CHAPTER VIII.

SALCEDO'S ADMINISTRATION.

1801 to 1803.

DON JUAN MANUEL DE SALCEDO, a Brigadier-General in the armies of Spain, arrived in Louisiana about the 15th of June, 1801, to act as governor of the provinces of Louisiana and West Florida; and his predecessor, the Marquis de Casa Calvo, who, it will be remembered, had entered on the duties of his office in the fall of 1799, sailed immediately for Havana.

The Americans, as neighbors, had always been considered as very unsafe for Louisiana, and one of Salcedo's first measures was directed to check what he thought to be the dangerous designs of some men belonging to that nation. Thus, in a despatch of the 13th of July, he informed his government that he had sent up to Natchitoches all that was necessary to arm and equip the militia of that district,* "with the view of counteracting the projects of the American bandit, Philip Nolan, who had introduced himself into the interior of the provinces of New Spain, with thirty-six armed men."

Although it had been the policy of the head of the French government to conceal from the public his transactions with the court of Madrid in relation to Louisiana,

* Con el fin de contrarestar los designios del bandido Americano, Felipe Nolan, el cual se habia introducido en las provincias internas de Nueva España con treinte y seis hombres armados.

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still some knowledge of it had at last transpired, and Mr. Rufus King, the United States Minister at London (for they had none at the time at Paris), wrote the following despatch to the Secretary of State at Washington, on the 29th of March, 1801: "In confirmation of the rumors of the day, Carnot's answer to Bailleul, published during the exile of the former, states the project which had been discussed in the Directory, to obtain from Spain a cession of Louisiana and the Floridas. A reference to that performance, copies of which I, at the time, sent to the department of State, will show the manner in which it was expected to obtain the consent of Spain, as well as afford a clue to the views of France in seeking this establishment. What was then meditated has, in all probability, since been executed. The cession of Tuscany to the Infant, Duke of Parma, by the treaty between France and Austria, forms a more compact and valuable compensation to this branch of the house of Spain than was formerly thought of; and adds very great credit to the opinion which, at this time, prevails both at Paris and London, that Spain has, in return, actually ceded Louisiana and the Floridas to France. There is reason to know that it is the opinion of certain influential persons in France, that nature has marked a line of separation between the people of the United States living upon the two sides of the range of mountains which divides their territory. Without discussing the considerations which are suggested in support of this opinion, or the false consequences, as I wish to believe them, deduced from it, I am apprehensive that this cession is intended to have, and may actually produce, effects injurious to the Union and consequent happiness of the people of the United States. Louisiana and the Floridas may be given to the French emigrants, as England once thought of

giving them to the American Tories or they may constitute the reward of some of the armies which can be spared at the end of the war.

"I learn that General Collot, who was a few years ago in America, and a traveller in the Western country, and who, for some time, has been in disgrace and confinement in France, has been lately set at liberty; and that he, with a considerable number of disaffected and exiled Englishmen, Scotchmen, and Irishmen, is soon to proceed from France to the United States. Whether their voyage has any relation to the cession of Louisiana is a matter of mere conjecture; but, having heard of it in connexion with that project, I think proper to mention it to you.

"What effect a plain and judicious representation upon this subject, made to the French government by a minister of talents and entitled to confidence, would be likely to have, is quite beyond any means of judging which I possess; but on this account, as well as on others of importance, it is a subject of regret that we have not such a character at this time at Paris."

On the 1st of June, Mr. King, resuming the same subject, said: "On this occasion, among other topics of conversation, his Lordship (Hawkesbury) introduced the subject of Louisiana. He had, from different quarters, received information of its cession to France, and very unreservedly expressed the reluctance with which they should be led to acquiesce in a measure that might be followed by the most important consequences. The ac quisition might enable France to extend her influence and perhaps her dominion up the Mississippi, and through the lakes, even to Canada. This would be realizing the plan, to prevent the accomplishment of which, the Seven Years' War took place; besides, the vicinity of the Floridas to the West Indies, and the facility with which the

trade of the latter might be interrupted, and the islands even invaded, should the transfer be made, were strong reasons why England must be unwilling that the territory should pass under the dominion of France. As I could not mistake his Lordship's object in speaking to me on this subject, I had no difficulty or reserve in expressing my private sentiments respecting it; taking for my text the observation of Montesquieu, 'that it is happy for trading powers, that God has permitted Turks and Spaniards to be in the world, since of all nations they are the most proper to possess a great empire with insignificance.' The purport of what I said was, that we are contented that the Floridas remain in the hands of Spain, but should not be willing to see them transferred, except to ourselves."

On the 9th of June, Mr. Madison, the Secretary of State, addressed Mr. Pinckney, the American Minister at Madrid, in these terms: "On different occasions since the commencement of the French revolution, opinions and reports have prevailed, that some part of the Spanish possessions, including New Orleans and the mouth of the Mississippi, had been or was to be transferred to France. Of late, information has been received through several channels, making it probable that some arrangement for that purpose has been concerted. Neither the extent of the cession, however, nor the consideration on which it is made, is yet reduced to certainty and precision. The whole subject will deserve and engage your early and vigilant inquiries, and may require a very delicate and circumspect management."

Alarmed at the consequences of a cession of Louisiana by Spain to France, the government of the United States lost no time in sending a minister to France, and gave that important mission to Robert R. Livingston. On the 28th of September, 1801, the Secretary of State wrote

to

to him: "From different sources information has been received that, by some transaction concluded, or contemplated, between France and Spain, the mouth of the Mississippi, with certain portions of adjacent territory, is pass from the hands of the latter to the former nation. Such a change of our neighbors in that quarter is of too momentous concern not to have engaged the most serious attention of the Executive. It was accordingly made one of the subjects of instruction to Mr. Pinckney, our minister plenipotentiary at the Court of Madrid. You will find an extract of the passage hereto annexed, No. 1. A paragraph connected with the same subject, in a letter to Mr. King, is also extracted and annexed, No. 2. In these extracts you will see the ideas entertained by the Executive, and the general considerations which it is presumed will have most tendency to dissuade the parties from adhering to their object. As soon as you shall have prepared the way by the necessary inquiries at Paris, it will be proper for you to break the subject to the French Government, and to make the use of those considerations most likely to give them full weight."

When the anxieties of the United States Government were thus excited, preliminaries of peace were signed between France and England, on the 1st of October, 1801; and the former power was secretly preparing to avail itself of its treaty with Spain in relation to Louisiana, of the 1st of October, 1800, which had been renewed in all its dispositions on the 21st of March, 1801. Mr. King, the American Minister at London, succeeded in procuring a copy of that secret treaty, and forwarded it to Washington city, with the following note to the Secretary of State, dated on the 20th of November: "If the annexed copy of the treaty between France and

* Annals of Congress, Session of 1803, p. 1017. Appendix.