he collapse being
inevitable when once it became evident that the Franklin experiment was
doomed to failure.

Gradoqui's Residence in the United States.

The West was thus seething with separatist agitations throughout the
time of Gradoqui's residence as Spanish Envoy in America; and both
Gardoqui and Miro, who was Governor of Louisiana all through these
years, entered actively into intrigues with the more prominent
separatist leaders.

Miro and Navarro.

Miro was a man of some ability, and Martin Navarro, the Spanish
Intendant of Louisiana, possessed more; but they served a government
almost imbecile in its fatuity. They both realized that Louisiana could
be kept in possession of Spain only by making it a flourishing and
populous province, and they begged that the Spanish authorities would
remove the absurd commercial restrictions which kept it poor. But no
heed was paid to their requests, and when they ventured to relax the
severity of the regulations, as regards both the trade down the
Mississippi and the sea-trade to Philadelphia, they were reprimanded and
forced to reverse their policy. This was done at the instance of
Gardoqui, who was jealous of the Louisiana authorities, and showed a
spirit of rivalry towards them. Each side believed, probably with
justice, that the other was influenced by corrupt motives.

Miro and Navarro were right in urging a liberal commercial policy. They
were right also in recognizing the Americans as the enemies of the
Spanish power. They dwelt on the peril, not only to Louisiana but to New
Mexico, certain to arise from the neighborhood of the backwoodsmen, whom
they described as dangerous alike because of their poverty, their
ambition, their restlessness, and their recklessness. [Footnote:
Guyarre, p. 190. He was the first author who gave a full account of the
relations between Miro and Wilkinson, and of the Spanish intrigues to
dissever the West from the Union.] They were at their wits' ends to know
how to check these energetic foes. They urgently asked for additional
regular troops to increase the strength of the Spanish garrison. They
kept the creole militia organized. But they relied mainly on keeping the
southern Indians hostile to the Americans, on inviting the Americans to
settle in Louisiana and become subjects of Spain, and on intriguing with
the western settlements for the dissolution of the Union. The
Kentuckians, the settlers on the Holston and Cumberland, and