[1] Ratifications were exchanged at Aranjuez, April 25, 1796, and the treaty was proclaimed August 2, of the same year.

A copy of this treaty is given in the American State Papers. Foreign Relations, vol. 1, 546 et seq; also in the Treaties and Conventions Concluded Between the United States and Other Powers Since July 4, 1776. Sen. Ex. Doc. 2d Session, 48th Congress, Vol. I, Pt. 2, 1006, et seq.

[2] See Trescot's Diplomatic History of the Administrations of Washington and Adams. Chapters I and IV.

[3] Godoy's Memoirs, Vol. I.45-'8 et seq. Quoted from Trescot, 253. It is very evident that Mr. Pinckney understood the circumstances that determined the course of the Spanish Minister. See American State Papers For. Rels. I. 535. Martin, who has studied the subject from the standpoint of Louisiana, says (History of La., 269) that this was also understood by the King's officers in New Orleans.

The United States and England had previously agreed that they would share equally in the navigation of the Mississippi and on May 4, 1796, six months after the treaty with Spain, the United States and England subscribed to the following: "No other stipulation or treaty concluded since (the date of their former treaty) by either of the contracting parties with any other Power or Nation, is understood in any manner to derogate from the right to the free communication and commerce guaranteed by the 3d article or the treaty to the subjects of His Brittanic Majesty."—Amer. State P. For. Rels. II. 15. In a letter to the Spanish Minister, Chevalier de Yrujo, dated January 20, 1798, Mr. Pickering says that the United States "have not asked, nor will they have occasion to ask Spain to be the guardian of their rights an interests on the Mississippi."—Ib. 102.

[4] Sketches of Louisiana (1812), 98-9. The author of these sketches, a major in the army of the United States, took possession of upper Louisiana in behalf of his government, under the treaty of cession, in March, 1804. His book was based upon "local and other information" furnished by "respectable men" "in most of the districts" of which he wrote, together with his own extensive excursions, during the five years in which he was stationed on various parts of the lower Mississippi.

[5] This is the language of Stoddard, which was based upon Gayoso's letter. See Sketches of La. 98-'9.

[6] In 1787, the Intendant of Louisiana, acting in accordance with instructions from the Spanish court, prepared an elaborate memoir on the political situation in America. "He represented the people of the United States as extremely ambitious, as animated by the spirit of conquest and as anxious to extend their empire to the shores of the Pacific. He then suggested a line of policy, which in his opinion, it was incumbent on Spain to adopt. The dismemberment of the western country, by means of pensions and commercial benefits, was considered by him as not difficult. The attempt was therefore strongly urged, particularly as it would, if successful, greatly augment the power of Spain in this quarter and forever arrest our progress westward. These suggestions were favorably received, and formed the groundwork of that policy which Spain afterwards pursued."—Sketches of La., 98.

[7] Ib. 85.

[8] See Hinsdale's Old Northwest, Chapter X. A bibliography of the Negotiations at Paris, 1782-'83, is given in Hinsdale's Southern Boundary of the United States, published in the Annual Report of the American Historical Association for 1893, p. 339, footnote.

[9] See Gould's Fifty Years on the Mississippi, 182 et seq.; 288 et seq.

[10] Stoddard's Sketches, 88-'9.

[11] Ib. 90.

[12] Ib. 99.

[13] He was at this time Governor General of Louisiana.

[14] Amer. State Papers. For. Rel. II.79. This opinion is corroborated by Marbois (Hist. of La., 162) who made a study of the subject from the French standpoint.

[15] Martin's History of La., 271-5.

[16] He was Governor of the Natchez District and was stationed at the town of Natchez.

[17] Ellicott had made the surveys locating the limits of the District of Columbia, in 1791 (Chas. Burr Todd's Story of Washington, 21). The year following he was appointed to draft and publish a plan of the Federal City (Ib. 30). He also established the Meridian of Washington, conducted several other important public surveys and served a number of years as Surveyor General of the United States. In 1813, General Armstrong appointed him Professor of Mathematics in the United States' Military Academy at West Point, which position he held for several years. He was in constant communication with the National Institute of France and contributed to the Transactions of the American Philosophical Society. His official dispatches while engaged as Commissioner for locating the boundary between the United States and Spain may be found in the American State Papers, Foreign Relations, Vol. II. A more extensive account is given in narrative form in Ellicott's Journal, published at Philadelphia, in 1803. All his writings with reference to Mississippi must be read with caution, since they exhibit intense partisan animus.

[18] The day after beginning his descent of the Mississippi, he and his party reached "the station of one of the Spanish gallies, the master of which treated them politely, but detained them until the next day (Journal, 31). A few hours after leaving this point, they reached New Madrid, where they were saluted upon landing "by a discharge of the artillery from the fort and otherwise treated with the greatest respect and attention." Here the commandant stated that he had "a communication to make and for some reasons, which he did not detail," requesting Ellicott "to continue there two or three days." The commissioner declined to be detained longer than one day. At the expiration of that time a letter was produced from the Governor General of the province, containing an order issued about three months previous, not to permit the Americans to descend the river till the posts were evacuated, which could not be effected until the waters should rise." In reply, Ellicott took the position that "if want of water was an objection ... it was ... done away by the commencement of the inundation," that such an order must have been intended for troops and that to detain himself and party "would be an indirect violation of the treaty" they were preparing to carry into effect. The objection was then withdrawn and they proceeded (Ib. 31-33). At Chickasaw Bluffs the Commandant received the party politely but "appeared embarrassed" (Ib. 34) and affected almost total ignorance of the treaty. There were no appearances of preparations to evacuate (Ib. 35). Again resuming their voyage, they were detained a few days later, for about an hour, by a Spanish officer commanding two galleys(Ib. 36). At Walnut Hills (Vicksburg) they were brought to by an "unnecessary" discharge of a piece of artillery, but were treated "very civilly when on shore." Here also the commandant "appeared to be almost wholly unacquainted" with the treaty and was not satisfied until Ellicott produced "an authenticated copy" of that instrument in Spanish (Ib. 37). This incident appeared very extraordinary to the Commissioner in view of the fact that this station was "in the vicinity" of Natchez, where Governor Gayoso resided (Ib. 38).

All of these occurrences were more extraordinary still, when viewed in the light of the further facts observed by Professor Hinsdale:—Although Ellicott "bore a commission from the Government of the United States, was accompanied by an escort of American troops and was charged with the performance of a duty created by a solemn international agreement, he was halted and questioned as though he were a suspect in a strange country. Moreover, the one bank of the river, throughout the whole distance, Spain had acknowledged to belong exclusively to the United States, to say nothing of her having guaranteed its navigation by American citizens from its source to the sea" (Annual Rept. Amer. Hist. Association for 1893, pp. 351-2).

[19] Ellicott's Journal, 39-40. This escort consisted of only twenty-five men (Amer. State papers, For. Rel. II. 20).

[20] Ellicott's Journal, 44.

[21] Ib.

[22] Ib. 50.

[23] Ellicott's Journal, 52.

[24] Ib. 52.

[25] An effort had been previously made to induce Ellicott to visit the Baron at New Orleans. July 14, the President directed the Commissioner to remain at Natchez until the Spaniards were ready for operations. Amer. State Papers, For. Rel. II, 102.

[26] Ellicott's Journal, 47-48.

[27] Ib. 84.

[28] These pretexts often overlap, two or more being given at the same time. They are arranged in the order of their first appearance.

[29] Report to the President of the United States, dated June 10, 1797, in Amer. State Papers, For. Rel., II, 72.

[30] Ib. 92.

[31] Ib. 20. Letter from the Secretary of War to Gen. Wilkinson, dated June 9, 1797 in Ib. 92.

[32] This pretext was given in connection with the preceding one in the proclamation of March 28 and 29.

[33] Ib. 25.

[34] Ib. 92.

[35] Amer. State Papers, For. Rel., II, 66. Lieutenant Pope wrote to the Secretary of War, from Natchez, May 9, 1797, "there have been several attempts to draw on the Indians upon my troops" (Ib. 73); General Wilkinson also wrote him from Fort Washington, June 4, 1797, "letters from all quarters announce the discontent and menacing aspect of the Savages; ... they ... are making no preparations for a crop, which is certain indication of their intention to change ground" (Ib.); Lieutenant Colonel Hamtramck wrote from Detroit, May 21, 1797, "I am pretty sure that both the French and Spaniards have emissaries among the Indians" (Ib.). The Secretary of State received a letter from Winthrop Sargent, at Cincinnati, bearing date of June 3, 1797, in which he says, "it ... appears from various channels, that they (the Spaniards) are inviting a great number of Indians of the (Northwest) territory to cross the Mississippi.... A large party of the Delawares passed down White River about the 6th of May, on their way to the Spanish side, bearing the national flag sent from St. Louis" (Ib. 88).

[36] Ib. 73.

[37] Ib. 78. This reason was expressed by Governor Gayoso in a letter to Commissioner Ellicott, dated March 31, 1797 (Ellicott's Journal, 71).

[38] This declaration was made March 23, 1797. Gayoso suggested, at the same time, that this post would be held only until the arrival of American troops to take possession (Amer. State Papers, For. Rel. II, 91).

[39] Ellicott's Journal, 71.

[40] Amer. State Papers, For. Rel. II, 20.

[41] Ib. 97. He also cited several precedents established by different powers in fulfilling treaties of a similar nature. See Ib. 92-'3.

[42] March 2, the Spanish Minister wrote Mr. Pickering that he had become confirmed in a suspicion expressed to him three days previous, that the British in Canada were preparing to cross over from the lakes to the Mississippi, "by Fox River, Onisconsin or by the Illinois or other parts of the territory of the United States" in order to attack Upper Louisiana. He therefore requested that measures be promptly taken to prevent a violation of American neutrality (Amer. State Papers, For. Rel., II, 68).

[43] Upper Louisiana, which was then in the possession of Spain.

[44] Ib. 78.

[45] Ib. 79.

[46] Ib. 69.

[47] April 21, 1797 (Ib. 68).

[48] Ib. 71. He also suggested that this suspicion was based upon a former scheme in which Clarke was concerned, for subduing the Floridas in connection with France.

[49] Ib. 69. He further declared that he had never heard of Clarke. (Ib. 93).

[50] Ib. 71.

[51] July 3, 1797, the President submitted to Congress a letter from William Blount to James Carey, which revealed that the former was implicated in a scheme of conquest, that he hoped to conduct in behalf of the British against the Spanish possessions. A copy of this letter may be found in Ib. 76-'7. Blount was thereupon expelled from the Senate by a vote, not of two-thirds only, as required by the constitution, but unanimously.

[52] Ib. 89.

[53] Ib. 94.

[54] Ib. 93.

[55] The Secretary evidently considered this plan the same as the one that had been mentioned by the British Minister in his communication referred to above, since Lord Greenville had written that the two objections the Minister had given to that plan,—violation of the neutrality of the United States and employment of the Indians—would have been "sufficient to induce the British Government to reject it" (Ib. 98).

[56] Ib. 90.

[57] Ib. 102.

[58] Ellicott and Pope.

[59] Ellicott's Journal, 101-'3.

[60] See Supra.

[61] Amer. State Papers, For. Rel., II., 79, 102.

[62] Two feints at evacuation were made at Natchez and at least one at the Walnut Hills (See Ib. 91).

[63] See Supra.

[64] Amer. State Papers, For. Rel. II., 25.

[65] Ellicott's Journal, 79.

[66] "Lieutenant Pope's descending the river was, certainly a fortunate circumstance for the United States, though in doing it, he did not strictly comply with his orders from General Wayne, by whom he was instructed to remain at Fort Massac till he obtained some information respecting the evacuation of the posts, and if a judgment was to be formed from the provision made for the detachment, it could not be supposed that it was really intended to descend the river. It was in want of artillery, tents, money, medicines, and a physician. In consequence of this omission, or bad management, I had to furnish the men such articles as they were in need of, out of the stores appropriated for carrying the treaty into effect. And after all that I was able to do, we had (to our great mortification) to borrow some tents from the Governor" (Ellicott's Journal, 80).

[67] They were plowed up by Mr. W. T. Hutchins in a field about three-quarters of a mile east of Hebron and were sent to the Smithsonian by Mr. T. J. R. Keenan. In the field where these objects were found, the outlines of a pre-historic fort could be easily traced until a few years ago.

[68] Since the above paper was written I have obtained one jasper bead, found fifteen miles north of Hot Springs, Ark. It is cylindrical in form, one inch long, one-fourth of an inch in external diameter, and has a longitudinal perforation one-tenth of an inch in diameter. The material resembles that of the set found in Mississippi. I have also seen several perforated jasper ornaments in the possession of Prof. J. G. Deupree, of the University of Mississippi, which were found in Copiah county, Mississippi, and I have been informed that several similar objects are in the possession of persons in Copiah County.

It will be noted that the quartzite, or jasper, of which these ornaments are made, is a very different material from the comparatively soft and easily-worked red sandstone—"Catlinite"—extensively used by the Indians of the Northwest in the manufacture of pipes and ornaments.