Again there was delay. Although the Spaniard kept the time of the coming evacuation as close a secret as possible, he did not elude Ellicott's vigilance. "On the 29th of March, late in the evening," he writes, "I was informed through a confidential channel, that the evacuation would take place next morning before day; in consequence of which, I rose the next morning at 4 o'clock and walked to the fort, and found the last party or rear guard just leaving it, and as the gate was left open I went in and enjoyed from the parapet the pleasant prospect of the galleys and boats leaving the shore and getting under way. They were out of sight of the town before daylight. The same day our troops took possession of the works. Thus, when the time came, the Spanish officers thought the demolition of the fortifications of no consequence whatever.

It was now two and a half years since the seals were set to the treaty of San Lorenzo, and fifteen years since the independence of the United States had been definitively acknowledged. The old excuses had ceased to be plausible; the Government at Philadelphia was in no temper to brook further delay; while the people of Natchez, by renouncing the King of Spain's authority, had hastened the final issue.

Another train of circumstances had no doubt produced some effect. Georgia, resting upon her early charters and a compact with South Carolina entered into in 1787, claimed the country west of her to the Mississippi. In 1785 her legislature established the county of Bourbon, bounding it south by the thirty-first parallel and north by the Yazoo, west by the Mississippi, and east by the lands that the Indians had not yet relinquished. Steps were taken to organize a county government, despite the fact that the Spaniards were in full possession. In 1788 the State made a cession of the Yazoo district to the nation, but upon such conditions that Congress refused the offer. The exploitation of the lands led to the scandalous transactions known as the Yazoo Frauds.+ Georgia sold the very ground under the Spanish garrisons, somewhat as Hannibal put up the city lots of Rome at auction. An accredited agent arrived at Natchez to assert the Georgia claim just before the conclusion of the treaty of San Lorenzo.

*Journal, p. 167.

+See C. H. Haskins: "The Yazoo Land Companies," Papers of the American Historical Association, Vol. v, p. 395.

The steady pressure of the Georgians westward had perhaps served to convince the Spaniards that they could not hold the ground.

Mr. Martin states still another series of facts that contributed to the grand result.* Baron Carondelet early determined to rest his final decision in regard to the delivery of the forts upon the success or failure of a further effort to detach the Western country from the Union. He sent an emissary, Thomas Powers, to Tennessee and Kentucky to confer with the former correspondents of the governors of Louisiana. After an eventful experience Powers returned to New Orleans in January, 1798, with a disheartening report; the day had passed when the Spanish coterie in the Ohio Valley cared longer to toy with the Spaniard, and Gayoso, to whom the report was made, dismissed the subject.

On April 9 Commissioner Ellicott left Natchez for the field of active operations, and we may date the beginning of the survey from that time. What with dense canebrakes to be cut through, swamps, bayous, and rivers to be crossed, wildernesses to be tracked, supplies to be brought from long distances, Indian hostilities caused by Spanish "crooked talks" to be overcome, instruments and baggage to be transported, and occasional lapses into Spanish procrastination, the survey proved very slow and laborious. Two full years were spent in establishing the line. On his return to Philadelphia Ellicott had been absent almost four years. His history of the survey has slight interest save for historical and scientific specialists. He tells us that in 1797-'98 a plan was formed "to add to the Union the two Floridas, with the island of New Orleans, provided the Spaniards either committed hostilities against the citizens of the United States at Natchez or joined France in a contest against us. From the secrecy, talents, and enterprise of those concerned, added to a temporary system of finance and a deposit of arms, there could not possibly be any doubt of the complete and almost instantaneous success of the plan had it been attempted.” †

Reference has been made to the issue between Congress and Georgia over the Yazoo lands. Disregarding the State's protest, but at the same time creating a commission to adjust and

* History of Louisiana, pp. 271-273; 274, 275.

+ Journal, p. 175.

settle pending questions, Congress passed an act in April, 1798, creating the Territory of Mississippi, which exactly coincided in extent with the territory over which the two powers had waged a long contest, and giving it a government like that of the Northwest Territory. Winthrop Sargent, who had been the Secretary of that Territory, was appointed governor, and he duly organized the government in September of that year. Ellicott testifies that, although the shadow of the Spanish jurisdiction that remained was finally withdrawn in January, 1798, and the inhabitants were left without law or government until September following, he never heard of a single outrage committed in the Territory, save by a small number of Spaniards.* It must be said to the commissioner's credit that, while he may sometimes have erred in discretion in discharging his delicate duties, he showed a courage, firmness, and devotion to his country that are worthy of all praise.t

*Journal, p. 167.

The Mississippi historians treat Ellicott with much severity. It appears that he had been sent by the President in 1791 to run the line between the State of Georgia and the Creek Indians, but that the Creeks would not allow the line to be run. Claiborne writes the history of the survey with partisan animus. See "Mississippi as a Province, Territory, and State," Chaps. XIX, XX.

XXIV. THE HISTORIC POLICY OF THE UNITED STATES AS TO

ANNEXATION.

ben

By PROFESSOR SIMEON E. BALDWIN, LL.D.

OF YALE UNIVERSITY.

CF