The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1878-12-01
TIE REPUBLIC OF WEST FLORIDA.
ITS WARS AND TREAvIEs-TuE vARy-
Gus JURIsDICTIONs UNDER
WHICH 1T HAS PASSED.
How II Warrcd. Negotiated and Died
where Rests the Equitable Title
to the Domain Now
tCorrespondence of the N. o. Democrat
LIINr I.a NnxnInhnI OF 1QLQ

CLINTON, La, November 70, 1873
Hoping that In the hull after all the politica
battles Of 1873 are fought ont you may be In.
elined to find space for it, | send you com
muncation 'raciting In brief tho wars and
treaties and various jurisdictions swaying
the destinies Of the portion Of Louisiana which
ia divided from the State of Mississippi on
the north by limo Of demarkaton run by
the commissioners OF Spain and the United
State by treaty stipulation along the thirty
first parallel OF latitude. and divided on the
south from the Island of Orleans by Bayou
Manchac and Lakes Maurepas and Pontchar-
train. bounded on the west by the MISSISSIPPI
pi on the east by the Pearl river Within
these boundaries IL embraced domain o.
100000 or 100000 acres Of land, most of il
formerly very fertile and productive. In the
earliest times it was wrested by France from
the Chickasaws and Choctawa. and covered
into the dominions of Louis the Fourteenth.
by the grace Of God King of France and
Navarro.
The first authentic transaction in which this
domain enters conspicuously into the history
OF the Mississippi valley was in tho treaty of
Paris, In 1863, by which France ceded to Great
Britain all her territory east of the Missis-
sippi down to Bayou Manchae France hav-
ing, by n previous secret treaty. ceded to
Spain all Louisiana lying westSof the Missis-
sippi and the Island of Orcana.
After the treaty Of Paris, Great Britain.
with her customary alacrity oEgIasp. lost no
time in extending the jurisdiction Of her East
Florida government over this Eottion of her
acquisition from France. a alag II West
Florida, which designation it lare afterwards
while il was an appanage Of he-.fleitish crown.
and also after II passed under ~e- jurisdiction
OF Spain. Great Britain, with Speudcnt fore
sight. fortified her new acquisi.lu.l by build
ing fort at the Bayou MancliSe. whore the
river emptes into il and anothe. fort where
the Manchac empties into the e slite river.
In 1779 during our revolutionary war.
Spain formally declared war again Great
Britain And Don Bernard df tialvpz, the
Spanish Governor of Louisiana organized a
considerable force In New Orlcasa at tho head
of which he proceeded to the cx' ,ulsion of the
British from West Florida ISrt Butte. the
site OF which is now the spcnddAugar planta-
ton Of the Widow Walker, on I.he Manchac,
was carried by assault on September 7, 1879.
and on the twenty-iirst of tho ssame month
Col. Dickinson, British comman.cr at Baton
Rouge surrendered To Galvez xafter a cam
nonade of two and n half hours, sSsith garri-
son of about 500 troops. and j Ergo quantity
of arms. military stores and PROFESSIONS.
In 1888 detnitive articles: oS peace were
signed Mt Paris by France, SpaiA, the United
States and Great Britain. BY this treaty
Great Britain confirmed TO Span the whole
OF the Floridas south of the thirty-a first paral-
lei of latitude, including, AS q matter Of
course, all the conquests of Don Bernard de
Galvez In ITS. and In the same treaty she
also confirmed to the United STATES all her
territory acquired from France hy The treaty |
of Paris in 1868
In October, 1900, at St Idefonss was con-
cluded a treaty between Bonaparte. the First /
Consul of the French Republic. by which /
Spain obligated herself to retroceee TO France
the colony and province of Louisiana. In
1903 Napoleon resolved to sell to :the United
States all that he had acquired frc-n Spain by
the treaty Of st. Ildefonso. This :negotiation
was pressed to a speedy consumnaltton by the
FAR seeing statesman then administering the
Federal Government. In the same year he
proclaimed in his annual message that 'the
property and sovereignty of all louisiana had
pttu LIdhSLtllth ny france 10 .-lnr nted
States on the thirtieth of April asa while the
property and sovereignty o. he Missis-
,ippi and its waters secure an Eldepenient
outlet for the produce Of the Western States,
md an uncontrolled nsvigatios Though TIER
whole course, free from collision with other
powers"
Although the terms OF the a4ntgal message
we're construed by hundreds Ct restless and
adventurous spirits to inelutF al the south +.
ountry on both sides of the great river, sub /
equent events, rapidly transririug, demon ]
trated that such construction was aot con- ;
urred in by either Spain or: Franz. The $
cope OF the treaty of st. llde3o:lsn, which |
pain retroceded Louisiana u Frau e, was a
etined on the eighteenth Of May, -so3, by i
alcedo, then Spanish GGyernoE Of louisiana, I
SISTED by the Marquis de Casa Cal so who C
as sent as commissioner by Spain 70 aid in v
le delivery of Louisiana to France in their n
int proclamation giving notiee that it was a
10 Intention of the King of Spain TO surren- a
X Louisiana back to France; and In the p
me proclamation the limits to be- embraced o
tha ,ontemp plated surrender were specially 81