Page:History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century Volume 1.djvu/99



between Kentucky, Tennessee and adjacent territory, and Louisiana under the Spanish government. But General Wayne had defeated the hostile Indians; the rebellion in Pennsylvania had been suppressed, and the American army was now free to attend to this incipient revolution. The conspirators became timid and Judge Sebastian of Kentucky was the only one who ventured to meet the Spanish commissioner. The United States officers were on the alert, and Judge Sabastian, fearing arrest, fled to New Orleans. Spain was now becoming deeply involved in European wars, and fearing an invasion of Louisiana by the long suffering pioneers, finally proposed a settlement of the controversy.

A treaty was concluded on the 20th of October, 1795, by which the middle of the Mississippi River was made the western boundary of the United States from the thirty-first degree of latitude to its source, and navigation made free to its mouth. Spanish rule in Louisiana was drawing to a close. The French nation had never become reconciled to the loss of its possessions in America, which had been surrendered by a weak king. Under the brilliant young first consul, Napoleon, France had become the most powerful nation of Europe. Spain had been compelled to how to his iron will. Napoleon resolved to restore to France her former possessions in the Valley of the Mississippi. On the first of October, 1801, a treaty was made with Spain by which she ceded to France all of the province of Louisiana; but before Napoleon could take possession of the newly acquired American province, England and her allies were pressing the French armies so hard that Napoleon feared the powerful British navy would seize and blockade the ports of Louisiana, thus cutting France off from her new acquisitions. The French and Americans were traditional friends and, in order to save Louisiana from England, Napoleon determined to transfer it to a friendly power able to defend and hold it. This acquisition by the American Republic would greatly strengthen