The Spanish Conspiracy. A review of the early Spanish movements in the South-West. Containing ... the early struggles of Kentucky for autonomy, etc

Front matter

THE SPANISH CONSPIRACY A REVIEW OF EARLY SPANISH MOVEMENTS IN THE SOUTH-WEST. CONTAINING PROOFS OF THE INTRIGUES OF JAMES WILKINSON AND JOHN BROWN OF THE COMPLICITY THEREWITH OF JUDGES SEBASTIAN, WALLACE, AND INNES; THE EARLY STRUGGLES OF KENTUCKY FOR AUTON- OMY; THE INTRIGUES OF SEBASTIAN IN 1795-7, AND THE LEGISLATIVE INVESTIGATION OF HIS CORRUPTION. BY THOMAS MARSHALL GREEN, Author of " Historic Families of Kentucky. CINCINNATI: ROBERT CLARKE & CO. 1891. Copyright, 1891, By THOMAS MARSHALL GREEN. PREFATORY. In his valuable work on the "Cession of Louisiana," published in the first years of this century, Allen B. Magruder stated : " To whatever incomprehensible spirit of delirium the circumstances may have attributed its origin, yet it is a fact, that about the year 1789, or 1790, a plan was in agitation to separate Kentucky from the Union and attach it to the Spanish government of Louisiana.

A memorial was drawn up addressed to the executive authority of the colony expressing the advantage of a union, which was recipro cated in the same terms on the part of the Spanish governor. The chimerical plan proceeded so far in its effects upon the public mind, that a proposition to form the state into an independent government was introduced into a convention held about that time to form articles of separation from the State of Virginia." The author of the book in which this statement was made was at the time a resident of Lexington, Ky. He was a staunch Republican and an intimate political and personal associate of the men to whom the movement in question was attributed ; and, writing soon after its occurrence, his opportunities for correctly ascertaining the facts from the men who were fully acquainted therewith were most ample.

A few years after this publication was made by Magruder, an exposure of the plan to which he had referred was made, in 1806, in the columns of the "The Western World," a newspaper published Prefatory. IV at Frankfort, Ky. As an effect of that exposure, John Brown, one of the principals engaged in the plan, deemed it expedient at the early age of forty-eight to retire forever from public life, and, as far as possible, to withdraw himself from public observation ; while Sebastian, his friend and one of his coadjutors, was driven in merited disgrace from the bench of the Court of Appeals. The legislative investigation which was forced by that exposure, and the results of the judicial inquiries which he had himself invoked, left the unhappy Innes, another of John Brown's associates in the plan, nothing of which to boast and every thing to most bitterly lament.

Chapter I

The Treaty of 1763— The Cession op Louisiana to Spain — The Efforts of Spain to Extend Her Boundaries to the Alleghanies— The Connivance of France— The Design Defeated by Jay — Mr. Jay's Proposition. The peace of 1763, which followed the triumph of Brit ish arms over the allied forces of French and Indians, secured to the Court of St. James the territorial sovereignty of all the country east of the Mississippi to which Frauee had previously asserted the right of dominion. But prior to the signing of the definitive treaty with Great- Britain, and contemporaneously with signing the prelim inary articles of agreement with that power, on the 3d of November, 1762, France, apprehending that her terri tory of Louisiana might fall into the hands of Great Britain, had, by a secret treaty, made a free gift of all that splendid domain to Spain.

The apparent generosity of this voluntary cession of the magnificent territory west of the Mississippi was somewhat diminished by the fact, that it had steadily proved a burden and expense rather than a benefit or source of revenue to the French king ; and Spain was by no means greedy for the prize thus ten dered as a proof of friendship and confidence and to con ciliate her good will. However, the gift was finally accepted by his Catholic majesty, not for its own intrinsic value so much as with the expectation that Louisiana would interpose a barrier between the British dominions and his own more valued provinces of Texas and Mexico. Spain did not formally take possession of this fair and imperial domain until 1769, when, with great pomp and parade, General O'Reilly made his entrance into the then sleepy village of New Orleans.

The definitive treaty of Paris, which restored peace be tween Great Britain and her colonies and France and Spain, was signed on the 10th of February, 1763. By its provisions France surrendered and ceded to Great Britain not only her claims to the country south of the lakes and east of the Mississippi, but also Canada, Nova Scotia, the island of Cape Breton, and all the other islands and coasts in the gulf and river of St. Lawrence. The seventh article of that treaty, out of which, and its alleged conflict with the previous secret gift of Louisiana to Spain, grew many of the difficulties which accompanied subsequent negotiations between the United States and Spain, was as follows, viz : Article 7.

" In order to establish peace on solid and durable foundations, and to remove forever all subjects of dispute with re gard to the limits of the British and French territories on the con tinent of America, it is agreed that for the future, the confines between the dominions of his Britannic Majesty and those of his most Christian Majesty in that part of the world, shall be fixed ir revocably by a line drawn along the middle of the Mississippi river, from its source to the river Iberville, and from thence by a line drawn aloug the middle of this river, and the lakes Maurepas and Poutchartrain, to the sea; and for this purpose, the most Christian king cedes, in full right, and guarantees to his Britannic Majesty, the river and port of Mobile, and every thing which he possesses or ought to possess on the left side of the river Mississippi, with the exception of the town of New Orleans, and of the island in which it is situated, which shall remain to France ; it being well understood that the navigation of the river Mississippi shall be equally free, as well to the subjects of Great Britain as to those of France, in its whole length and breadth from Us source to the sea ; and expressly, that part which is between the said island of New Orleans, and the right bank of that river, as well as the passage both in and out of its mouth.

It is further stipulated that the vessels belonging to the subjects of either nation shall not be stopped, visited, or subjected to the payment of any duty whatever." As by the cession of all the territory owned by France on the east of the Mississippi, Great Britain had thus become possessed of the left bank of that river from its source to its mouth, the express provision in regard to its navigation conveyed only a right which would necessarily have accompanied the territory ceded, according to all the laws of nations. It will be understood that the prior grant of Louisiana to Spain was as yet a secret and had not been accepted. The rights reserved to France were those which had been already given to Spain, which afterward took the place of France in the dominion over Louisiana. Spanish authority over Louisiana had been scarcely as sumed by O'Reilly, in 1769, when, owing to an increase of population by reason of the regiments which came with him, a dearth of provisions in New Orleans became so ex cessive that flour rose to $20 per barrel.

In the midst of the general distress a Philadelphian, named Oliver Pol lock, arrived from Baltimore with a brig laden with flour, which he offered to O'Reilly on his own terms. Declining to accept this generous offer, the Spanish governor finally purchased the cargo at $15 per barrel ; and a promise was made to Pollock that he should have free trade to Lou isiana so long as he lived, and that a report of his conduct should be made to the king.* In 1776, this same Oliver Pollock was in New Orleans, with other merchants from Philadelphia, New York, and Boston, and by their exer tions and enterprise was procured the abundant supply of ammunition, which was delivered to Colonel John Gibson, and was conveyed by him to Pittsburg for the use of the Americans. It was a part of this powder which George Rogers Clark obtained from Virginia in the fall of that year and shipped to Cabin Creek, for the use of the Ken- * Martin's History of Louisiana, page 210.

Concerning this gentleman, General Wilkinson wrote (in the second volume of his Memoirs, page 150): "It is notorious to every ancient inhabitant of Louisiana, that Mr. Pollock's connection with the Spanish officers, at New Orleans, was the most intimate, and his influence boundless from the administration of General O'Reilly to that of Governor Miro, from the year 1769 tol790." While Wilkinson exaggerated this intimacy and influence, in order to magnify the importance of Pollock's testimony that he had no informa tion of Wilkinson's pension from the Spaniards, yet it is certain the one was unusual and the other great. tuckians. Spain, like France, being inimical to Great Britain, and desiring the separation of her colonies from her, Galvez, thenthe Spanish governor, connived at the sale of ammunition to Pollock and his associates, though his government was ostensibly at peace with King George.* The next year several large boats came from Pittsburg to New Orleans, and returned laden with munitions, which Pollock had collected at the latter place.t An active cor respondence was maintained between Galvez and Colonel George Morgan, who was in command at Fort Pitt, who meditated a descent to New Orleans, and who contemplated an attack from that point on Mobile and Pensacola ; but this was discouraged by Galvez, who had his eye on the Floridas as a part of the future spoil of Spain, and had no purpose to permit them to be taken by the Americans.

In 1778, Pollock openly assumed the character of agent for the United States at New Orleans; and, the court of Madrid having become less timid in its manifestations of hostility to Great Britain, Galvez gave assistance to the Americans, in arms, ammunition, provisions, etc., to the amount of $70,000, — all of which, with large quantities bought by his own means, was sent by Pollock to the in habitants of Western Pennsylvania, of Kentucky, of the Watauga, and to the posts captured from the British on the Mississippi. From New Orleans, and largely from Pollock, came the supplies which enabled Clark to cap ture Vincennes and Kaskaskia.J Thence was equipped the predatory foray of Captain Willing on the British settlers of Natchez. In a word, every important military movement in the west was aided from New Orleans, Oliver Pollock being, in nearly every case, one of the leading factors by whom the supplies were furnished.

Thus was the attention of the scattered settlers west of the mountains early drawn to the vast importance to them of the system of mighty rivers which emptied their waters into * Gayarre, Spanish Domination, page 100. tlbid. 109. J Ibid. 112, 113. the gulf; and while the traders at Pittsbiirg ascertained that their easiest and cheapest route for freights to and from Philadelphia was by way of New Orleans, the inhab itants of the entire west were made to feel that their nat ural outlet to the markets of the world was through the mouths of the Mississippi. The Treaty of 1763 had constituted the Mississippi as the western boundary of North Carolina. But, by pro clamation bearing date the 7th of October, 1763, King George had prohibited the granting of " warrants of survey," or the " passing of patents," or the settlement of " any lands beyond the heads or sources of any of the rivers which fall into the Atlantic ocean from the west or northwest ; " — a measure deemed necessary for quieting the fears and jealousies of the red men, and which did much toward destroying the combinations of Pontiac.

A compliance with this mandate would have prevented the extension of the frontier settlements west of the mountains of North Carolina; but, in defiance of the prohibi tion, a considerable number of the hardy and restless woodsmen and pioneers of that province, had early established themselves upon the banks of the Watauga, one of the tributaries of the Holston, where they were quickly joined by adventurous spirits from Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania. Their numbers had so rapidly in creased that, in 1776, their claim to representation in the convention which framed the constitution for the " state " of North Carolina was admitted ; and their aggressive dis position had so extended the area of their occupation that, in 1777, they were formed into a county of North Carolina, which had the Mississippi as its western bound ary ; thus. early planting the. flag upon and carrying the dominion and laws of the United States to the banks of that mighty stream.

The recognition by France of the independence of and conclusion of a treaty of alliance and commerce with the United States, was answered by an immediate declara tion of war against France by Great Britain. To the treaty between France and the United States was annexed a secret article, reserving to Spain the right of acceding thereto, and of participating in its stipulations whenever she might think proper. The offered mediation by Spain having been rejected by the Court of St. James, his Cath olic majesty, uniting with his kinsman of France in the struggle, on the 8th of May, 1779, published his formal declaration of war against Great Britain. The Spanish expeditions against Fort Manehac, Baton Rouge and Natchez were accompanied by Oliver Pollock, as the agent of the American Congress. The Floridas having remained faithful to Great Britain, the Spanish arms were soon di rected against Mobile and Pensacola, which fell into their hands.

Witnessing with the most lively satisfaction the rupture between Spain and Great Britain, Congress deemed it advisable to invite his Catholic majesty to avail himself of the secret provision in their treaty with France, and for this purpose resolved to send a minister plenipo tentiary to Madrid ; and, on the 27th of September, 1779, selected John Jay, then the able Chief Justice of New York, for that most important mission. To this distin guished gentleman it had been frequently intimated by M. Gerard, the French minister at Philadelphia, prior to the embarcation in the war by Spain, that an indispensable prerequisite to a treaty with his Catholic majesty would be a quitting of the Floridas and of the Mississippi to him ; but when Mr. Jay accepted the mission to Madrid, he had become fully " persuaded that we ought not to cede to her (Spain) any of our rights, and of course that we should retain and insist upon our right to the navigation of the Mississippi." * On the fourth day after his arrival in Cadiz, in the Spring of 1780, Mr. Jay sent his secretary to Madrid, with a letter to the Spanish minister for foreign affairs, ac quainting him with the commission with which he was charged.

The answer invited Mr. Jay to Madrid, but plainly intimated that he was not expected to assume a * Life of John Jay, p. 101. formal character, which must depend on future acknowl edgment and treaty ; — thus giving him to understand, at the very outset, that an acknowledgment of American independence by Spain would, on her part, be made a matter of bargain, and that she expected to be paid for admitting a fact, however indisputable ; — and it was equally apparent to him that whatever designs were enter tained by Spain were not only countenanced, but, in some instances, were even prompted by the French ambassador at Madrid. He was also soon given to understand that the claims of the United States to the navigation of the Mis sissippi prevented Spain from forming a treaty with them, and, besides, Spain had pretensions as to territory to which the patriotic American would not yield.

In sub stance, the servants of the Catholic King said to the Am erican minister, whom they refused to recognize: The price of our acknowledgment of your independence, and of our forming a treaty of alliance and commerce with you, is, a subscription on your part to the exclusive right of Spain to the navigation of the Mississippi ; your con sent to our taking possession of both the Floridas, and to all the country extending from the left bank of the Mis sissippi to the back settlements of the former British pro vinces, according to the proclamation of King George ot 1763 ; and that you will prohibit your citizens from con quering or settling in any of the British territory to which we refer. The plans of Spain were not at all concealed, and as little pains were taken to disguise the connivance in them by France, whose minister at Philadelphia was in structed to and did communicate them to Congress, in terms that sound more like an order than mere advice that they be accepted.

Mr. Jay declining to accede to those conditions, Spain refused to render the financial aid to the United States which had been solicited. During the year 1780, he labored in vain to induce the Spanish Court to enter into negotiations for a treaty. At first, Congress was also firm. But, wearied with the struggle, in February, 1781, the Virginia delegates in Congress in troduced a resolutiou, which was voted for by all the southern states, with the exception of North Carolina, and which passed Congress, instructing him no longer to insist upon the navigation of the Mississippi below our southern boundary, if it should be found necessary to make that concession to obtain a recognition of our inde pendence, and if, by making it, that recognition could be obtained. In the meantime, however, in the spring of 1780, — under the instructions of Gov.

Jefferson, — a fort named in his honor had been established by George R. Clark, below the mouth of the Ohio, upon the Missis sippi. And, on the 2nd of January, 1781, Don Eugenio Pierre, at the head of sixty-five Spaniards, set out from St. Louis to capture the little mission of St. Josejih on Lake Michigan, where he found a few British traders. That the place was at once abandoned by the Spaniards, who retraced their steps to St. Louis, and that afterwards Spain founded on this capture a claim for territorial do minion in the north-west, are evidences that this expedition was without military purpose, and that the enterprise was purely a legal one against the rights of the United States. Although privately advised of the new instructions adopted by Congress, the first official notification of the act, which was intensely mortifying to him, was received by Mr. Jay when, on the 11th of July, 1781, the Spanish secretary of state placed in his hands a letter from the president of Congress, announcing the altered resolution of that body.

Under those instructions Mr. Jay, again urging the negotiation, presented the Spanish minister with the plan of a treaty. In this he had most reluctantly in corporated an article relinquishing the right of the United States to the navigation of the Mississippi ; but, with the courage for which he was remarkable, he made this conditional upon the immediate ratification of the treaty by Spain, and assumed the responsibility of accom panying it by the declaration, that should the treaty not be concluded before a general peace, the United States were not to be bound by the offer to surrender the naviga tion. But, not content with this humiliating concession, Spain refused to enter upon a treaty on any basis other than one which, in addition to abandoning this right of navigation, and yielding to the Catholic king the possession of both the Floridas, should also concede to his grasping demands all the territory extending from the left bank of the Mississippi to the back settlements of the former British provinces, according to the proclamation of 1763 ; and happily, as it turned out, no treaty could be effected by Mr. Jay, nor would the Spaniard even enter upon a negotiation.

Thus, while the revolution was yet progressing, did Spain make it apparent that her partici pation in the hostilities against Great Britain was solely in order to weaken and humiliate that rival power, for her own aggrandizement, and not from any sympathy with the cause of American liberty, which was inimical to her own institutions ; and thus early did she manifest her purpose to separate the west from the east. France, which was bound to Spain by compact as well as by the close relationship and similar faiths of their rulers, united with that power in all her efforts to bring the independence of the United States under their protection; and to limit our boundaries to the Alleghanies, or at the most by the Ohio river. The separation of the Amer ican colonies from Great Britain tending to further the objects of France, she labored earnestly and zealously to accomplish that result, and was restricted by her own in clinations and interests not less than by compact from agreeing to any terms of peace until the independence of the United States was secured.

But, as the United States might possibly prefer claims beyond their independence, which Great Britain might be unwilling to concede, it be came important to France to have the power of controlling the negotiation of the American claims; — so as to avoid, on the one hand, a breach of her obligations to the United States, and, on the other hand, a prolongation of the war for objects in which she had no interest. And, beyond all this, France desired to render the ally in whose behalf she had gone into the war, subservient to her interests in the future; and she shrewdly calculated that the United States would be more easily reduced to the position of a dependent sat ellite of the house of Bourbon, and would be more readily controlled by its influence, if the establishment of their independence should be attended by the contraction of their boundaries, by exclusion from the Gulf of Mexico, and from all participation in the fisheries, and by causes for permanent irritation with Great Britain, than if erected into a powerful empire and reconciled with the mother country by a treaty liberal and equitable in its provisions.

As early as 1779, M. Gerard, the French Minister to the United States, hinted that the United States might find themselves in the position of the Swiss Cantons, which had failed to secure a recognition of their independence from their former sovereigns, but nevertheless enjoyed "their sovereignty and independence under the guaran tee of France." In the same memorial to Congress, M. Gerard adverted to " the manifest necessity of enabling Spain, by the determination of just and moderate terms, to press upon England with her good offices, and to bring her mediation to an issue," which was a hint to Congress to recede from its ultimata as to the navigation of the Mississippi and a participation in the fisheries. Congress then remaining firm, and giving to Mr. Jay a qualified reference to the advice of their allies upon points not in cluded in his instructions, the position of the United States was found not at all to comport with the views of France.

Gerard was succeeded as minister to the United States by Count Luzerne, who, on the 25th of January', 1780, requested a conference with Congress. The com mittee appointed by Congress to receive his communi cations, reported that the French minister had been instructed by his government to inform Congress of cer tain points which were deemed of great importance by Spain, which had then taken part in the conflict, and upon which it was necessary that Congress should ex plicitly explain themselves. These points were identical with those which had already been communicated to Mr. Jay at Madrid by the Spanish secretary of state, as ob stacles to negotiation by his government with the United States. They amounted to a demand for an agreement that the territory of the United States should extend no fur ther west than the settlements permitted by the proclamation of 1763 ; that the United States thus having no terri tory upon the Mississippi, had no right to navigate that stream ; that Spain intended to conquer both the Floridas, and her possession of them must be acquiesced in ; that the territory on the east of the Mississippi belonge'd to Great Britain, and would probably be conquered by Spain, and the French minister advised Congress to restrain their people from conquests or settlements within the territory upon which Spain had turned her covetous eyes.

Luzerne also communicated the information, which partook of the nature of a threat, that France did not regard the independence of the United States as free from danger until they were united in amity with Spain; — of course, by acceding to these iniquitous demands. It was this disingenuous in terference by France in behalf of Spain which induced Congress to instruct Mr. Jay to abandon the right to navi gate the Mississippi, as has been stated. Having succeeded thus far, on the 26th of May, 1781,* Luzerne in formed Congress that Russia and Germany had offered their mediation for a peace, and requested Congress to appoint a committee to confer with him in reference to the manner of conducting the negotiation, the extent of the powers to be granted to the American plenipotentiary, the use to be made of those powers, and as to the confidence that ought to be reposed in the ministers of the French king.

Assuredly France was disposed to push her advan tage to the greatest length, but this insolent demand was acceded to. The count disapproved of the late nomina tion of a minister to Russia by Congress; complained that Mr. Adams, who was then in Europe with a commission for negotiating a treaty of peace, had assumed the right under it of treating with England, and requested Congress to instruct Mr. Adams " to receive his directions from the Count de Vergennes (the French secretary of state) or from * Secret Journal of Congress. the person who might be charged with the negotiation in the name of the king." Congress had been to such an extent won over by Luzerne as to agree upon new instructions to Mr. Adams, in which he was directed to insist upon no other ultimata in the treaty of peace than that of independence ; and was instructed " to make the most candid and confidential communications upon all subjects to the ministers of our generous ally, the King of France, to undertake nothing in the negotiations for peace or truce without their knowledge or concurrence."

It was doubtless at the suggestion of Luzerne that the committee recommended that some person should be associated in the negotiation with Adams, whose sturdy independence was well calculated to inspire apprehensions in those who masked their designs by insincere professions. The sacrifice of national dignity did not satisfy Luzerne, and Congress then in serted in the instructions the following words, viz : " and ultimately to govern yourself by their (the ministers of the French king) advice and opinion." Mr. Jay, Dr. Frank lin, Mr. Jefferson and Laurens were then associated with Adams as ministers plenipotentiary to negotiate a peace. When Mr. Jay received at Madrid, in the fall of 1781, his commission as the associate of Mr. Adams, accompanied by these humiliating instructions to act as a mere puppet to be played with by the minister of a despotic king, and which, as well as the very appointment of Mr. Jay, were virtually dictated by Luzerne, his mortification and cha grin elicited from him a letter in which the degradation of the position assigned him was strongly depicted.

Unac knowledged as the minister of his country, and unable to negotiate with Spain except upon terms which insatiable greed strove to extort from the necessities of the republic, his continued stay in Madrid held out to him no hope of usefulness ; and it must have been with lively satisfaction that, in May, 1782, he received a letter from Dr. Franklin summoning him to Paris, to assist in negotiations for peace, which the latter expressed the opinion would soon be opened ;— a summons he obeyed with his accustomed alacrity. Having become master of the situation by the instruc tions Congress had been prevailed on to give their com missioners, France soon gave ominous hints of the sacrifices which the United States were expected to make. Taking no measures to facilitate the efforts of Mr. Jay to form a treaty with Spain, and expressing open disappro bation of the efforts made by others to form alliances with other European powers, the design of the French court was plainly to render the United States solely dependent on her, and then to sacrifice our interests in order to keep us in that dependent condition.

The recognition of our independence by Holland was obtained by Mr. Adams against the advice and wishes of the French ambassador at the Hague. On the 23d of November, 1781, Count Luzerne addressed a communication to Congress, vaguely intimating his apprehensions that he might not be able to " obtain for every state all they wished," which was a diplomatic way of announcing the purpose of his court to strip the south and west of the navigation of the Mississippi, and New England of a participation in the fisheries. On the 28th of January, 1782, he communicated to Congress a letter from Vergennes, indicating that the United States were expected to accept terms which the French court might regard as " reasonable," and the indisposition of France "to continue hostilities mainly on account of America " in case terms deemed reasonable by France might not prove acceptable to the United States. * On the 24th of September, 1782, other letters from Vergennes were laid before Congress, in one of which the wily diplo mat gave that body to understand the importance of "con fining themselves within such bounds of moderation, as to give no umbrage to any one of the powers at vmr with Great Britain ; " the liberal translation of which was, that byr surrendering to Spain the territory west of the Alle ghanies, and the navigation of the Mississippi, Congress should avoid giving umbrage to his Catholic majesty. * Secret Journal of Congress.