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204
SPAIN IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY, 1765-1794
Extract- of another letter to the same dated Providence 20th September 1793.
We are all in a Confusion expecting a visit from the French
Refugees in America, who are full of resentment against our Privateering folks?
Our Governour seems most heartily alarmed & sticks at no expence to prepare for them, so that the Treasury at least will feel the effects if nothing else comes of it?For my part I am under very little alarm or dread, nor between you & I, do I expect them at all?They have some ships of war at New York, but the British have enough to keep them in & also to keep the Americans perfectly quiet &ca.?
Lorimier to [Carondelet]
September 17,1793 125
Cape Girardeau, 17th of September, 1793
My Lord : I have received the honor of your letter dated the 8th of May last, through Mr. de Chevalier de Luziere. Sometime before that I had received from Mr. Trudeau the permission which you granted me. I shall conform myself to everything which it outlines for me. I have not received a letter which you say you had previously written, nor one which Mr. Rousseau has written to me from New Madrid, according to what Mr. Luziere told me. These two letters have been confiscated. They would have been very useful for me in connection with maintaining the good disposition of the savages towards the government.
I did not believe, Sty Lord, that my trading had been in contravention to the laws of the state. It is my custom to buy my goods for my own house sometimes from St. Louis merchants who get them from Michillimakinac, sometimes from others who receive them from America. If I have made a mistake, it is due to my ignorance. In the future I shall follow your instructions, and I shall see to it that no complaint be lodged against me again. I am doing my best to fulfill exactly the orders of my superiors, and I have done so with their letters. However, I have brought upon myself Mr. Portell?s disfavor because I did not want to agree to a commercial company that he proposed to me soon after his arrival here.
I have informed the savages of your intentions about the war against the Osages. They have all shown a sincere zeal and a great attachment for the common interest. They have given convincing proof of it these last few days. Mr. Portell wrote to me the 16th of last month to invite the savages, in your name, to prepare themselves for an expedition against the Osages, telling them to set a time and a
MBL, (French).
PROBLEMS OP FRONTIER DEFENSE, 1792-1794
meeting place with all the nations of the lower part of the river and of Mexico. I gathered the savages and told them about the letter. They replied that it was not up to them to fix a time, but to their father to set it for his children, and that they would be ready within ten days. They sent me to the most distant villages, and from there I went to New Madrid to report the noble ardor of the savages and their activities in getting ready to fulfill his wishes. The trip which I made, My Lord, was a very long one and cost me seven days? travel on horseback, but the answer which Mr. Portell made was not in harmony with his first statement. He put them off until the following spring. This surprised them but did not dampen their ardor and their feelings. Their conversation constantly indicated that they wish to repress this nation in order to set an example for the other savage nations who are by nature given to evil and who would imitate the Osages. The Shawnees, whose character is different from the others, behave themselves as usual, and fervently desire to give you a proof of their fidelity. For my part, My Lord, I am not sparing of trouble and care in maintaining them in these noble and courageous views for the purpose of fighting the enemies of the state and those who disturb the common good. I also desire to share their ardor by serving my prince faithfully and vigorously, and in all the capacities
with which my superiors will honor me.
I am with the most profound respect, My Lord, your most humble
and most obedient servant,
Lorimier.
Grant to Meunier op Exclusive Right to Trade with the Ponca Nation
September 21,1793 126
The Baron de Carondelet, Knight of the Order of St. John, Colonel of the Royal Armies, Governor, Intendant General, Vice-Patron of the Provinces of Louisiana, West Florida, and Inspector of their troops etc.
In acknowledgement of the meritorious services and conduct of Juan Meunier, a resident of the settlement of Ylinoa, and in view of the excellent reports submitted to me of this individual by the captain of the regiment of Louisiana, Don Manuel Perez, and the certainty of his having discovered, as he says, the Ponca Indian nation 400 leagues from the mouth of the Missouri River: I have agreed to grant him the exclusive right of trade with that nation, as he requests, for a period of four years counting from the beginning of the next year, 1794. I therefore order the commandant of the settlement
BL.