I am, with the highest respect,
Your most obedient servant,
BEVERLY RANDOLPH.
New Orleans, Sept. 16, 1789.
Sir: General Wilkinson having represented to me, that you had it in contemplation to settle in this province, and that your example would have considerable influence on many good families of your country, I think it my duty, in order to forward the intentions of my royal master, to inform you that I shall receive you and your followers with great pleasure, and that you have liberty to settle in any part of Louisiana, or any where on the east side of the Mississippi below the Yazoo river. In order to populate the province, His Majesty has been graciously pleased to authorize me to grant to the emigrants, free of all expense, tracts of from two hundred and forty to eight hundred acres, in proportion to their property; and in particular cases of men of influence, who may aid these views, I shall extend the grant as far as three thousand acres. To all persons who actually become settlers, liberty is granted to bring down their property in the produce of your country, duty free; but the King does not agree to take your tobacco, and, of consequence, you must depend upon the common market of this city, as the province makes more than the quantity which the King allows me to take. I mention this particular to prevent disappointment. You will be exempt from taxation, and will be allowed the private exercise of your religion without molestation from any person whatever, and will enjoy all the rights, privileges, and immunities of His Majesty’s other subjects.
In order to cultivate an amicable connection with the settlers of the Ohio, His Majesty has been graciously pleased, at the same time, to give liberty to the inhabitants of that country to bring down their produce to this city for sale, subject to a duty of fifteen per cent, on the value here; but to prevent imposition, and to distinguish between the real settler and the trader, the former, on entering their produce at the custom-house, will be obliged to subscribe to the conditions mentioned in the proclamation, of which General Wilkinson carries a copy for your information.
Though unknown to you, General Wilkinson has taught me to respect your character.
It is, therefore, I subscribe myself, with great esteem, your most obedient and humble servant,
ESTEVAN MIRO.
Benjamin Sebastian, Esq., Kentucky.