Part 33 (1/2)

His coup d'etat.--King Charles had demanded nothing more severe than the sending of the leaders of the opposition to France, but O'Reilly was not so mild. By a ruse he arrested a number of prominent citizens, executed five and imprisoned others. For this violent deed he has become known as ”The b.l.o.o.d.y O'Reilly.” If the government of Charles III had been imbued with a full sense of its responsibility, it would never have left unpunished such a violation of the fundamental rules of justice.

The Spanish regime installed.--For thirty-four years Louisiana remained under Spanish rule, and during that time it prospered as never before.

O'Reilly governed for a year or more with great vigor, not as governor, but as special commissioner to establish Spanish authority. Possession was taken of the interior posts, and by the end of 1770 the Spanish flag had been raised at Ste. Genevieve, the last place to haul down the French emblem. Having accomplished his coup d'etat, O'Reilly was conciliatory, and appointed numerous old French officers, like Villiers and De Mezieres, to important positions. After authority had been established, the military force was reduced to 1200 men. Spanish law was installed, although the French Black Code was retained. New Orleans was given a cabildo with direct appeal to the Council of the Indies instead of to the Audiencia of Santo Domingo. Louisiana was put under a governor, the first inc.u.mbent being Luis de Unzaga y Amezaga. Each of the princ.i.p.al subdistricts was put under a Lieutenant-governor, Pedro Piernas going to St. Louis, Villiers to the Arkansas Post (now Fort Carlos III), and Athanase De Mezieres at Natchitoches. Until 1771 Louisiana was an independent _gobierno_ directly dependent on the Council of the Indies. In 1771 it was attached for military purposes to the captaincy-general of Havana, and for judicial matters to the Audiencia of Santo Domingo. In 1795 it was attached to the Audiencia of Havana. After 1783 West Florida and Louisiana were put under one governor. Later the province was divided into Upper and Lower Louisiana.

Unzaga and Galvez.--Unzaga ruled till 1776, and proved popular, particularly since he shut his eyes to English smuggling in the lower Mississippi River. Unzaga's successor, Bernardo de Galvez, nephew of the visitor, son of the viceroy, and himself a viceroy later, was a remarkable man. He too, was popular; he married a French wife, and stimulated tobacco raising by pledging himself to buy each year eight hundred pounds of tobacco.

Encouragement of commerce.--Trade regulations, as promulgated by Ulloa in 1766, restricted all trade to Spanish vessels, and certain specified Spanish ports. Under these conditions English smugglers very soon monopolized the trade of the lower Mississippi, and made their way among the tribes of the Gulf coast. This contraband Unzaga tacitly permitted for the good of the colony. In 1776 an agreement was made with France by which Louisiana was permitted to trade with the French West Indies, under the supervision of two French commissioners resident in New Orleans. Galvez now promptly seized eleven English vessels and the commerce of the colony pa.s.sed largely into the hands of the French. In 1778 the produce of the colony was admitted to any of the ports of France or the United States, and to any of the ports of Spain to which the commerce of any of the colonies was admitted. The exportation of furs was encouraged by exemption from duty for a period of ten years.

English trade in Louisiana was now completely ruined. Under Spanish rule population grew steadily and by 1803 had reached about 50,000. After the American Revolution efforts were made to counter-colonize against the American advance.

[Ill.u.s.tration: The Spanish Frontier in the Later Eighteenth Century.]

The English danger.--The princ.i.p.al military problems of the new government were to keep the English out and to keep the Indians quiet.

Already English traders were entering the tribes west of the Mississippi, ascending the Missouri and the Arkansas, and reaching the borders of Texas overland, or ascending its rivers from the Gulf of Mexico. Trade in p.a.w.nee and Spanish horses extended to the English seaboard colonies, Governor Patrick Henry being among the purchasers of thoroughbred Spanish stock. To keep out the English, defence was concentrated on the Mississippi and efforts made to control the Indian tribes.

Eastern Texas abandoned.--On the other hand, since Louisiana belonged to Spain, the defences of eastern Texas, and the weak missions which they protected, were now withdrawn. At the same time the few settlers, some five hundred in number, who lived on the border, were evicted and taken to San Antonio. But they demurred, sent their Creole leader Gil Ybarbo to Mexico to represent them, and were allowed in 1774 to settle on the Trinity River. Five years later, taking advantage of a flood and Indian raids, and led by Ybarbo, they moved to Nacogdoches (1779), and from there scattered eastward toward their former homes.

The fur trade continued.--Louisiana was Spain's first colony previously occupied by Europeans, and in it many departures were made from her traditional system. As a means of controlling the Indians of Louisiana, Spain utilized the corps of French traders already among the tribes, instead of attempting to use the mission as a means of control, as was being done at the same time in California. A regular system of licensed traders was installed, vagabonds and unlicensed persons were driven from the tribes, presents were annually distributed, and medals of merit were given to friendly chiefs. St. Louis, the Arkansas post, and Natchitoches became important centers for the fur trade and for distributing presents. To St Louis tribes went to receive presents from the Illinois country, the upper Mississippi, and the upper Missouri. To remove them from English influence, tribes were induced to cross the Mississippi to settle.

De Mezieres.--One of the most difficult problems which confronted Spain was the control of the Red River tribes, which had been friendly to the French but hostile to the Spaniards. It was now necessary to win them over to Spanish allegiance. This was accomplished by Athanase de Mezieres, lieutenant-governor at Natchitoches. He installed French traders, drove out vagabonds, expelled English intruders, called in the hostile Red River tribes to make treaties, and himself made a series of notable tours among them. In 1770 he held a great council at the Cadodacho post, where the Cadodacho chief Tin-hi-ou-en was mediator. Two years later he made an expedition through the Asinai, Tonkawa, and Wichita tribes, reaching the upper Brazos River, and going thence to San Antonio. His excellent report first made northern Texas well known to Spanish officials.

Croix's plans for a war on the Apaches.--It was in 1776 that the northern provinces of New Spain were put under a _comandante general_ with his capital at Chihuahua. The first comandante, Teodoro de Croix, arrived at the frontier in 177 7. As his first great task he set about checking Indian hostilities, particularly those of the Apaches on the Texas-Coahuila frontier. The essence of his plan was to unite the Red River and the eastern Texas tribes (the Nations of the North) and _cha.s.seurs_ from Louisiana, commanded by Galvez, with the soldiery of the Interior Provinces, commanded by Croix, in a joint war of extermination against the eastern Apaches.

Set aside by the American Revolution.--To consider the matter Croix held a council of war at San Antonio in January, 1778. The arrangement of details with the Indians was left to De Mezieres. In 1778 he made a tour of the upper Red River, and in the following year again visited the Texas tribes. Spain soon afterward entered the American war, Galvez was unable to leave Louisiana, and the conduct of the Apache War was left for the time being to Juan de Ugalde, governor of Coahuila.

Communication with Santa Fe and the Upper Missouri.--The explorations of De Mezieres were soon followed by the opening of routes from Santa Fe to San Antonio, Natchitoches, and St. Louis. In this work the chief pathfinder was Pedro Vial. Just as the American Pike in his southwestern exploration (1807) was preceded by Vial and his a.s.sociates, so Lewis and Clark, in their ascent of the Missouri River (1804), were antic.i.p.ated by the agents of Glamorgan's fur trading and exploring company, who operated from St. Louis to the country of the Mandans (1794-1797).

READINGS

REFORMS OF CHARLES III AND GaLVEZ

Addison, Joseph, _Charles the Third of Spain_; Altamira y Crevea, Rafael, _Historia de Espana_, IV; Chapman, C.E., _The Founding of Spanish California_, ch. IV; Danvila y Collado, Manuel, _Reinado de Carlos III_; Desdevises du Desert, Gaston, _L'Espagne de l'Ancien Regime_; Ferrer del Rio, Antonio, _Historia del Reinado de Carlos III_; Hume, M.A.S., _Spain: Its Greatness and Decay_; Priestley, H.L., _Jose de Galvez, Visitor-General of New Spain_; Rousseau, Francois, _Regne de Charles III d'Espagne, 1750-1788_; Scelle, G., _La Traite Negriere aux Indes de Castille_; Viollet, A., _Histoire des Bourbons d'Espagne_.

CALIFORNIA

Academy of Pacific Coast History, _Publications_, I-III; Bancroft, H.H., _History of California_, I, 110-480; Chapman, C.E., _The Founding of Spanish California_; Eldredge, Z.S., _The Beginnings of San Francisco_, I, 31-170; Engelhardt, Fr. Zephyrin, _Missions and Missionaries of California_, I, 289-385; II, 3-414; Hittell, T.H., _History of California_, I, 300-429; 441-452; 509-540; Norton, H.K., _Story of California_, 1-103; Palou, Fr. Francisco, _Relacion Historica de la Vida [de] ... Serra_; Richman, I.B., _California under Spain and Mexico_, 32-158.

LOUISIANA

Bolton, Herbert E., _Athanase de Mezieres and the Louisiana-Texas Frontier_, I, 66-122; Gayarre, C., _History of Louisiana_, III, 1-617; Hamilton, P.J., _The Colonization of the South_, 423-445; 447-456; Houck, L., _The Spanish Regime in Missouri_, I-II; Mason, E.C., ”The March of the Spaniards across Illinois,” in _Magazine of American History_, XV. 457-470; Robertson, J.A., _Louisiana under the rule of Spain. France, and the United States_; Shepherd, W.R., ”The Cession of Louisiana to Spain,” in _The Political Science Quarterly_, XIX, 439-458; Teggart, F.J., ”Capture of St Joseph, Michigan, by the Spaniards in 1781,” in _The Missouri Historical Review_, V, 214-228; Thwaites, R.G., _France in America_, 281-295.

CHAPTER XXII

THE NEW BRITISH POSSESSIONS (1763-1783)

PROVISIONS FOR DEFENCE, GOVERNMENT, AND THE FUR TRADE

Amherst's plan for defence.--While the Spaniards were occupying western Louisiana the British were organizing the country ceded by France and Spain east of the Mississippi, in Canada, and in the West Indies. In 1763 the Secretary of War asked General Amherst, commander-in-chief in America, for a plan of defence of the British possessions. In response he drew up a ”Plan of Forts and Garrisons prepared for the security of North America” which reveals England's outlook upon her newly acquired territory. It provided for ten regiments of approximately seven hundred and fifty men each. The stated purposes were: (1) to keep the king's new subjects in Canada and Louisiana ”in due subjection,” (2) to keep the old provinces ”in a state of Const.i.tutional Dependence upon Great Britain,” (3) to command the respect of the Indians, (4) to prevent encroachments of the French or Spaniards, (5) and to protect the colonies in case of war. The regiments were to be distributed in posts along the St. Lawrence, about the Great Lakes, in the Illinois country, along the lower Mississippi, and in Nova Scotia, South Carolina, Georgia, and the Floridas.