every individual thing, both for my person, and for the attendants of the commission, though the geometer, and other officers that are to be employed, are already on their way from New Orleans, and will stop at Clarksville, where I shall go myself as soon as my equipage arrives from the capital, but this will inevitably take some time, therefore the plan that I wish to arrange with you, will be to make Lofftus's Cliffs our point of re-union, this place is at a short distance from Clarksville, and it is a very healthy situation, there I will send every thing concerning the Spanish commission, and that will be the most convenient place to establish for a while your head quarters under your military escort. By adopting this measure, you will have all your people together, and the most distant disagreeable occurrence avoided; as I am positively confident that some would happen by the conjunction here as you propose. It is true that by the treaty an escort is supposed, and even recommended to each commission, but it is to be on the line, and not at a distance from it, where it would interfere with other business, therefore I feel sensibly hurt that it is out of my power to consent in the landing of the troops at this place, though I have not the least objection on their going directly to Lofftus's Cliffs. I have given the most positive orders to prevent the Indians getting liquor, and to their interpreter I have given the strictest charge to be always in sight, and to-morrow I expect that they will remove to some distance from hence. I have the honour to be, with the highest Your most affectionate Friend and humble servant, MANUEL GAYOSO DE LEMOS. The Honourable Andrew Ellicott. } H 2 By By this letter, it will be seen that my request rela tive to the military escort had not the desired effect: but in the mean time, an express had been privately sent to the commanding officer of the escort, with directions to proceed down to the town of Natchez. Shortly after the Governor's letter was received, we had an interview. He immediately undertook to prove the propriety and necessity of our going down the river to Clarksville, where myself and party, might be altogether; and closed his reasoning by declaring, that if the escort did land at the town of Natchez, he should consider it an insult offered to the king his master. He was told, that few observations would be made at present, as his letter should be replied to immediately, but that there was one circumstance which appeared to require some explanation; that was, the desire constantly manifested to draw us from the town of Natchez, to some other place, less convenient, and more out of the way of information: but as the town of Natchez was designated by the treaty as the place of meeting for the commissioners, any propositions to draw us from thence would be rejected without ceremony. To which the Governor replied, "you have either mistaken my meaning, or I have expressed myself very badly, I do not want you to leave this place, on the contrary, I am desirous you would take up your residence at my house, where you would be much more comfortable than in a tent." He was told in reply, that the tent was more agreeable than a palace, and in which that independence, so characteristic of the country I had the honour to serve, could be indulged and gratified. On this subject the Governor and myself no doubt perfectly understood each other: he wanted us from the town, and in some place of small importance, and distant distant from the principal settlement, the fidelity of whose inhabitants he suspected; or at his own house, where our intercourse with them would be under his own eye, and where our plans could not easily be carried on, and digested without a discovery: and for the express purpose of making use of the inhabitants to carry the treaty into effect, or secure the country by force, if such a measure should become necessary, was our real motive for continuing at that place. On the 13th at noon, the following was sent to Governor Gayoso, as a reply to his letter of the preceding day. DEAR SIR, Natchez, March 13th, 1797. Your favour of yesterday would have been answer, ed sooner, had not the storm last night prevented me from writing in my tent. Your letter, as well as other circumstances that have come to my knowledge, contain fresh proofs of your desire to promote good order and harmony in this part of the country. But sir, I cannot suppose that any inconvenience could possibly arise, or the peace of the settlement be disturbed, by the arrival and landing of the escort which I left at Bayou Piere. If I did suppose the contrary, I trust that I should be one of the last persons to propose the measure. In my opinion the escort which accompanied me to Bayou Piere, is as much bound to observe good order in this country, as the troops of his Catholic Majesty. This is not an opinion of the day, it has uniformly been mine ever since I left the seat of our government, in consequence of which immediately upon my entering the Mississippi, I issued standing orders, that when any of our party, the military included, should be in any place where the jurisdiction was exercised by his Catholic Majesty, the laws laws and usages of that government should be observed, and submitted to, in the most pointed manner. As I hope that mere punctilios will never interrupt our friendship, and as the conduct of the Indians has become less exceptionable, since the night before last ; I am not so anxious for the escort to be stationed at my present encampment. I would therefore, to prevent any misunderstanding or disturbance, propose that the officer who commands the escort, be directed to proceed down the river to Bacon's landing, from whence he may come to this place, and procure such necessaries as he may be in need of for the season. As this is the place designated by the treaty for our meeting and making the arrangements for carrying on the business, I conceive there would be an impropriety in my leaving it, until your Excellency is ready to join in fixing the first point of latitude. I have the honour to be, With great esteem, Your humble servant, His Excellency Manuel ANDREW ELLICOTT. I now found myself involved in a dilemma, the troops were by that time (by my order) on their way to Natchez, and that contrary to the orders of the Governor: being unacquainted with intrigue and address, it was determined to support openly the descent, and landing of the escort, and which might have been done upon good ground, and fair argument, if no other considerations had been involved in the Governor's objections; but the discussion was rendered unnecessary by the following letter from the Governor. Natchez, MY DEAR SIR, Natchez, 14th March, 1797. I do myself the pleasure, to acknowledge the reception of your favour of yesterday, and am very happy to find that our sentiments uniformly agree in every thing that can combine the mutual interests of our nations, and I pledge to you my honour and friendship, that every step of my conduct shall be guided by this principle, impressed in me by my duty, and by the very particular attachment that I have for you. I have the honour to be, with the greatest esteem and affection, Dear Sir, Your most humble and obedient servant, Honourable Andrew Ellicott. The Governor's letter was handed to me by his aid Captain Stephen Minor, who was asked, whether the Governor meant by his polite communication that the escort might be stationed at Bacon's landing, or to remain at the Bayou Piere, the latter now being impossible, as I hourly expected its arrival. The captain answered, that "the Governor acquiesced in its being stationed at Bacon's landing." On the 15th, in the evening, the escort arrived, and on the afternoon of the 16th it proceeded down to its station. A few days after the landing of the escort, the following verbal message was received from the Governor, by his aid Captain Minor. "Sir, his Excellency has been informed, that the officer commanding your escort, has taken up a number of men as deserters from your army, some of whom are detained contrary to their inclinations, he therefore requests that they may all |