Louisiana and Aaron Burr 219 



had prevented his carrying out the orders of his su- 

 perior officer. On one occasion Carondelet had di- 

 rected Gayoso to convene the Southern Indians, and 

 to persuade them to send deputies to the United 

 States authorities with proposals to settle the boun- 

 daries in accordance with the wishes of Spain, and 

 to threaten open war as an alternative. Gayoso re- 

 fused to adopt this policy, and persuaded Carondelet 

 to alter it, showing that it was necessary above all 

 things to temporize, that such a course as the one 

 proposed would provoke immediate hostilities, and 

 that the worst possible line for the Spaniards to fol- 

 low would be one of open war with the entire power 

 of the United States. 15 



Of course the action of the American Govern- 

 ment in procuring the recall of Genet and putting a 

 stop to Clark's operations lightened for a moment 

 the pressure of the backwoodsmen upon the Spanish 

 dominions ; but it was only for a moment. The West- 

 erners were bent on seizing the Spanish territory; 

 and they were certain to persist in their efforts until 

 they were either successful or were definitely beaten 

 in actual war. The acts of aggression were sure to 

 recur ; it was only the form that varied. When the 

 chance of armed conquest under the banner of the 

 French Republic vanished, there was an immediate 

 revival of plans for getting possession of some part 

 of the Spanish domain through the instrumentality 

 of the great land companies. 



These land companies possessed on paper a weight 



15 Do., De Lemos to Carondelet, Dec. 6, 1793. 



