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would also require that Spain should retain the immense possessions she claimed to the West of it.* Besides, the navigation of the Mississippi is of such absolute necessity to the United States, that they must, sooner or later, acquire it, either through separate action and by the exertion of their own individual power, or in conjunction with Great Britain. This is the decree of Providence, written on the very map of the Continent of America, and therefore it cannot be resisted by human agency, however obstinate and powerful it may be in its opposi tion. Was it not the part of wisdom to anticipate an irresistible event, and make the most of it, by gently and peacefully facilitating its accomplishment, which otherwise would inevitably be brought about by violence?"-Such was the language of the United States, but it failed to obtain from Spain the boon which they craved. She, probably, had some misgivings as to the duration of their promised friendship, if they once extended their empire to the left bank of the Mississippi, from the mouth of the Ohio to the Gulf of Mexico. Some sudden and unexpected cause of quarrel might easily occur from the very proximity of the two flags, which the width only of the river would separate; and should thus the two nations bend their necks to drink from the same stream, one of them might complain that the already turbid waters of the Mississippi were made still more so by the other, and might turn into reality the fable of the wolf and the lamb. As to the assertion that the United States would never have any interest nor feel any temptation to cross the river, it is probable that Old Spain shook her experienced head at the boldness of the declaration and at the credulity which it implied on her part. She well knew, on the contrary,

that, if the young giant of the wilderness once planted his foot on the left bank of the mighty river, he would ere long leap across it, as if it were a puny rivulet, and that, in the exulting consciousness of his growing and unconquerable strength, and, with the rough club borrowed from his native forests, beating down the flag and crushing the polished panoply of chivalrous and time-honored Spain, he would soon stride across Texas towards the fat provinces of Mexico and the halls of the Aztec emperors. She could well read the book of destiny, but she thought that she had no immediate interest in hastening the events which were registered in that immortal record of the decrees of Providence.

The year 1791 found Mirò still the unwilling governor of Louisiana. But his intrigues in the West and South, to operate a dismemberment of the territory of the Union, seem to have been slackening, either from the expectation that he was soon to be recalled, or from distrust in his agents and doubts of the final success of his efforts.

Having been blamed for the quantity of tobacco which he had bought, the preceding year, for the account of the government, he wrote to the Cabinet of Madrid, on the 17th of January, to explain the motives by which he had been influenced, and to show that the King had obtained a considerable pecuniary gain by that operation; and, on the 20th of April, he returned to the same subject, recommending large purchases of tobacco, and expressing the opinion, that the carrying on of an extensive trade with the West would be the only means of protecting Louisiana against the resentment of the American settlements on the Ohio.

It appears by another of Mirò's despatches, that the whole revenue derived by the Government from the commerce of Louisiana, including the net produce of the

REVENUE OF LOUISIANA IN 1790.

309

seizure and sale of contraband goods, amounted, in 1790, to 529,304 silver reales, or $66,163.

On the 18th of May, the King, alarmed at the revolutionary ideas which seemed to spread with fearful rapidity, had recourse to an expedient, which provokes a smile, and which does not redound much to the credit of the inventive faculties of the royal brains, or of those of his advisers. It consisted in the prohibition of the introduction into Louisiana of boxes, clocks, and coin, stamped with the figure of a woman dressed in white and holding a banner in her hand, with this inscription: American Liberty. It was feared that there might be a tongue and a voice in these inanimate objects. much for the year 1791. But, in 1852, where is in the world the humble cottage and the royal palace in which the influence of American Liberty is not felt, despite the proscription of this hateful inscription?

So

The French revolution, which had commenced in 1789, had produced one in St. Domingo in 1791, in that part of the island which belonged to France. The negroes, who, by a decree of the National Convention sitting in Paris, had been assimilated to the whites, being stimulated to go beyond the granted equality, and to claim, not only superiority over their brethren who could not boast of a black skin, but also the exclusive enjoyment of life and property to their detriment, rose upon those who had been their former masters, and butchered them without distinction of age or sex. Those who escaped from the tender mercies of the new-fledged, dark-faced freemen and citizens of France, fled to Cuba, Jamaica, the United States, and Louisiana. Among the refugees who sought an asylum in New Orleans, was a company of comedians from Cape Français, who opened a theatre a short time after their arrival. From that circumstance dates the origin of regular dramatic exhi

bitions in New Orleans. The new comers sought to make a living in the best way they could, and more than one wealthy sugar planter, more than one pampered son of fortune, in days which had vanished like a dream, were seen opening humble schools, and became teachers of the alphabet, and of dancing, fencing, or fiddling. They were not few, those who were reduced even to lower occupations. But they generally bore their misfortunes with becoming fortitude and dignity, and some rose again to rank and wealth.

The administration of Mirò terminated with the year 1791. This officer sailed for Spain, where he continued his military career, and, from the rank of Brigadier General, rose to that of Mariscal de Campo, or Lieutenant General. "He carried with him," says Judge Martin in his History of Louisiana, "the good wishes and the regrets of the colonists." Mirò was not a brilliant man, like his predecessor Galvez, but had a sound judg ment, a high sense of honor, and an excellent heart. He possessed two qualities which are not always found together-suavity of temper and energy; he had received a fair college education, possessed several languages, was remarkable for his strict morality and his indefatigable industry, and joined to his other qualifications the long experience of one who had not lived in vain. He was a native of Catalonia, and had some of the distinguishing traits of character of the population of that province. He left Louisiana entirely reconciled to the Spanish domination, which had been gradually endeared to the inhabitants by the enlightened and wise deportment of almost every officer who had ruled over them. Another circumstance had contributed to operate a sort of fusion, and establish bonds of friendship and consanguinity between the two races. Thus, the most eminent among the Spaniards had, either from the shrewd

SPANISH DOMINATION GROWING POPULAR. 311

inspirations of policy, or from the spontaneous impulse of the heart, allied themselves to the families of the natives. Governor Unzaga had married a Maxent, Governor Galvez, her sister; the commissary of war, Don Juan Antonio Gayarré, the son of the royal comptroller, had married Constance de Grandpré; the intendant Odoardo, her sister; Bouligny, who since became Colonel of the regiment of Louisiana, a D'Auberville; Colonel Piernas, a de Porneuf; Governor Mirò, a Macarty; Colonel, and afterwards, Governor Gayoso de Lemos, a Miss Watts; and so on with many others whom it is unnecessary to mention. These were remarkable examples, which had never been given by the French Governors, and but seldom by the other high dignitaries of Louisiana, before it became a Spanish colony.