Louisiana and Aaron Burr 233 



when once in they had fought hard, under the lead of 

 Opiamingo, their most noted war chief, who was 

 always friendly to the Americans and hostile to the 

 Spaniards. 



At the Chickasaw Bluffs, and at Natchez, there 

 was always danger of a clash ; for at these places the 

 Spanish soldiers were in direct contact with the fore- 

 most of the restless backwoods host, and with the 

 Indians who were most friendly or hostile to them. 

 Open collision was averted, but the Spaniards were 

 kept uneasy and alert. There were plenty of Amer- 

 ican settlers around Natchez, who were naturally 

 friendly to the American Government ; and an agent 

 from the State of Georgia, to the horror of the 

 Spaniards, came out to the country with the especial 

 purpose of looking over the Yazoo lands, at the time 

 when Georgia was about to grant them to' the vari- 

 ous land companies. What with the land specula- 

 tors, the frontiersmen, and the Federal troops, the 

 situation grew steadily more harassing for the Span- 

 iards ; and Carondelet kept the advisers of the Span- 

 ish Crown well informed of the growing stress. 



The Spanish Government knew it would be beaten 

 if the issue once came to open war, and, true to the 

 instincts of a weak and corrupt power, it chose as 

 its weapons delay, treachery, and intrigue. To in- 

 dividual Americans the Spaniards often behaved with 

 arrogance and brutality ; but they feared to give too 

 serious offence to the American people as a whole. 

 Like all other enemies of the American Republic, 

 from the days of the Revolution to those of the Civil 



