p1  Chapter I
O'Reilly's Administration

In a preceding work on the French domination in Louisiana,​a I have related the cession of that colony to Spain in 1762, the attempt of that power to take possession of its new domain in 1766, the insurrection of the colonists in 1768, who drove away the Spaniards, the arrival of O'Reilly at New Orleans with overwhelming forces, to avenge the insult offered to his Catholic Majesty, the trial and punishment, on the 25th of October, 1769, of the leaders of the insurrection, and the final and complete occupation of the province by the Spaniards. The object of the present work is to record the history of Louisiana, as a Spanish colony, from 1769 to December 1803, when again her destinies were changed, and she was transferred to the United States of America.

O'Reilly, having secured the obedience of the new subjects of Spain, and having, by the terror which the blood he spilt had inspired, guarded against the repetition of any attempt, similar to the one which he had so severely  p2 repressed, showed his sense of security by sending away the greater portion of his troops; and, retaining only about 1,200 men, he proceeded to the immediate organization of the province in its military, judicial, and commercial departments. It will be recollected that the Louis XV, in his letter to Governor D'Abbadie, after the cession of Louisiana to Spain, had expressed the wish that Louisiana should preserve the laws, institutions, and usages to which it had been so long accustomed, and had declared that he expected from the friendship of his cousin, the king of Spain, that, for the welfare and tranquillity of the colonists, that monarch should give to his officers in that province, such instructions as would permit the inferior judges, as well as those of the Superior Council, to administer justice according to the old laws, forms, and usages of the colony. Such, at first, had been the intention of his Catholic Majesty, but it was changed by the events which occurred in the colony in 1768; and, on the 25th of November, 1769, O'Reilly issued a proclamation,​1 in which he informed the colonists that, considering the part which the Superior Council had acted in the late disturbances, his Majesty thought proper to abolish that tribunal, and to establish in Louisiana that form of government and that system of administration, which had always succeeded in maintaining tranquillity and subordination in the domains of his Catholic Majesty, and which had secured for them a durable prosperity. Perhaps the king of Spain, who could not decently have disregarded the wishes expressed by the king of France in relation to his royal donation, was not backward to avail himself of the opportunity offered to him by the colonial insurrection, to refuse the continuance of the French organization, and to remodel it in the Spanish  p3 style. It was natural for the statesmen of Spain, to think it sound policy to assimilate their new acquisition to their other possessions, and to efface all that might tend to keep up or revive in the colony the recollection and regrets of the past.

Thus O'Reilly, in his proclamation, announced that a Cabildo would be substituted for the Superior Council, be composed of six perpetual regidores, two ordinary alcaldes, an attorney-general Syndic, and a clerk, over which body the governor would preside in person.2

The offices of perpetual regidor and clerk were acquired by purchase, and, for the first time, at auction. The purchaser was declared to have the faculty of transferring his office to a known and capable person, from whom he was permitted to require in payment one half of its appraised value; but one third only could be received on any substitute mutation.

Among the Regidores were to be distributed the offices of Alferez Real, or Royal Standard Bearer, of Principal Provincial Alcalde, of Alguazil Mayor or High Sheriff, of Depositary General, and of Receiver of Fines.

The ordinary Alcalde and the Attorney-General Syndic were to be chosen, on the first day of every year, by the Cabildo, and were always re-eligible, during the first two years, by a unanimous vote, and subsequently by a bare majority. At such elections the votes were openly given and recorded.

The ordinary alcaldes​3 were, individually, judges within the town of New Orleans, in civil and criminal cases, in which the defendant did not possess and claim the privilege of being tried by a military or ecclesiastical tribunal, in virtue of the fuero militar, or fuero ecclesiastico.4  p4 These alcaldes, in their chambers, and without any written proceedings, took cognizance of, and summarily decided upon, all judicial matters in which the value of the object in dispute did not exceed twenty dollars. In other cases, they sat in a hall destined for this purpose, and their proceedings were recorded by a notary and a clerk; and when the value of the object in dispute exceeded ninety thousand maravedis ($330 88c.), an appeal lay from their decision to the Cabildo.

This body did not examine itself the judgment appealed from, but chose two Regidores, who, with the Alcalde what had rendered it, revised the proceedings; and, if he and either of the Regidores approved the decision, it was affirmed.

The Cabildo sat every Friday, but the Governor had the power of convening it at any time. In his absence, one of the Alcaldes presided, and, immediately after the adjournment, two Regidores went to his house and informed him of what had been done.

The ordinary Alcaldes had the first seats in the Cabildo, immediately after the Governor; and, below them, the other members sat in the following order: the Alferez Real, or Royal Standard Bearer, the Principal Provincial Alcalde, the Alguazil Mayor, or High Sheriff, the Depositary General, the Receiver of Fines, the Attorney General Syndic, and the Clerk.

The office of Alferez Real was merely honorary, no other function being assigned to the incumbent but the bearing of the royal standard in a few public ceremonies. The Principal Provincial Alcalde had cognizance of offences committed out of the town; the Alguazil Mayor executed personally, or by his deputies, all process from the different tribunals. The Depositary General took  p5 charge of all moneys and effects placed in the custody of the law. The functions of the Receiver General of Fines are pointed out by his official denomination. The Attorney General Syndic was not, as may be supposed from his title, the prosecuting officer of the crown. His duty was to propose to the Cabildo such measures as the interest of the people required, and to defend their rights. This was a sort of imitation of the Roman tribune, and shows that, even in those days, and under that form of government which was reputed, not only absolute, but also tyrannic, the people, contrary to the general belief, were admitted to have rights, which were to be advocated and defended. Such at least was the theory, if the practice was different.

The Regidores, or municipal officers, received fifty dollars each, annually, from the treasury. The Principal Provincial Alcalde, the Alguazil Mayor, the Depositary General, the Receiver of Fines, and the Ordinary Alcaldes were entitled, as such, to fees of office.

In certain cases, there was an appeal from the highest tribunal of the province to the Captain General of the island of Cuba; from him, to the Royal Audience in St. Domingo, and thence to the Council of the Indies in Madrid.

The other officers of the province were a Captain General residing in Cuba, and to whom the Governor of the colony seems to have been subordinate; a Governor, clothed with civil and military powers; an Intendant, who had the administration of the revenues, and of all that concerned the naval and commercial department; a Contador, or Royal Comptroller; an Auditor of War and Assessor of Government, who was the legal adviser of the Governor; an Auditor of the Intendancy, who was the legal adviser of the Intendant. There being in those days, in Louisiana, a scarcity of men learned in the law,  p6 says Judge Martin in his History, the Auditor of War frequently acted as the counsel, not only of the Governor, but also of the Intendant, of the Cabildo, and of all the other public functionaries. There was a secretary of the governor and a secretary of the intendant, a treasurer of the province, a general storekeeper and a purveyor, a surveyor general, a harbor master, an interpreter of the French and English languages, an Indian interpreter, and three notaries public; besides, a collector, a comptroller, a cashier, an inspector, and a special notary for the custom-house.

Every officer who received a salary of more than three hundred dollars a year, was appointed by the crown; inferior offices to these were in the gift of the governor, or of the intendant, in their respective departments. The governor exercised judicial powers in civil and criminal matters throughout the province, as did the intendant with regard to all that appertained to the revenue and the admiralty; and as did the vicar general in the ecclesiastical department. These officers had, it seems, exclusive jurisdiction in their respective courts. The two former were assisted, as I have already said, by an auditor or assessor, whose opinion they might, on their own responsibility, disregard. It was one of the powers of the governor to make grants of land.

In every parish, says Judge Martin in his History, an officer of the army or militia, of no higher grade than a captain, was stationed as civil and military commandant. His duty was to attend to the police of the parish and preserve its peace. He was instructed to examine the passport of all travelers, and suffer no one to settle within his jurisdiction, without the license of the governor. He had jurisdiction over all civil cases in which the value to object in dispute did not exceed twenty dollars; in more important cases, he received the petition  p7 and answer, took down the testimony, and transmitted the whole to the governor, by whom the record was sent to the proper tribunal. He had the power to punish slaves, and arrest and imprison free persons charged with offences, and was bound to transmit immediate information of the arrest, with a transcript of the evidence, to the governor, by whose order the accused was either discharged, or sent to New Orleans. These parish commandants acted also as notaries public, and made inventories and sales of the estates of the deceased, and attended to the execution of judgments, rendered in New Orleans, against defendants who resided in the country parishes.

The Spanish language was ordered to be employed by all public officers in their minutes; but the use of the French was tolerated in the judicial and notarial acts of the commandants.

The public officers were bound to take the following oath:

This last clause of the oath is worthy of being recommended  p8 to the attention of officers acting under more liberal institutions.

These were the principal features in the organization of the new government.

On the 25th of November, 1769, O'Reilly issued a proclamation making known a set of instructions which he had caused to be prepared by two of his legal advisers, Don Jose Urrustia and Don Felix Del Rey, who acted so conspicuous a part in the prosecution against Lafrénière and his accomplices. These instructions were an abridgment or summary of the rules to be followed in civil and criminal actions, and of the laws of Castile and of the Indies, to which they referred, and to which they might serve as an index. This compendium was intended as a guide to all the functionaries and to the public. It contained also an enumeration of all the offices in the colony, and a definition of all the functions and privileges thereto appertaining. In the preamble to his proclamation, O'Reilly said:— "Whereas the want of jurists in this colony and the little knowledge which the new subjects of his Catholic Majesty possess of the Spanish Laws, may render a strict observance of them difficult (which would be so much at variance with the intentions of his Majesty), we have thought it useful and even necessary to have an abstract made of said laws, in order that it may become an element of instruction or information to the public, and a formulary in the administration of justice, and in the municipal government of this town, until a more general knowledge of the Spanish language be introduced in the province, and until every one be enabled by the perusal of those laws, to know them thoroughly. Wherefore, under reserve of his Majesty's pleasure, we order and command all the judges, the Cabildo, and all other  p9 public officers, to conform strictly to what is required by the following articles." This document​5 is given at length in the Appendix,​b and is in every way worthy of an attentive perusal. It will be found, with the exception of a few objectionable provisions, to be remarkable for wisdom and humanity, and it would not require much investigation to discover worse legislation in these our days of enlightened morality and progressive knowledge.

The Article 20, of Section I, concerning the Cabildo, runs thus:

With the omission of the word king, this article would not be found inapplicable to present circumstances, and might be fitly recommended to that generation of electors who hold now in their hands the destinies of our country.

Article 21 said:

Considering the age in which it was framed, and the source from which it emanated, this article deserves to be noticed, on account of the check which it intends to impose on the exercise of the executive power.

The section 11, on the ordinary alcaldes, is not without interest. The 4th article of that section says:

Art. 13 and 15 read thus:

These articles are imbued with a spirit of humanity and christianityº highly creditable to the legislation of Spain.

The section 3d defines the attributions of the Alcalde Mayor Provincial, and shows that the celebrated institution of the Santa Hermandad was established in Louisiana.

The 4th article of this section shows great regard for the comfort and protection of travelers and strangers. It says:

The 5th article says:

Section 7th concerns the Procurador General. The article I is as follows:

It must be admitted that this whole section is replete with a feeling of liberality and a regard for the interests of the people, which is supposed to appertain only to a republican government.

 p13  The section 10, which treats of the jailor and the persons, breathes not that spirit of ferocity, which is generally believed to be akin to the subject, and characteristic of Spanish legislation and officials; but, on the contrary, it seems to have been framed under the mild influence of modern philanthropy. The provision which prohibits jailors from exacting any fee from the poor, and from receiving any gratuity, either in money or goods, is worthy of commendation. It may not be inappropriate to quote the whole section.

Persons of noble birth, the military, the municipal and other civil officers, lawyers, physicians, women, and certain other individuals, were exempted from imprisonment for debt.

The section on criminal trials has some remarkable features, among which the art. 14, which says: "The accused, being convicted of the crime, on its being fully established on trial by sufficient proof, or by some other proof in conjunction with his own confession, may be condemned to the penalty provided by law for the same. The said condemnation shall also take place, when two witnesses of lawful age and irreproachable character shall depose that, of their certain knowledge, the accused has committed the crime; but when there shall appear against the accused but one witness, and other indications or conjectures, he shall not be condemned to the penalty provided  p15 by law; but some other punishment shall be inflicted as directed by the judge, with due consideration of the circumstances which may appear on the trial. This state of things requires the greatest circumspection, as it must always be remembered, that it is better to let a criminal escape than to punish the innocent."

This provision concerning condemnation on the testimony of one witness, whatever may be said as to the propriety of its policy, is certainly more humane than the law by which we are now governed, and which may send a man to the scaffold on the bare testimony of another. It will also be observed that the well known axiom that "it is better that guilt should go unpunished, than that innocence should suffer unjust punishment," is not confined to the common law of England. It may, moreover, not be amiss here — to remark, in a parenthesis, that the boasted privileges of English liberty existed in some parts of Spain, although destroyed since, long before they were dreamed of in that noble land from which we have borrowed so much of our judicial and political organization.6

The whole chapter concerning appeals is characterized by the desire of bringing lawsuits to a speedy termination — a thing not to be expected, according to public opinion, from Spanish Legislation.

It must be confessed, however, that some of the penalties inflicted, savored of the peculiar temperament of the age and of the exaggerated devotion to the church and the throne which marked the Spanish character at the time; for instance, art. 1 of section v. on punishments, decreed that: "he who shall revile Our Saviour, or his mother the Holy Virgin Mary, shall have his tongue cut out, and his property shall be confiscated, applicable one  p16 half to the public treasury, and the other half to the informer."

Art. 2d said:

Art. 3.

The Art. 4 contains a remarkable feature. A plebeian, using opprobrious language to the detriment of any one, was condemned to pay a fine of 1200 maravedis; but should a nobleman have committed the same offence, the penalty for him was 2000 maravedis. This distinction seems to have originated from the impression, that such an offence ought to be more severely punished in one of gentle than of base blood, on account of its being more heinous in one who, on account of his rank, ought to have been more correct in his deportment.

The following articles show at least that the new government was imbued with puritanical severity, and was disposed to check by extreme punishment all infractions against morality.

Art. 6 said:

Art. 7.

Art. 8.

Art. 9.

Art. 10.

Art. 11.

Art. 12.

Ever after the promulgation of this document, it is to be supposed that all judicial decisions were grounded on the laws of Spain. At a later period, however, it became a question, which was debated in the courts of justice of Louisiana, how far the French laws had been repealed by O'Reilly, and whether he had the authority to abolish them, as the extent of his powers had never been exactly known. But now the question is set at rest, as it is ascertained that O'Reilly was clothed with unlimited authority,​8 and that all he did in Louisiana was fully confirmed by the king and the council of Indies. In a communication addressed to his government, on the 17th of October 1769, he had said,​9 "it seems proper  p19 that this colony be governed by the same laws which prevail in the other dominions of his Majesty in America, and that in its military, judicial, and financial organization, it be, in each of these respective departments, a dependency of the Island of Cuba." The government gave its approbation to these views of O'Reilly.​10 Fortunately, there was no very great dissimilarity between the fundamental principles of the Spanish and the French jurisprudence, which had the same sisterly origin, and drew their existence from the honored womb of Roman legislation, emphatically called the "Civil Law," so well known under that name.

O'Reilly had a set of instructions drawn up, which he sent to the parish commandants. From those addressed to de Mézières, who was in command of Natchitoches,º I extract the following passage:

It is impossible not to smile at the following passage:

He also gave a set of instructions to the commandants of the Coast — that is, all the petty governors at the different posts on the banks of the Mississippi.​11 In the 16th Article, he said:

The 19th Article said:

He caused to be framed for the commandant at Arkansas a series of instructions, which it is impossible to read without entertaining a high opinion of his administrative talents, justice and humanity. These instructions descend into the smallest details, and demonstrate that he was well aware, as all truly great minds are, of the importance of apparently unimportant minutiae.

In the 3d Article, he expressed himself as follows:

All the regulations which he established, to distribute the customary presents among the Indians, to secure an honest trade between them and the Europeans, and to guard them against deception and oppression, are equally creditable to his head and to his heart.

The 9th Article said:

Instructions were sent in command to the commandants at the posts of St. Louis and St. Geneviève, as well as to others established on the Missouri and in the Illinois district. The population of St. Louis consisted then of 17 males and 16 females (free), of 12 males and 6 females (slaves); that of St. Geneviève happened to be exactly the same.

The instructions began with this preamble, full of dignity and commendable sentiments:

Articles 3 and 4 show O'Reilly to be a man of high honor and of strict fidelity, in observing the faith of treaties, and in respecting acquired rights.

Article 3 said:

Article 4:

It is to be remarked, that O'Reilly prescribed that system of monopolies which the French had adopted in their commercial intercourse with the Indians. Article 7 of the document to which I have referred shows it, and is also a striking proof of the solicitude of the Spanish governor to secure the welfare of the aborigines.

In Article 9, he went on saying:

Art. 10.

These articles of O'Reilly's instructions show that the Spaniards were not disposed to pursue in Louisiana, towards the Indians, the cruel policy which was attributed to them in their other American domains. The rest of O'Reilly's instructions, on all the subjects which they embrace, are marked with foresight, prudence, liberality, and firmness. They conclude with saying:

Immediately after his arrival in Louisiana, O'Reilly had taken an enlightened view of the wants of the colony, as appears by a communication of the 17th of October, 1769, which he addressed to the Spanish government, and in which he represents the necessity of favoring commerce, because, without it, the colony could not subsist:

In a despatch of the 1st of March, 1770, O'Reilly took credit to himself for having reduced the annual expenses of the colony, from $250,000 to $130,000, by the economical retrenchments which he had introduced into the administration of the province, and applied to the salaries of its officers; and he informed the government, that the religious wants of the colony would require the permanent employment of eighteen priests. In the same despatch, he said:

O'Reilly, with striking liberality, and, no doubt, also from motives of sound policy, appointed almost none but Frenchmen to the command of the several posts, even the  p30 most distant, and, therefore, all the instructions which he gave them were originally drawn in French. They were afterwards translated into Spanish, and sent to the court of Madrid for its approbation.

In conformity with the orders of the king, a regiment was raised in the colony under the name of "Regiment of Louisiana," and Don J. Estecheria was appointed its Colonel. But this officer having not as yet arrived, Unzaga, who was to succeed O'Reilly as governor of the province, undertook to organize the regiment, and assumed its command provisionally. O'Reilly sent commissions to all those whom Ulloa had, in his despatches, represented as well affected towards Spain, and those commissions were eagerly accepted. There was no want of a keen desire to gird on the sword of command, under a government which granted so many privileges to the wearers of epaulets. The pay of the Spanish troops being greater than that formerly allowed to the French, a certain number of disbanded French soldiers, who had remained in the colony, were tempted to enlist, and the "regiment of Louisiana" was soon complete. It is an admitted fact, that the Creoles of those days were remarkable for their great size, for the stateliness of their bearing, for those peculiarly striking lineaments which constitute the nobility of the face, and for the elegant symmetry of their forms. O'Reilly is said to have been so much struck with this characteristic distinction in the Creole officers of the regiment of Louisiana, that he regretted his inability to take with him some of them to Spain and to Charles III, as a fair specimen of the new subjects acquired by his Catholic Majesty.

The arrival of the Spaniards in New Orleans had produced a considerable increase of population, and the provisions which they expected having been unaccountably delayed, the colony was threatened with famine.  p31 The price of flour ran up to twenty dollars a barrel; fortunately, there arrived from Baltimore a brig, with a cargo of flour belonging to one Olive Pollock, who tendered it to O'Reilly on the terms which that officer might himself determine. O'Reilly refused to avail himself of this liberal offer, insisted on Pollock's specifying his price, and finally agreed to take the whole load of flour at fifteen dollars the barrel. The Spanish governor was so well pleased with Pollock's behaviour on this occasion, that he told him he would report it to the king, and assured him that he, Pollock, during his lifetime, should enjoy, for all the merchandise which his brig could carry, a free trade with Louisiana. A very valuable privilege, forsooth, if it had been long enjoyed! But it is not in evidence that such was the case.

The new Cabildo was solemnly inaugurated, and began its sessions on the first day of December, 1769. It was composed of François Marie Reggio, Pierre François Olivier de Vezin, Charles Jean Baptiste Fleuriau, Antoine Bienvenu, Joseph Ducros, and Denis Braud. Jean Baptiste Garic, who had been clerk of the Superior Council, had bought the same office in the Cabildo. Reggio was alferez real, De Vezin principal provincial alcalde, Fleuriau alguazil mayor, or high sheriff, Ducros depositary general, and Bienvenu receiver of fines.

On the 1st of January, 1770, the Cabildo elected as ordinary alcaldes St. Denis and De La Chaise. One was a descendant of the celebrated St. Denis, whose name is so chivalrously connected with the history of Louisiana, and the other was the grandson of the royal commissary De La Chaise, who had come to the colony in 1723, and was a brother-in‑law to Villeré, whose tragical death had so recently taken place. These facts seem to prove, that the horror produced by the execution of Lafrénière and his companions was not so great as reported by tradition,  p32 and that the Spaniards did not think themselves so hated as they have been represented to be, since they intrusted so many important offices and the command of the most distant posts to almost none but Frenchmen. It cannot certainly be denied, that, on their part, it denoted at least, confidence and liberality.

Don Luis de Unzaga had been designated to succeed O'Reilly, who had been sent to Louisiana only for temporary purposes. As a preliminary step and a prelude to a transfer of his powers to that officer, O'Reilly immediately after the organization of the Cabildo, ceded to him the presidency of that body, in which he ceased to appear. About the middle of December, 1769, he had gone up the Mississippi, to visit the establishment at the German Coast, the Acadian Coast, Iberville, and Pointe Coupée. In all the parishes through which he passed, he convened the inhabitants, as he mentions in one of his despatches, which I have already cited, and invited them to make known their wishes and wants, promising to satisfy them to the utmost of his powers.

On his return to New Orleans, O'Reilly published a set of regulations concerning the concessions of vacant lands:

"Divers complaints and petitions," said he, "which have been addressed to us by the inhabitants of Opeloussas,º Attakapas, Natchitoches and other places of this province, joined to the knowledge we have acquired of the local concerns, culture, and means of the inhabitants, by the visit which we have lately paid to the German Coast, to Iberville and Pointe Coupée, with the examination we have made of the reports of the inhabitants assembled by our order in each district, having convinced us that the tranquillity of the said inhabitants and the progress of cultivation required a new regulation, which should fix the extent of the grants of land  p33 to be hereafter made, as well as determine the enclosures to be put up, the lands to be cleared, the roads and bridges to be kept in repair by the inhabitants, and specify what is the sort of damage done by cattle for which the proprietors shall be responsible — for these causes, having nothing in view but the public good and the happiness of every inhabitant — after having advised with persons well informed in these matters, we have regulated all these objects in the following articles."13

After having ordered, that, for the future, grants of land should not exceed a certain extent, and having entered into many minute regulations, he says:

It will be observed that O'Reilly, who had come to Louisiana as the delegate of royalty itself, and who was invested, as such, with unbounded powers of legislation, prescribed the manner in which all future concessions of land should be made by the governors of Louisiana, and determined with precision the extent of those concessions, which were not to exceed certain limits. Hence it follows, that it is questionable whether some of these immense grants of land which were made at a later period by the governors of Louisiana had the requisite validity, except it be shown that the limitations assigned by O'Reilly to his successors, in the name of the king, had been subsequently repealed or modified.

By an ordinance of the 22d of February, 1770, O'Reilly provided a revenue for the town of New Orleans. An annual tax of forty dollars was to be levied on every tavern, billiard table, and coffee house, and one of twenty dollars on every boarding house; a duty of one dollar was to be charged on every barrel of brandy brought to the town; and O'Reilly graciously accepted and sanctioned a proposition liberally made by the butchers, to pay an annual contribution of three hundred and seventy dollars into the coffers of the town, to meet municipal expenses. In making this offer, these butchers expressly declared, that they did not mean to justify thereby any alteration on their part, now and thereafter, in the price of meat — which alteration, they said, ought never to take place without extreme necessity. It was estimated that,  p35 with all these branches of revenue, the annual income of the town would amount to two thousand dollars.14

As the town was put to considerable expense, to keep up the levee which protected it against inundation, it was authorized to collect an anchorage duty of six dollars from every vessel of two hundred tons and upwards, and half that sum from smaller ones.

On both sides of the public square or Place d'armes, from Levee to Chartres and Condé streets, there was a large space of ground facing on St. Peter's and St. Anne's streets, with a front of •three hundred and thirty-six feet on both these streets, and •eighty-four feet in depth. O'Reilly granted to the town, in the name of the king, the whole of that space of ground, which was soon afterwards sold to Don Andres Almonaster on a perpetual yearly rent.​15 It is still owned by his daughter, the baroness of Pontalba, who has lately covered it with buildings of an imposing aspect, by which she has considerably embellished the great commercial emporium to which she is indebted for her birth and wealth.

O'Reilly expressly prohibited the purchase of anything from persons navigating the Mississippi, or the lakes, without a passport or license.​16 It was, however, permitted to sell fowls and other articles of provisions to boats and vessels, provided the fowls and provisions were delivered on the bank of the river, and payment received in ready coin.

Persons violating this prohibition were liable to a fine of one hundred dollars, and to the confiscation of the articles so purchased, one third of the whole being the reward of the informer.

 p36  No change was effected in the ecclesiastical organization of the province. The old Superior of the capuchins, the reverend father Dagobert, remained in the undisturbed exercise of his pastoral functions, as curate of New Orleans, and in the administration of this southern part of the diocese of Quebec, of which the Canadian bishop had constituted him vicar general. The other capuchins were maintained in the curacies of their respective parishes.

It may be remembered that, in 1726, the Ursuline Nuns, by the agreement which they had made with the India Company, had bound themselves to take charge of the Charity Hospital in New Orleans. Displeased probably with this kind of service, the Nuns had, in the course of time, obtained from the Pope a bull releasing them, it seems, from their obligation, which had become merely nominal, being confined to the daily attendance of two nuns, during the visit of the king's physician.​17 After having noted down his prescriptions, they withdrew, contenting themselves with the easy task of sending from their dispensary in the convent the medicines he had ordered. The Catholic king, to show his regard for this religious corporation, decided that two of the Nuns should be maintained at his own expense, for each of whom sixteen dollars was to be paid monthly to the convent out of his royal treasury.

Don Joseph de Loyola, who had come to Louisiana with Ulloa, in 1766, as intendant died in 1770, and his functions were discharged ad interim by Don Estevan Gayarre, the royal comptroller, or contador.

Don Cecilio Odoardo arriving with the commission of auditor of war and assessor of government, Jose de Urrustia and Felix del Rey, those two learned men in the law, who had been the advisers of O'Reilly, and who had  p37 been discharging the duties now imposed on Odoardo, departed for Havana.

Bobé Desclozeaux, who, on the death of Michel de la Rouvillière, in 1759, had acted as commissary general ad interim, remained in New Orleans by order of the king of France, with the consent of the king of Spain, to call in and redeem the paper money which had been emitted by the former colonial administration, and of which a very considerable quantity was still in circulation.

When Louisiana was ceded to Spain, there were pending in France several appeals from the judgments of the Superior Council. On the 6th of April, 1770, the king of France, through his council of state, declared that he could no longer take cognizance of said appeals, because, when parting with Louisiana, he had also parted with the first and most glorious of his rights, that of rendering justice in that province, wherefore he ordered that all the cases which might still be on the dockets of any of his courts, be transferred to the tribunals of Spain, by which they were to be decided.

O'Reilly thought it necessary, by a special proclamation, to re‑enact the Black Code which Louis XV had given to the province. This seems to confirm the opinion, that the French laws were considered by the Spanish government as virtually abrogated by the publication of the ordinance subjecting the colony to the laws of the Indies. A short time after, O'Reilly having completed the mission for which he had been clothed with extraordinary powers, and temporarily sent to Louisiana, delivered up the government of the province to Don Louis de Unzaga, and departed, on the 29th of October, 1770.

Judge Martin, in his History of Louisiana, says: "Charles III disapproved of O'Reilly's conduct, and he received on his landing at Cadiz, an order prohibiting  p38 his appearance at court." This assertion seems to rest only on the very fallible authority of tradition, and is certainly irreconcilable with official documents on record. Thus, on the 28th of January, 1771, the king of Spain sent to his Council of the Indies a communication, in which he informed them, that he submitted to their consideration all the acts of O'Reilly's administration in Louisiana, which he fully approved, but on which, nevertheless, he wished to have the opinion of his faithful council. The answer was: that the council, having carefully examined all the documents to which the king had called their attention, could discover in the acts of O'Reilly nothing which did not deserve the most decided approbation, and which was not a striking proof of the extraordinary genius of that general officer. Would such an encomium have been bestowed on him, if he had been even suspected of having excited the slightest royal displeasure? Not only all his acts, but also all his suggestions were sanctioned, with one solitary exception, which seems to give still more force to the sweeping commendation expressed, as to every thing else, by the king and his council. The exception is relative to the 6th article of section 5 on punishments, in which O'Reilly said: "The married woman convicted of adultery, and he who has committed the same with her, shall be delivered up to the husband, in order that he may do with them what he pleases, with this reserve, however, that he shall not put one of them to death, without inflicting the same punishment on the other." The council declared that this article, "The perusal of which had proved sufficiently disgusting to them, should be considered​18 as of no effect, and as having never been written."  p39 This article, however, had not been devised by O'Reilly, but was borrowed from book 8 of the "Nueva Recopilacion de Castilla" (new digest of the laws of Castile). It is besides well known that O'Reilly remained high in favor at court, until the death of Charles III.

The motto on O'Reilly's coat of arms was "fortitudine et prudentiâ;" and he seems not to have been deficient in the possession of both these virtues. But there is hardly an instance, when blood shed in a political cause, whatever may have been the just and apparent necessity of it at the time, did not, sooner or later, rise from the earth, to cloud in the eye of the world the fame of the author or adviser of the deer. This has become an historical truth, and is confirmed by what O'Reilly's memory has suffered, in consequence of the execution of Lafrénière and his companions. He was not, however, the blood-thirsty tyrant that he was represented to be, and never, except on this occasion, in the whole course of a long public life, which was exposed to the scrutiny of those who hated him as a foreigner, and envied him as one of the king's favorites, did he ever give the slightest cause to accuse him of not having been always attentive to the dictates of humanity. His talents as a military man, and as an administrator when discharging the functions of a civil officer, cannot be the object of a doubt, and it must even be admitted that they were of a superior order.

When in Louisiana, he was no more than thirty-four or thirty-five years old. There he left a reputation of strict morality and military precision. Fond of pomp, and somewhat ostentatious in all his tastes, naturally gay, and animated with strong sociable dispositions, he, nevertheless, was not addicted to pleasure, and he devoted himself entirely to the business he had on hand. He was exceedingly prompt, exact and active, and he  p40 required the same qualifications in his subordinates. By a proper and systematic distribution of his time, to which he inflexibly adhered, he could get on, with astonishing ease and rapidity, through an immense deal of labor, and he left nothing to be done by others which he could do himself. He emphatically was a man of action, a lover of the camp, as his predecessor, Ulloa, was a man of study, a lover of meditation and scientific speculations. It was said that he endeavored, as far as possible, to see every thing with his own eyes, and, when he had to trust others, he never failed to descend into the minutest details of the duties which he expected them to fulfil. Not only was O'Reilly excessively urbane in his social and official intercourse, but distinguished also for the exquisite refinement of those courtly manners which have now almost ceased to be a reality, and the recollection of which will soon fade away into vague and dreamy traditions. But he was of an irritable temper, and liable to fits of haughtiness on the slightest appearance of what he supposed to be premeditated contradiction or opposition. Preserving all the vivacity, excitability, and sprightly wit of the Irish temperament, he was remarkably animated in conversation, and seemed to have a relish and a turn of mind for a good joke. He cultivated with sedulous attention the society of some families with which he seemed to be highly pleased, and which he always treated with deferential courtesy. Escorted by a few dragoons, his carriage was frequently seen driving at a rapid pace up the Coast, where he used, in his moments of leisure, to visit a family residing a few miles from the town, and in which he found himself in an atmosphere reminding him of that of the best European society. One day, when, according to his habit, he had provoked a keen encounter of wits with the lady of the manor,  p41 being stung by a sharp repartee, his hasty temper betrayed him, and he forgot himself so far as to say, with a tone of command: "Madam, do you forget who I am?" "No, sir," answered the lady, with a low bow, "but I have associated with those who were higher than you are, and who took care never to forget what was due to others; hence, they never found it necessary to put any one in mind of what they were." Nettled at this proud answer, Count O'Reilly departed instantly, but returned the next day with a good-humored smile, and an apology befitting a gentleman of his rank. Finally, he became a much valued friend, where at first he had merely been a guest, and, to complete the description of his character, it may be sufficient to add, that, whatever may have been some of his errors, he won esteem and affection wherever he was intimately known.

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The Author's Notes:

1 American State Papers, vol. I, p363. Miscellaneous.

2 Martin's History of Louisiana.

3 Ibid.

4 Fuero means privilege — for instance, such as the fueros, or privileges granted (p4)to particular provinces, to corporations, to the military, or to the ecclesiastical body, &c., &c.

5 American State Papers, vol. I, p363. Miscellaneous.

6 See art. Navarre, in the Encyclopaedia Britannica, vol. XV, p743.

7 No penalty was decreed against the ecclesiastic by the civil authorities, because he probably had the privilege of being tried only by the tribunals of his holy order.

8 See the Letter of the Marquis of Grimaldi to the Count of Fuentes, at the court of Versailles. Gayarré's Louisiana, 3d series of Lectures, p264, vol. II.

9 En la 3aº Fha, en Nueva Orleans, 17 de Oct. de 1769, dice: "Que le parece conveniente (p19)que dicha colonia se gobierna por las mismas leyes que los demas dominios de S. M. en America, y que en lo militar, judicial y economico depende de la isla de Cuba."

10 See the Records of the deliberations of the Council of the Indies on O'Reilly's acts in Louisiana, which are in manuscript in the office of the Secretary of State at Baton Rouge.

11 Tenientes particulares de la Costa.

12 Arrestar y traer preso á cualquier tratante ó prófugo que por sus malos fines esparciese entre ellos desconfianzas de su verdadero padre, ni de la nacion que merece, entre todas las del mundo, el renombre de magnanima, piadosa y justiciera, y, en prueba de elló, manifestará la orden del Rey, para que ni aun de las naciones enemigas se sufra en sus estados esclavo Indio.

13 American State Papers, vol. I, p376. Miscellaneous.

14 Que con todos los expresados ramos podran ascender los proprios de la ciudad á 2000 pesos fuertes. — See the Records of the deliberations of the Council of the Indies on O'Reilly's acts in Louisiana.

15 Martin's History of Louisiana.

16 Ibid.

17 Martin's History of Louisiana.

18 Se considerase como suspenso y no escrito el art. 6, que dice: "La muger casada que adultere y el adultero sean entregados al marido para que haga de ellos lo que quiera, con tal que no pueda matar al uno sin matar al otro." El cual causó bastante repugnancia al tiempo de leerse.

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Thayer's Notes:

a This "preceding work" is Vol. II of our book; what in retrospect we can now think of as his "History of Louisiana" was originally in Gayarré's mind four different works, sequentially written.

b One of our author's very rare slip‑ups: the document is not among those reproduced in the Appendix.

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