were agreed upon which acknowledged our southern limits to the north of the thirty-first degree of latitude, and our western to the middle of the Mississippi. Our right of the navigation of the Mississippi to the sea was conceded, and also the right of deposit at New Orleans for our produce for three years."

But the Spanish government was not honest in thus agreeing to the points involved which had for a long series of months disturbed the people of Kentucky. On the face of the negotiations, it had been honest; beneath the surface there was duplicity and dishonesty characteristic of the foreign diplomacy of that day.

Again Butler is turned to for a statement of conditions in Kentucky at that time and the shadowy scheming of the Spanish authorities, regardless of the treaty negotiated with Pinckney. He says: "In July, 1795, Governor Carondelet dispatched Thomas Power to Kentucky with a letter to Benjamin Sebastian, then a judge of our court of appeals. In this communication he declares that 'the confidence reposed in you by my predecessor, General Miro, and your former correspondence, have induced me to make a communication to you highly interesting to the country in which you live and to Louisiana.' He then mentions that the king of Spain was willing to open the navigation of the Mississippi to the western country and desirous to establish certain regulations, reciprocally beneficial to the commerce of both countries. To effect these objects, Judge Sebastian was expected, the governor says, 'to procure agents to be chosen and fully empowered by the people of your country to negotiate with Colonel Gayosa on the subject at New Madrid, whom I shall send there in October next, properly authorized for the purpose, with directions to continue at the place or its vicinity until the arrival of your agents.' Some time in November, or early in December of this year, Judge Innes and William Murray

received a letter from Judge Sebastian requesting them to meet him at Colonel Nicholas' house in Mercer county. The gentlemen addressed went as desired, to Colonel Nicholas' house and met Judge Sebastian there, who submitted the letter quoted above. Some deliberation ensued which resulted in the unanimous opinion of all the gentlemen assembled that Judge Sebastian should meet Colonel Gayoso, to ascertain the real views of the Spanish government in these overtures. The judge accordingly descended the Ohio and met the Spanish agent at the mouth of the river. In consequence of the severity of the weather, the gentlemen agreed to go to New Madrid. Here a commercial agreement was partially approved by Sebastian, but a difference of opinion occurring between the negotiators whether any imposts, instead of a duty of four per cent, should be exacted upon imports into New Orleans by way of the river, the negotiators repaired to the metropolis, in order to submit the difference of opinion to the governor. This officer, upon learning the nature of the difference between the gentlemen acting in this most insidious negotiation, readily consented to gratify the Kentucky envoy. It was deferred on account of some pressing business. A few days after this interview, the Spanish governor sent for Judge Sebastian and informed him that a courier had arrived from Havana with the intelligence that a treaty had been signed between the United States and Spain, which put an end to the business between them. Judge Sebastian, after vainly urging the Spanish governor to close this sub-negotiation, in the expectation that the treaty would not be ratified, returned to Kentucky by the Atlantic ports."

Several reflections necessarily arise out of this summary of the negotiations of 1795, which were preserved secret from the government of Kentucky until voluntarily disclosed by Judge Innes in 1806 before a committee of

the legislature. The first remark that suggests itself on the face of these documents is, that Judge Sebastian had been connected with the Spanish government before this time, since Governor Carondelet refers to the confidence reposed in him by his predecessor. To what extent and how long, no information exists within the command of the author, although he has attempted to investigate the earliest ramifications of a plot now only interesting for its historical curiosity. This negotiation, though terminated so abruptly by Carondelet, contrary to the urgent representations of Sebastian, was again renewed by the former officer in 1797, while the territorial line was marking between the United States and Spain on the south. It was again affected through the agency of Messrs. Power and Sebastian, and in a way to endanger the Union and peace of these states more flagrantly and openly than on the former more covert attempt."

In the summer of 1797, Thomas Power again arrived at Louisville as the agent of the Spanish governor of Louisiana and immedi ately communicated a letter to Sebastian desiring him to lay his proposals before Messrs. Innes, Nicholas and Murray. These proposals were no less than to withdraw from the Federal Union and to form a government wholly unconnected with that of the Atlantic states. To aid these nefarious purposes, in the face of a solemn treaty recently negotiated, and to compensate those who should consign themselves to infamy by assisting a foreign power to dissolve the American Union, and to convert its free republican states into dependencies upon the arbitrary and jealous government of Spain, orders for one, or even two hundred thousand dollars on the royal treasury in New Orleans were offered; or, if more convenient, these sums were to be conveyed, at the expense of His Catholic Majesty, into. this country, and held at the disposal of those who should degrade themselves into Spanish

conspirators. Fort Massac was pointed out as an object proper to be seized at the first declaration of independence, and the troops of the new government, it was promised, should be furnished without loss of time, with twenty field pieces with their carriages and every necessary appendage, including powder, balls and other munitions, together with a number of small arms sufficient to equip the troops which it should be deemed expedient to raise. The compensation for these free offers of money and arms, independent of weakening the United States, was to be obtained in the extension of the northern boundary of the possessions to which Spain had so tenaciously clung and which she now so desperately and for the last time, endeavored so treacherously to retain. The northern boundary, on this side of the Mississippi, was to be the Yazoo river, as established by the British government when in possession of Florida, and which was, by a secret article in the treaty of peace, retained as the boundary between the United States and Florida, should Great Britain recover it from Spain. Eager, indeed, must Spain have been, to obtain this insignificant addition to her boundary, when she could break in upon her jealous exclusion of foreigners from her American possessions and promise the Kentuckians, if they would declare themselves independent of the Federal government and establish one of their own, to grant them privileges far more extensive; give them a decided preference over the Atlantic states in her commercial connections with them, and place them in a situation infinitely more advantageous in every point of view than that in which they would find themselves were the treaty of 1795 to be carried into effect. Such were the powerful temptations presented by the Spanish government of Louisiana to some of the leading men of Kentucky, in order to reduce them into a dependency of Spain.

These offers were entertained too gravely and rejected with too much tameness for the

honor of Kentucky patriotism, as will appear from the following detail given by Judge Innes to the legislative committee previously mentioned: "After receiving the above communications from Power, Sebastian visited Judge Innes at his seat near Frankport and laid them before him. The judge immediately observed that it was a dangerous project and ought not to be countenanced. As the west

ern people had now obtained the navigation of the Mississippi by which all their wishes were gratified. Sebastian concurred in this sentiment, after, it must be observed, this explicit declaration of Judge Innes, who seems to have given tone to the whole transaction. Still, as Power desired an answer in writing, Sebastian prevailed on Innes to see Colonel Nicholas, saying that whatever they did he would concur in. In a few days afterwards, Colonel Nicholas was seen by the judge at Lexington, who agreed in opinion with Innes that the proposal ought to be rejected. The Colonel accordingly wrote an answer to Power's proposals, which unequivocally declared they would not be concerned in any attempt to separate the western country from the United States; that whatever part they might at any time be induced to take in the politics of their country, that her welfare would be the only inducement and that they would never receive any pecuniary or other reward for any personal exertions made by them to promote that welfare. They added that they flattered themselves that everything concerning the important business of the navigation of the Mississippi would be set right by the governments of the two nations; but, if this should not be the case, it appeared to them that it must be the policy of Spain to encourage by every possible means free intercourse with the inhabitants of the western country, as this will be the most efficient means to conciliate their good will and to obtain, without hazard, and at reduced prices, those supplies which are indispensably necessary to the Span

ish government and its subjects. This reply was forwarded to Sebastian and communicated by him to Mr. Power.

This transaction must be pronounced a dangerous tampering with a foreign power and contrary to the allegiance of American citizens. Yet the whole tenor of the conduct of Messrs. Innes and Nicholas cannot justify the slightest suspicion of their fidelity to the Union of the American states or indifference to their liberties. Their character as faithful, devoted friends to the freedom and happiness of their country had always stood high and unimpaired in the confidence of their fellow citizens. It is likewise due to the virtues of Judge Innes to declare that in all the relations of private life, no man was dearer or more idolized by the witnesses of his mild, upright and benevolent character. His public career in this country, amid its earliest difficulties, had always been one of high trust and confidence under all the changes. of government; he had early been appointed. judge of the Virginia district court; the attorney general; judge of the United States district court for Kentucky, a member of the board of war for the western country and president of our first College of Electors. In all these responsible capacities, the conduct of Judge Innes was without reproach and raised him most deservedly high in the public esteem. He received the repeated thanks of General Washington for the discharge of high trusts. Colonel Nicholas has left the reputation of an exalted and patriotic statesman. In the convention of Virginia assembled to decide upon the ratification of the constitution of the United States, he took a prominent and influential part, alongside of such illustrious worthies as Wythe, Madison and Governor Randolph. In the opposition to the administration of the elder Adams he bore an ardent share, as exhibited in his celebrated letter to a Virginia friend on the Alien law.

In regard to Sebastian, the other agent in

this unhappy business, much more is known of his abilities, commanding address and most courteous, dignified manners, than of his devotion to popular government. He had, however, received a judgeship in the court of appeals at its organization in 1792. The most probable construction of this conference seems to be that Sebastian was the corrupt instrument of Governor Carondelet and that he permitted his acknowledged abilities and intimacy with Judge Innes, to swerve him from the direct and open path of public duty by listening to proposals from a foreign government, at once derogatory to his duty as a public officer of the laws and his honor as a faithful citizen.

In the Spanish conspiracy there are three stages and corresponding degrees of condemnation.

The first existed in 1787, when Gardoqui communicated his overtures to the people of Kentucky, to establish a government independent of the rest of the confederacy; this, under the ominous and disgraceful condition of the existing government, might have been laudably entertained by Kentucky patriots. The second happened in 1795 under circumstances of accumulated trial and disappointment to the fondest and most indispensable hopes of western prosperity; at this time the Spanish propositions, whatever ultimate views were concealed under them, only aimed at an irregular, and, so far, unjustifiable agreement of private citizens with a foreign government for the regulation of western trade. This proposal, if it had been consummated, would, however, have amounted to superseding the regular operations of

the general government in the western commerce and would have granted exclusive commercial favors to the parties to this agreement, inconsistent with the equal constitutional rights of the citizens of a common country. It would, moreover, have been indicative. of a foreign influence, dangerous to the liberty and peace of the Nation. But the third stage of this business, after ten years of interrupted communications, was the most indefensible of all, it was a treacherous and undisguised attempt of Spain to dissever this country, in the face of her recent treaty, and inconsistent with everything like the good faith which is represented as a characteristic of Castilian honor. This intrigue of the provincial authorities in Spanish Louisiana is, no doubt, to be traced to European politics.

But time, at last, makes all things even, the epigrammatic philosophers have told us. Spain failed to corrupt the people of an entire state, whatever may have been her success with a few men of prominence. She saw Louisiana and the Floridas pass from her control to the French and ultimately to that of the United States, the government of which she had sought to disrupt with the power of corrupting gold. In after years she saw the same United States drive her from Cuba, Porto Rico and the Philippines, her richest and almost her only colonial possessions. She learned that "the mills of the gods grind slowly, yet they grind exceeding small." Upon the possessions of the United States today the sun is ever shining somewhere, while Spain, no longer a world power, is left in doubt if it have any power whatever.

RIGHTED.

In 1795 Humphrey Marshall, statesman and historian, a near kinsman of that great chief justice, John Marshall, who, for so many years, presided with distinction over the supreme court of the United States, was elected a senator in congress from Kentucky, defeating John Breckinridge, who was later to distinguish himself as the author of the Kentucky Resolutions of 1798.

Marshall was the leader of the Federalists in Kentucky, who favored a strong centralized government as against a government of the people. Mr. Breckinridge was the leader of the Republicans in Kentucky, those who, at a later date, were to be known as Democrats, reference to which has been elsewhere made in this work. Those excellent gentlemen of today who boast of their enmity to the Republican party, would probably reject with scorn the statement that in the earlier days of our government their forefathers were very proud to be known as Republicans and to be led by such a statesman as John Breckinridge. The latter, had favored the adoption of the treaty with England, which excited the enmity of many against him and led to the election of Mr. Marshall.

The people of Kentucky at this time, were to be excited by an incident, the first of its kind in the history of the young state. This was an attempt, by the general assembly, to remove from the court of appeals, Judges George Muter and Benjamin Sebastian. This action grew out of a decision of the court in

which the old pioneer, Simon Kenton, was interested. That decision opened the way for endless litigation and threatened not only the title of Kenton to his lands, but the titles of many others. There was much excitement among the people, which culminated in the presentation of a memorial to the legislature which brought the matter before that body for consideration. Judges Muter and Sebastian were summoned to appear before the house, a copy of the memorial accompanying each summons. Judge Wallace, the remaining judge of the court, was not summoned as he had dissented from the views of Muter and Sebastian. These latter answered the summons of the house by a demand to be proceeded against in the manner provided by the constitution, stating their readiness, in that event, to answer any specific charge that might be made against them.

Smith in his "History of Kentucky," quoting Butler and Marshall, summarizes the conditions as follows: "The house interpreted this answer into a refusal to appear before it and proceeded to act upon a resolution that the opinion and decree are subversive of the plainest principles of law and justice and involve in their consequences the distress and ruin of many of our innocent and meritorious citizens. The resolution then goes on to allege that the judges have decided either from undue influence or want of judgment; as said decree and opinion contravene the decisions of the court of commissioners, who were author