In the spring of 1789 they proposed to Gardoqui to enter into an agreement somewhat similar to the one he had made with Morgan.

But they named as the spot where they wished to settle the lands on the east bank of the Mississippi, in the neighborhood of the Yazoo, and they urged as a reason for granting the lands that they were part of the territory in dispute between Spain and the United States, and that the new settlers would hold them under the Spanish King, and would defend them against the Americans.

[Footnote: Gardoqui MSS., Gardoqui to Floridablanca, June 29, 1789.] This country was claimed by, and finally awarded to, the United States, and claimed by the State of Georgia in particular.

It was here that the adventurers proposed to erect a barrier State which should be vassal to Spain, one of the chief purposes of the settlement being to arrest the Americans' advance.

They thus deliberately offered to do all the damage they could to their own country, if the foreign country would give them certain advantages.