p167  Chapter IV
Mirò's Administration
1785 to 1789

Galvez was succeeded ad interim by Mirò, and Don Pedro Piernas took the place of Mirò as colonel of the regiment of Louisiana.

One of the first measures of Mirò's administration was one of charity. It is remarkable that leprosy, which is now so rare a disease, was then not an uncommon affliction in Louisiana. Those who were attacked with this loathsome infirmity generally congregated about New Orleans, where they obtained more abundant alms than in any other part of the colony. They naturally were objects of disgust and fear, and the unrestrained intercourse which they were permitted to have with the rest of the population was calculated to propagate the distemper. Ulloa had attempted to stop this evil, by confining some of the lepers at the Balize, but this measure had created great discontent and had been abandoned. Mirò now determined to act with more efficacy in this matter, and, on his recommendation, the cabildo, or council, caused a hospital to be erected for the reception of these unfortunate beings, in the rear of the city, on a ridge of land lying between the river Mississippi and bayou St. John. The ground they occupied was long known and designated under the appellation of La terre des Lépreux, or Lepers' Land. In the course of a few years, the number of these patients  p168 gradually diminished, either by death or transportation, the disease disappeared almost entirely, the hospital went into decay, and Lepers' Land remained for a considerable length of time a wild looking spot, covered with brambles, briers, weeds, and a luxurious growth of palmettoes. It is, in our days, a part of suburb Trémé, and is embellished with houses and all the appliances of civilization.

Hardly had Mirò entered upon the duties of his office, when he was instructed to inquire into the official acts of one of his predecessors, Governor Unzaga, and to report thereon to his government. When an individual is called upon to discharge these functions, he receives the commission of what is termed in Spanish jurisprudence, a Juez de Residencia, or a Judge of Residence. According to the laws of Spain, this inquiry takes place into the official conduct of public functionaries, when they are removed by death or any other cause. It is made at the most important part of the district in which the late officer exercised his jurisdiction; and from the decision of the Judge of Residence there lies an appeal to the Council of the Indies. This law never had the salutary effects which were intended. The object of the legislator was apparent. Power, he thought, is liable to abuse, and great power is vested in all the officers of the Spanish monarchy, within the sphere, high or low, in which each is called to act. Let him know, therefore, that, as soon as he is stript of the power intrusted to his hands, there shall be a thorough investigation of all his acts, private or public; that every one shall have the right and the opportunity to accuse him fearlessly, even from malice, caprice, or envy; let him know that, whilst he is in the discharge of his functions, he is surrounded by the observing vigilance of a whole population, from the ranks of which numerous accusers and witnesses,  p169 when he is rendered powerless, may start up to impugn his motives, to blacken his character, to arraign his acts, to bring into broad daylight every circumstance of his life, and to drag him like a culprit before the seat of Justice. This, no doubt, must be an effectual safeguard against his partiality, his cupidity, and his other passions. So schemed theory; but practice told a very different tale. The Judge of Residence could be bribed, intimidated, or otherwise influenced. If not, he found his inquiries generally baffled by the combined efforts of those who ought to have afforded him assistance. There is a sort of free-masonry and sympathetic alliance between all persons in office, which makes them opposed to seeing any one of them subjected to censure. They may quarrel together, but an esprit de corps will unite them against any censor that will presume to sit in judgment over any one of them. Thus, when a Spanish functionary went out of office, the Judge of Residence soon discovered that he was opposed by a league of all the other officers of the district in which had officiated the late incumbent, against whom no accuser presented himself, from the fear of having to struggle against the friends he had left behind him, or might have at court, from the unwillingness to incur the displeasure, and from many other considerations. Besides, not unfrequently, the officer, whose conduct was to be investigated, had been promoted to a more important office, and, although he might have been sent away to some distant part of the Spanish dominions, yet who would run the risk, except under extraordinary circumstances, of incurring the hatred and oppression of a man rising in power? Moreover, the Judge of Residence was himself, generally, a man of ambitious aspirations, and had been, or would be in some responsible office sooner or later, and had been,  p170 or would be, on a day to come, subjected, in his turn, to a Judge of Residence. It is natural, therefore, that any one in that position should not have been disposed to give the dangerous example of much scrutiny and severity. Hence the law had become a dead letter, and the appointment of a Judge of Residence was, in most cases, a mere formality. It proved so on this occasion. No complaint was produced against Unzaga, whether there was any cause for any or not, and Mirò's decision, as a Judge of Residence, on his predecessor's administration, was all that could be desired by that functionary, or by his friends.

In this year, 1785, a census which was taken of the inhabitants of Louisiana gave the following results:

 p171  This enumeration shows that the population had more than doubled since 1769, when it amounted only to 13,538. The number of free colored persons was about 1,100, and that of the slaves and whites was very near being equally divided. The expenses of the colony were between 400,000 and 500,000 dollars. The Governor had a salary of $10,000; that of the Intendant, $4,000, &c., &c.

The province received, this year, a very considerable accession of population, by the arrival of a number of Acadian families, who, at the expense of the King of France, and in consequence of an arrangement between the courts of Versailles and Madrid, came over to join such of their countrymen as had emigrated to Louisiana. They were granted lands, mostly on both sides of the Mississippi river, near Plaquemines. Some went to the settlement already existing on the Terre aux Boeufs; others established themselves on Bayou Lafourche, and the rest were scattered in the districts of Attakapas and Opeloussas.

It will be recollected that, in 1782, a royal schedule had been issued, which relaxed the restrictions imposed on the trade of the colony. The consequence of it had been, that the commerce of New Orleans had greatly revived, and a number of merchants from France had established themselves in that town. "The planters, however," says Judge Martin in his History, "regretted the time when British vessels plied on the Mississippi, stopping before every house, furnishing the farmer with whatever he wanted, accepting whatever the latter had to spare, and granting a credit almost unlimited in extent and duration. A number of agents had arrived from Jamaica, to collect debts due to merchants of that island, the recovery of which had been impeded during the war. As the trade these creditors had carried on  p172 could not now be continued, they pressed for settlement and payment. In some cases, legal coercion was resorted to; but Mirò, with as much prudence as Unzaga on a similar occasion, exerted his influence to procure some respite for those who were really unable to comply with their engagements, and allowed a resort to the last extremity against those only whose bad faith appeared to require it. Instances are related, in which, unable to obtain a creditor's indulgence for an honest debtor, he satisfied the former out of his own purse."

Mirò exerted himself to obtain as much extension as possible for the commerce of the colony, and applied to the Court of Madrid to recommend its being fostered by more liberal regulations. In a despatch of the 15th of April, 1786, he said:

The celebrated half breed, Alexander McGillivray, the most influential chief among the Talapouches,​b had been allowed a share in the profits to be derived from the trade carried on at Pensacola, besides the pension of $600 a year, paid him by the Spanish Government. In connection with this circumstance, Navarro observes:

Then Navarro goes on enumerating the remedies he recommends to obviate these evils, and which, if adopted, would, he says:

Navarro concludes his despatch with these reflections:

The whole of this document, of which I have only given a few extracts and the condensed spirit, is replete with good sense and liberality, and is a strong proof of Navarro's distinguished qualifications.

On the 5th of April, 1786, the king issued a royal order, by which he approved the conduct of Mirò, who, in the preceding year, had granted, in the districts of Baton Rouge and Natchez, which had been conquered by the Spaniards, some indulgence and extension of time to the British subjects, in relation to their selling their  p178 property, collecting their debts, and removing away their persons and effects. The king declared his will that permission to remain be granted to such of them as might desire it, provided they took an oath of allegiance and fidelity to him, and promised not to move out of their respective districts without the permission of the governor. "Those who neglected to take the oath," says Judge Martin in his History of Louisiana, "were to depart by sea for some of the colonies of North America; and if they were unable to defray the expenses of the voyage, it was to be paid by the king, who was to be reimbursed, as far as possible, by the sale of their property.

"The king further ordered that, at Natchez and other places where it might be done conveniently, parishes be formed, and put under the direction of Irish clergymen, in order to bring over the inhabitants and their families to the Catholic faith, by the mildness and persuasion it recommends. For this purpose, the king wrote to the Bishop of Salamanca to choose four priests, natives of Ireland, of approved zeal, virtue and learning, from among those of his university, to be sent to Louisiana at the king's expense.

"Mirò, on whom the provisional government had devolved on the departure of galvez, now received a commission of governor, civil and military, of Louisiana and West Florida, and issued his Bando de buen gobierno, on the 2d of June.

"A Bando de buen gobierno is a proclamation, which the governor of a Spanish colony generally issues on assuming its government, to make known the principles by which he intends to direct his conduct, and to introduce necessary alterations in the ordinances of police.

"In this document, Mirò begins by stating that religion being the object of the wise laws of Spain, that a  p179 reverent demeanor in church being a consequence of it, and that the bishop having lately published an edict with regard to the respect and devotion with which the faithful are to attend the celebration of the holy mysteries, the proceedings of the vicar-general against delinquents will receive every necessary aid from the government. Working on the Sabbath and other holy festivals is prohibited, except in cases of necessity, without the license of the vicar. He forbids also the doors of shops or stores being kept open during the hours of divine service, and the dances of slaves on the public squares on those days, before the close of the evening service.

"He declares his intention to proceed with severity against all persons living in concubinage. He observes, that the idleness of free negro, mulatto, and quarteroon women, resulting from their dependence for a livelihood on incontinence and libertinism, will not be tolerated. He recommends them to renounce their mode of living, and to betake themselves to honest labor; and declares his determination to have those who neglect his recommendation sent out of the province, warning them that he will consider their excessive attention to dress, as an evidence of their misconduct.

"He complains that the distinction which had been established in the head-dress of females of color is disregarded, and urges that it is useful to enforce it; he forbids them to wear thereon any plumes or jewelry, and directs them to have their hair bound in a kerchief.

"He announces that the laws against gambling and duelling, and against those who carry about their persons dirks, pistols, and other weapons, shall be rigorously enforced.

"The nightly assemblages of people of color are prohibited.

"The inhabitants of the city are forbidden to leave  p180 it, either by land or by water, without a passport, and those who leave the province are to give security for the payment of their debts.

"Persons coming in, by land or water, are to present themselves to the Government House.

"Those who harbor convicts, or deserters from the land or naval service, are to be punished.

"Any large concourse of people without the government's consent is inhibited.º

"None are to walk out at night without urgent necessity, and not then without a light.

"No house or apartment is to be rented to a slave.

"Tavern-keepers are to shut their houses at regular hours, and not to sell spirituous liquors to Indians, soldiers, or slaves.

"Purchases from soldiers, Indians, convicts, or slaves are prohibited.

"Regulations are made to prevent forestalling, to hinder hogs from running at large in the streets, to restrain the keeping of too great a number of dogs, and to secure the removal of dead animals.

"Measures are taken to guard against conflagrations, to drain the streets, and to keep the landing on the Levee unobstructed.

"Verbal sales of slaves are forbidden."

According to one of Mirò's despatches, the revenue resulting from the import and export duties at New Orleans amounted, this year, to 585,063 reales de plata, that is about $72,000.

In the beginning of 1787, the districts of Opeloussas and Atakapas, which, on account of the thinness of their population, had, so far, been intrusted to the care of one officer, had become so considerable, that it was deemed expedient to divide them into two separate commands. Nicholas Forstall was appointed commander of the  p181 Opeloussas district, and the Chevalier de Clouet, who had before presided over both, was left in charge of Atakapas.

It may not have been forgotten, that the king had requested the Bishop of Salamanca to choose from the Seminary of that town four Irish priests, who were to be sent to Louisiana, and who were to settle among the Protestant and Anglo-Saxon subjects of his Majesty, in the hope, no doubt, of converting them to the Catholic faith. These priests arrived in 1787, and were established at Baton Rouge, Natchez, and other posts in the territory conquered over Great Britain by Galvez.

At that time, Spain began to look with earnest solicitude at the growing power which, under the appellation of the United States of America, had taken its rank among the nations of the earth, and the western settlements of which had come into collision with those of the Spaniards in Florida and Louisiana. Thus the State of Georgia claimed an immense territory on the east side of the Mississippi, from Loftus heights northward, for several hundred miles, which region was in the possession of Spain, with a population estimated at about ten thousand souls. Georgia had sent commissioners to New Orleans in the autumn of 1785, demanding the surrender of that territory and the recognition of the line stipulated in the treaty of 1783. The Spanish authorities of Louisiana had denied having any power to act on the subject, which was properly referred by the respective parties to the governments of Spain and of the United States.

Besides, the Mississippi was the natural outlet for the commerce of the American people in the western settlements, and that commerce was pouring down upon New Orleans, as it were with the waves of that mighty river. The duties which were collected by the Spanish authorities were considered as oppressive and unjust. The  p182 sturdy flat-boatmen of Ohio and Kentucky, on their return home, had always a long list of seizures, confiscations, fines, imprisonments, extortions, or vexatious delays to publish, and those tales, which probably in many cases were exaggerated, kept in constant agitation a population, who considered that they derived from nature itself a right to the free navigation of the Mississippi. It was the highway to the sea given them by God, and they were determined to have it. Hence the excitement went up to such a degree, that an open invasion of Louisiana was talked of, and a forcible seizure of New Orleans contemplated. But before resorting to these extreme measures, the patriotic yeomanry of the West had applied to Congress, and urged upon that body the necessity of obtaining from Spain by negotiation, at least such commercial privileges as were indispensable to the very existence of the western settlements. These were circumstances of sufficient importance to secure the most vigilant attention, on the part of the Spanish functionaries at New Orleans.

Thus, on the 12th of February, 1787, Navarro, the Intendant, wrote to his government:

 p184  In the month of March, Governor Mirò, in a despatch to the Marquis of La Sonora,​7 secretary of state, and president of the council of the Indies, commented with much earnestness on the defenceless state of the colony, and represented the Plaquemine Turn as the best spot to be fortified. He sent the estimate of the expenses which would be required for the erection of some batteries and a small fort at that locality, and which the engineers had put down at $37,000.

In consequence of the treaties of alliance and commerce concluded with the Indians at Mobile and Pensacola, in 1784, and in order to carry them into execution, and supply them with the objects of trade which were necessary to their wants, commercial privileges had been conceded to William Panton at Pensacola, and to James Mather at Mobile, who, in consideration of these privileges, had stipulated with the Spanish government to satisfy the Indians. But the goods which were to the taste of these people, and which could be procured with more ease than any other, were to be obtained in England only, and therefore the ships of these two merchants had been permitted, as an exception, to resort to the port of London. The Spanish government, however, soon took umbrage at the liberties which it had granted, and in August, 1786, they had been considerably curtailed or impeded by a royal decree. Panton and Mather remonstrated with vivacity, and represented that, if those restrictions were not repealed, they would remove themselves, their families and their effects to some other more favored spot than were Pensacola and Mobile under the pernicious influence of the unwise regulations of Spanish policy. On the 24th of March, Governor  p185 Mirò, and the Intendant Navarro, in a joint despatch, backed the reclamations of Panton and Mather, and commented at length on the importance of conciliating the Indians, and of keeping up with them as extensive a trade as possible, at a time when they were in arms to defend their territories against the encroachments of American ambition.

Alive to the policy of increasing the population of Louisiana, Governor Mirò somewhat relaxed the restrictions upon the river trade, reduced the transit duties, and encouraged emigration from the west to the Spanish possessions on the Mississippi, particularly to the parishes of West Florida. He therefore granted permission to a number of American families to settle in Louisiana, and to introduce the utensils, effects and provisions of which they might stand in need, except brandy and sugar, on their paying a duty of six per cent. Desirous of ascertaining the number of Acadians who had settled in Louisiana, he ordered a census of them to be made, and itº was found that, in 1787, that population amounted to 1,587 souls.

The province of Louisiana would soon have become a desert, if it had been limited to trading with Spain only, and if the Spanish restrictions on its commerce had been strictly enforced; but the colonial government had winked at its infractions, and, for some time, a lucrative trade had been carried on, not only on the Mississippi, but also, and principally, with the city of Philadelphia. Gardoqui, the Spanish minister sent to the United States, had himself connived at it; suddenly, however, either from the corrupt motives attributed to him, or from whatever other cause, he reprimanded Navarro with extreme severity on the infractions of the laws of Spain, added that he had informed his court of these facts, and forced the Intendant to proceed to the harshest  p186 measures against such delinquencies. This produced a crisis by which the colony was greatly distressed, and a great portion of the population was reduced to such extremities, that the Intendant informed his government, on the 10th of October, 1787, that he had assumed the responsibility of continuing to the Acadians, for two months more, their rations, which were to have been suspended. The annual donations in money, provisions and other articles to the Acadians, the Isleños, or emigrants from the Canary Islands, and to the Indians, were a heavy drain on the Spanish treasury, for they amounted to 1,733,381 reales de plata, or about $173,338. To this is to be added a debt of $760,779, which the Spanish government had contracted in Louisiana during the war against the English, and which remained to be paid. It is not astonishing therefore that Navarro, in a despatch of the 19th of December, 1787, addressed to Valdès, the successor of the Marquis de la Sonora, should have made an energetic description of the misery which prevailed in the colony. He represented that there was a complete stagnation of affairs; that there were no sales of any kind; that foreigners and particularly the European French had ceased to make any investments, as formerly, on real estates, which now could not be disposed of, even for a mere nominal price, and that commerce, agriculture, and every branch of industry was completely withered and destroyed.

Navarro then goes on analysing the causes of the decline of the colony, and pointing out every commercial restriction to which he attributes it, and, among these causes, he mentions the apprehensions which are produced by the threats of the Americans. He concludes with enumerating the means which are calculated to people the country and make it satisfied with its government.

It is evident that the Intendant Navarro was not deficient in perspicacity, and that the distinguishing traits of the American character had soon made themselves known to the rulers of Louisiana.

The province had, in this year 1787, produced a sufficient quantity of corn, rice, and other grains for its home consumption, but it had made only half a crop of indigo, which was the chief staple of the colony. To increase the distress of the colonists, the summer was marked by fevers, which frequently and easily assumed a malignant type. There was also an epidemic catarrh, from which few were exempt, and by which many were seriously incommoded. The small pox infested the whole province, and those whom fear prevented from being inoculated became the victims of their prejudices. All those who were attacked by the contagion, either died, or were dangerously sick. The inoculation was fatal only to very few, but this was enough to confirm in their systematic opposition those who declaimed against this wise and humane practice. This disease had struck such terror into the Acadian families, that, when one of their members was attacked by the disease, they used to abandon him to solitude and to his fate, leaving him to his own resources, but supplying him with all the provisions and other articles they supposed he would need, although breaking off all communication with him, and thereby depriving him of their assistance. Some of  p191 them, however, who were established in Feliciana, and who numbered eighty persons of both sexes and of all ages, had the fortitude to have themselves inoculated, and not one of them had cause to repent having taken that determination.10

Always haunted by the fear of their restless neighbors, the Spaniards spared no means to conciliate the Indians, in order to interpose them between themselves and the objects of their apprehension, and succeeded in drawing to New Orleans thirty-six of the most influential chiefs of the Choctaws and Chickasaws, whom they cajoled and feasted, and whose friendship and alliance they secured. Governor Mirò received them with great pomp, gave them rich presents, harangued them, smoked the pipe with them, and made a liberal distribution of medals and collars. But the regent of the Chickasaws (the king being a minor) would not permit himself to be decorated with a medal, saying that such insignia might be honor-conferring distinctions for his warriors and the inferior classes of his people, but that, with regard to himself, he was sufficiently distinguished by his blood and birth, and that to act as the friend and ally of the Spaniards, and to acknowledge himself the son of the Great Father, who was on the other side of the water, meaning the king of Spain, it was sufficient that he should have received his banner and his presents; "which is a manifest proof," wrote Navarro, "of the existence of the pride and point of honor, observable even among the barbarous and uncivilized nations." The Governor took them to a public ball, with which they seemed to be delighted, expressing the belief that all the beautiful ladies present were sisters, and had  p192 fallen from heaven.​11 The Governor also entertained them with a military parade and field manoeuvres, which they surveyed with much attention and with demonstrations of pleasure. Finally they were fully won over by such arts, and they returned to their villages with Spanish hearts. Impressed with this flattering conviction, Navarro wrote to his government: "All these nations are entirely devoted to us, and I can also safely affirm, that the Americans will not gain much ground with them."​12 This boasted friendship of the Indians was not without being felt by the Spanish treasury, and it appears, from an account rendered on the 5th of January, 1788, that the amount of the sums spent in presents to the Indians, from 1779 to 1787 inclusive, rose up to about $300,000.

It is in 1787, that the History of Louisiana becomes connected in a remarkable manner with that of the United States, by the formation of a great scheme, the object of which was the dismemberment of the confederacy so lately established. The first Federal Union, which was conceived under the pressure of circumstances admitting of no delay, was weak in the very bones and marrow of its organization, and, although it had carried the United States triumphantly through the war of independence, it was inadequate to the ultimate purposes which it had in view, and was threatened with dissolution on account of its inherent imperfections. The western people, particularly, were exceedingly dissatisfied. They were then separated from the Atlantic states by an immense distance, by the intervening barrier of a wilderness  p193 and high mountains, by a difference of pursuits, of habits, and interests, and they felt less than any other portion of the United States the force of those ties which bound them together, and the necessity of that union. They had repeatedly laid their grievances and wrongs before the general government, and obtained no redress. They had in vain petitioned Congress to secure for them the free use of the Mississippi, without which it was useless for them to till the ground, since they had no market for their produce. The growing population of that newly settled region became intensely excited, and the bold and sturdy yeomen of the West determined to take their case into their own hands. But if they were unanimous as to that, they were divided as to the means of accomplishing their object, and they had even split into five different parties.

"The first (Judge Martin's History, vol. II, p101) was for being independent of the United States, and for the formation of a new republic, unconnected with the old one, and resting on a basis of its own, and a close alliance with Spain.

"Another party was willing that the country should become a part of the province of Louisiana, and submit to the admission of the laws of Spain.

"A third desired war with Spain and the seizure of New Orleans.

"A fourth plan was to prevail on Congress, by a show of preparation for war, to extort from the Cabinet of Madrid what it persisted in refusing.

"The last, as unnatural as the second, was to solicit France to procure a retrocession of Louisiana, and to extend her protection to Kentucky."

Well informed of the condition of things then existing, Governor Mirò, in Louisiana, and the Spanish Minister, Gardoqui, at Philadelphia, were both pursuing the same  p194 object, which was — to draw to Louisiana as much of this western population as could be induced to emigrate, and even to operate, if possible, a dismemberment of the confederacy, by the secession of Kentucky and of the other discontented districts from the rest of the United States. Both these Spanish functionaries were partners in the same game, and yet they were unwilling to communicate to each other the cards they had in hand. Each one was bent upon his own plan, and taking care to conceal it from the other; each one had his own secret agents unknown to the colleague whom he ought to have called to his assistance. There was a want of concert, arising perhaps from jealousy, from the lack of confidence, from ambition, from the desire of engrossing all the praise and reward in case of success, or from some other cause. Be it what it may, the consequence was, that the schemes of these two men frequently counteracted each other, and resulted in a series of measures which were at variance and contradictory, and which seemed inexplicable to him who had not the key to what was going on behind the curtain.º

Among the most influential and popular men in the west, through whose co‑operation Mirò hoped to accomplish his object, was General James Wilkinson,​c who had already acquired considerable reputation in the military service of the United States, and who had lately emigrated to that section of the country. This individual had some friends among the merchants of New Orleans, with whom he corresponded, and on whose influence with the Spanish Colonial government, backed by his own talents, address and management, he confidently relied in his hope to be able to open a lucrative trade between that town and the western country, which trade would be exclusively conducted by or through himself, and would thus secure to him a rapid and large fortune.  p195 General Wilkinson had therefore descended to New Orleans, in the garb of a merchant and speculator, with a cargo of tobacco, flour, butter and bacon. Orders had been issued to seize and confiscate the boat and its load, when Wilkinson, having had an interview the Governor Mirò, was permitted to sell his cargo without paying any duty. Several other interviews followed, and Wilkinson was hospitably feasted by the Spanish Governor, who became every day more friendly and condescending, and who granted to his guest permission to introduce into Louisiana, free of duty, many western articles of trade which were adapted to its market. Wilkinson remained in New Orleans during the months of June, July, and August, and sailed in September for Philadelphia. Many wondered at the intimacy which had grown up, during this time, between Mirò and Wilkinson, and sly hints and insinuations were thrown out as to its nature and tendency.

"While Colonel Wilkinson was in New Orleans, in June, 1787," says Butler in his History of Kentucky, "Governor Mirò requested him to give his sentiments freely in writing, respecting the political interests of Spain and the inhabitants of the United States dwelling in the regions upon the western waters. This he did at length in a document of fifteen or twenty pages, which the Governor transmitted to Madrid, to be laid before the King of Spain. In this document he urges the natural right of the western people to follow the current of the rivers flowing through their country to the sea. He states the extent of the country, the richness of the soil, abounding in choice productions, proper for foreign markets, to which they have no means of conveying them should the Mississippi be shut against them. He sets forth the advantages which Spain might derive from  p196 allowing them the free use of the river. He proceeds to show the rapid increase of population in the western country, and the eagerness with which every individual looked forward to the navigation of that river. He describes the general abhorrence with which they received the intelligence that Congress was about to sacrifice their dearest interest by ceding to Spain, for twenty years, the navigation of the Mississippi; and represents it as a fact that they are on the point of separating themselves entirely from the Union, on that account. He addresses himself to the Governor's fears by an ominous display of their strength, and argues the impolicy of Spain in being so blind to her own interest as to refuse them an amicable participation in the navigation of the river, thereby forcing them into violent measures. He assures the Spanish Governor that, in case of such alternative, "Great Britain stands ready, with expanded arms, to receive them," and to assist their efforts to accomplish that object, and quotes a conversation with a member of the British parliament to that effect. He states the facility with which the province of Louisiana might be invaded by the united forces to English and the Americans, the former advancing from Canada by the way of the Illinois river, and the latter by way of the Ohio river; also, the practicability of proceeding from Louisiana to Mexico, in a march of twenty days; that in case of such invasion, Great Britain will aim at the possession of Louisiana and New Orleans, and leave the navigation of the river free to the Americans. He urges forcibly the danger of the Spanish interests in North America, with Great Britain in possession of the Mississippi, as she was already in possession of the St. Lawrence and the great lakes. He concludes with an apology for the freedom with which he had expressed  p197 his views by the Governor's particular request; that such as they are, they are from a man whose head may err, but whose heart cannot deceive."

So much for Wilkinson's ostensible doings. But it leaked out at the time and passed current among those who pretended to be well informed, that Wilkinson had delivered to the Spanish Governor a memorial containing other representations which were kept from the public eye.

In the mean time, Gardoqui, the Spanish minister at Philadelphia, was acting in conformity with his cherished plan of fomenting emigration from the American settlements into Louisiana, and one of his chief agents was an individual named Pierre Wower d'Argès. For this purpose, he, with the authorization of his court, invited the people of Kentucky and those who dwelt on the Cumberland river to establish themselves in West Florida and the Florida district of Lower Louisiana, under the protection of Spain, and he made them liberal grants of land, conceding them also considerable privileges and favors. The Americans who should settle in Louisiana were to be permitted to introduce slaves, stock, provisions for two years, farming utensils and implements, without paying any duty whatever, and, as to any other kind of property, it might be imported and offered for sale, on paying a duty of 25 per cent. They were also promised the free use of their religion. These conditions proved sufficient allurements for many Americans, who, with their families, removed to Louisiana and became Spanish subjects. Colonel George Morgan, who had proposed to lead a large number of emigrants, had obtained from Gardoqui the concession of a vast tract of land •about seventy miles below the mouth of the Ohio, on which he subsequently laid the foundation of a  p198 city, which he called New Madrid, in compliment to the Spaniards.

Pierre Wower d'Argès had arrived at New Orleans, and applied to Mirò for support of Gardoqui's views and plans. Mirò, who found them not agreeing with his own, was greatly mortified, and, in a despatch which he addressed, on the 8th of January, 1788, to Valdès, the minister and secretary of state for the department of the Indies, said: "I fear that they may clash with Wilkinson's principal object, as I shall attempt to demonstrate by the following observations. In the first place, D'Argès having presented himself here with very little prudence and concealment, it may turn out that Wilkinson, in Kentucky, being made aware of the mission of this agent, may think that we are not sincere, and that, endeavoring to realize his project without him, we use him merely as a tool to facilitate the operations of D'Argès. Under this impression, and under the belief that D'Argès may reap the whole credit of the undertaking in case of success, it may happen that he will counteract them; for this reason, I have been reflecting for many days, whether it would not be proper to communicate to D'Argès Wilkinson's plans, and to Wilkinson the mission of D'Argès, in order to unite them and to dispose them to work in concert. But I dare not do so,​13 because D'Argès may consider that the great projects of Wilkinson may destroy the merit of his own, and he may communicate them to some one, who might cause Wilkinson to be arrested as a criminal, and also because  p199 Wilkinson may take offence at another being admitted to participate in confidential proceedings, upon which depend his life and honor, as he expresses himself in his memorial.​14 Being precluded by these reasons from opening myself on the subject with D'Argès, I thought that I was bound to be equally discreet with Wilkinson, until I knew what are the intentions of his Majesty with regard to the latter.

[. . .]

"The delivering up of Kentucky unto his Majesty's hands, which is the main object to which Wilkinson has promised to devote himself entirely, would for ever constitute this province a rampart for the protection of New Spain. Hence I consider as a misfortune the project of D'Argès, because I look upon the commercial franchises which he has obtained for the western colonists, and the permission given to the people to introduce any kind of articles into Louisiana, on their paying a duty of twenty-five per cent, as destructive of the great design which has been conceived.

"The western people would no longer have any inducement to emigrate, if they were put in possession of a free trade with us. This is the reason why this privilege should be granted only to a few individuals having influence among them, as is suggested in Wilkinson's memorial, because on their seeing the advantages bestowed on these few, they might be easily persuaded to acquire the like by becoming Spanish subjects."

Mirò also objected to the imposition of the duty of twenty-five per cent on certain articles to be introduced by the American settlers in Louisiana, because he said that, if Wilkinson was to be believed, Great Britain  p200 made them much more liberal propositions, with which those of Spain would not compare advantageously. With regard to the religious toleration granted by Gardoqui, Mirò observed that it was too extensive. "It will be sufficient," said he, "to promise the emigrants that they shall not be forced to become Catholics, because, if they are told that their religion is to be tolerated, they will infer that they are permitted to practise it freely, which would authorize them to take along with them their ministers, whose absence would, on the contrary, favor the frequent conversions which the Irish priests would make, and which, otherwise, would be much more difficult. I can conceive of but one case which would justify granting to those people the free exercise of their religion — that is, if Kentucky could not be prevailed upon to give herself up to His Majesty without this condition.

"Your Excellency informs me that the agent D'Argès will give it to be understood in Kentucky with dexterity and prudence, without committing himself at all, that, until the question of boundaries be definitively settled, the Spanish government will permit those inhabitants and colonists to send down their produce to New Orleans, &c. and Your Excellency goes on saying, that there are good grounds for expecting that many merchants in Spain and even in Havana will come to this port to enjoy this lucrative commerce, particularly if the franchises hitherto granted to foreigners were curtailed. This part of Your Excellency's communication obliges me to represent, on the strength of the knowledge which I have of this province, that its prosperity would be immediately checked, if the slightest restrictive alteration were added to the royal schedule of the 22d of January, 1782, which allows the colonists to supply their wants from France and its colonies, and that the greater the number of emigrants we shall obtain from  p201 Kentucky and the rest of the United States, the greater necessity there will be for those franchises, in order that there should be no lack of the goods necessary to supply the wants of the new comers; for, to these franchises we are indebted for the aggrandizement into which this province has been expanding itself since they were granted. It would be inopportune to repeat at light the reasons which determined His Majesty to bestow those favors, and I shall confine myself to the principal one, which is, that deer skins and indigo, which are the two most important returns of trade from this country to France, have not, to this day, been adapted to the commerce of Spain, because the importation of those skins into the Peninsula gives no profit, and that the indigo of Louisiana is inferior to that of Guatimala, which is chiefly used in the kingdom. The only articles the Americans could furnish for the commerce of Spain and Havana, would be flour, hemp, materials for cordage, and wrought iron. With regard to flour, it would be necessary for Your Excellency to consider, whether its exportation to Havana would not be prejudicial to the provinces of New Spain, which now supply that market," &c., &c.

On the 20th of February, Mirò sent to his government a copy of the instructions which he had given to Lieutenant-colonel Charles de Grandpré, Governor of Natchez, in relation to the 1582 Kentuckian families, which Pierre Wower d'Argès was expected to lead to that district. In that document Governor Mirò said to Grandpré: "You will make concession of land to every family on its arrival; to each family not owning negroes at all — •six arpens fronting a Bayou or water-course, with forty in depth, making a total of two hundred and forty arpens; to such as may have two, three, or four slaves, or be composed of four or six adult and unmarried sons, capable  p202 of working — •ten arpens in front by forty in depth; to such as have from ten to twenty negroes — •fifteen arpens by forty, and to those owning more than twenty negroes, •twenty arpens by forty.

"As to religion, you are already aware that the will of his Majesty is, that they be not disturbed on that account, but I think it proper that they be made to understand, that this toleration means only that they shall not be compelled to become Catholics; and it is expedient that this information be conveyed to them in such a manner, as to convince them that they are not to have the free exercise of their religion — that is — that they are not to build churches, or have salaried ministers of their creed — which is the footing on which have been placed the settlers who have preceded them.

"I herewith forward to you a copy of the oath which you will require of them. You will take notice of its last clause, by which they bind themselves to take up arms against those who may come as enemies from the settlements above; you will then, after having assured them that they shall not be troubled in matters of religion, inform them that the object of peopling Louisiana is to protect it against any invasion whatever which may be directed against it from the aforesaid settlements; that this is to their own interest, since, under the Spanish domination, they cannot fail to be happy, on account of its mild and impartial administration of justice, and because they will have no taxes to pay; and besides, that the royal treasury will purchase all the tobacco which they may raise. Whilst presenting to them these considerations, you will carefully observe the manner in which they shall receive them, and the expression of their faces. Of this you will give me precise information, every time that you send me the original oaths taken."

The form of the oath was as follows:

Grandpré, however, had not to attend to these particulars, having been shortly after superseded by Lieutenant-colonel Gayoso de Lemos.

Such had been the efforts made to increase the population of Louisiana, when its prosperity was suddenly checked by a terrible visitation. On the 21st of March, 1788, being Good Friday,​15 at half past one in the afternoon, a fire broke out in New Orleans, in the house of the military treasurer, Vicente Jose Nuñez, and reduced to ashes eight hundred and fifty-six edifices, among which were the stores of all the merchants, and the dwellings of the principal inhabitants, the Cathedral, the Convent of the Capuchins, with the greater portion of their books, the Townhall, the watch-house, and the arsenal with all its contents. Only seven hundred and fifty muskets were saved. The public prison was also burnt down, and time was hardly left to save the lives of the unfortunate inmates. Most of the buildings that escaped the conflagration were those which fronted the river. The wind was at the time blowing from the south with extreme violence, and rendered nugatory all attempts to stop the  p204 progress of the devouring element. The imagination can easily conceive the scene of desolation; almost the whole of the population of the smouldering town was ruined, and deprived even of shelter during the whole of the following night. But, the next morning, Governor Mirò furnished those who desired it with tents, and distributed rations of rice, at the expense of his Majesty, to all those who applied for it. They were found to amount to about seven hundred persons. Many took refuge with those whose dwellings had not been consumed, every sort of assistance was tendered to the sufferers, and on this melancholy occasion, were displayed to advantage those feelings of compassion and generosity which lie latent in the human heart.

One of Mirò's first cares was to send to Philadelphia three vessels consigned to Gardoqui, to procure, in as short a time as possible, provisions, nails, medicaments, and other objects of indispensable necessity, which were to be resold at equitable prices. The Spanish minister was invited to grant permission to such any other vessels as would come to New Orleans with these articles, and $24,000 were remitted to him for the purchase of three thousand barrels of flour. Mirò sent to the Court of Spain a detailed account of the losses occasioned by this conflagration, and put them down at $2,595,561.

On the 1st of April, 1788, Governor Mirò wrote to his government a despatch containing a curious account of the state of public education in Louisiana. "It seems," said he, "that in 1772, there came from Spain Don Andreas Lopez de Armesto as director of the school which was ordered to be established at New Orleans, Don Pedro Aragon as teacher of grammar (maestro de syntaxis), Don Manuel Diaz de Lara as professor of the rudiments of the Latin language, and Don Francisco de la Celena as teacher of reading and writing (maestro de  p205 primeras lettras). But the Governor, Don Luis de Unzaga, found himself greatly embarrassed as to the establishment of those schools, because he knew that the parents would not send their children to them, unless they were driven to it by the fear of some penalty. Considering, however, that it was not proper to resort to violence, he confined himself to making the public acquainted with the benefits they would derive from the education which the magnanimous heart of his Majesty thus put within their reach. Nevertheless, no pupil ever presented himself for the Latin class; a few came to be taught reading and writing only; these never exceeded thirty, and frequently dwindled down to six. For this reason, the three teachers taught nothing beyond the rudiments."

Mirò goes on saying, that the late conflagration having destroyed the school-house, Don Andres Almonaster had offered, as a substitute, free of charge, and as long as it should be wanted, a small edifice containing a room •thirteen feet in length by twelve in width, which would suffice for the present, because, since the occurrence of the fire, many families had retired into the country, so that the number of pupils had, by that event, been reduced from twenty-three to twelve. He also proposes the construction of a more respectable school-house, the cost of which he estimates at $6,000.

"The introduction of the Spanish language in this colony," he observes, "is an object of difficult attainment, which it will require much time to accomplish, as the like, with regard to any language, has always happened in every country passing under the domination of another nation. All that has been obtained so far is, that all the proceedings of the courts of justice in the town be conducted in Spanish. But we have not succeeded so well  p206 in the other posts and dependencies, where French only continues to be spoken. Even in this town, the books of the merchants, except of those Spanish born, are kept in that language. For this reason, as those who have no fortune to leave to their sons aspire to give them no other career than a mercantile one, for which they think that reading writing is sufficient, they prefer that this be taught them in French, and thus there were, before the fire, eight schools of that description, which were frequented by four hundred children of both sexes."

On the 11th of April, Mirò and Navarro informed the cabinet of Madrid, in a joint despatch, that they had received a communication in cypher from Wilkinson, in which he conveyed to them the agreeable intelligence that, after a painful and long journey, he had safely returned from the North to the West, across the mountains; that all his predictions were on the eve of being accomplished; that, as he had foretold, Kentucky had separated itself from Virginia, and that the rest would follow of course as Spain desired. Wilkinson's letter had been brought by one of his boats, which was soon to be followed by the remainder of them. The following is a part of Wilkinson's letter, alluded to in Mirò and Navarro's despatch:

On the 15th of May, Mirò wrote to urge upon the government the necessity of buying for the account of the king a larger quantity of tobacco. "If it be not possible," said he, "that Spain should consume tobacco to the amount of a few more millions of pounds, I fear that the new colonists with whom this province is peopling itself will consider as without foundation the hopes which rested on the cultivation of this plant, and which  p208 made them believe that they would find among us a prosperity, the expected enjoyment of which had induced them to prefer the domination of His Majesty to any other. This alone, I conceive, can make happy all the population which extends from Natchez inclusively to the regions above. I am so convinced of it, that I feel compelled to say, that there is no means more powerful to accomplish the principal object we have in view in the memorial which has been laid before His Majesty, than the promise that the government will take as much as six millions of pounds of their tobacco, instead of the two millions which are now bought from them."

On the 15th of May, Wilkinson wrote from Kentucky the following letter to Mirò and Navarro:

On the 15th of June, Mirò sent to Spain a copy of Wilkinson's letter with the following observations:

On the same day, Mirò forwarded to his government the copy of a letter addressed, on the 25th of April, by McGillivray, the chief of the Talapouches and the pensioned ally of the Spaniards, to the Governor of Pensacola:

Commenting on this letter in a despatch of the 15th of June, Mirò said:

Whilst all these intrigues were on foot, the population  p215 of Louisiana was steadily increasing, and Colonel Peter Brian Browin,​18 among others, with a number of families, provided with passports from Gardoqui, had arrived to settle in the district of Natchez. A census was taken this year, 1788, and presented the following results:

There were about as many whites as there were slaves, and the free colored persons numbered about 1,700. In 1785, the census had given a total of 31,433 souls; thus the increase had been considerable, and would appear still more so, if it be true, as it was then asserted, that  p216 this last census was short of the real number, and that the population at the time ought to have been computed at least at 45,000 souls.

This year, Mirò, who, it will be recollected, had been appointed, in 1785, Judge of Residence to inquire into the official acts of Unzaga, received a commission to the same effect with regard to Galvez, under whom he had served, who had led him to victory, whom he loved as his chief and companion in arms, — Galvez, who now was the powerful Viceroy of the kingdom of Mexico, and whose uncle​19 have been so recently the omnipotent minister of the King of Spain! It seems that the minister who signed this commission and sent it to Mirò, can hardly be supposed to have refrained from a smile at the mockery he was perpetrating.

In the spring of 1788, Martin Navarro, the gifted Intendant of Louisiana, who had won the esteem, respect, and attachment of all classes, during his long residence in the colony, left it for Spain, and the two offices of Intendant and Governor were united in the person of Mirò. Considering the importance of the great scheme of which Mirò was one of the main springs, it was thought necessary to facilitate his operations by exposing him to no interference with his authority on the part of a colleague in power. Besides, to appoint a new Intendant would have been to initiate another person, who might lack prudence and discretion, into secrets which it was good policy to keep within the breasts of as few individuals as possible, and this might have been objected to by Wilkinson and his associates, as endangering their safety. Navarro's last official despatch was a memorial which was to be submitted to the king, and in which, at the request of the Minister of the Department of the  p217 Indies, he expressed his views in relation to Louisiana. In this document, the Intendant depicted in vivid colors the dangers which Spain had to apprehend for her American colonies, from the thirteen provinces that had lately become independent and had assumed their rank among the nations of the earth, under the appellation of the United States of America. He dwelt with peculiar emphasis on the ambition and the thirst of conquest which his keen eye could already detect in the breast of the new-born giant, who, as he predicted with remarkable accuracy, would not rest satisfied until he extended his domains across the continent, and bathed his vigorous young limbs in the placid waves of the Pacific. When was there a truer prophet? And how was this dread event, so clearly foreseen, to be prevented? — By severing the Union — by dividing from the Atlantic States the boundless West, where so much power was already slumbering in the lap of the wilderness. To effect this, was not, in his opinion, very difficult, if the propitious circumstances, then existing, were turned to advantage without loss of time, and by the use of proper means. "Grant," said he, "every sort of commercial privileges to the masses in the western region, and shower pensions and honours on their leaders." This memorial produced a deep impression at Madrid, and confirmed the government of Spain in the policy which it had begun to pursue.

D'Argès had, in consequence, received instructions from Gardoqui and from the Count of Florida Blanca, one of the members of the Cabinet of Madrid, to do all that was in his power to procure the dismemberment of the American Union. He had come to solicit assistance and co-operation from Mirò; but, to his great astonishment, he was detained in New Orleans by the Governor, under various pretexts, and not permitted to  p218 ascend the Mississippi, on his way to the West. In a despatch of the 7th of August, addressed to the Count of Florida Blanca, Mirò explained his reasons for so doing. "Being obliged," said he, "to conceal from D'Argès the true cause of Wilkinson's visit to New Orleans, I told him only, that the General had presented to the Court a memorial approved by me, in favor of the district of Kentucky, with a view to opening a trade between this colony and that province. He cannot conceive why I am losing, as he thinks, so much time, and why I do not hasten to avail myself of the permission given by your Excellency to carry on an enterprise, to which he would join his contribution of labor, at the propitious moment when the inhabitants of Kentucky are framing the Constitution of that State. His intentions are praiseworthy, if sincere, as I believe them to be. But my mind, although not very acute, has not been without detecting that the jealous ambition of a man easily produces feelings of enmity in his breast, and that, when two individuals work together in the same undertaking, the first who discovers that his companion is to reap all the merit of the success, if obtained, is apt, instead of contributing to it, to use for its defeat the very knowledge and experience which he has acquired in the matter.

"My not permitting D'Argès to ascend the river will not be productive of any injury to the royal service, and his being allowed to be in competition with Wilkinson, when they cannot be made acquainted with their reciprocal mission, would produce results of a serious nature, and, thus, I hope to obtain the approbation of your Excellency for detaining him here, until I receive the instructions of his Majesty on the main question."

On the 28th of August, Mirò wrote to his Government: "In compliance with the orders given by the American  p219 Brigadier-General, James Wilkinson, to his agent here, this individual has invested the product of the sale of tobacco, with an additional sum of money, in merchandise, with which he has loaded a boat. This cargo, which has required an outlay of $18,246 and six reals, is composed of eatables and dry goods destined for the Kentucky market.

The establishment of this trade is of the utmost consequence for the success of our great project, which I disclosed and explained in the confidential despatch No. 13, to which is annexed the memorial of the said Brigadier, because it is exceedingly important that the Western people should see, before declaring themselves for a change of domination, that the true channel through which they had to be supplied with the objects of their wants, in exchange for their own productions, is the Mississippi."

Mirò explains at length the facilities of that commerce, and demonstrates how much more advantageous it would be for the Western people than that which they have been forced to carry on, across the mountains, with the Atlantic States.

"The great obstacle," continues he, "which Wilkinson's agent, who is also interested in this commercial adventure, has to encounter, is the difficulty to ascend as far up the falls of the Ohio without being attacked by the Indians, but I have encouraged him to attempt it at all hazards, and I have proposed to him to send two expresses to Wilkinson, one through the Talapouche territory, and the other through the Chickasaw nation, to notify the General of the coming up of his boat, in order that he may send an armed one to the mouth of the Ohio, which, with the twenty rowers who man the boat, will, I hope, be sufficient protection to secure its safety. I have written to Wilkinson not to sell the  p220 goods at a higher price than what they cost here, because it is highly important that this first essay should inspire the inhabitants of Kentucky with the most flattering hopes.

"I have good reasons to expect that the arrival of this boat will produce the most agreeable sensation among these people, and will make them feel more keenly that their felicity depends on the concession of such commercial facilities by his Majesty, and for the acquisition of which I conceive that there are few sacrifices which they would not make; and therefore I hope with the utmost confidence, that his Majesty will approve all that I have done, on this and other occasions — which course has secured to me the most profound tranquillity in this province, whilst I am waiting for instructions in so great and important an affair."

On the 7th of September, Colonel Morgan addressed from New Jersey to Gardoqui, a very curious memorial, in which he proposes to establish on certain conditions an immense colony near the mouth of the Ohio. Those conditions he stipulates at length, and declares that, if they are strictly adhered to, the population which he will draw to that settlement will, in ten years, amount to at least one hundred thousand souls. He expatiates on the advantages which would result therefrom to Spain, and, in return for what he promises to do, he desires that the rank of colonel enjoyed by him in the army of the United States, against whose government he expresses himself with some bitterness of feeling, and which he accuses of having acted with bad faith towards him, be secured to him; that he be granted a concession of •twenty miles square, with a pension for the rest of his life, and that other boons and advantages be guarantied to himself and to his family.

On the 4th of October, Gardoqui answered Colonel  p221 George Morgan from New York, expressing the warmest approbation of that gentleman's plan of colonization, and informing him that he had forwarded it to be submitted to the king, and that he doubted not but that all that was applied for would be granted. "As you seem anxious," said he, "not to lose any time, I forthwith transmit a passport, and letters for the Spanish authorities, so that you may go at once, and examine the territory in which you contemplate making your settlement. On your arrival at New Orleans, you will act in concert with the Governor, who will give you all the facilities you desire, and, in your progress through the West, on your way to the capital of Louisiana, you will assure the inhabitants of his Majesty's desires to grant them all the favors and privileges which may secure their prosperity."

Gardoqui, on the 7th of the same month, wrote also to Major Dunn, to entreat him to make his fellow-citizens acquainted with the sincere wish which he, Gardoqui, entertained, to procure, as he expressed it, the happiness of that Western world, provided they should understand their own interests, and second his operations without loss of time.20

On the 3d of November, Mirò thus expressed himself in a despatch to the Minister Don Antonio Valdès, in relation to the grand scheme of dismembering the Union: "This affair proceeds more rapidly than I had presumed, and some considerable impetus is given to it by the answer of Congress to the application of Kentucky to be admitted into the Union as an independent State. That answer is, that the new federal government which is soon to go into operation will take their wishes into  p222 consideration, and will act thereon. This information Don Diego Gardoqui must have communicated, but he did not what follows.

"Oliver Pollock, a citizen of Philadelphia, who arrived here three days ago, in a vessel from Martinique, has declared to me that Brown,​d a member of Congress, who is a man of property in Kentucky, told him in confidence that, in the debates of that body on the question of the independence of that Territory, he saw clearly that the intention of his colleagues was, that Kentucky should remain under the jurisdiction of Congress, like the county of Illinois, and that a Governor should be appointed by them for that province as for the other; but that, as this was opposed to the welfare of the inhabitants of Kentucky, he was determined to return home (which he did before Pollock's departure from Philadelphia), and, on his arrival, to call for a general assembly of his fellow citizens, in order to proceed immediately to declare themselves independent, and to propose to Spain the opening of a commercial intercourse with reciprocal advantages; and that, to accomplish this object, he would send to Pollock the necessary documents, to be laid before me and to be forwarded to your Excellency. He requested Pollock to prepare me for it in anticipation.

"Your Excellency will therefore rest assured that Brown, on his arrival in Kentucky, finding Wilkinson and his associates disposed to surrender themselves up to Spain, or at least to put themselves under her protection, will easily join them, and it is probable, as Wilkinson has already foretold it, that, next spring, I shall have to receive here a deputation appointed in due form.

"I acted towards Pollock with a great deal of caution, and answered him as one to whom had been communicated  p223 some new and unlooked for information, giving him to understand, that I could not pledge to him my support before seeing the documents which he expected," &c., &c.

These intrigues, of which Louisiana was the focus, were the most interesting events which marked her history in the year 1788. In the course of the same year, the fortitude of the colonists, whose number Spain was so anxious to increase, had been sorely tried by inundations which had devastated the post of St. Genevieve, at Illinois, and the districts of Manchac, Baton Rouge, and other settlements. The principal sufferers were the Acadians, to whose relief the Colonial government found itself obliged to come, to the amount of $12,000.​21 The Bonnet Carré Levee, which is now a cause of so much expense and danger, possessed the same characteristics in 1788. The inhabitants of the German coast petitioned Mirò to come to their assistance, and one Antoine Peytavin proposed to borrow from the royal Treasury, on giving good security, the sum of $16,000 payable in six years, and on binding himself to stop the crevasse at that spot, and to reconstruct a strong embankment, provided the full property of the lands, the front of which he would have to protect, be made over to him.

On the 12th of February, 1789, Wilkinson wrote from Lexington, Kentucky, to Governor Mirò:

General St. Clair's letter to Major Dunn, to which Wilkinson alluded in his preceding communication, was dated December 5, 1788. "Dear Dunn," said he, "I am much grieved to hear that there are strong dispositions on the part of the people of Kentucky to break off their connection with the United States, and that our friend Wilkinson is at the head of this affair. Such a consummation would involve the United States in the greatest difficulties, and would completely ruin this country. Should there be any foundation for these reports, for God's sake, make use of your influence to detach Wilkinson from that party."

On the 14th of February, 1789, two days after he had written the despatch to Mirò, in which he said that he would remain silent until the month of May next, unless some unforeseen circumstance should require him to resume his pen, Wilkinson thus addressed the Spanish Governor:

The letter to Gardoqui, to which Wilkinson alluded, and of which he sent a copy to Mirò, had been written on the 1st of January, 1789, and was couched in these terms:

Peter Paulus, of whom Wilkinson speaks in his letter of the 14th of February, had arrived in New Orleans. He had with him thirty-four persons, and, for having procured them to emigrate, he obtained as a reward $350 from Governor Mirò. He offered to bring to Louisiana three thousand families on certain conditions, among which one of the principal was, that the king of Spain should pay all the expenses incidental to their removal,  p252 and that the trial by jury be allowed to the new colonists. "This," said Mirò, "I have positively refused, because it would cost millions to his majesty. But I had a long conversation with Paulus,​31 in which I explained to him the drivings which the Ohio people would find in establishing themselves in the province, wherefore those who had the most means among them ought immediately to take that step, because they would infallibly, in a few years, reach a state of opulence. I endeavored also to convince him, that no monarchy in the world could go to the immense expense of maintaining and supporting the ever increasing number of families that would indubitably present themselves, if they were granted the assistance which was solicited for them, and which they were given to understand that they would obtain. I remarked to him that, if, without any aid, the stream of emigration continued to flow so abundantly from the Atlantic states to this side of the Apalachian mountains, the emigrants had stronger motives to rely on their own resources when coming to this province, where lands were given to them gratis, and where the industrious were sure to become prosperous under a mild government, which would afford them support and protection, and where they would enjoy the advantage of an easy outlet for their produce.

"This Peter Paulus is a Dutchman by birth; he appears to be fifty years old; his face seems to indicate that he is an honest man, his language, although dull and unpolished, is stamped with much apparent sincerity. The families he proposes to bring along with him are Germans, who reside a considerable distance above Kentucky.32

But Paulus replied, that he had been induced by  p253 Gardoqui and his agents to hold out very different hopes to the emigrants, and that if, on his return to them, he altered his language, they would consider him as an impostor.

Regretting the imprudence of Gardoqui, who had allowed his zeal to incite him to a course which might be fatal to his Majesty's interest, and on which he commented at length in one of his despatches to his government, Governor Mirò said to Paulus: "I have no power to send any emissary to promote emigration from the United States, and therefore I cannot encourage your pretensions, nor those of the people you represent. I can only receive the foreigners who may come spontaneously and of their own free will, to swear themselves the vassals of his Catholic Majesty. To them surveyed lands shall be granted gratis, in proportion to the laborers of whom the family may consist. The smallest concession shall not be less than •200 arpens — 400 to families of four to ten laborers, and 800 to those numbering from ten to fifteen hands or more."

Although not willing to pay for the expenses of emigration on so large a scale, Governor Mirò consented to certain disbursements, in order to increase the population of Louisiana. For instance, the vessel, the Conception, having arrived from Philadelphia, with 173 emigrants, he established 133 of them in the Feliciana district at the cost of the royal treasury.33

On the 11th of April, he forwarded to Madrid, with his comments, Wilkinson's two letters, which I have quoted, and the documents annexed to them. In that communication he represents, that he shares Wilkinson's opinion that the independence of the Western people, under the protection of, and in close alliance with, Spain,  p254 would be more to the interest of his Majesty than their annexation to his domains, on account of the expenses and responsibilities which such an acquisition would entail on Spain, and also on account of the jealousies and opposition which it would elicit from foreign powers. He urgently presses the cabinet of Madrid to send him instructions as to the course to be pursued by him, in case the Western people should declare their independence and send delegates to him. He further remarks that he is totally unprepared to supply them with the ammunition, arms, and other implements of which they may stand in need to resist any action of the Federal Government, should it attempt to coerce them into submission.

"In the paragraph B.," said he to the Minister, "you will find an account of the bold act which General Wilkinson has ventured upon, in presenting his first memorial in a public convention. In so doing, he has so completely bound himself, that, should he not be able to obtain the separation of Kentucky from the United States, it has become impossible for him to live in it, unless he has suppressed, which is possible, certain passages which might injure him. Nevertheless, on account of the opposition made by Marshall and Muter to Wilkinson's plan, the Convention determined that new memorials be presented to Virginia and to Congress, to obtain the independence of Kentucky, its admission into the Union, and the free navigation of the Mississippi. On these two first questions, I disagree with Wilkinson as to their solution, and I am of opinion that the independence of these people from Virginia and their reception into the Union will be conceded to them, and that the answer of Congress on this subject is not deceitful, because the right of Kentucky to what she claims is incontestable, and is derived from the articles of confederacy  p255 on which the United States established their first government."

Mirò declared that, with Wilkinson, he thought it was a stroke of bad policy on the part of the Spanish government, to have granted to the inhabitants of Kentucky the use of the navigation of the Mississippi, although under the restriction of a duty of fifteen per cent, because, rather than being deprived altogether of that channel for the exit of their produce, they would not have hesitated to renounce all allegiance to Congress. He informed his government that he had lately written in cypher to Wilkinson, through one Jennings, a confidential agent, that emigration to Louisiana was to be encouraged by all means, whilst, at the same time, the other plan of the independence, or annexation of Kentucky, was to be steadily kept in mind. "You will render a great service to the king," he wrote to Wilkinson, "if you induce to come down here a large number of families, having some property and not needing pecuniary assistance, but only lands. It is proper, however, that you should remain in that district, in order to insist on the plan of an alliance with Spain, until it be effected or be given up; because, according to the answer received from the Court, you are now our agent, and I am instructed to give you to hope that the king will reward your services as I have already intimated to you."34

He continues saying, that Wilkinson seems averse to this mode of peopling the colony, but that he, Mirò, cannot share Wilkinson's views in that respect, and that the emigrants have more means, and are of a better character, than Wilkinson gives them credit for. He  p256 confirms what Wilkinson relates of the intrigues of the English in Kentucky, and dwells on the service rendered by Wilkinson, in driving away Colonel Connelly with so much diplomatic skill and by a well-devised subterfuge. He recommends that the five thousand dollars which Wilkinson declared having spent for the benefit of Spain be refunded to him, and that he be further intrusted with the two thousand five hundred dollars which he asked for, to corrupt Marshall and Muter.

In the mean time, Wilkinson's launches had arrived in New Orleans, and, in that same despatch of the 11th of April, Mirò informed the Spanish government that he had bought from the General, for the account of the royal treasury, 235,000 pounds of tobacco, for which transaction he begged the approbation of his Majesty, "on the ground that it was important to keep the General contented."35

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The Author's Notes:

1 En el dia se mantienen los Indios convencidos de la ambicion de los Americanos; la memoria de las pasadas injurias que les han hecho, subsiste, y con ella el recelo de que, algun dia, se apoderarian de sus tierras, y despojaràn de una propriedad que creen pertenecer les por un derecho de naturaleza, en cuyo pensamiento es conveniente y debera ser el punto principal de nuestro Gobierno hacerles perseverar.

2 De que tenemos la llave, y otras la utilidad.

3 Entonces sigue que la mina de este comercio fluirà en los cofres de la nacion, y no veremos que nos arrancan de las manos, nosotrosº enemigos, el pan que ha de servir á sustentarnos.

4 Es cuanto puedo informar en este asunto.

5 No hay que perder tiempo. Mejico está de la otra orilla del Mississippi, en las immediaciones de estos hoy formidables establecimientos de Americanos. El modo de contrarestarlos es una poblacion proporcionada, y esta no se forma con restricciones, sino con alguna prudente libertad en el comercio.

6 Hablo a vuestra Excellencia lleno del espiritu patriotico de que estoy revestido; mis intenciones son los intereses de mi soberano. Miro la provincia de la Luisiana como una porcion de su propriedad, y quisiera persuadir con toda mi razon a que se fomente, pues en cada pueblo de los inumerables que nos dominan por natural situacion, se prepara contra esta provincia un nublado que descargará (p184)algun dia, y seria mucho mas el perjuicio, si por desgracia inundase las tierras de Nueva España.

7 A title recently conferred upon the celebrated minister, Don José Galvez.

8 Cortar la alas del progreso.

9 Poderosos motivos para una nacion inquieta, pobre, ambiciosa y arriscada.

10 Navarro's despatch of the 19th of December, 1787.

11 Creyendo las Señoras bajadas del Cielo y suponiendolas todas hermanas. — Navarro's despatch.

12 Y podemos ya con seguridad afirmar que todas estas naciones estan á nuestra devocion, y tambien decir que los Americanos no haran por este lado mucho progreso.

13 Pero no me atrevo á abrasar el primer partido, por que puede D'Argès considerar que los grandes projectos de Wilkinson destruirian el merito del suyo, y precipitarse (lo que cabe en lo posible), á confiarlos á alguno capaz de influir á que se arestase Wilkinson como criminal, y tambien por que este se disgustariá mucho de que otro tuviese parte en una confianza de que depende su vida y honor, como el mismo expresa en su memoria.

14 This cannot be the memorial openly given to Mirò by Wilkinson, and to which Butler refers in his History of Kentucky, but must be the other secret document of which the existence was rumored at the time.

15 Mirò's despatch of the 1st of April, 1788.

16 Quere, Villers?

17 Most of these despatches, if not all, were originally in cypher; they are to be found at length and in Spanish in the archives of Spain. Copies made in compliance with a resolution of the Legislature of the State of Louisiana, under the supervision of M. de Gayangos, a gentleman distinguished for his learning and literary works, and also under the direction of his Excellency Romulus Saunders, who was then the U. S. Minister Plenipotentiary at Madrid, are deposited in the office of the Secretary of State at Baton Rouge.

18 The name is thus spelt in the Spanish manuscript.

19 Jose de Galvez, Marquis de la Sonora, died in 1786.

20 Procurar la dicha de los habitantes de ese mundo occidental, siempre que conozcan sus propios intereses, y segunden mis movimientos, sin perdida de tiempo.

21 Mirò's despatch, August 28th, 1788.

22 El consolidar los intereses, y establecer la confianza de nuestros amigos; el probar nuestras fuerzas; familiarizar el pueblo con el asunto; desvanecer el terror que la novedades interesantes generalmente inspiran; y el excitar el resentimiento del Congreso con la esperanza de inducir a este cuerpo á algun acto de politica invidiosa que pudiese irritar los animos del pueblo, estos son los motivos que me influyeron y à los que dejo mi justificacion.

23 The same of whom Mirò speaks, and who was one of the secret agents of the Spanish Government.

24 It will be remembered that Navarro had returned to Spain the preceding year.

25 He sacrificado voluntariamente mis domesticas felicidades, tiempo, bienes, comodidades, y lo que es mas importante, abandoné al hacer mi personal y caracter político.

26 Con este intento me dirijé al gobierno de la Luisiana, determinado al mismo tiempo en la alternativa de que, si se desechasen mis proposiciones, correría el riesgo de una contestacion civil, y abriría una negotiacion con la Gran Bretaña, por la que se habian dado ya pasos sobre el asunto.

27 He alludes, no doubt, to the expected seizure of the cargo of tobacco with which he had gone down to New Orleans, without passport or permission.

28 Sus urbanas y cariñosas atenciones.

29 No es necesario sugerir á un caballero de los conocimientos y experiencia de V. S. que el genero humano, en cualquiera parte, se gobierna por su propio interés, aunque variamente modificado. Unos son sordidos, algunos vanos, otros ambiciosos; escoger, tomar y sacar ventajas de la pasion predominante es lo mas profundo de la ciencia politica.

30 Y si V. S. puede fiarse al sistema que le esplicara y apoyarle vigorosamente, desde luego empeño mi vida, fama y fortuna para responder del suceso.

31 Mirò's despatch of the 15th of March, 1789.

32 Probably in Pennsylvania.

33 Mirò's despatch of the 15th of March, 1789.

34 Pero conviene se mantenga V. S. en ese distrito, para instar sobre el projecto de la conexion, hasta que se verifique, ó desvanesca; pues que ya segun la repuesta de la Corte, es V. S. nuestro agente, y se me ordena le de á V. S. esperanzas de que el Rey lo recompensará como ya le tengo insinuado.

35 Mediante á lo mucho que importa el tener contento al dicho Brigadier.

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Thayer's Notes:

a Sic: the total as given is 31,433 but the column adds to 31,423. Despite repeated proofreading and adding, I can't find the mistake. On the off chance that the mistake is in fact mine, and that you will have better luck and let me know what the problem is, here is a scan of the table in the 1867 edition.

b Gayarré will tell us a bit more about the background and career of this Franco-Scottish Creek chieftain in Part III, chapter 6; a clearer and more succinct summary can be read in H. J. Ford, Washington and His Colleagues, pp83‑84; yet another, equally good, to which I've added his portrait by Trumbull, is found in C. L. Skinner, Pioneers of the Old Southwest, pp255‑259; and his involvement in the politics of the American frontier is covered in considerable detail in Whitaker's The Spanish-American Frontier, 1783‑1795, chapters 3‑4 and 8‑11.

c And so our author comes to Gen. Wilkinson for the first time; over the next hundred pages or so, Gayarré will expose him as one of the most accomplished villains ever seen on the soil of this country: the ample, detailed, documented proofs of the man's duplicity and treachery, which Gayarré is rightly proud to have unearthed, during his own curiously mysterious exile in Europe, in the archives of Spain, seems crystal-clear, and it is Charles Gayarré's lead that most modern historians follow.

Most, however, is not by any means all: James Wilkinson is in fact one of the most enigmatic and controversial figures in American history, and there is another side to the story — or, most likely, considering his own chameleon tastes and talents, there are many other sides. I've therefore given him a subsite of his own, where the various opinions, always strongly held, can be splayed out for all to examine: James Wilkinson, A Study in Controversy.

d James Brown: a summary of his career is given by Milo Quaife.

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