| 1795 Feb 26 |
Public sale of goods belonging to the succession of Carlos Peyroux which was conducted before Nicholas Maria Vidal, Lt. Governor, Auditor de Guerra and assessor. (P.P. 26/899) |
| 1797 |
Vidal complains in 1797 that a building being built by blacksmith Juan Dumaine between Vidal’s residence and the levee will be too noisy and cause him discomfort. Vidal next widened his complaint to include all buildings built on the levee since the 1788 fire and all persons who had served as sindico precurador general for not enforcing the building codes. This is ironic because later as Judge Advocate (auditor de guerra) he will be the main obstacle to prevent such enforcement. |
| 1799 |
The July 18, 1799 death of of Governor Gayoso begins an era of frustration for the Cabildo which contends with the duplicious Vidal (acting Civil governor) and Salcedo as governors. |
| 1799 July 18 |
Nicolas Maria Vidal becomes acting civil governor of Louisiana until the arrival of Manuel Juan de Salcedo on July 15, 1801. Vidal had been the colony’s judge advocate and lieutenant governor. His background in Columbia and the corruption of the reign of Carlos IV and his first secretary Godoy, as well as the factionalism in the Cabildo contribute to the decline of Louisiana at the end of the Spanish era. |
| 1799 |
Backed by the planters and the Cabildo, Vidal refuses to enforce a list of rules that Intendant Juan Ventura Morales has drawn up concerning the intendant's power to grant land. The governor has had this power until a royal edict granted it to the intendent while Gayoso was in office. The confusion that results lasts well into the American administration when many grants are taken to the courts. |
| 1799 |
Sindico Procurador General Pedro Barran reports that whites still attend black dances on Saturday nights, slaves used forged notes of permission and stole to dress well and gambling flourished in the municipal dance hall. His petition asks that the hall be closed or tough measures be used to stop abuses. The Cabildo confers with acting governor Vidal who refuses to act on the abuses. The councilors accepted in order to keep the theater open for the last half of the Carnival season believing that the dances would end when Lent began. When they did not the frustrated Barran asked for certified copies of the proceedings as evidence that his duty had been fulfilled. Without Vidal’s support the Cabildo could not stop the dances, when they canceled the concession in the city’s building Coquet purchases a building on Conti street where he resumes the dances. |
| 1800 April |
The Cabildo notes that building regulations to fire proof structures, particularly roofs. are neither complied with nor enforced. In addition new buildings are being built in restricted zones that do not comply. The Cabildo calls an extraordinary session to consider the subject, but a fight ensues with Vidal over its right to do so. Vidal finally yields to sindico procurador general Pedro Dulcido Barran and calls a session for May 26. The meeting only recognizes that noncompliance is the main problem and passes the decision on to Vidal to take action. He replied three weeks later that compliance would present a hardship no the residents who could not afford tile. He does order some shacks demolished before June of 1801. An appeal to the crown is drafted to enforce fire regulations, but nothing is done before the end of the Spanish era. |
| 1800 August |
Forty planters petition acting civil governor Vidal to renew the importation of bozales directly from Africa. Sindico Procurador General Pedro Barran leads the opposition in the Cabildo. He cites the lack of a fugitive slave fund and the abundance of fugitive slaves everywhere. The Cabildo votes to back him. In the end Vidal, Casa Calvo and Intendant Lopez decide that royal consent was not needed since the king had never validated Carondelet’s embargo of 1792. |
| 1800 |
Sindico Procurador General Pedro Barran asks the Cabildo to close several taverns that are out of control. Acting civil governor Vidal refuses to close down existing bars but will not issue any more licenses. |
| 1801 |
In 1801 Francisco La Rosa takes a contract and continues the dances in the public dance hall in spite of the lease requiring him not to. He probably received permission from acting civil governor Vidal to do so. |
| 1801 July 15 |
Manuel
Juan de Salcedo , a 58 year old colonel, arrives and assumes the office
of governor. Nicolas Maria Vidal has been acting civil governor of Louisiana
while the Marques de Casa-Calvo has been acting military governor of the
colony. Salcedo will be the last Spanish governor of Louisiana, serving until the transfer of the territory to France on November 30, 1803. His administration is actually run by a small clique consisting of his older son Domingo, Vidal and Lopez de Armesto which continued Vidal’s attitude of confrontation with the Cabildo. |
| 1801 |
The Cabildo notes that the city’s gutters are in a poor state of repair. The new meat and flour taxes are bringing in ample revenues so Vidal supports sindico procurador general Paul Lanusse’s opinion that they all needed to be rebuilt. The Cabildo again accepts responsibility for the gutters that the law still forbids them to repair. Wooden gutters are still being used and repaired through 1822 under American administration. |
| 1802 January |
January , 1802 is the climax of the theater box controversy. It began in the early 1790s with a feud between Nicolas Maria Vidal and Colonel Francisco Bouligny, the regimental commander. When governor Gayoso died in July 1799 the two men became acting civil and acting military governors of Louisiana. Under Gayoso the theater box had been divided by a partition: one part for the Cabildo and the other for the governor. To spite Bouligny when he became ill, Vidal has the partition removed and gives the entire box to the Cabildo. In 1802 Saledo orders the partition restored, retaining the larger section for the governor. The councilors became enraged and send Salcedo a formal protest. When he still refuses to budge they quit attending the theater and request an opinion from Jose Martinez de la Pedrera. The licenciado writes a letter of mock epic proportion, citing laws and precedents in defending the Cabildo’s right to the box. Salcedo follows Vidal’s advice and sends the entire controversy to his superiors in Havana, while the Cabildo appeals to the Council of the Indies. What began as a petty squabble contributes to the decline in morale and power of the Cabildo. |
| 1802 |
Governor Salcedo imposes the only two vetoes over the Cabildo during the Spanish era. The weakened Cabildo realized it could not obtain good advise from government council Vidal, so it hired Jose Martinez as its own licenciado. Governor Salcedo arrested and deported the lawyer for trial. The audiencia in Puerto Principe acquitted Martinez and ordered him to be paid. His other veto was against payment for another lawyer to represent Martinez in Puerta Principe. The money had been sent previous to his veto and the audiencia decided in favor of the Cabildo again. |
| 1803 October |
Judge Advocate Nicolas Maria Vidal informs the post commandant of Pointe Coupee not to permit the charivari for any reason. Although the prohibition may have extended to New Orleans it is never enforced this late in the Spanish period. |