K 



reedom of the Mississippi 



It was a deep shock to Wilkinson when a royal order 

 issued in Seville, December 1788, permitted Americans 

 to enter goods at Mississippi River ports on payment of 

 the Spanish entry duty. The home authorities had ob- 

 viously had sober second thoughts about Governor 

 Miro's concessions to Wilkinson. Yet, though the river 

 was open to those who dared risk its passage, Wilkinson 

 had the advantage of precedence, the right political 

 connections, and a developing organization. 



He had circularized all likely local districts, asking 

 for large quantities of tobacco, to be shipped to New 

 Orleans. When the cured leaf came in, and it came in 

 promptly, he issued receipts which frequently passed as 

 currency. As an entrepreneur he was tough-minded. He 

 made a fixed charge for inspection, and six shillings per 

 hundredweight for freight when taken on the Kentucky 

 River, or four shillings sixpence if loaded at Louisville. 

 After charges were deducted from the sale proceeds, the 

 planter was to receive 15 shillings per 100 pounds 

 "should so much arise, . . . after which any surplus re- 

 maining" would be divided in the proportion of two- 

 thirds to Wilkinson and one-third to the consignor. 



All shipments were at the owner's risks — and the risks 

 were there. Apart from the physical hazards of river 

 traffic that caused boats to capsize, sink or run aground, 

 there were river pirates and murderous Indians. For a 

 while, too, outlaws and white renegades infested the 

 long route. They were dangerous, for their call for help, 

 afloat or ashore, when sympathetically answered, too 

 frequently resulted in the seizure of a boat and the 

 massacre of her crew. 



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