304 The Winning of the West 



his opportunity. By the bribe of a petty Italian 

 principality he persuaded the Bourbon King of 

 Spain to cede Louisiana to the French, at the treaty 

 of San Ildefonso, concluded in October, 1800. The 

 cession was agreed to by the Spaniards on the ex- 

 press pledge that the territory should not be trans- 

 ferred to any other power; and chiefly for the pur- 

 pose of erecting a barrier which might stay the 

 American advance, and protect the rest of the Span- 

 ish possessions. 



Every effort was made to keep the cession from 

 being made public, and owing to various political 

 complications it was not consummated for a couple 

 of years; but meanwhile it was impossible to pre- 

 vent rumors from going abroad, and the mere hint 

 of such a project was enough to throw the West into 

 a fever of excitement. Moreover, at this moment, 

 before the treaty between France and Spain had 

 been consummated, Morales, the Intendant of New 

 Orleans, deliberately threw down the gage of battle 

 to the Westerners. 3 On October 16, 1802, he pro- 

 claimed that the Americans had forfeited their right 

 of deposit in New Orleans. By Pinckney's treaty 

 this right had been granted for three years, with the 

 stipulation that it should then be extended for a 

 longer period, and that if the Spaniards chose to re- 

 voke the permit so far as New Orleans was 

 concerned, they should make some other spot 

 on the river a port of free entry. The Americans 

 had taken for granted that the privilege when 



3 GayarrS, III, 456. 



