the people of Kentucky that the proposi- tion alluded to, as it stood presented on the records of Congress, was not intended to generate a renunciation, but on the contrary an acknowledged establishment of the right of the United States to the free use of the Mississippi; upon this principle, that if Spain accepted of the cession from the United States to the ex- clusive right of the navigation of that river for a stipulated time, the acknowledgment of their right to the navigation fol- lowed as an unavoidable consequence; for the United States must have possessed the right before they could transfer it, and the acceptance of the cession was an acknowledgment of the possession.
The discord which this proposed expedient produced in the councils of America was too notorious to require repetition. It occupied not only the attention of Congress for many months, but the subject was taken up also by some of the Legislatures, who denounced the measure as unconstitutional. destructive, and dishonorable. In fact, this negotiation, which had exhausted much time, and had progressed so far as to reduce into shape some specific articles for future arrangement between the two nations, was arrested in its course; and it was ultimately deemed proper by the then Congress that the whole business of the
437
HAYWOOD'S HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.
Spanish treaty, which from the management of it had very much agitated the public mind of America, should be dismissed from further discussion and turned over as an object for the consid- eration of the present government of America, which was adopt- ed and was then upon the eve of being put into action, Much about the same period, too, Mr. Gardoqui received permission from his court to go back to Spain on his own private affairs, intending to return to re-assume the treaty as soon as the new government system should be fully organized and should begin its functions. It so happened, however, that after the institu- tion of the general government Mr. Gardoqui, the only person empowered by the Spanish court to treat with the United States, did not, according to expectations founded on his own asser- tions, return to America; and the Secretary of State who was appointed in September, 1789, to whose department this species of executive business appertained, having not arrived from France, the affair of the treaty with Spain could not be immedi- · ately acted upon, on account of the absence of the respective agents of the two nations. Yet, notwithstanding these obstacles, the executive of the United States did not permit our claim to the navigation of the Mississippi to sleep.
The nature of the connection which existed at this period be- tween France and the United States, and between France and Spain, was well known and has been attended to. It was per- fectly understood by the American government that although France favored the pretensions of Spain to the exclusive navi- gation of the river Mississippi within her boundaries, yet she was well inclined to the prosperity of the United States, and would wish to see the extension of our commerce, of the benefit of which, from existing treaties, she would probably participate. The court of Versailles, therefore, was moved to interpose its mediatorial influence to induce the court of Madrid to acknowl- edge our right to the navigation of the Mississippi; and this in- terposition would probably have produced efficacious conse- quences had not the rapid progress of the French Revolution, which at first reformed and afterward abolished monarchy, cut off all intercourse between the two courts, and placed them in a state of hostility to each other.
It was expected that the resumption of the Spanish treaty would commence, under the auspices of the new government on
438
HAYWOOD'S HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.
this continent, so soon as Mr. Gardoqui should return, an event which never happened, his place in the diplomatic line being supplied by two gentlemen in the character of commissioners from the Spanish court-Viar and Jaudenes. By them it was proposed that the Executive of the United States should depu- tize some person to the court of Madrid to receive the negotia- tion which Mr. Gardoqui was first authorized to originate in America. Although the transfer of the scene of negotiation from America to Europe was an event which it was much wished could be avoided, on account of the inevitable delay which it would occasion, yet the proposition was immediately closed with. To give dispatch to this business the agents to execute it were appointed in Europe. Mr. Short, our minister resident at the Seven United Provinces, with Mr. Carmichael, our charge des af- faires at the court of Spain, were appointed ministers plenipo- tentiary to conduct this important negotiation. The leading principles by which they were to be governed in the renewal of this treaty were amply and forcibly delineated in the instruc- tions which they had received, in which our right to navigate the Mississippi from its source to the ocean, and the extension of the southern boundary of the United States to the 31st de- gree of latitude north of the equator, rested on two distinct foundations-the treaties of Paris of 1763 and 1782-SS -- and the laws of nations were directed to be insisted upon as the indis- pensable preliminaries and sine qua nons to the proposed treaty. It was further enjoined that the treaty entered into shall in er- ery other respect be limited in its duration, but in regard to the above two articles it should be final and perpetual. Our right to the navigation of the Mississippi from its source to where our southern boundary strikes it cannot be disputed. It is from that point downward only that the exclusive navigation is claimed by Spain-that is to say, where she holds the country on both sides. Leaving the Mississippi in statu quo, the Span- ish court, it was believed, would without hesitation enter into commercial regulations with the United States on terms of re- ciprocal benefit to both nations. But it was declined on our part, until our right to the free use of the Mississippi should be most unequivocally acknowledged and established on principles never hereafter to be drawn into contestation. But as the mere naked right to navigate the Mississippi would not, from the pe-
1
439
HAYWOOD'S HISTORY OF TENNESSEE.
culiar circumstances attending the western waters, be completely beneficial without the use of a port or depot for importations or exportations somewhere upon the bank of that river, about the mouth of it, contiguous to the sea, the commissioners were in- structed to endeavor to purchase or otherwise obtain on account of the United States, in a safe and proper position, the right of soil to as much land as would commodiously answer that purpose.
The documents requiring our resident at The Hague to repair to Madrid in the quality of a commissioner plenipotentiary for the purposes before stated having been attended in their trans- mission with considerable and very unfortunate delay, he did not arrive at that city as soon as was expected, which consequently retarded the revival of the negotiations. Mr. Short, however, reached the Spanish court in the early part of 1792, from which period, in co-operation with his associate (Mr. Carmichael), the most unceasing efforts were made by them to obtain the ob- jects of their mission. There was a season after the commence- ment of this negotiation when the Spanish and English nations seemed to be on the verge of hostilities, in which it was hoped that the former, from motives of policy and self-interest-that most predominant motive of nations-would have been induced to have done an act of justice by restoring to the United States an unembarrassed participation in the use of the Mississippi. But this prospect of discord was but of short duration. A com- promise of all disputes took place between these two courts, and Spain allied with England. They soon became parties in the confederation of despots against the liberties of France. The political connections existing at present between Spain and En- gland will not, it may be apprehended, be an advantageous event to our negotiations at the court of the former; for it has rarely happened that the interests of the United States have been remarkably patronized in countries where British influence has preponderated. Notwithstanding the embarrassment which it was feared a combination of political incidents in Europe might produce, our commissioners were nevertheless unremit- tingly assiduous in pressing the Spanish ministry to enter fully into the leading principles of the negotiation which they had come to Madrid for the purpose of reviving. After some cere- monious delays, Mr. Gardoqui was re-appointed by the Spanish court to recommence the business.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.