PONTALBA'S MEMOIR. 437 a long time been used for the cultivation of the sugar cane, may with success, it is the cultivation of the indigo. thought, be turned over to This article goes directly, in times of peace, to the ports of France, and can go nowhere else. It is there that it is always sold to the best advantage. It is worth from seven to nine francs the pound. "The district of Natchitoches is the only one which is addicted to the cultivation of tobacco ever since the district of Natchez belongs to the Americans, when the new demarcation of limits took place in 1797. The quantity of tobacco thus produced rises to two hundred thousand pounds. In time of In time of peace, the greater portion of it is exported to France, and the rest to Vera Cruz and Campeachy. "The exportation of cotton from Louisiana does not exceed two hundred thousand pounds. This branch of agricultural industry is profitable enough (since the invention of certain mills to separate the seed from the silk) to justify small planters in consoling themselves for not having sufficient forces to go into the planting of the sugar cane. "That cotton is very fine, but the silk is short. In time of peace, the whole of it is sent to France, where it is no doubt used to better advantage than anywhere else, since it sells there better than in any other country. "There goes out of Louisiana, annually, more than onehundred thousand dollars' worth of furs, consisting principally of deerskin. Bear and beaver skins, together with the hides of wild beeves, and particularly furs of a fine quality are comparatively scarce. They meet with a ready sale in the ports of France. "Louisiana supplies St. Domingo with a great deal of timber, planks, shingles, boards, essences, &c. She cannot sell them at so low a price as the Americans, because wages are twice as high there as in the United States, because also the quality of the wood being harder requires more labor, and because the voyages from Louisiana are longer. Nevertheless, it is evident that it is more advantageous for St. Domingo to be supplied with timber from Louisiana than from the United States. In the first place, the quality is infinitely better; in the next, the Americans, when introducing cargoes of timber into the French colonies, carry also thither a great quantity of dry goods, manufactured either by themselves, or by the English, and take molasses in return to the amount of only one-half of their exports, as the other half of the return cargo is always in specie, whilst the vessels coming from Louisiana, far from draining St. Domingo of specie, bring a good deal of it, in order to purchase their return cargoes, which consist of goods of French manufacture, and also of wines and eatables. The shipowners are satisfied with a slight profit on the timber, which covers the expenses of freight. The cargoes of timber are a mere pretext, because every vessel sailing with a cargo of this nature, valued for instance at fifteen thousand livres, comes back from St. Domingo with a cargo of merchandise worth three or four times as much, and everybody knows that, with every cargo of timber, there goes in* contraband a sufficient quantity of dollars to pay for a return cargo, and, if those ships had not this object in view, their timber cargo would be an insufficient consideration to induce them to undertake such voyages. This trade, which has been interrupted since the war, will take more extension under the domination of France, when the exportation of specie shall no longer be prohibited. The exportation of specie from Louisiana was prohibited. PONTALBA'S MEMOIR. 439 "The trade which occupies most ships in Louisiana is that of boxes, with which this province supplies the island of Cuba. Havana alone consumes two hundred thousand sugar boxes, which constitute about fifty cargoes. Those boxes, at fifty cents a-piece, give to the planters a revenue of one hundred thousand dollars; to the carriers, as much for the freight; and to the merchants engaged in that trade, a profit of twenty-five thousand dollars. This is not all. It must also be taken into consideration, that there is not one of the vessels employed in carrying those boxes which does not smuggle into Havana a certain quantity of articles of French manufacture, and which does not return to New Orleans with twice the value of its cargo in specie, doubled as it is by the profits of the sale and freight. "These sugar boxes were formerly made at Havana with the cedar-wood, which is very common there. But Spain, since she possesses Louisiana, has, in order to favor her, permitted her to supply the island of Cuba and the other harbors in the Gulf of Mexico with the boxes required for the sugar crops; and since that permission, such boxes are no longer made in the Spanish establishments, where the quality of the wood being much harder, they cannot be furnished so cheap as by Louisiana. "If the moment has not yet come to insist upon obtaining for Louisiana from Spain the grant of a free trade with the harbors in the Gulf of Mexico, France ought not at least to give up the sugar box trade with Havana, which Louisiana now enjoys. Since her cession to Spain, more than thirty saw mills have been constructed near New Orleans, on the banks of the Mississippi, to supply that trade, and these saw mills, should they be deprived of that outlet, would become valueless. Besides, these boxes, as I have said, constitute the freight of all the vessels which trade with Havana, and it would therefore deprive this colony of a precious commercial resource. "It was to reward the inhabitants of Louisiana for the zeal they displayed in 1779 and 1780, when they conquered under General Galvez the English settlements on the Mississippi, and the towns of Mobile and Pensacola, that his Catholic Majesty granted them the privilege of free trade with France. His Majesty, should he be reminded of this fact, would not come to the harsh conclusion of depriving them of so interesting a branch of commerce as the supply of those sugar boxes, of which they have been in possession for the last thirtyfour years that is-ever since they have been under Spanish domination. The benefit which accrues from it to the island of Cuba deserves also some consideration. "About ten thousand barrels of rice are annually exported from Louisiana to St. Domingo and Havana. "The chief resource of the province of Louisiana is the money which is spent there by the government for the pay of its agents and officers. Five hundred and thirty-seven thousand dollars are annually sent to New Orleans from Mexico in three ships, which arrive at a regular interval of four months. This sum is divided among so many persons employed by the government, that each one consumes what he receives, so that it soon goes into the pockets of the farmer who feeds him, and of the merchant who supplies his other wants. The whole ends in finding its way into the coffers of the merchant, who supplies the farmer, whose crop, besides, is generally insufficient to pay his debts to said merchant. "This sketch demonstrates pretty clearly that Louisiana still remains a burden to the metropolis, since the annual disbursements of Spain to keep up that colony PONTALBA'S MEMOIR. 441 amount to four hundred and thirty-seven thousand dol lars, over and above the revenue derived through its custom-house. From that sum there may be deducted one hundred thousand dollars, which are uselessly spent at Pensacola. There remains a deficit of three hundred and thirty-seven thousand dollars, which the success alone of sugar-making in the colony justifies the government in the hope of being able to cover in a few years, as soon as a general peace shall permit the slave trade to be resumed, and as soon as the government shall take it in hand to people Louisiana. "These are about all the articles of exportation which are supplied by Louisiana, in return for the objects of importation which she receives from France in time of peace. There may be added to the above statement about one hundred thousand dollars, in return for the commodities which are smuggled from Louisiana into the harbors of the Gulf of Mexico; and, in time of peace, it is the commerce of France and St. Domingo which gets hold of all this specie, in exchange for wines, oils, soaps, eatables and other articles of French manufacture. "The planter does not hoard up, however considerable may be the result of his agricultural labors. After having consumed so much of it as is necessary to supply his wants, he employs the rest in improving his estate. Ambition and activity are his characteristics; all that he requires is encouragement. "The only taxes known in Louisiana are a duty of six per cent. on the exports, valued according to a very moderate estimation. The same duty is paid on all foreign imports. แ Spain has, so far, retained possession of this colony for political reasons. It is onerous to her, as it was onerous to France during all the time that the latter power possessed it, since the custom-house duty, which |