V. FEAR OF AN ATTACK FROM THE UNITED STATES.
In the Spring of 1797, certain American troops were sent from the Ohio into Tennessee for the purpose of preventing a forced settlement upon the Cherokee lands. Orders were also given the Cumberland militia to hold itself in readiness to prevent similar encroachments.[57] These facts were seized upon by Carondelet, who asserted in a proclamation of May 31, that since the United States was at peace with all the savages, these movements must concern the Spanish provinces. To make this pretext more plausible, the proclamation also made mention of "the anterior menaces" of the representatives of the United States at Natchez;[58] of the expected rupture between that Power and France, the intimate ally of Spain; and of the recognition by the United States of the right of England to navigate the Mississippi, which, the Baron adds, "appears to annul" the treaty with His Catholic Majesty, by which the United States acknowledged that "no other nation can navigate upon the Mississippi without the consent of Spain."[59]
Secretary Pickering regarded the expectation of a rupture between the United States and France as the real cause of the delay in running the boundary and in evacuating the posts.[60] With reference to any hostile intentions on the part of the United States, he wrote,
"Never, perhaps, was conceived a more absurd idea, than that of marching troops from the Ohio to the State of Tennessee, and thence to the Natchez, in the whole a tedious, difficult and expensive route of many hundred miles, chiefly through a wilderness; when, if the United States had any hostile views, they had only to collect their troops to the Ohio, and suffer them to be floated down that river and the Mississippi, almost without labor, with great expedition, and at small expense, to the county to be attacked."[61]
These pretexts were usually accompanied by a profusion of promises and explanations which rendered them more or less plausible. Besides this, the Spaniards on more than one occasion made appearances of beginning the evacuation.[62] Although declaring that nothing could prevent the religious fulfilment of the treaty, they were, at the same time, strengthening their fortifications and augmenting their forces on the river. Under such circumstances, the presence of American soldiers and officers was not desired. This fact explains the efforts of Governor Gayoso to prevent Ellicott's escort from reaching Natchez and the attempts to entice the Commissioner himself away from that place.[63]
He had scarcely failed in these schemes, however, when he heard of the descent of Lieutenant Pope with a small detachment of American troops to take charge of the posts upon their evacuation. He then sent Ellicott an open letter directed to Pope, in which it was stated that "for sundry reasons it would be proper and conduce to the harmony of the two nations" for these troops to remain at a distance until the posts were evacuated, which would be completed in a few days. But instead of complying with the Governor's request to second this effort at harmony, Ellicott wrote to Pope that there was evidence to show that an evacuation was not really intended in any reasonable time and that in his opinion the sooner the American troops reached Natchez the better.[64] Upon receiving the Governor's letter Pope stopped his detachment at the Walnut Hills. April 17, Ellicott wrote a second letter stating that a rupture with the Spanish authorities at Natchez was near at hand and that in his opinion the Lieutenant could better serve his country at Natchez than at any other point on the river.[65] In response to this letter, Pope and his command resumed their descent, the Governor finally consenting, and reached Natchez April 24, 1797.[66]
Such are the general outlines of the contest that was waged between the representatives of the two powers over the dilatory policy of Spain. Subsequent diplomatic discussion centered on the navigation of the Mississippi and the affairs at Natchez assumed the form of a popular outbreak against the established government in the district.