་ terms. He had also procured the privilege, according to his own statement, of introducing and settling several thousand families in Louisiana and West Florida.* Yet, unless the western people were prompt to avail themselves of these privileges, by complying with the terms, which were confided to certain persons, the trade and intercourse by the river with Louisiana would be prohibited. The numerous plans and intrigues put in operation by the governors of Louisiana and Florida, and by the Spanish minister, Guardoqui, at the seat of the Federal governmènt, are not properly within the province of the present work, but are more specially noted in another place.† During the political excitement in Kentucky and Tennessee, from the year 1788 to 1792, the policy of Spain, and the restrictions upon western trade, together with Genet's intrigue, gave rise to the following parties, viz.: 1. In favor of forming a separate and independent Republic, under no special obligation of union, except such as might be most advantageous. 2. In favor of entering into commercial arrangements with Spain, and of annexing Kentucky to Louisiana, with all the advantages offered. 3. Opposed to any Spanish connection, and in favor of forcing the free navigation of the Mississippi by the arms of the United States, with the invasion of Louisiana and West Florida. 4. In favor of soliciting France to claim a retrocession of Louisiana, and to extend her protection to Kentucky. 5. The strongest party, however, was in favor of a separation from Virginia, and admission into the Federal Union as a free and independent state, leaving it to the general government to regulate the Mississippi question with Spain. It may be proper here to take some notice of the state of trade and commerce of the western country about this time, and of Kentucky especially. Since the general peace of 1783, Spain. had claimed the right to control the navigation of the Mississippi River, in virtue of her treaty with England, which relinquished to her the provinces of East and West Florida, ast appendages to Louisiana. West Florida, under the pretensions * Butler's Kentucky, p. 161; also, p. 164-190. Marshall, vol. i., p. 320–360. of Spain, extended up the east bank of the Mississippi to the mouth of the Yazoo, and gave Spain virtual control of both banks of the Mississippi River, nearly five hundred miles above its mouth. About the year 1786, the people of the western settlements of North Carolina and Virginia, upon the waters of the Holston and Clinch, and upon the Kentucky and Cumberland Rivers, began to look to the Spanish settlements on the Lower Mississippi as the natural market for the surplus products of their fine agricultural regions, and the Mississippi River as the natural high-way upon which their trade should meet the ocean through the Gulf of Mexico. The increasing population, and the prosperous condition of these settlements, rendered it expedient to seek some foreign market for their abundant products; and numerous attempts were made by enterprising men and adventurers to open a lucrative trade with New Orleans and the river settlements of West Florida. But the fluctuating policy of Spain, growing out of the peculiar situation of the western people, at length produced a high degree of prejudice and national irritation, which threatened the security of all Louisiana. The western people, again restricted in their trade, and plundered by Spanish exactions on the Mississippi, without relief from the Federal government, began to evince their impatience of the inefficient administration of the national councils, and their indignation against the Spanish restrictions by a contemplated invasion of Louisiana and Florida. To allay this feeling of hostility among the western people, Governor Miro, of Louisiana, sought every favorable opportu nity to conciliate the people of Kentucky and the Cumberland settlements, by extending to them certain commercial privi⚫leges, besides the rights of Spanish subjects to such as would emigrate to West Florida, and a general relaxation of the revenue exactions upon the river trade. By this policy he at length succeeded in effecting a partial reconciliation of the western people to the Spanish authorities. But his successor, the Baron de Carondelet, having adopted an opposite course of policy, revived the prejudices and hostility of the western people, until they again contemplated asserting their rights by the invasion and conquest of Louisiana and West Florida. Through the judicious policy of the Federal government, this state of feeling toward the Spaniards of Louisiana had been in a great measure allayed, and the people of Kentucky had been received into the Union as an independent state, when the whole West was again thrown into a state of great excitement by a new intrigue, planned and conducted under the agency of M. Genet, the French minister in the United States. The object of this enterprise was to invade and repossess the province of Louisiana for France, by means of an expedition raised and furnished within the United States under the authority of revolutionary France. The French minister, apprised of the political factions which had been prevailing in the West, and the renewed impatience of the western people under the rigid policy of the Baron de Carondelet, conceived the plan of uniting all parties for the expulsion of the Spanish authority from Louisiana and Florida. It was during the excited and unsettled state of political feeling in the West that the French minister, M. Genet, arrived in Charleston. He was received with enthusiasm by the people wherever he appeared, until, elated with the marked attention of the people, who took a deep interest in the cause of France against the combined powers of Europe, he so far forgot his duty to the Federal government as to encourage the people of Charleston to fit out privateers against the commerce of England, who was at peace with the United States. From Charleston he proceeded triumphantly to the seat of the Federal government as the accredited minister of the French Republic. "Scarcely were the first ceremonies of his reception over, when M. Genet displayed a disposition to usurp and exercise within the United States the choicest and most important duties and powers of sovereignty. He claimed the privilege of arming and imbodying the citizens of America within their own territory, to carry on from thence expeditions against nations with whom they were at peace; of fitting out and equipping within their limits privateers to cruise on a commerce destined for their ports; of erecting within their jurisdiction an independent judiciary; and of arraigning their government at the bar of the people." Such was 'the tenor of his conduct, when President Washington, indignant at his unwarrantable interference with the prerogatives of the government, demanded his recall. "The recall of the minister was received with universal joy, as a confirmation that his whole system of conduct was attributable only to himself."* *American State Papers, Boston edition, vol. iv., p. 33. Early in October, the agents of Genet, M. Lachaise, Charles Delpeau, M. Mathurin, and Gignoux, left the city of Philadelphia in the stage for Kentucky, where they subsequently fo mented great popular excitement and indignation against the Federal government.* [A.D. 1794.] Early in January following, Mr. Jefferson, Secretary of State of the United States, in answer to inquiries directed to Governor Shelby, received from him in reply the admission that "two Frenchmen, Lachaise and Delpeau, have lately come into this state; and I am told they declare publicly that they are in daily expectation of receiving a supply of money, and that, as soon as they do receive it, they shall raise a body of men, and proceed with them down the river. Whether they have any sufficient reason to expect such a supply, or have any serious intention of applying it in that manner if they do receive it, I can form no opinion."† Yet doubts were entertained by Governor Shelby whether there was any legal authority to restrain or punish them for such enterprise before it was actually accomplished, provided their operations were conducted with prudence. In his dispatch to the Federal government, he asserts, "that if it is lawful for any one citizen of a state to leave it, it is equally lawful for any number to do the same. It is also lawful for them to carry any quantity of provisions, arms, and ammunition. And if the act is lawful in itself, there is nothing but the particular intention with which it is done that can possibly make it unlawful; but I know of no law which inflicts a punishment on intention only, or any criterion by which to decide what would be sufficient evidence of that intention, even if it were a proper subject of legal censure." Yet Governor Shelby, concealing his own doubts of the illegality of the enterprise, in reply to an impertinent letter from Delpeau, declaring in express terms his intention to join the expedition of the Mississippi, and inquiring his instructions from the President of the United States, condescended to reply "that his present condition required him to take those legal measures necessary to prevent such an enterprise."§ Early in January General Wayne had notified the Governor of Kentucky that the legionary cavalry, then stationed between * American State Papers, Boston edition, vol. ii., p. 37. Butler, p. 225. + Idem, p. 39. § Idem, p. 224. Also, Marshall, p. 100. Lexington and Georgetown, and any other troops requisite, should be held ready to obey his orders in suppressing any enterprise attempted against Louisiana.* All effectual interposition on the part of the Governor of Kentucky being precluded by his expressed opinion, the President issued his proclamation on the 24th of March, warning the people of the United States against the unlawful enterprise, and the consequences of any participation in it. On the 31st of March an order from the War Department instructed General Wayne, commander-in-chief of the northwestern army, to send without delay to Fort Massac a respectable force, "under the command of an officer of approved integrity, firmness, and prudence," and there to "erect a strong redoubt and block-house," supplied with "some suitable cannon from Fort Washington." The object of this post was to prevent the advance of any "lawless people residing on the waters of the Ohio, who, in defiance of the national authority, had entertained the daring design of invading the territories of Spain." Governor St. Clair had been previously authorized to call out the militia of the Northwestern Territory, to suppress any attempted expedition from Kentucky.‡ At this time, an agent of General Clark, of Georgia, was at Lexington, engaged in the purchase of five hundred pounds of powder and one ton of cannon ball, to be shipped from "the Falls" in boats, with provisions said to be ready on the Ohio, to descend by the 15th of April.§ It was represented to the Federal government that about the 8th and 9th of April preparations were active in Kentucky, and boat-builders and artificers at the Falls were busily employed on account of the expedition. Some of the United States troops deserted to join the enterprise; some persons in Kentucky sold their property, and received commissions in the French service as officers of the Legion. Among them were Charles Smith, of Kentucky, who subsequently resigned his commission. Many gave the enterprise a tacit assent, and but few opposed it boldly. Cannon were said to be ordered at the iron-works, and some of the inhabitants of Lexington had subscribed to furnish ammunition.|| Yet such was the influence of the French party, and the hos* American State Papers, Boston edition, vol. ii., p. 49. + Idem, p. 50. || Idem, p. 54. |