without a written permission from the Governor General. Those acting in violation of the provisions of this article shall be arrested by said commandants and sent to this town (New Orleans), in crder that their case be submitted to the further consideration of the government, but the first proceeding shall be to sequestrate their property."

He caused to be framed for the commandant at Arkansas a series of instructions, which it is impossible to read without entertaining a high opinion of his administrative talents, justice and humanity. These instructions descend into the smallest details, and demonstrate that he was well aware, as all truly great minds are, of the importance of apparently unimportant minutiæ.

In the 3d Article, he expressed himself as follows: "It shall be the care of the commandant that every thing offered for sale at that Post (Arkansas), and which may be wanted for the sustenance and support of the soldiers, be sold cheap. There is nothing more indispensably necessary, in order that the soldiers be conscious that nothing is made out of them, and that their chief treats them with the strictest equity. When this is not the case, there never fail to be murmurs of discontent and a deficiency of subordination."

All the regulations which he established, to distribute the customary presents among the Indians, to secure an honest trade between them and the Europeans, and to guard them against deception and oppression, are equally creditable to his head and to his heart.

The 9th Article said: "The commandant shall prevent, as much as may be in his power, that any damage be done to the English who navigate the Mississippi, and shall take care that there be no crossing over of the river, to inflict any injury on the subjects of his Britannic

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Majesty; and he shall have recourse to every means, to induce the Spanish Indians to live in peace with the English, and also with the other savage tribes."

Instructions were sent in common to the commandants at the posts of St. Louis and St. Geneviève, as well as to others established on the Missouri and in the Illinois district. The population of St. Louis consisted then of 17 males and 16 females (free), of 12 males and 6 females (slaves); that of St. Geneviève happened to be exactly the same.

The instructions began with this preamble, full of dignity and commendable sentiments: "The great distance between this capital and the Illinois requires proportionate discretion and prudence in the commandant of that remote district. There are three important objects recommended to his special vigilance and attention. Those are: that the domination and government of his Majesty be loved and respected; that justice be administered with promptitude and impartiality and in conformity to law; and that commerce be protected and extended as much as possible. In order to secure ends of such moment, it is necessary that the officer in command should make known, in the most manifest manner, the king's desire to promote and protect the felicity of his subjects, and should also promulgate the express orders which he, the officer in command, has received to discriminate between the good and the wicked, to favor the former in every thing licit, and to prosecute all those who, through bad faith, deceive and ruin their creditors, and who, by their flagitious deportment, disturb public tranquillity."

Articles 3 and 4 show O'Reilly to be a man of high honor and of strict fidelity, in observing the faith of treaties, and in respecting acquired rights.

Article 3 said: "Should any subject of his Catholic

Majesty commit any excess or trespass in the territory of the English, or offer any insult to those of that nation who navigate the Mississippi, the commandant shall do prompt justice, and shall give full and immediate reparation, on the just complaints of the English officer, but without failing to observe the formalities prescribed by law."

Article 4: "The officer in command shall, as much as in his power may be, prevent the Indians who dwell on the king's territory, from inflicting any vexation or extortion on the English who navigate the Mississippi, and from crossing that river to give any offence to the subjects of his Britannic Majesty, and, in every respect, he shall predispose the Indians to be peaceful and humane towards the English and the other nations of savages, and, to that effect, he shall tell them that the principles of our religion and the fidelity of our friendship never permit us to tolerate, that any injury be done to such as are our friends and allies like the English."

It is to be remarked, that O'Reilly proscribed that system of monopolies which the French had adopted in their commercial intercourse with the Indians. Article 7 of the document to which I have referred shows it, and is also a striking proof of the solicitude of the Spanish governor to secure the welfare of the abori gines. "No trader," it said, "shall be permitted to introduce himself in the villages of the Indians who dwell on the territory of his Majesty, unless the commandant is satisfied with his morals and the correctness of his deportment; but said commandant shall not be at liberty to refuse a permit or license to any one who may be known to be an honest man, and, under no pretext, shall he tolerate, authorize, or grant any exclusive privilege or monopoly. He shall uniformly recommend to all the traders, to make known to the Indians

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the gentleness and equity of our government, and the felicity which it thereby imparts to the subjects of his Majesty."

In Article 9, he went on saying: "The commandant shall acquaint the Indians with the greatness, the magnanimity and the generosity of the king, and shall inform them that they may expect, every year, to receive the usual presents; that his Majesty desires their happiness, and that they must never yield obedience, nor give credence, to any other word than that of the Great Chief, governor general of the province, communicated to them through the officer who shall have been put in command of the post; and he, the said commandant, shall exhort them (with promises of fair rewards), to arrest* and deliver up whatever trader or fugitive who, in furtherance of wicked ends and intentions, may endeavor to inspire them with feelings of distrust towards their true father, and towards that nation which deserves, among all others, the renown of being a magnanimous, pious and justice loving nation, and, in support of the truth of this declaration, he shall communicate to them the order of the king which prohibits that, in his dominions, there be made Indian slaves, even out of the captives of hostile tribes."

Art. 10. "The commandant shall take care, that all the Indians who may come to St. Louis and St. Geneviève be well treated, and be paid an equitable price for the hides they may bring to market, and for whatever other things they may have for sale, and that, in the barters or purchases they may make, they be served with good faith.

Arrestar y traer preso á cualquier tratante ó prófugo que por sus malos fines esparciese entre ellos desconfianzas de su verdadero padre, ni de la nacion que merece, entre todas las del mundo, el renombre de magnanima, piadosa y justiciera, y, en prueba de elló, manifestará la orden del Rey, para que ni aun de las naciones enemigas se sufra en sus estados esclavo Indio.

In this way, they will derive more benefit from their trade with us; they will provide themselves with what their wants require, without its being at the expense of the king; and the English will not reap all the profits of a commerce which ought to be in our hands. The advantages of treating the Indians with equity and benevolence have been made apparent in this town, where, since my arrival, on the occasion of the distribution of the annual presents to them, the chiefs of every nation came to compliment me; and now a number of Indians are daily seen here, with their canoes loaded with provisions, hides, and other things, which they offer at public sale for their just value; and then, they themselves buy in the shops what they want, and return home perfectly contented."

These articles of O'Reilly's instructions show that the Spaniards were not disposed to pursue in Louisiana, towards the Indians, the cruel policy which was attributed to them in their other American domains. The rest of

O'Reilly's instructions, on all the subjects which they embrace, are marked with foresight, prudence, liberality, and firmness. They conclude with saying: "The commandants shall have for invariable rules: to keep up the strictest order and economy in all that appertains to the royal treasury, to cultivate the best harmony with the English, to maintain tranquillity and contentment among the inhabitants, to provide for the increase of commerce and its being carried on in good faith, and to take care that the Indians be well treated."

Immediately after his arrival in Louisiana, O'Reilly had taken an enlightened view of the wants of the colony, as appears by a communication of the 17th of October, 1769, which he addressed to the Spanish government, and in which he represents the necessity of favoring commerce, because, without it, the colony could not subsist: "This province," he said, "wants flour, wine, oil, iron instru