The letter from which the foregoing is quoted is of considerable length. I have seen the original, with two others, and have “true and perfect copies” of all three.[L] That from which I have quoted above bears entirely upon the subject of a peace proposed between the Creek nation and Cumberland in the letter of Colonels Bledsoe and Robertson to which it is an answer; and there is not one word in McGillivray’s letter which indicates, even remotely, that Robertson and Bledsoe had made any such proposition to him as he had communicated to Miro. Col. Robertson had written him, telling him, among other things, that a number of the settlers on Cumberland had been killed recently by his warriors—“among those unfortunate persons,” says Robertson, “were my third son.”
Further along in McGillivray’s letter to Bledsoe and Robertson, he says: “I had received his Excel. Governor Caswell’s letter and Duplicate only a short time before the unlucky affair—so that I Differred writing an answer until I could be satisfyed in my own mind that he might Depend on what I should say to him, as I abhor every Species of Duplicity, I wish not to deceive.” He concludes as follows: “I have endeavored to make everything as agreeable as my Situation permits to Messrs. Hackett & Ewing”—which shows that the men named are the “two delegates from the district of Cumberland” referred to in his letter to Miro; and these two letters, taken together, show what a treacherous villain and liar he was, notwithstanding his abhorrence of “every Species of Duplicity.”
In April, 1789, writing to General Wilkinson of Kentucky, who was his confederate in the undertaking to separate Kentucky, Miro says:
I have just received two letters, one from Brig. Gen. Daniel Smith, dated on the 4th of March, and the other from Col. James Robertson, with date of the 11th of January, both written from the district of Miro. The bearer, Fagot [Hackett?], a confidential agent of Gen. Smith, informed me that the inhabitants of Cumberland, or Miro, would ask North Carolina for an act of separation the following fall, and that as soon as this should be obtained other delegates would be sent from Cumberland to New Orleans, with the object of placing that territory under the domination of His Majesty. I replied to both in general terms.
On the next day after writing this letter, Governor Miro wrote to Gen. Daniel Smith and Col. James Robertson, saying, among other things:
The giving of my name to your district has caused me much satisfaction, and I feel myself highly honored by the compliment. It increases my desire to contribute to the development of the resources of that province and the prosperity of its inhabitants. I am extremely flattered at your proposition to enter into correspondence with me, and I hope that it will afford me the opportunity to be agreeable to you.
These letters, messages and communications between Governor Miro and leading citizens of Miro District are more simple and straightforward than diplomatic. The reader of this part of our history, however, must keep in mind the precarious condition of the citizens of the Miro District at this period: a vast wilderness of more than two hundred and fifty miles behind them, savage Indians on both sides and the Spanish in front of them; with their state government and Congress both so weak that neither was able to extend them the slightest aid or protection—thus situated, they very naturally turned in the direction that not only had the power but gave the promise of protection and assistance. Miro, in acknowledging the compliment conveyed by bestowing his name on the new court district, said: “It increases my desire to contribute to the development of the resources of that province and the prosperity of its inhabitants.” In the year 1790, the Spanish court, contrary to the advice of Governor Miro, made a formal order levying a tax or duty of fifteen per cent. on all produce or freight carried down the Mississippi river. This order so inflamed the people of Kentucky and Miro District that it had the effect feared by Miro, of practically breaking off and forever ending further negotiations between him and the people of Miro District on the subject of the Cumberland country becoming a Spanish province.
Judge Martin, in his history of Louisiana, says that, at about the period of time when these letters were passing, there were five parties in the western country—one in favor of the formation of a new republic unconnected with the United States, and a close alliance with Spain; another that wished the western part of the United States to become a portion of the province of Louisiana and to submit to the laws of Spain; a third, desirous of war with Spain, an open invasion of Louisiana and the seizure of the Mississippi and New Orleans; a fourth, proposing by a show of war to prevail on Congress to extort from Spain the right to the free navigation of the Mississippi; the fifth, as unnatural as the second, was to solicit France to procure a retrocession of Louisiana and to extend her protection to Kentucky and Cumberland.
The administration of Miro in Louisiana terminated with the year 1791. In a letter to the Spanish court, written in the previous year, asking permission to return to Spain, he says: “I have now had the honor of serving the King, always with distinguished zeal, for thirty years and three months, of which twenty-one years and eight months in America, until the state of my health requires my return to Europe.” He returned to Spain, where he continued his military career, being promoted from the rank of brigadier to that of lieutenant-general. “He carried with him,” says Judge Martin, “the good wishes and regrets of the colonies.”
The character of Miro was that of a kind-hearted, benevolent, upright gentleman. Leprosy prevailed in Louisiana, and one of Miro’s first acts, on being appointed Governor, was to erect a hospital for the unfortunate victims of that disease, on a ridge lying between the Mississippi river and Bayou St. John, which was called “Leper’s Land.” Instances were related in which Miro would intercede with a creditor to give further time to an unfortunate debtor, and on failing to obtain such indulgence, he would satisfy the debt out of his private funds. In April, 1786, the king of Spain issued a royal order, approving the course and conduct of Miro, who, in the preceding year, had granted the former British subjects in Baton Rouge and Natchez, which had been conquered by the Spanish, ample time to sell their property, collect their debts and remove their persons and effects.