244 The Winning of the West 



close of 1797, reported to his superiors that nothing 

 could be done. 



Meanwhile Carondelet and De Lemos had per- 

 sisted in declining to surrender the posts at the 

 Chickasaw Bluffs and Natchez, on pretexts which 

 were utterly frivolous. 45 At this time the Spanish 

 Court was completely subservient to France, which 

 was hostile to the United States ; and the Spaniards 

 would not carry out the treaty they had made until 

 they had exhausted every device of delay and eva- 

 sion. Andrew Ellicott was appointed by Washing- 

 ton Surveyor-General to run the boundary; but 

 when, early in 1797, he reached Natchez, the Span- 

 ish representative refused point blank to run the 

 boundary or evacuate the territory. Meanwhile the 

 Spanish Minister at Philadelphia, Yrujo, in his cor- 

 respondence with the Secretary of State, was pursu- 

 ing precisely the same course of subterfuge and de- 

 lay. But these tactics could only avail for a time. 

 Neither the Government of the United States, nor 

 the Western people would consent to be balked much 

 longer. The negotiations with Wilkinson and his 

 associates had come to nothing. A detachment of 

 American regular soldiers came down the river to 

 support Ellicott. The settlers around Natchez arose 

 in revolt against the Spaniards and established a 

 Committee of Safety, under protection of the Amer- 

 icans. The population of Mississippi was very 



45 American State Papers, Foreign Relations, II, pp. 20, 

 70, 78, 79; report of Timothy Pickering, January 22, 1798, 

 etc. 



