If the United States complain

of the help we give the nations I shall reply. that His Majesty could not fail to protect them when, as on this occasion, they are not the aggressors, a circumstance which legitimizes the aid we give them, which cannot therefore be regarded as an infraction of the peace that exists between the United States and Spain.14

15

From 1788, it became the definite object of Spain to acquire the Western portion of the United States, or to detach that region from the Union. An independent English-speaking nation in the West would be a barrier to prevent the expansion of the Eastern Republic. Spanish alarm at the westward migration of the American people is shown in Carondelet's statement. In commenting upon the settlement in the West, he refers to the American's roving spirit and fearless attitude. "Cold does not terrify him" the Governor declared, "when a family wearies of one place, it moves to another. come to occupy the banks of the Mississippi and Missouri, or secure their navigation, doubtless nothing will prevent them from crossing and penetrating into our provinces on the other side, which, being to a great extent unoccupied, can oppose no resistance. In my opinion, a general revolution in America threatens Spain unless the remedy be

If such men

14. Berry, "Indian Policy of Spain, etc.," in Miss. Valley Hist. Review, III, p. 472.

15. Ramsey, p. 532.

When Genet proposed to seize Louisiana, Baron Carondelet appealed to Lieutenant-Governor Simcoe of Canada for aid. In a note dated January 2, 1794, the Spanish official urged that it was to the interest of Great Britain that Illinois remain in the possession of Spain, and that the Mississippi trade should not pass to France or to the United States. This was parallel to

17

the application for assistance made to the Governor of Havana by Lord Dunmore when he was threatened by a New York expedition.

Simcoe replied that he could not af

ford the assistance even were he authorized to give aid, but he agreed that Louisiana should remain in the hands 18

of Spain.

During the talk of the French expedition, the West received certain favors from the Spanish, but after the danger of a French invasion passed, Carondelet again bottled up the Mississippi, and supplied the Indians with arms and ammunition to defend themselves against the 19 aggressions of the people of the United States.

16. Turner, "Significance of the Miss. Valley", p. 165. 17. Report on Canadian Archives, Lower Canada, p. 73. 18. Ibid.

19. McMurry, p. 27.

The Governor then determined to make another appeal to the disloyalty of the West, and he chose Thomas Power to sound out the possibility of a Spanish alliance.

Power traveled under the pretext of secur

20

ing necessary material for a natural history. He was authorized to furnish the westerners with means to shake off the authority of the Federal Government.

They were

to receive one hundred thousand dollars at once, and the 21 same amount later when they had actually revolted. In Kentucky, Power approached Sebastian and suggested the Yazoo line as a possible southern boundary for the proposed western nation. At Detroit, Power laid the proposition before Wilkinson but the latter declined to offer Wilkinson realized that conditions on

any support.

22

the frontier had changed, that there was more cohesion now between the East and the West as a result of the successful treaty arrangements with Spain. In the light of Spain's intrigues with the Indians and frontiersmen to obstruct the American advance, the Treaty of 1795 is sig

23

20. Charles Gayarre, History of Louisiana (4 vols., New Orleans, 1903), III, pp. 345, 346.

21. Ramsey, p. 536. See also Isaac J. Cox, The West

Florida Controversy (Baltimore, 1918, p. 48. 22. Cox, p. 48. Wilkinson arrested Power and sent him to New Madrid, but prior to this, he asked him for the 640 pounds which was due him on the last instalment of his pension.

23. Treaty of San Lorenzo, October 27, 1795.