The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 17, July 1913 - April, 1914 Page: 173
454 p. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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The Louisiana-Texas Frontier
A few days before, while vaguely discussing this question with the
French minister, Madison casually asked what sort of divisional
line the other considered the best. Turreau favored river courses,
but Madison suggested mountain chains, obviously having in view
those of New Mexico. Casa Yrujo, to whom the French minister
reported this conversation, coincided with the suggestions of Talley-
rand to Gravina, mentioned above. This would place an extensive
desert area between Spain and the United States. Such would
form the best sort of barrier between the two powers.1' Casa
Yrujo was very anxious to humiliate Madison, for whom he
personally felt great contempt, and whom he regarded as the rep-
resentative of an administration willing to profit from Spain's
necessities. He thought the Americans should have made a more
tempting offer for the Floridas. He believed that in exchange for
the latter they were ready to offer a liberal cash payment, together
with the greater part of the right bank of the Mississippi. In such
a oese he expected them to reserve for themselves the districts of
Attakapas and Opelousas, together with the banks of the Washita
and Red rivers, where the population was rapidly increasing.
Casa Yrujo believed that this interview with Madison would ma-
terially lighten the burden of Cevallos' negotiation with Monroe.
But he was not equally successful in supplying his superior with in-
formation in regard to te general character of Louisiana and its
western limits. He was far from this region and without books or
other sources of information, so that any opinion that he could form
was hardly worth while. He stated that Du Pratz had mentioned
the Spanish settlement at Adaes, and suggested that a meridional
line from this point, utilizing the north and south courses of cer-
tain rivers, would be sufficiently well marked to form a good
boundary. This would also relieve their colonial authorities from
any anxiety in regard to the presence of the Americans.'"
Although Casa Yrujo frankly confessed his own ignorance, he
suggested a most interesting source of information. A talented
American ,gentleman, whom he thought a former correspondent of
Cevallos and Godoy, had promised him a memoir upon the coun-
try. In his correspondence he refers to this gentleman as both
14Robertson, No. 5021.
"Ibid. If such a line were drawn to the northwest rather than due north,
it would approximate Jefferson's final instructions. See TiIE QUARTERLY,
XVII, 15.173
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 17, July 1913 - April, 1914, periodical, 1914; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101061/m1/177/: accessed May 5, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.