Meanwhile Carondelet and De Lemos had persisted in declining to surrender the posts at the Chickasaw Bluffs and Natchez, on pretexts which were utterly frivolous. [Footnote:  American State Papers, Foreign Relations, II., pp. 20, 70, 78, 79; report of Timothy Pickering, January 22, 1798, etc.] At this time the Spanish Court was completely subservient to France, which was hostile to the United States; and the Spaniards would not carry out the treaty they had made until they had exhausted every device of delay and evasion.  Andrew Ellicott was appointed by Washington Surveyor-General to run the boundary; but when, early in 1797, he reached Natchez, the Spanish representative refused point blank to run the boundary or evacuate the territory.  Meanwhile the Spanish Minister at Philadelphia, Yrujo, in his correspondence with the Secretary of State, was pursuing precisely the same course of subterfuge and delay.  But these tactics could only avail for a time.  Neither the Government of the United States, nor the Western people would consent to be balked much longer.  The negotiations with Wilkinson and his associates had come to nothing.  A detachment of American regular soldiers came down the river to support Ellicott.  The settlers around Natchez arose in revolt against the Spaniards and established a Committee of Safety, under protection of the Americans.  The population of Mississippi was very mixed, including criminals fleeing from justice, land speculators, old settlers, well-to-do planters, small pioneer farmers, and adventurers of every kind; and, thanks to the large tory element, there was a British, and a smaller Spanish party; but the general feeling was overwhelmingly for the United States.  The Spanish Government made a virtue of necessity and withdrew its garrison, after for some time preserving a kind of joint occupancy with the Americans. [Footnote:  B. A. Hinsdale:  “The Establishment of the First Southern Boundary of the United States.”  Largely based upon Ellicott’s Journal.  Both Ellicott, and the leaders among the settlers, were warned of Blount’s scheme of conquest and land speculation, and were hostile to it.] Captain Isaac Guyon, with a body of United States troops, took formal possession of both the Chickasaw Bluffs and Natchez in 1797.  In 1798 the Spaniards finally evacuated the country, [Footnote:  Claiborne’s “Mississippi,” p. 176.  He is a writer of poor judgment; his verdicts on Ellicott and Wilkinson are astounding.] their course being due neither to the wisdom nor the good faith of their rulers, but to the fear and worry caused by the unceasing pressure of the Americans.  Spain yielded, because she felt that not to do so would involve the loss of all Louisiana. [Footnote:  Gayarre, 413, 418; Pontalba’s Memoir, Sept. 15, 1800.] The country was organized as the Mississippi Territory in June, 1798. [Footnote:  American State Papers, Public Lands, I., p. 209.]

    Blount’s Extraordinary Scheme.