WILKINSON  IN  NEW  ORLEANS    225

but  if  it  does  not  go  beyond  such  offenders  as  Swartwout,
Bollman,  Burr,  Blennerhassett,  Tyler,  etc.,  they  will  be
supported  by  the  public  approbation."

New  Orleans  had  been  so  engrossed  with  the  mili-
tary seizures  that  no  notice  had  been  taken  of  the  arm-
ing of  the  war  vessels.  The  work  on  the  fortifications
became  a  purely  perfunctory  employment  for  idle  sol-
diers, while  in  the  midst  of  the  impending  dangers  the
General  remembered  to  celebrate  the  day  on  which
Louisiana  became  a  part  of  the  territory  of  the  United
States.  The  loyalty  of  the  inhabitants  no  longer
admitted  of  a  doubt,  for  by  the  end  of  December  there
were  nine  hundred  men  completely  armed — indepen-
dent of  volunteer  corps — and  ready  to  be  called  into
active  service  at  a  moment's  notice.1  January  3d  those
citizens  who  were  not  yet  members  of  any  military
organization  solemnly  agreed  to  form  themselves  into
such  an  association  for  "the  purpose  of  being  at  all
times  ready  when  called  upon  by  the  constituted  autho-
rities to  support  the  government  of  the  United  States."
Their  reason  for  this  action  was  that  the  "existing  state
of  our  public  affairs  leads  to  an  apprehension  of  our
being  drawn  into  a  war  with  some  foreign  power."
Just  then  it  must  have  been  singularly  displeasing  to
Wilkinson  to  hear  Louisianians  talk  of  a  foreign  war,
for,  although  he  had  written  Clark  that  the  Creoles
would  turn  out  with  vivacity  in  defense  of  the  country,
he  had  declared  to  the  world  that  New  Orleans  was  the
hive  out  of  which  would  swarm  an  army  of  conspira-

^laiborne  to  Wilkinson,  December  29,  1806;  Journal,  p.  396.
"Orleans  Gazette,  January  10,  1807.
