N 



separate the area to the north from the Union and 

 make it a new Spanish province. 



Wilkinson and his contacts thus wooed the governor 

 into releasing his materials. The episode has become 

 known to historians as the "Spanish Intrigue." 



History does not prove whether Wilkinson's motives 

 were devious, or whether he was purely interested in 

 his own prosperity. In any event, the fact remains that 

 he did open the port of New Orleans to the tobacco 

 trade and other American industries. But he was only 

 fooling himself if he thought he alone would profit 

 from this new commercial agreement. 



It came as a great shock to Wilkinson when a royal 

 order issued in Seville in December 1788 permitted all 

 Americans to enter goods at Mississippi River ports on 

 payment of the Spanish entry duty. 



But new problems arose by 1790. The New Orleans 

 market was glutted and the Spanish had to limit the 

 amount of tobacco they would allow to enter the ports. 

 Much of it was literally rotting on the docks while 

 awaiting sale and shipment. 



It was late in 1791 that Wilkinson, "disgusted by 

 disappointment and misfortunes, the effect of my ignor- 

 ance of commerce," abandoned his export trade busi- 

 ness and reentered the United States Army. 



ova Scotia to Louisiana 



Meanwhile, about the same time the Declaration of 

 Independence was being written in Philadelphia, a 

 band of four to five thousand Acadians of French 

 descent were forced to leave Nova Scotia because of 

 religious persecution. A little over two hundred of 



26 



