LOU 



LOU 



and reftored to France by the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle in 

 1748. It was again captured by the Englifh in 1758, and 

 its fortifications have been fince demolifhed. N. lat. 45 55'. 

 W. lo:g. 59 jo'. 



LOUISEOURGH, in Pennfylvania. See Harris- 



BURGH. 



LOUISBURG, a poft-town of America, in Franklin 

 county, North Carohna ; 265 miles from Wafhington. 



LOUISIADE, the fouthern coaft of a confiderablc 

 ifland belonging to New Guinea, fo called by M. Bougain- 

 ville in 1768. 



LOUISIANA, a country of North .'\merica, firll dif- 

 covered by Ferdinand de Soto in 1541, and afterwards- 

 vilited by colonel Wood in 1654, and by captain Bolt in 

 1670. But the firft perfon who attempted to fettle in this 

 country was M. de la Salle, who, in 1683, traverftd the 

 Mifiifippi ; and in the following year he repaired to France, 

 and, in confequence of tlie reprefentations which he made of 

 his difcoveries, obtained a grant of four finall veflcls and 

 170 men, with which armament he fet fail for the mouth 

 cf the Miffilippi. In 16S5 this fmall colony, under the di- 

 rection of their leader, lauded in the bay of St. Bernard's, 

 about :5oo miles weft of the place of their deltination. 

 After ftruggling with many hardiliips, both in their landing 

 and in their endeavours to fettle, fome of this colony mur- 

 dered La S.die, and all the reft periftied, except feven pcr- 

 fons, who penetrated through the country to Canada. In 

 1699, M. Ibberville of Canada, a brave naval officer, having 

 obtained the patronage of the French court, failed from 

 Rochfart with two fhips and a number of men, and laid the 

 foundation of the firll French colony on the Miflilippi. 

 This colony was diminifhed, by fome unfavourable circum- 

 ftances in 1712, to 28 families. At this time Crozat, a 

 merchant of great opulence and an adventuring fpirit, ob- 

 tained the exclufive trade ©f Louifiana ; but his plans, which 

 were extcnfive and patriotic, proving ineff^eftual, he relii;ned 

 his charter, in 171 7, to a company formed by the famous 

 projedtor John Law. From this period the country became 

 an objeft of intereft to fpeculative adventurers, lo that in 

 I7i8and 1719 a numerous colony of labourers, collefted 

 from France, Germany, and Switzerland, was conveyed to 

 Louiiiana, and fettled in a diftrift called " Biloxi," on the 

 ifland of Orleans, a barren and unhealthy fituation, where 

 many hundreds died through want and vexation. This event 

 ruined the reputation of the country ; and the colony having 

 languiftied tili the year 1731, the company at length, for 

 the fum of 1,450,000 livres, purchafed the favour of fur- 

 rendering their concerns into the hands of the government. 

 The French continued in quiet pofleflion of Louifiana, fre- 

 quent conterts with the Indians excepted, tilbthe year 1762. 

 Among theie tribes of hoftile Indians we may reckon the 

 Natchez, who appear in the year 17?! to have been almoft 

 wholly extirpated. In 1736 and 1740 the colonifts were 

 engaged in bloody wars with the Cliickafaw Indians; but 

 thefe, in prccefs of time, terminated in permanent peace. 

 From this time the profpeAs of the colonilts were brighten- 

 ing, as their peltry trade with the Indians and their com- 

 merce with the Weft Indies were increafing. Several 

 hundred Canadians and recruits of inhabitants from other 

 countries fettled on' the banks of the Miffifippi, and imparted 

 additional ilrength and profperity to the original colony. 



Such wa? the ftate of the country, when iji the year 1764 

 the inhabitants received information that in November 1762, 

 I..ouifiana, comprehending New Orleans and the whole ter- 

 ritory W. of the Miffifippi, had been ceded to Spain by a 

 fecret treaty. This meafure incenfed the colonifts, and was 

 vigoroudy oppofed, fo that complete pofiefiion of the coun- 



ti7 was ROt obtained by Spain till the T7th of Auguft 1769; 

 after which event feveral victims were facrificed, to atone 

 for the delay of fubmiflion, and others were conveyed away 

 to languifh out their lives in the dungeons of tlie Havannah. 

 By the treaty of peace in 1763, which ceded Canada to 

 Great Britain, the boundaries of the Bri'ifti provinces were ^ 

 extended fouthward to the gulf of Mexico, and wcilward 

 to the Mifiifippi, and Louifiana was limited N. by Canada, 

 and E. by the Milfifi])pi, excepting that it incluJed the 

 ifland of i\ew Orleans on its E. bank. This ftate of things 

 remained till the American revolutionary war, during which 

 Spain took from Great Britain the two Floridas: the United 

 States, according to their prefent limits, became an inde- 

 pendent government, and left to Great Britain, of all her 

 American provinces, thofe only which lie N. and E of the 

 United States. Ail thefe changes were fanftioned and con- 

 firmed by the treaty of 1783. Thus things continued till 

 the treaty of St. Idelfonfo, Otkober i, iSco, by which Spain 

 engaged to cede to the French republic, on certain condi- 

 tions, the colony or province of Louifiana, with the fame 

 extent which it adually had when France poffeiTed it. This 

 treaty was confirmed and enforced by the treaty of Madrid, 

 March 21, 1 801. From France it paffed to the United 

 States by thtltreaty of the 30th of April iScjfc In confi- 

 deration of this ceflion, the gcvernment of the United 

 States engaged to pay to the French government, under 

 certain ilipulations, the fum of 60,000,000 francs, inde- 

 pendent of the fum which fliould be fixed by another con- 

 vention for the payment of the debts due by France to the 

 citizens of the United States. The boundaries of Louifiana, 

 as formerly poffefled by France and Spain, and now held by 

 the United States, are ftated as follows ; -zi-z. S. on the 

 gulf of Mexico, from the bay of St. Bernard, S.W. of 

 the Mifiifippi to the mouth of the Rio Perdido, or Loft river, 

 fo called by the Spaniards, becaufe it lofes itfelf under 

 ground, and afterwards appears again, and difcharges itfelf 

 into the fea a httle to the E. of Mobile, on which the firft 

 French planters fettled ; up the Perdido to its fource, and 

 thence (if it rife hot N. of the 31ft degree of lat.) in a 

 ftraight line N. to that parallel ; thence along the fouthern 

 boundary of the United States, W. to the Mifiifippi ; then 

 up this river to its fource, as eftabliflied by the treaty of 

 1783. Beyond this point, the limits, (which have never 

 been- accurately afcertained,) may be confidered as including 

 the whole country between the White Bear lake, or other 

 head of the Miffifippi, and the fource of the MiiTouri ; and 

 between this laft and the head fprings of the Arkanfas, 

 Red river, and other copious ilreams, which fall into the 

 Miffifippi ; or, in other words, Louifiana may be confidered 

 as bounded N. and N.W. by the high lands, wh;ch divide 

 the waters that fail into the St. Lawrence and Hudfon's Bay 

 from thofe which fall into the Mifiifippi ; W. by that high 

 chain of mountains, known by the name of the " Shining 

 Mountains,'' v hich may be called the " Spine" or " Andes'' 

 of that part of North America, and which turn the waters 

 on the W. of them to the Pacific, and thofe on the E. to 

 the Atlantic ocean. In a word, it embraces the w'hole flope, 

 6r inclined plain, fronting the S.E. and E. down which, the 

 various ftreams flow into the bed of the Mifiifippi. On the 

 S.W. it is bounded by New Mexico, between which and 

 Louifiana the divifional line has never been fettled. Some 

 pretend that this boundary is a right line from the head of 

 Red river to that of Rio Bravo, and thence down its chan- 

 nel to the gulf of Mexico. Others make the Rio Colerado, 

 and others, with greater probability, make the Rio Mexi. 

 cano, the S.W. boundary of Louifiana. 



Louifiana may naturally be divided into the three following 

 3 I 3 diftricts ; 



