O'REILLY'S CHARACTER. 41 being stung by a sharp repartee, his hasty temper betrayed him, and he forgot himself so far as to say, with a tone of command: "Madam, do you forget who I am?" "No, sir," answered the lady, with a low bow, "but I have associated with those who were higher than you are, and who took care never to forget what was due to others; hence, they never found it necessary to put any one in mind of what they were." Nettled at this proud answer, Count O'Reilly departed instantly, but returned the next day with a good-humored smile, and an apology befitting a gentleman of his rank. Finally, he became a much valued friend, where at first he had merely been a guest, and, to complete the description of his character, it may be sufficient to add, that, whatever may have been some of his errors, he won esteem and affection wherever he was intimately known. CHAPTER II. UNZAGA'S ADMINISTRATION. 1770 to 1776. THE departure of O'Reilly for Spain was soon followed by that of the royal comptroller, Don Estevan Gayarre. This officer had applied to the court for leave to return to Spain, and to be put on the list of retired pensioners, on account of his many years of service and of his impaired vision. On the 22d of September, 1770, the Marquis of Grimaldi wrote to the royal comptroller a letter in which he informed him that the favor for which he had petitioned (his return to Spain) was granted, and requested him, on his arrival in the Peninsula, to give information of it and of the state of his health to the government, in order that his majesty might determine on calling him to some other employment or allow him to retire, with the pension to which he was entitled. In consequence of this communication, Estevan Gayarre left the colony in the beginning of 1771, carrying away with him more than one document,* showing conclusively the good understanding which had always existed between Aubry and the Spanish authorities, during all the phases of the revolution of 1768, and a certificate in which the French governor testified, in warm terms of acknowledg ment and eulogy, to the important services rendered by the comptroller both to the kings of France and Spain. He was succeeded in office by Antonio Joseph de Aguïar; * See the Appendix. UNZAGA'S ADMINISTRATION. 43 his son, Don Juan Antonio Gayarre, who had, under him, acted as chief officer in the comptroller's office (1° official de contadoria), and who on the 23d of September, 1768, notwithstanding he was then only sixteen years of age, had been, on the eve of the insurrection, appointed commissary of war by the intendant Joseph de Loyola, in which office he was subsequently confirmed by O'Reilly on the 5th of January, 1770, remained in the colony to serve under Aguiar. The old contador and companion of Ulloa died in Spain at the close of the century. To complete the sketch which I gave of his life and character, when depicting that of the other actors who appeared on the stage at that eventful period of the history of Louisiana, and also to illustrate the manners and feelings of another age, it may not be inappropriate to give here a short extract from a letter which, in 1796, he wrote from Coruna in Gallicia, to one of his grandsons in Louisiana: "My son, I may say that I have already one foot in the grave. I have little of earthly goods to bequeathe, or to dispose of, contenting myself with leaving, at my death, what will be necessary to bury me in seven feet of ground, with the little but honorable exhibition of military pomp, within which have shrunk all my vain hopes in this miserable world. Yea, such is this world! Its flitting glories fade away-and there remains nothing but the alternate lassitude and self-torment of thought. Therefore a pure and sound mind ought ever to have its eyes fixed on heaven."* * Hijo mio, yo estoy yá con el pie en la sepultura y tengo no efectos de consideracion de que testar ni disponer, contentandome yó con que, á mi fallecimiento se halle lo necesario para enterrarme en siete quartas de tierra con la corta y honrada pompa militar con que solo he fundado la esperanza vana de este miserable mundo. Lo que es el mundo! Cesen glorias pasadas-Del pensamiento unas veces fatiga y otras tormento; el spiritu bueno siempre há de estar mirando al cielo. 44 COMMERCE OF THE COLONY. Don Luis de Unzaga, whom O'Reilly had designated as his successor, was colonel of the regiment of Havana, and was subsequently confirmed as governor of Louisiana, by a royal schedule of the 17th of August, 1772, with a salary of $6000. When he entered upon the duties of his office, he found that the commerce of Louisiana had greatly decreased under the ill-advised policy of Spanish restrictions; for, it will be recollected that, by the royal ordinance which Ulloa had caused Aubry to publish in 1766, the trade of the colony had been confined to Seville, Alicant, Carthagena, Malaga, Barcelona, and Coruna, and that no vessels were to engage in this trade, restricted as it was, but those that were Spanish built and commanded by Spaniards. Even these vessels, when sailing to or from Louisiana, were prohibited from entering any Spanish port in America, except in case of distress, and then they had to be submitted to a strict examination and to heavy charges. It is true that, in 1768, an exemption from duty had been granted by the king to the commerce of Louisiana on foreign and Spanish goods, either when exported from the six ports already mentioned, or when imported into New Orleans; but the exportation of specie or produce from Louisiana was burdened with a duty of four per cent. The colonists had lately obtained a very slight and insufficient mitigation of the evils of which they complained, and it consisted in a permission granted for the admission of two vessels from France annually. This oppressive system was exceedingly foolish, as it could benefit neither the colony nor the mother country. Which of the goods they most wanted for their consumption could the colonists have procured to advantage, in Seville, Alicant, Carthagena, Malaga, Barcelona and Coruna, the only ports they could trade to? And if procured, how could they have paid for them? COMMERCE OF THE COLONY. 45 Importations are paid with exportations; and what could they have successfully exported to those ports, that would have defrayed the costs of transportation? Was it their indigo? But it could not have encountered the competition of the indigo of Guatimala, Caraccas and other Spanish possessions, to which it was greatly inferior in quality. Was it their furs and peltries? But these objects were little cared for in the warm climate of Spain. Was it their rice and corn? But this they raised in too small a quantity, and wanted altogether for their own home consumption. Was it their timber and lumber, which was their most important branch of revenue? But what cargo of the kind would have sold sufficiently high in Spain, to cover the bare expenses of transportation across the Atlantic? Moreover, setting all these considerations aside, how could the merchants of New Orleans compete with the English, who had engrossed the contraband trade of the colony, through the facilities afforded them by the privilege of navigating the Mississippi? Their vessels were constantly ploughing the river up and down; and, under the pretence of going to their possessions of Manchac, Baton Rouge and Natchez, the English contrived clandestinely to supply the inhabitants of New Orleans and the planters above and below that town with goods and slaves. They took in exchange whatever their customers had to spare, and extended to them a most liberal credit, which the good faith of the purchasers amply justified. Besides, they had very large warehouses at Manchac, Baton Rouge and Natchez, and a number of vessels constantly moored a short distance above New Orleans, opposite to the spot now known as the city of Lafayette. To these places the inhabitants of Louisiana used to resort, and to * Martin's History of Louisiana, p. 26, vol. 2. * |