.5632 M. JONES SCOTT, Printer, go Camp Street, New Orleans La I ^^^' HISTORICAL SYMOPSIS OF THE CLAIM OF THE FLORIDA PARISHES »' LOUISIANA The iiioorporated antliorities of tlie above described Parishes liave i)etitioiied the Legishitive and Executive Departiuents, for the first time, for a restitution of the rights which their ances- tors acquired by the capture of the King of Spain's Province of West Florida at Baton Kouge in the year 1810. A bill in harmony with the averments of the petition, has been introduced by the Hon. E. W. Robertson, of Louisiana, and lias been referred to the Committee on Public Lands. It now awaits the consideration and a(;tion of that Committee.* To aid that Committee in its researches for the bases of this clainii the following- memoraiula, drawn, as we believe, from the most authentic sources, are respectfully submitted. As the Bill in question embodies the first formal solicitation of those commu- nities for the restitution of their rights of inheritance; and as its intelligent disposal depends upon the interpretation which may be given to a number of leading historical and official events which transpired in many different years. We sliall endeavor to submit a chronological synopsis of those leading historical and official events, as concise, as justice to our Claim, and a conscien- tious desire to impose a minimum tax on your patience, will admit of. Our citations will be circumscribed to the leading events of three epochs in the History of the United States, and to facts anti'CivL'ut a:i I subsequent r.'l.itivo to those events. THE FIRST EPOCH-1803. Recites the transactions of the United States with France in the year 1803 concerning the transfer of Louisiana to the former power. .To bring these transactions properly under review, it is manifest we must refer back to the stipulations of the Treaty which was transacted between France and Spain at St. Ildefonso in the year 1800. As we purchased from France in 1803, just Ilistorical St/nopsin of ihe Claim of the the same projierty Avhicli France purchased from Spain in 1800, knowledge of the stipulations of the French and Spanish Treaty is essential to define the extent of the imrcliase from France in 1S03. As the Treaty of St. Ildefonso was an act of retrocession by Spain to France of certain pro[)erty assigned to Spain, as a preferred creditor, in 17G2 by a secret Treaty at the close of a long war with Great Britain, wlien France had lost Quebec aiul all her dominion in Canada, and feared that all her empire in the New World wonhl share the same fate. That Treaty of 17)J2 although the United States Avas no party to it, may be an impor- tant factor in the formation of a correct judgment in t!ie premi- ses. Just what the United States acquired bj' purcluise from France was a question wliich bewiklered the negotiators of tlie Treaty of Purchase, is still in doubt, and is likely to remain for- ever in doubt. Mr. Jefferson, in his annual message of 1804, discloses some of the doubts which clouded the question, in the following paragraph; ''Ihave the satisfaction 'to inform yon, that the objections which had been urged by that Government (Spain) against t)ie validity of our title to the country of Louis- iana-; have been Avithdrawn; its exact limits, however, remaining still to be settled between us.'' France had previous to the as- signment to Spain in 17G2, asserted an inchoate right to the vast empire laying between the Elver Sabine on the East and the IJio Grande Del Xorte on the West ; that inchoate right was claimed as part of the transfer from France in 1803. Franco liad, before the Treaty of Paris of 17()'>, held proprietorship of all the soil on the East bank of the Mississii>pi liiver as f.ir South as the Iliver Iberville, and the rights of that ancient proprietorship which emlnaced the Sijanish Province of West Florida and claimed as part of the purchase from France, have been transferred to Great Britain by the Treaty of Paris of 17G3 and confirmed to Spain by Great Britain in the Treaty of 1783. To settle exactly those limits the most accomplished of American diplomatists of that day was commissioned Envoy in 1805 to France and Spain with full power to negotiate in the premises. The facts below we compile from the l)ages of jMr. Garland's Biography of John Bandolph who was Chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means of the session of 1805. As they have never been ])ublished through any other channel, they were probably furnished to the Biographer by Mr. llandol[)h himself. " On the sixth day of l)e<;ember, 1805, tliree days after tlie annual message, Mr. Jeliersou sent to Congress a Message Secret Floridd FdrlslteH of" Louisiana. and GonJi'Jential all propositions in regard to which were dis- cussed in conclave, in which, after reciting the failure of live months of Mr. Monroe's di[)loHiacy, during which Mr. Monroe liad obtained no satisfaction from Spain, other than the flat dec- laration that tha L^nited States had ac(|uired no right Eastward of tlie River Iberville (iu)w ]Manchac), nor from France any satis- faction other than the statement that France had ac([uired from S[)ain no riglifc Eastward of tha Iberville, and had meant to de- liver none to the United States. After soliciting Congress for an appropriation of two millions of dollars, the President says in conclusion, "The present crisis in Ii^uropc is favorable for pressing a settlement, and not a moment should be lost in avail- ing ourselves of it. Should it pass nnimproved, our situation would becomQ more diiticult. Formal war is not necessary; it is not probable it will follow ; but the protection of our citizens, the spirit and honor of our countr}^, require that force should be in- terposed to a certain degree.'' • Uarland's Life of John l\andolph,'p.p. 214, 21;"), vol. 2. As "the exact limits" failed to become detinite and fixed by the diplomatists, we are driven to consult the Historians as the next best oracle. The following extracts from an authentic his- tory shed a ray of light on that involved question: " On the 10th of April (181)3) the Marquis de Casa Caho hav- ing been appointed with Salcedo as Commissioner on the part of Spain for the delivery of Louisiana to France, returned from a visit to Havana and entered upon the duties of his office. On the iSth of May (ISO.'J) Salcedo issued his proclanmtiou an- nouncing the intention of his Catholic Majesty to surrender the Province to the French Republic. In this proclamation the Goveruor (Salcedo) recited the limits of Louisiana, as embraced in the contemplated surrender, to include all Louisiana West of the Mississippi, and the Island of Xew Orleans on the East side, it being the same ceded to Spain by France at the peace of 1703. The settlements on the East side of the Mississippi, between the Payon Manchac and the thirty-first parallel of latitude, would still pertain to the government of West Florida.'' Monette Valley of the Mississippi, vol. l,p. 555. Still adhering to a line of demonstration which may illuminate the enignmtical transactions of the first epoch, two other coin- cidents are adduced out of their chronological order, but as ser- viceable guides to a correct standard of opinion. ni.siork'ol Sij}wp.s!!i of the Claim of the On the 20tli daj* of October, 1795, a Treaty was signed at Ma- drid between tbe United States and Spain, the second article of which stipnhites that the thirty-lirst paraPol of Uititnde from the Mississippi to the Chattahoochee shall be the future boun dary between the United States and the Floridas. The fourth article of the same treaty stipulates that the whole widrh of the Mississippi from its source to the sea, sliall be free U* the people of the United States. After the Chief Magistrate had been refused by Congress the two millions he asked to be appropriated, to enable him to ex- tract the festering thorn which was held by S])ain in the side of the KepubMc, dreadfully raidding and irritating to his schemes for founding a continuous empire in the Mississippi Valley. We find him from his retirement under the shades ot Monticello urging his absorbing idea upon his successor in a new light. "In the event of war with great Britain,'' he says in a letter of 1801) to Mi-. IVIadison, "You arusT- TxIke Baton Rouge or they will and thereby cut off N<^w Orleans from the West and the balance of the Union.'' Jefferson's Correspondence, vol. 4, ^j.p. j;U-13i\ Does not the language imply plainly, •' The security of New Orleans demands war with Spain unless the irritating ■wedge whicli splits in twain our vast empire in the Valley of the Mississippi, be extracted in the meantime.?"' The course of events did not How smoothly and pleasantly through the yeai's of the first epoch, for the great statesman who had presided in chief at the birth of the young giant, for whom he was striving 80 zealously to found an empire large enough for him to stretch his lusty limbs in. Claiming to the Rio Grande and foiled ; claiming to the River Perdido and Ibiled again! Asking Con- gress for two million dollars to consolidate an empire wider than half the civilized world and snubbed! What American with a heart can withhold respectful sympathy with the disai)[)oint- nients and defeats of a great statesman who was fighting almost single-handed a losing battle for the grandeur and glory of the country he loved so Avell ? What patriotic heait can refuse its meed of adnuration for the indomitable pluck of a statesman, who after the failure of so many expedients, could still devise a new plan to perfect Ins sagacious schemes. The Committee is now resi)ectfully solicited to accompany us while we develop the course ef events which marked Florida rarisltcs of LouiKlana. THE SECOND EPOCH-1810. lu the year 1810, just one year after Mr. Jefferson suggested to his successor an approacliing contingency iclien he must take Baton Rouge. The ancestors of the present chiiiuants, without even a smattering- of statesmanlike sagacity, but only in a re- sentful spiiit for seven years of Spanish insolence and opi>res- sion, assembled in arms 'An(\{{\(\talcc Baton Bougc ! and out of the capture of that city and the Spanisli g;irrison wbi^ih defended it, flowed some consequences quite aftiiiitive to the comi)lica*:ions of the epoch of 1803. It settled at once and peremptorily all ques- tions either of law or fact, concerning the destination of the King- of Spain's Province of West Florida under the interpreta- tions of the Treaty of 1803. The guaranties of that much inter- preted Treaty were not invoked by any of the parties to the shor', crisp, rattling- struggle between the insurgents and their oppressors within the walls of tlie Fort at Baton Eouge. A ca- pitulation and notice to quit on short time were about t\vn only stipulations of the new Treaty of 1810 ! As ihe title to the soil which is asserted in the Bill now before the Committee, is found- ed on the transactions between the insurgents and the King of Spain's representative within tlie Fort at Baton llouge- We may be pardoned if we dwell in a gratulatory mood over events which were i)reg-nant with sucli a rich endowment for our ancestors and their descendants, — with such immediate accessions to the safety, power and glory of the Republic. Our citations, culled from the most authentic records of those events, are made with a view to enable the CouMiiittee to determine intelligently the scope and measure of the conquest achieved by our ancestors- They are also offered to demonstrate tlie extent of the obliga" tions of the lve[)nblic, to a small body of citizens, who with halters around their necks did a great work which enabled a re- nowned General of the Republic lo prepare a victorious defence of the rich city of New Orleans, and provide against an invasion of the rich Valley of the Mississippi, — a work, which obviated, the necessity of going to war with Spain, and which removed forever the most irritating and ras[)ing thorn that ever rankled in the body of the Republic ! In the Fort at Baton Rouge, the first Grandson of the Repub- lic was born ! His sires were a smaQ body of restless, roving- adventurers, citizens, who had taken a lively interest in the War of the Revolution and who, though not exactly " the cankers of calm world and a long peace,'' were ever on the search for new 6 Historical Synopsis of the Claim of the forests to conquer, aud were not much enamored of the hunulrum methods of ceremonious civilization. Tliey christened the ohlest born of the Republic's children of the second generation— West Florida ! And it is to jireserve the inheritance transmitted to that heir by his sires, that these clainumts are invohing the in- terposition of Congress and the Chief Magistrate in fixing defi- nite limits to the estate left him by his ancestors. Are his rights to be ascertained by the variable interpretations of the Treaty of 1803 ? Or do they come througli a ne^y contract sealed and isioned by Spain in Baton Rouge in 1810? If the imze our an- cestors captured at Baton Rouge is claimed to be the property of the United States by virtue of the transfer from France in 1803- In that case we reply that our ancestors picked up an abandoned vessel, without a captain, without a crew, without a flag to de- note her nationality ; drifting around loose on Spanish waters l]astward of the Iberville where cruisers of the United States were forbidden. They brought the abandoned vessel safely into port, and as salvors they claim the ownership of vessel and cargo. If the prize belonged to the King of Spain, in that case, we set up the same title which was bequeathed by the er.piring Hebrew Patriarch to his favorite son, "Moreover I have given to thee one portion above thy brethreii, which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow." Genesis, ch. xlviii, v. 22. If our deductions from the conquest of this domain by our ancestors in 1810 are too grasping, we will submit Avithout a murmur should the Congress see fit to reduce them to harmony with any fair standard of natural riglit, which comports with the honor of the Republic. There are two transactions, how- ever, of nearly even dates which may shed a flood of liglit upon (]uestions concerning the scope of the inherited rights we are claiiniug. The Act admitting Louisiana into the Union, on a footing of equality with the other sovereign States was passed April 1st, 1812. The Act "Enlarging the limits of Louisiana," by which onr domain was covered into the public domain of the United States, was passed April 15, 1812. If the last Act leaveg untouched and undefined all questions relating to title to the soil it should be remembered that it was a AVar Measure adopt- ed just six weeks 2)reliminary to the Declaration of War against Great Britain. That may be considered ample exi)lanatJon of an omission of a body which has always kept the hands of the Republic clean from the stain of territorial robbery. If tno Florida Parishes of Louisiana. omission Las never since been supplied, it is because no formal application for redress lias been lodged with the Government by the parties aggrieved by the omission, until the petition was filed, on which the Bill now before the Committee, is founded. Although the original archives, of such a short lived nation- ality, are not readily obtainable, even if they exist; there are, nevertheless, some scraps of cotemporary history extant which demonstrate quite lucidly how our ancestors, proceeded step by step to organize and consolidate their trophy of successful revo- lution. Some of those scraps of cotemporary history are sub- joined: — " They therefore declared themselves absolved from all alle- giance to a Government which no longer protected them and declared the Territori<^y ot West Florida a free and independent State. American State Papers, vol. vii, pp. 482-484. •' A Constitution was adopted, and a form of State Govern- ment organized under the name of the "State of Florida," and Fulwar Skii)with was appointed Governor. '• On the 11th of October, 1810, the Convention ordered a for- mal application through its President, John Khea, to the Fed- eral authorities of the United States for admission irito the Union. This application was transmitted through (Jovernor Holmes of the Mississippi Territory to the Acting Secretary of State for the United States. It expresses the hope and desire that this Commonwealth may be immediately acknowledged and protected as an integral part of the American Union, and re- quests the most direct and unequivocal assurances of the views and wishes of the American Government without delay, "since our weak and unprotected situation will oblige us to look to some foreign Government for support, should it be refused by the country which we have considered our parent State." IMonette, vol. ii, p. 488. " In case the United States recognize their claim to protection the Convention in behalf of their constituents, claims immediate admission into the Union as an independent State, or as a Ter- ritory of the United States with permission to adopt their own form of government, or to be annexed to one of the adjacent territories, more especially to that of Orleans. They solicit also a loan of one hundred thousand dollars upon the gucnsuitee of the public lands! and permission to be governed by their own laws ,9 Historical Synopfih of ihe Claim of the enacted bj- the Conventiou until annexation is consummated.'' Monette, vol. ii, p. 489. In November following-, with the Spanish lialter tightening in imagination around their necks, they embarked on a wider field of action. " They equipped, under command of Col. Reuben Kemper, an expedition against the Spanish city of Mobile. For the support of which they loaded a keelboat at Baton Rouge, Avith Western produce and a considerable supply of whiskey. And dispatched the keel boat down Bayou Manchac, the Amite River, through the lakes and the Mississippi Sound to the relief of their little army camped on the shores of Mobile Bay, opi)0- site the city, with no means of reaching it by wat:r. Pickett's Alabama, vol ii, pp . 237-238. We are not informed positively, of the precise shape in which the jurisdiction of the United States was extended over the State of Florida ; whether it came by Proclamation of President Madi- son of 1810, accompanied with a projnise that their ^'essential rights and equitable interests''' should be provided for, or whether it came in the more formal shape of an Act of Congress of April 15, 1812, incorporating the State of Florida with the public do- main, unaccompanied by a i)romise of any kind. It is admitted that the jurisdiction was warndy invoked by our ancestors and was most welcome when it came. They never protested against the jurisdiction, nor do we. The only question which is now for the first time submitted to Congress and the President is, " in whom is the title to the soil ivhlch our aiieestors took out of the hands of the Spaniards iclth their shot-guns and rlfes?.'^ Before closing our review of the events of the Second Epoch, we think it is ai)propriate to recite a few of the most im- nu diate and solid advantages which resulted to the Republic from the peiilous achievement of our ancestors at Baton Rouge. By instantaneous operation of the Act of Congress of April 15, 1812. A line of navigable waters which afforded facilities to a foreign fleet to blockade New Orleans from above, was placed under the full control of the Republic. Relieved by the possession of Baton Rouge and its dependen- cies from that peril, the Republic could venture to declare war against its overbearing and insulting adversary, which it did six weeks after our incorporation into the Union, 'n the autumn and winter of 1811 General Jackson was enabled to quarter his army and recruit his cavalry on the pastures of our domain Avitiiin easy commnnication with the city of New Orleans 5 and Florida Pari shea of Louisiana. by building a tlylvc across the River mouth of the Mauchac he not ouly excluded hostile vessels from the Mississippi, but se- cured a line of retreat by land for his army in case of disaster before New Orleans. To illustrate the importance of that dyke to the movement oi troops, it is only necessary to state the fact that (len. Coflee received orders to repair to the threatened city, " and not to sleep until he arrived,''' on the 17th of December, 1S14, at Baton Kouge, and on the 19th of December he encamp- ed within fifteen miles of New Orleans with twelve hundred mounted volunteers; In conclusion of our review of the trans- actions of the epoch of 1810, we beg leave to disclaim any of the guarantees of the much interpreted Treaty of 1803. Our char- ter dates from the signature to the capitulation at Batou ]iouge forced from the King of Spain, by our bold ancestors, just as the Barons of England forced King John to sign 2Iagna Charta at Eunnymede! The Charter forced from King John at Runnymede has been held sacred by the British Government for more than six hundred years. Has not the Charter forced by our ancestors from King Ferdinand, at Baton Rouge, an equal claim upon the Government of the United States ? It should be steadily borne in mind that the conveyance made to us at Baton Rouge in 1810 was a matter rigidly di-tinct trom the transaction of the United States with France in 1803, Our transferor having always persistently denied that the domain transferred was in any manner aliected by any of the stipula- tions of the Treaty of 1803. Although the records of a Government which has alwaj's dealt tenderly and conscientiously with the rights of its weaker neigh- bors, furnish abundant precedents for the restitution the Claim- ants are askhig for, there is one precedent which besides being the latest is considered the most analogous in its main features to the conditions which environ the equitable adjustment of the matters now submitted lor your consideration. To find that analogous (almost synonymous) precedent we must glance at some of the events of the third epoch. 10 Historical Sijnopsis of tin- Claim of the THIRD EPOCH-1846. AYe lla^ e alreadj' seen by a cursory glance at the events of the first and second epoclia, that the reverberations of the shot guns and rifles fired by our ancestors at Baton Rouge, did not much startle the ear of a ealm and peaceful world. Had its real sig- nificance been appreciated, it would have been hailed as the FIRST siciNAL GUN which announced that the struggle between the Anglo Saxon and the Latin was about to commence in the JSTew World. Had it been scrutinized by the light of coming- events, it would have been recognized as the harbinger of San Jacinto, Palo Alto, Resaca de la Pal ma, Matamoras, Monterey, -Buena Vista ; of Vera Cruz, Cerro Gordo, Contreras, Chapulte- pec, Molino del Rey, Mexico. — as the death knell of many a lion- hearted patriot of either race ! The SECOND SIGNAL GUN was fired at San Jacinto by the An- glo Saxon citizens of Texas in 183G ! For tlie next ten years the Texans were engaged in organizing and consolidating the splen- did trophy of their con