Southern sentinel. [volume] (Plaquemine, Parish of Iberville [La.]) 1848-1858, 1849-05-16

ces. Thus was the Spanish dominion
completely established in Florida. ,..
Governor Miro, who succeeded Galvez,
carried into full effect the the colonial sys-
TEN of Spain, which was by no means
relishedby the French inhabitants Of the
colony.
In 1855 a new irebrand was thrown
into the midst of these combustible ele-
ments. An attempt was made to esta-
blish an office Of the Inquisition IN Loui-
siana. 1t was fearlessly opposed, and for
%tunately crushed without bloodshed. The
agent, to whom the obnoxious business
was entrusted, was seized in his bed, con-
veyed forcibly on board a vessel, and sent
home to Spain. .st.:.L
A census of the province, taken in 17s6,
just ninety years from the date of the first
settlement, showed a population of 49,
GIL. OF these, l9, 445 were whites, 81
465 slaves, and l7Ol colored freemen.-
New Orleans, then 20 years old, contain
ed 5,33S inhabitants. r..
The Baron de Carondelet was appoint
ed Governor in 1902. During his admi-
nistration, in the year 1894, the first news
paper, called "Le Moniteur," was pub
ished in Louisiana. AT the same period,
the Canal Carondelet was commenced;
and the cultivation of indigo and the SUI
gar cane, which had hitherto been the
great staples of the colony, was suspend
ed. ,am
In 1905, by the treaty of St. Lorenzo,
the navigation of the Mississippi was
opened to the western States Of the Union,
and the great impulse given to the com
mercial prosperity of New Orleans, which
secured forever the preseminence of the
Crescent City. The same treaty defined
the boundaries as. they now exist between
Florida and Mississippi. But CaronIelet
being rather tardy in yielding possession
than suited the active, e%nterprising spirit
of the Americans, the territory was seized
by an armed force under Andrew Elliott.
Two years after this, a plan set on foot
by C%arondelet, to dismember the Ameri-
can Union, by drawing the Western States
into a separate compact, was detected and
defeated by the address of General Viii
kinson. Whether Aaron Burr was in the
plot, or only took a hint from it a few
years later, does not appear Of record
C%arondelet was succeeded by Gayosa de
Lamor, Casa Calvo, and Salvado, who,
successfully, but for a very brief period,
welded the chief magistracy Of the colo
ny. . a.
In 1903 Louisiana was re.transferred to
France, and Immediately sold to the Uni.
ted States for els, 100000. The treaty
which accomplished this important OBJ
ject was entered into on the Both of April.
Possession was taken, in behalf of the
United States, by General Wilkinson and
William G. Claiborne, amid the reloicinss
of a people attached to liberty, and eager
to grasp at any opportunity to shake off
the yoke Of Spain. ..4..~. !.
The population of Louisiana, at the
time of the purchase, did not exceed fifty
thousand, exclusive of the Indians, and
these were scattered over its immense ter
ritory. Seven years after, the population
had nearly trebled, and her prosperity had
advanced in equal proportion.
The year 1912 was a memorable era in
the history Of Louisiana, and marked with
incidents never to be forgotten byher citi-
zens. It was in this year that the first
Steamboat was seen on the bosom of the
ssgreat river" now alive with hundreds of
these winged messengers, plying to and
fro. In the same year war was declared