Letter, Etienne-Francois, Duc De Choiseul, [France], to Jean-Jacques-Blaise D'abbadie, [New Orleans, La.]

              1764, April 21
ETIENNE-FRANCOIS, DUG DE CHOISEUL, [FRANCE],
TO JEAN-JACQUES-BLAISE D'ABBADIE, [NEW OR-
LEANS]. D (copy in the hand of Pierre-Joseph Favrot). 3 pp.
French. Mortimer.
I have been informed that the Spanish Court is going to
send vessels that are to take possession of the part of Louisiana
that the King [Louis XV] is giving to the Spanish Crown. Offi-
cials on the ships are to effect the cession for which I have sent
you all necessary orders and instructions. Thus I expect that
during the month of September you will have ended all your
operations in this colony by transferring the eastern part to the
English and the western part to the Spaniards.
I expect also that through the sale of all the supplies
belonging to the King, you will have succeeded in withdrawing
at low cost a quantity of this colony's paper currency, which is
greatly depreciated in value. I hope also that you will not have
overlooked anything that might be to the greatest advantage of
the King in the sale of all that belonged to His Majesty. I also
trust that you issued letters of exchange, assuming it was neces-
sary to draw money for the small garrison that remained. The
notes should have been but for very small sums, in view of the
supplies that I sent you this year.
I certainly approve of your refusal to give 
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any of the said letters to the different persons who might have appealed to you
for settlement of their affairs. I trust that you limited yourself to
depositing the bills these people brought to you until the time
the King provides for them. When you left from here I allowed
you to change, at the end of each year, a part of the old bills into
letters of exchange in order to preserve some of their value.
From what I hear about the administration in Louisiana, I fear
that a great many notes were wrongly acquired. It is the King's
wish that you shall refrain from drawing lots to convert them into
ready cash. Since you will no longer have any jurisdiction or ad-
ministration in Louisiana after the Spaniards take possession,
you shall employ the short time you have left to obtain the neces-
sary documents to write an account of the state of this colony,
which you shall finish after your return to France.
The King has foreseen that, at the beginning, the Spanish
government may have some trouble in keeping the necessary
harmony and understanding with the Indian tribes and with the
Europeans scattered in the different sections of this colony since
the officers and their troops are unfamiliar with the customs and
localities.  In consideration for the interest
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of His Catholic Majesty, our King has therefore offered to keep in service, as
long as His Catholic Majesty deems necessary, the few troops
remaining in New Orleans and the neighboring posts. I estimate
these to be 300 persons at the most. His Majesty orders you to
leave His Catholic Majesty the small garrison at New Orleans, if
the Spanish governor so requests it. You should urge the officers
on duty there to continue to serve His Catholic Majesty with the
same zeal and loyalty. His Majesty assures them of his own ap-
preciation.
I am. Sir, your very humble and very obedient servant.
Le Due de CHOISEUL
[Etienne-Fran~ois, Due de Choiseui]