The Austin Papers, Vol. 1 Pt. 1

116

AMERICAN HISTQRIC~ ASSOCIATION.

to open the Puhlic :Magazen~ of .J;>rovisions and furnish the People To remove this ipconvenience which was found not only expensive but a 'dera'.ngeinent' of the Public Supplies which could only be _re- plenish'd from the .United States-It wa~_therefore propos'd to give encouragemen~ to,the Americans to-~ett~~·':·ithin the Province-.: To eff~ct'sq desirnbJ~ lq.n object hand Bills 'rind Phamphlets, Printed in the english ;La'11guage •wtfre • •circulated 1 throughout the ,v estern t6untry' holding .up gi-'ea.t'inducements to'Emigrants, and in many parts of the Province Farming Utensils and Provisions, for one year ,vere gi·anted to Eniigrant~TJ1e consequences' were such as were to be expected· A ·considerable Emigration :took place in 97 which continued untill 1804, •the Americ~ns' genei·allf settled hack from the River and Culti,'.ated, tb_e high lands~· •Pro~isions· soon became plenty and the p1;i_ces;g1;~atlfreduced·:. Such were the effects produced by Emigra- tion, th'at Bacon brought from l{entucky, in 97 sold at·20 to 25 Dol- lars·:pr.' Hundred and Cotintry Parle at 40 ·cents PT. pound could in 1803, be' bought' at 3-$~0 .'t.1:$ 1/ htind~·ed; the advantages arising from l • \ } • • • • I J the En1igr~t_i_onl ~~_cam_e· so evi~ent that the Spanish Officers gave eyery encourri.gem_ent the Emigrants could -~1esire-Those advantages: were·not confind, to ~he _Cultiv·ation of·the Land only but as a safe- guard against the Indian~-This was verified in 1802 .An expedi- tion was orderedito remove a party of Creek Indians·,' who had in- truded iinc( ~oinmitt.ed some depredati~ns ·in 'the Province-·On this expedition 'which ~onsisted .of _3:bqut Four_hundre~ and.fifty Men. Fifty··or sixty were French and: F9t1.r Hundred Americans this cir- ~umstai1ce convince_d th_e.9ffice~sl_cif ~h~,'~pa~ish Go'vernment, of.the ad_varitnges :irising from~ 'th~ ~migration· of the . Americans-The Pa_mp 1 l?~ets P~plish'd in ~~ PY, tl-i(Co~ma:nf1ants ·of ~ ppe_r Lo~isiana bec~_:rpe gen~ra'lly lm?~vn m 180~ m. ~o~seq~ence the Em1grat10n be- came as General and continued increasing, untill unexpectly checked by the cha,ng~,?£ <1.~ver~~eqt i~118~4:..)t__is not to be doubted but a Continuation m:i,d~~·. _the_S_r;>~pi~h . G~verm~ei;1t Four or Five Years longe~ ~,quld pav:e ma?,~ the out 1 S~ttlements_sufficiently strong, to J?,i:ot~?t and dete~d-them~e:lves, a~a_i~s_t ~h~ attaclf~ of the Indians. It \vas._generally l,)eliev~~. tl~a~ -~~l ,t11e _Emigrants, who had.made arrangeni.erits to remove-to 1,1pper Louisiana in a11 the Year..1803 and fo~r und,er promis~ .~nµ .P~r;;nts~~9.!1,.·.ei~her '''. ~·itten or unwritten from th~;~p~:i;iis~.~pvern_m~nf, a~d had arriy_'d k; the Country or were on the way, would be,sanct1oned by.the American ,Government I l , , , , , • • • I • . ~n th~s.state.Rf-th,m.g::;,the A,.meriGan G-ov~rnment took possession of Louisia:p~,1 No 'prolu~it~_ry__~~w >~-v~s :.PJ::~tpulgated,' to _stop ~migra- tion; ~l}til~ ¥..arc~ l~0},:~Jl?_d, 11 ~].?.is;.,4[\w ~i_d 1 not ,t.ake :place ~mtil~ Octobei· following-From that period we may date the stoppage of

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