The French settlements extended up the Mississippi, embracing both sides of that river above the mouth of Red River, which discharges into the former in the thirty-first degree of north latitude.  The river from the mouth of the Bayou Manshac, which left the river fourteen miles below Baton Rouge, on the east side, up to the thirty-first degree of north latitude, was the boundary line between West Florida and Louisiana.  Above this point the French claimed jurisdiction on both sides; but Georgia disputed this jurisdiction over the east bank, and claimed to own from the thirty-first to the thirty-sixth degree of latitude.  There were many settlements made by Americans upon this territory at a very early day,—­one at Natchez, one at Fort Adams, and several on the Tombigbee, the St. Stephens, at McIntosh’s Bluff, and on Bassett’s Creek.  These settlements formed the nucleus of an American population in the States of Mississippi and Alabama.  The lands bordering upon these rivers and their tributaries were known to be exceedingly fertile, and proffered inducements to settlers unequalled in all the South.  Speculation was very soon directed to these regions.  A company was formed of citizens of Georgia and Virginia for the purchase of an immense tract of territory, including most of what is now Mississippi and Alabama.  This company was known as the Georgia Company, and the territory as the Yazoo Purchase.  It was a joint-stock company, and managed by trustees or directors.  The object was speculation.  It was intended to purchase from Georgia this domain, then to survey it and subdivide it into tracts to suit purchasers.  Parties were delegated to make this purchase:  this could only be done by the Legislature and by special act passed for that purpose.  The proposition was made, and met with formidable opposition.  The scheme was a gigantic one and promised great results, and the parties concerned were bold and unscrupulous.  They very soon ascertained that means other than honorable to either party must be resorted to to secure success.  The members to be operated upon were selected, and the company’s agents began the work.  Enough was made, by donations of stock and the direct payment of money by those interested in the scheme, to effect the passage of the Act and secure the contract of purchase and sale.  The opposition denied the power of the Legislature to sell; asserting that the territory was sacred to the people of the State, and that those, in selecting their representatives, had never contemplated delegating any such powers as would enable them to dispose by sale of any part of the public domain; that it was the province of the Legislature, under the Constitution, to pass laws for the general good alone, and not to barter or sell any portion of the territory of the State to be separated from the domain and authority of the State.  They insisted that the matter should be referred to the people, who at the next election of members to the Legislature should declare their will and intention as to this sale.