This address was signed by upwards of five hundred persons and at the meeting of the council on the very next day it was, contrary to the warnings of Aubry, accepted. The excitement of the people, when they heard this good news, was indescribable. The French colors appeared in the public square and veteran pioneers of the colony, women and children crowded around to kiss the cherished flag of the much beloved mother country. Nine hundred men pressed around the flag pole when it was about to be raised, eager to lend a hand in what was to them a sacred function, and men, women and children began to cry: "Vive le roi de France! Nul autre que lui pour nous!" This clamorous demonstration manifested to Ulloa the will of the people; and when they proceeded to elect their town officials, he abandoned the attempt of establishing Spanish rule in Louisiana. He set sail for Havana, and through his representatives sent the news of these events to Spain. That incident was so significant of the spirit of the times that Du Chatelet wrote to Choiseul: "The success of the people of New Orleans in driving away the Spaniards is a good example for the English colonies; may they set about following it." For at this very time the British colonies of America were entering upon their struggle for deliverance from restrictions upon trade as symbolized in the stamp act and the atmosphere upon the continent was rife with revolution. While the statesmen of France and even some of England were inclined to grant greater freedom of commerce, Spain still lagged behind. She had been the champion of the protective system for centuries, and though it had not added to her wealth, on the contrary, had helped to impoverish her, she was unwilling to depart from the time-honored policy. Grimaldi, the Spanish minister, thus set forth the stand which Spain was to take in this question: "Besides, the position and strength of the countries occupied by the Americans excite a just alarm for the rich Spanish possessions on their borders. Their interlopers have already introduced their grain and rice into our colonies. If this should be legalized and extended to other objects, it would increase the prosperity of a neighbor already too formidable. Moreover, this neighbor, if it should separate from the metropolis, would assume the republican form of government; and a republic is a government dangerous from the wisdom, the consistency, and the solidity of the measures which it would adopt for executing such projects of conquests as it would naturally form." This fear of a republic in Louisiana haunted the king of Spain and his cabinet and after discussing the question of returning it to France, it was almost unanimously agreed that Louisiana was needed "as a granary for Havana and Puerto Rico, a precaution against French contraband trade and a barrier to keep off the English encroachments." The Duke of Alva said, in a spirit true to his namesake of two centuries before: