St. Louis - The Fourth City, Volume 1. Walter Barlow Stevens

relating to the history of Louisiana and its acquisition by the United States. From Mr. Tullock, copies were obtained for publication.

       My Dear Sir:— Vincennes, March 6, 1803.

       I had the pleasure to receive a few days ago from the hands of Colo. Dumoulin your favor of the 22nd ultimo. I should have written to you before the receipt of that letter but I waited to hear of your return from New Madrid.

       The cession of Louisiana to France is confirmed beyond all doubt and nothing but the great misfortunes which have befallen the armament of that power which was sent to St. Domingo and the reduced state of Beunaparte's finances have prevented its being taken possession of before this. More of the circumstances attending the cession are still secret but it is believed, and I think truly, that the Ministry of Spain were much deceived and imposed upon by Beunaparte. It is very evident that the Prince of Peace knew nothing of the transaction. After the treaty was actually signed he was heard to tell Lucien Beunaparte that Spain would never give up Louisiana and that France had nothing to offer which would prove an equivalent for that province.

       You have no doubt heard of the port of New Orleans having been shut by the intendant of that place to American vessels — this circumstance has occasioned much agitation amongst the citizens of the United States — but I have great satisfaction in apprising you that it is believed to have been wholly unauthorized by the court of Spain. The measure appears to have proceeded from the Cabinet of St. Clouds.

       The Cabinet of St. Clouds, you will say. Yes my friend, it is from this chateau of the former royal family of France that the Corsican Beunaparte gives law to an empire. Happy will it be for the world if his ambition is at length satisfied. But there is reason to believe that this native of a small island will not be contented until he has reduced a continent at least, perhaps the whole civilized world, to his dominion. Our government has sent to Madrid Mr. Monroe (formerly oar minister in Paris) as envoy extraordinary to represent the conduct of the intendant of New Orleans. He sailed about the first of the last month. Having accomplished his business in Spain he is then to proceed to France. And I think it is not improbable that the strong remonstrances of the United States backed by those of Great Britain, may prevail upon Beunaparte to give up his designs upon Louisiana and suffer it to be retained by Spain.

       If your most respectable father should determine to move to this Government be perfectly assured my dear sir that every exertion on my part shall be made to sooth the evening of his life and make it as comfortable as possible.

       I have just received information of my having been continued in the government of this territory for the three years succeeding the 13th of May next.

       The bear chose to take up her winter quarters at Kaskaskias, but I expect her soon to arrive together with the other curiosities which you so profusely heaped upon me.

       I go to Detroit in about ten days. When I return I will have the pleasure again to write to you.

       Present me in the most respectful manner to Madam and Mr. Delassus and believe me to be, truly your friend.

       (Signed) William Henry Harrison.

       PS : I shall certainly attend to your request relative to the Creek Indians.

       The Honbl.

       Colo. Delassus, etc., etc

      Delassus was a Frenchman in the service of the King of Spain. The government of his adoption had just transferred by secret treaty to the government of his nativity the great province of the upper part of which he was the official head.

      In the light of such conditions the freedom with which General Harrison wrote is the more remarkable. It reveals how close and confidential must have been the relationship between these neighboring representatives of the governments at Washington and Madrid. General Harrison condemned Bonaparte, or Beunaparte, as he wrote it, unsparingly. Undoubtedly he had learned from previous intercourse the real sentiments of Delassus. It is probably also true that he reflected the feeling of the Jefferson administration toward the First Consul. Accepting as "confirmed beyond all doubt" the cession of Louisiana to France, General Harrison forecasted what he believed to be the policy of this government to make common cause with Great Britain upon France to undo the secret treaty of San Ildefonso, and to prevail upon Bonaparte to permit Louisiana to be retained by Spain.

      The action of the Spanish Intendant at New Orleans in shutting the port to American vessels was the chief cause of irritation on the American side, and the immediate provocation for President Jefferson sending James Monroe abroad as a special envoy. Yet General Harrison, in this letter to Delassus acquitted the Spanish government of responsibility for this hostile act, and charged it upon the "Corsican Beunaparte."

      The letter is a revelation of official sentiment and policy at Washington just preceding the Louisiana Purchase. It gives light from a new source upon diplomatic negotiations which have been the subject of controversy.

      The treaty transferring the Louisiana Territory to the United States was signed at Paris, April 30th, 1803. By reference to the letter it will be seen that General Harrison wrote in the month preceding.

      The personal suggestion of American residence for "your most respectable father" is not the least interesting feature of the correspondence, made as it was when international relations respecting the Louisiana Territory were approaching a crisis. It is impossible to believe that the American governor of Northwest Territory did not have the full concurrence of his government in the approaches he was making to the Spanish governor of Upper Louisiana.

      The last months of the Spanish regime at St. Louis were made uncomfortable by some Americans from Connecticut, the Austins. Moses Austin had obtained from the Spanish a grant to mine at what is now Potosi. He was showing the pioneers how to make sheet lead by crude smelting of ore on flat rocks. About the end of January, 1804, Don Antonio Soulard commissioned Thomas Madden to measure a tract of land in the locality where Austin had located. The tract to be measured, Governor Delassus said in an official communication to Marquis de Casa Calvo had been granted to an inhabitant named Pascual Deschamandy. When the surveyor began his measurements "the inhabitants of the mine presented themselves well-armed on a vacant lot of the royal dominion and opposed the functions of Madden. After they had mistreated Deschamandy and Madden they used very harmful phrases against the Spanish government, hallooing 'Viva Gifferson!' As soon as I was informed I began getting ready to act against the guilty parties, but I have just received your orders to surrender Upper Louisiana and of course this order has compelled me to abandon the punishment of these people."

      A few months later, as he floated down the river, taking the flag of Spain with him and gathering the munitions at various posts, the sorely tried, old Governor Delassus encountered more of this spirit of American aggression. When he reached Ste. Genevieve, Governor Delassus was told that two small pieces of artillery were in the possession of Austin at the lead mine, having been loaned to him when he was in favor with Spanish authority on the plea that he needed them for protection against the Indians. All that Francisco Valle at Ste. Genevieve could show for the artillery was the receipt of Austin, and with this Governor Delassus was compelled to be content, but he embalmed in his diary of the trip an expression of his sentiments about the American, Austin.

      "It must be understood that the said Austin is generally busy; he was the principal one in the riot of the inhabitants of that mine when they opposed the work of the surveyor, as I informed Marquis de Casa Calvo. And yet he has been favored by the Spanish government, having been given a large portion of land. It seems that his ungratefulness toward Spain has not deprived him of any merits with the republican government of the United States as he has been appointed the first judge by Mr. William Henry Harrison."

      Moses Austin was to be heard from later in the winning of the southwest. He was one of the first Americans to obtain a grant in what is now Texas, on which to settle a colony. He died before he could