17G5, March.] HIS EMBASSY AT XEW OKLEANS. 271 



When Pontiac's ambassadors entered New Or- 

 leans, they found the town in a state of confu- 

 sion. It had long been known that the regions 

 east of the Mississippi had been surrendered to 

 England ; a cession from which, however, New 

 Orleans and its suburbs had been excepted by a 

 special provision. But it was only within a few 

 weeks that the dismayed inhabitants had learned 

 that their mother country had transferred her 

 remaining American possessions to the crown of 

 Spain, whose government and people they cordially 

 detested. With every day they might expect the 

 arrival of a Spanish governor and garrison. The 

 French officials, whose hour was dra^ying to its 

 close, were making the best of their short-lived 

 authority by every species of corruption and 

 peculation ; and the inhabitants were awaiting, in 

 anger and repugnance, the approaching change, 

 which was to place over their heads masters whom 

 they hated. The governor, D'Abbadie, an ardent 

 soldier and a zealous patriot, was so deeply cha- 

 grined at what he conceived to be the disgrace of 

 his country, that his feeble health gave way, and 

 he betrayed all the symptoms of a rapid decline. 



Haoorard with illness, and bowed down with 

 shame, the dying governor received the Indian 

 envoys in the council-hall of the province, where 

 he was never again to assume his seat of office. 

 Besides the French officials in attendance, several 

 English officers, who chanced to be in the town, 

 had been invited to the meeting, with the view of 

 soothing the jealousy with which they regarded all 



