support Ellicott. The settlers around
Natchez arose in revolt against the Spaniards and established a
Committee of Safety, under protection of the Americans. The population
of Mississippi was very mixed, including criminals fleeing from justice,
land speculators, old settlers, well-to-do planters, small pioneer
farmers, and adventurers of every kind; and, thanks to the large tory
element, there was a British, and a smaller Spanish party; but the
general feeling was overwhelmingly for the United States. The Spanish
Government made a virtue of necessity and withdrew its garrison, after
for some time preserving a kind of joint occupancy with the Americans.
[Footnote: B. A. Hinsdale: "The Establishment of the First Southern
Boundary of the United States." Largely based upon Ellicott's Journal.
Both Ellicott, and the leaders among the settlers, were warned of
Blount's scheme of conquest and land speculation, and were hostile to
it.] Captain Isaac Guyon, with a body of United States troops, took
formal possession of both the Chickasaw Bluffs and Natchez in 1797. In
1798 the Spaniards finally evacuated the country, [Footnote: Claiborne's
"Mississippi," p. 176. He is a writer of poor judgment; his verdicts on
Ellicott and Wilkinson are astounding.] their course being due neither
to the wisdom nor the good faith of their rulers, but to the fear and
worry caused by the unceasing pressure of the Americans. Spain yielded,
because she felt that not to do so would involve the loss of all
Louisiana. [Footnote: Gayarre, 413, 418; Pontalba's Memoir, Sept. 15,
1800.] The country was organized as the Mississippi Territory in June,
1798. [Footnote: American State Papers, Public Lands, I., p. 209.]

Blount's Extraordinary Scheme.

There was one incident, curious rather than important, but
characteristic in its way, which marked the close of the transactions of
the Western Americans with Spain at this time. During the very years
when Carondelet, under the orders of his Government, was seeking to
delay the execution of the boundary treaty, and to seduce the Westerners
from their allegiance to the United States, a Senator of the United
States, entirely without the knowledge of his Government, was engaged in
an intrigue for the conquest of a part of the Spanish dominion. This
Senator was no less a person than William Blount. Enterprising and
ambitious, he was even more deeply engaged in land speculations than
were the other prominent men o