the preceding volume, that immediately after the peace of 1762, on possession being taken by Great Britain, the northern boundary of West Florida was fixed at the thirty-first degree of north latitude; but was afterwards extended to a line drawn due east from the mouth of Yazoo river, in latitude 32. 28. with the view of comprehending, within the limits of the province, some important settlements-Spain contending that the limits being then fixed in the commission of the British governor, had continued the same until the signature of the treaty. The claim of the United States to the navigation of the Mississippi, below their southern boundary, was also resisted. The Catholic king, as owner of both banks of the stream, claimed the exclusive ownership of it, and the consequent right of preventing other nations from navigating it. The United States contended they had the right of going as far as the southern boundary assigned to them by their title-it being a natural one; because the definitive treaties between Great Britain and Spain and them, bearing thesame date, that of the preliminary articles ought to be resorted to, in order to ascertain the priority of right; and Spain could not urge a warranty stipulated in her preliminary articles against the United States, who had a previous title from her warrantor. In support of their claim to the navigation of the Mississippi to the gulf, the United States contended that Spain derived every right which she had to the river and its navigation, from France, under a treaty posterior to the one by which the latter power had ceded to Great Britain the right of navigating the stream to the gulf; that the United States having succeeded to the rights of Great Britain, to the left bank above the bayou Manchac, had equally done so to that of its navigation; which right, moreover, had been expressly ceded by Great Britain in the latter treaty. The last proposition was not, perhaps, absolutely correct, Great Britain not having ceded her right, but merely a participation in it. Archives-Gazettes-Stoddard-Marshal. CHAPTER V. Galvez's promotion--Lepers-Unzaga's residence. -Census-Colonial expenditures.—A commissary of the holy office.-Acadians.-Commerce. Bando de buen gobierno-Don Pedro Piernas. -Kentucky.-Irish priests.--Don Diego de Guardoqui.-Trade with the western part of the United States.-General Wilkinson-Trade with Philadelphia.-North-Western Territory of the U.S. The ordinary alcades, on the first of January, 1785, were Forstall and Kernion. Early in this year, Galvez received a commission of captain-general of the island of Cuba, and of the provinces of Louisiana and East and West Florida, which superceded Espeleta's. In the summer, on the death of his father, he was promoted to the viceroyalty of Mexico, but retained the captain-generalship of Louisiana and the Floridas. There being a number of persons in the province affected with leprosy, the cabildo erected an hospital for their reception, in the rear of the city, on a ridge of high land between it and bayou St. John, which is probably the ridge anciently separating the waters of the Mississippi from those of lake Pontchartrain. Miro now received and executed a commission of judge of residence of Unzaga. Residence is a term, which, in the jurisprudence of Spain, is used to designate an inquiry which takes place into the official conduct of any public functiona ry, whenever by death, removal, or any other cause, he has ceased to execute the duties of his office. The decision of a judge of residence is reviewed, on appeal, by the council of the Indies. The inquiry is made at the principal place of the district in which the late officer exercised his functions. One would suppose that the fear, which the investigation of every act, public or private, of an officer whom any one may accuse, and who is given up, in some measure, to every species of reproach and vexation, even from envy and malice, would insure the zealous and upright discharge of his duties; that those who are governed by an officer surrounded by a vigilance which a thousand motives may call into activity, would find, in the residence, the most effectual safeguard against his passions, his avarice, and his partiality. And yet, there is no part of the world where abuses of authority are of more frequent occurrence, than in the Spanish provinces; and the rapidity with which officers amass large fortunes, is an evidence that there is no obstacle which the love of gain will not surmount, and that the same want of principle which prompts the commission of dishonest acts, will also suggest the means of avoiding their consequences. If any officer thinks of the residence, it is to intimidate those whom he might fear, or to purchase their silence. There is a league between all persons in pla ces subjected to a censure, which has alway caused it to degenerate into a mere formality. An accurate census of the inhabitants of Louisiana and West Florida was taken this year, by order of Galvez, which produced the following results: Within the city of New-Orleans, 4980 From the Balize to the city, At the Terre-aux-Bœufs, 2100 |