160 The Winning of the West 



nations [of Indians] in the possession of their lands 

 becomes therefore indispensable, both to preserve 

 Louisiana to Spain, and in order to keep the Ameri- 

 cans from the navigation of the Gulf." He ex- 

 pressed great uneasiness at the efforts of Robert- 

 son to foment war between the Chickasaws and 

 Choctaws and the Creeks, and exerted all his powers 

 to keep the Indian nations at peace with one an- 

 other and united against the settler-folk. 30 



The Spaniards, though with far more infamous 

 and deliberate deceit and far grosser treachery, were 

 pursuing toward the United States and the South- 

 western Indians the policy pursued by the British 

 toward the United States and the Northwestern 

 Indians; with the difference that the Spanish Gov- 

 ernor and his agents acted under the orders of the 

 Court of Spain, while the English authorities con- 

 nived at and profited by, rather than directly com- 

 manded, what was done by their subordinates. Ca- 

 rondelet expressly states that Colonel Gayoso and 

 his other subordinates had been directed to unite 

 the Indian nations in a defensive alliance, under the 

 protection of Spain, with the object of opposing 

 Blount, Robertson, and the frontiersmen, and of es- 

 tablishing the Cumberland River as the boundary 

 between the Americans and the Indians. The re- 

 ciprocal guarantee of their lands by the Creeks, 

 Cherokees, Choctaws, and Chickasaws was, said Ca- 



30 Do., Carondelet to Don Louis De Las Casas, June 13, 

 1795, inclosing letters from Don M. G. De Lemos, Governor 

 of Natchez. 



