USA > Louisiana > Sketches, historical and descriptive, of Louisiana > Part 22
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The contador, treasurer, interventor, auditor, and as- sessor, were officers subordinate to the intendant, and . particularly attached to the department of finance. They derived their appointments from the crown ; and from the nature of their respective duties they served as checks on each other. A certain share or portion of every transac- tion devolved on each, and therefore in case of a vacancy the public business of the department was in a manner suspended till a new appointment took place. The first kept all the accounts and documents relative to the re- ceipts and expenditures of the public revenue. The se- cond was the receiver and keeper of all public monies. The third superintended all public purchases, as also the making of all public contracts. The fourth was solicitor for the crown, and obliged from the nature of his office to furnish the governor general with legal advice in all matters relating to the civil or military departments. The fifth was also solicitor for the crown ; but his functions were limited to transactions of a fiscal nature. There was likewise an administrator attached to the same depart- ment, and the official drudgery of the custom-house was
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confided to his management. He was allowed several clerks, all of whom were commissioned by the crown.
In addition to these tribunals, an ecclesiastical one ex -.. isted, which took cognizance of all matters appertaining to religion and the church. The inquisition was once at- tempted to be introduced into Louisiana; but the mea- sure was so unpopular as to oblige the inquisitors to aban- don the province.
The district commandants, and other inferior magis- trates, usually held their offices during good behavior ; though they were sometimes obliged to yield them to fa- vorites, or to men of superior qualifications. Merit was generally consulted in all the appointments made by the crown, though other motives equally honorable sometimes · prevailed ; and the mention of one instance must suffice for the rest. The last lieutenant governor of Upper Louisia- na was a Frenchman by birth, and an officer in the Spanish guards. IIis aged father and mother, educated in ease and affluence, had been despoiled of their property in the French revolution ; they were even obliged to abandon their country, and to seek shelter in the wilds of Louisia- na. Their son solicited an appointment of such a nature . as to enable him to contribute to their support; and he solicited not in vain : By the avails of his office he in some measure rewarded parental affection, and soothed the last days of the two objects the most dear to him.
Notwithstanding the formalities observed by the judici- al authorities in all litigated cases of consequence ; yet justice on ordinary occasions was speedily administered. In processes on bonds it was common to obtain execution in four days, and on notes in the same time, if the promisers acknowledged them, or their signatures were proved. But these authorities by their judgments or de- crees often suspended payments much longer than was consistent with the terms of specialties and other con-
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tracts, particularly when the creditors were able to wait without material injury, and the debtors not in a situation to cancel the demands against them without a great sacri- fice of property. This indulgent maxim adorns the pa- ges of the civil law.
Both real and personal estate were liable to be seized and sold on execution. It was allowable to expose them to sale in nine days after the levy, provided they were re- gularly advertized during that time at three conspicuous places in the neighborhood. It was, however, necessary to appraise both species of property taken in execution before it could be sold; and no sale was permitted, un- less for a sum equal to half of the appraised value.
In Upper Louisiana the legal fees of office on notes and bonds, and other undisputed claims, even to judgment and execution, never exceeded four dollars.
The summary mode of justice created a much greater degree of punctuality in the payment of debts than is es- tablished in any part of the United States ; and this was particularly useful in a country almost destitute of specie, where peltry was the medium of trade, and where credits were necessary and common. The change produced by the operation of the laws of the United States, the dilato- ry proceedings of our courts, the introduction of the trial by jury, and the expenses of legal contests, gave a tempo- rary check to trade, and to the credit of merchants, par- ticularly in Upper Louisiana. Experience led them to believe, that the Spanish mode of decision, grounded on equitable laws, was much the most wise and salutary ; and they murmured at a system calculated to produce delays, and in many instances to create expenses equal in amount to the sums demanded. They preferred the judgment of one man to that of twelve ; and it is but justice to observe, that their judicial officers were in most instances upright and impartial in their decisions.
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Upper Louisiana was always destitute of a circulating medium : Specie, indeed, was a rare article in that coun- try. This may be attributed to its distance from the sea board and the markets, to the low state of its agriculture, and to the nature of its trade. Remittances were made in peltry, lead, and some provisions ; but as the value of these did not exceed that of the imports, no specie was put in circulation by commerce. The lead and salt sent up the Ohio and its waters were exchanged for castings, whiskey, iron, steel, and some other indispensable articles ; and this barter trade, whatever were the benefits of it, served not to augment the quantity of specie. Even the public officers and troops received their pay of the tra- ders, generally in foreign produce, in exchange for bills drawn on the treasury at New Orleans. This deficiency of money induced the government to consider peltry as .' the medium of trade, and as a legal tender in the payment of debts, except in cases where it infringed the express stipulation of the parties. The Spanish laws not only 'sanctioned, but coerced the specific performance of con- tracts, and on this principle all judicial determinations, at least in Upper Louisiana, were grounded. A note, for in-
· stance, of one hundred dollars was payable in peltry, un- less it expressly stipulated, that the payment should be in Spanish milled dollars. The specification in contracts. was the more necessary, as one silver dollar was always deemed equal to one dollar and twenty five cents in peltry. If a man bound himself to deliver certain articles, or to . execute a certain work, the judiciary decreed the exact performance of the contract; and in case the debtor. ne- glected or refused to comply with the decree, the creditor, had a right to engage a third person to perform the con- tract at the expense of the original obligee or promiser, or to recover a sum equal to the damages sustained.
Perhaps in no country were aggravated crimes more . rare than in Louisiana. The contrary of this might have
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been expected from the different languages, religions, and customs of the people : especially from the constant ac- cession of various descriptions of new settlers. Two rea- sons may be assigned for this general exemption from crimes. The first is, that the Creole inhabitants were ra- ther peaceable in their dispositions, perhaps the more so as they were educated in the habits of obedience to the laws, which seldom suffered the guilty to escape with im- punity. Besides, the French attached much more dis- grace to punishments than any other people ; and perhaps this circumstance imposed some restraint on their actions. The second is, that the terrors of the magistrate, the frightful apprehension of the Mexican mines, and the ` dungeons of the Havanna, added to the supposed antipa- thy of the government to all strangers, awed the settlers from the United States into submission, and produced an uncommon degree of subordination among them.
Nor were punishments more rigorous than is consistent with the safety of governments, and the preservation of order in civil communities. For offences under the de- gree of capital the laws doomed the offenders to imprison- ment, or to the stocks, and to the payment of costs, except when detected in carrying on a contraband trade, or in vi- olating the revenue laws ; and then they were liable to be put on board the gallies, in the mines, or on the public works, sometimes for life, but generally for a term of years. Treason, murder, arson, and the robbery of the public treasury, were pronounced by the laws to be capi- tal offences. Many unhappy wretches convicted of these crimes remained in prison a long time after they received the sentence of death ; probably in consequence of the ten- derness or dilatory caution of the tribunal in the island of Cuba. Only four crimes were declared capital by the laws, and few states in the union can boast of so small a number of this description. The punishments already mentioned for offences under the degree of capital, were
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not much more rigorous than those experienced in our common prisons, penitentiaries, and other houses of cor- rection.
The laws made ample provision for appeals both in ci- vil and criminal cases. The party aggrieved had a right to appeal to the decision of a superior tribunal, if demanded within five days from the date of the objectionable decree -or sentence. In Upper Louisiana, appeals lay from the decisions of the district commandants, and other inferior magistrates, to the lieutenant governor, and from thence to the governor general. This last mentioned officer re- ceived and decided all prosecutions and causes, which came before him by way of appeal from the inferior tri- bunals in Lower Louisiana. The intendant general and his sub-delegates exercised similar prerogatives in the de- partment of finance. From the decisions of these two great. officers of the government, appeals lay in the first instance to separate tribunals in the island of Cuba, and from thence to the council of the Indies in Spain.
This council, of so much dignity and consequence in the Spanish government, was founded as early as 1511. The conquest of America suggested the necessity of laws and regulations different from those of Spain, and particularly adapted to the circumstances of the new world; and the necessity of confiding the complicated concerns of the colonies to a separate and distinct administration was e- , qually apparent. Hence the origin of the council of the Indies, generally composed of men who had faithfully dis- charged honorable trusts in America, or were well ac- quainted with American affairs. This council ever kept in view the union of the provinces with the mother coun- try ; and its wisdom was successfully directed to this end. The laws and regulations by which they were governed, emanated from it. The decisions of this tribunal were always held in the highest respect, and the whispers of complaint were never uttered against its integrity.
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From this statement it is natural to conclude, that ap- peals, if carried to the tribunal of the last resort, were at- tended with great expense and delay. Most of the ex- pense, however, arose in the first stages of litigated cau- - ses ; and although some of them remained undecided for many years, yet this was more owing to the legal indul- gence claimed by the parties, than to any disposition in the tribunals to postpone their decisions. Professional characters were seldom employed, except in preparing causes for trial. Forensic disputations were excluded from the Spanish tribunals ; and their judicial determina- tions resulted wholly from the written evidence laid be- fore them, and from the known laws of the kingdom.
In all civil causes where appeals were made from the decisions of the: lieutenant governor of Upper Louisiana, the persons claiming them were obliged to pay the oppo- site parties the full amount of the sums decreed against them; and bonds were given to refund the sums thus paid in case the decrees were ultimately reversed. This re- gulation was partly intended to prevent litigious and vexa- tious appeals for the purposes of delay, and partly to shield the poor from the oppression of the rich ; and it had the desired effect. Appeals were not common; and those who made them could have no other object in view than the reversal of erroneous judgments.
. It was the policy of the Spanish government to discou- rage political enquiry, and to keep the people in a great measure ignorant of the laws by which they were govern- ed. The governor and intendants general were authoriz- ed to devise and publish such ordinances and decrees, not inconsistent with the established policy of the provincial system, as were necessary in their respective departments. An ordinance relative to dowry, and the descent and dis- tribution of estates ab intestato, and another relative to the grants and concessions of lands, prescribing the quantities allowed to settlers, and the formalities requisite to obtain
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complete titles, were almost the only ones of a general na- ture ever promulgated by them. If they now and then furnished their subordinates with written instructions, the effects produced by them were very inconsiderable, and not always conformable to the fundamental maxims of the laws.
The public revenue in Louisiana arose from several sources. The custom-house received a duty of six per centum on the value of all shipping transferred from one individual to another. 'Those who received legacies or inheritances from collaterals, of the value of two thousand dollars, were obliged to pay a tax of two per centum ; and a tax of four per centum was assessed on all legacies or inheritances given to strangers. Those who received sa- laries from the government, exceeding three hundred dollars per annum, paid a tax ; as also all those who ac- quired venal ofices. All vessels of whatever size paid a pilotage of twenty dollars, seven of which went into the public treasury. Each person licenced to sell ardent spi- rits paid an annual tax or duty of forty dollars in Lower Louisiana, and thirty dollars in Upper Louisiana. The annual amount of these duties and taxes was only about six thousand dollars.
On all goods or other articles, either imported or ex- ported, a duty of six per centum was charged; and the annual avails of this branch of the public revenue amount- ed to about one hundred and twenty thousand dollars. The annual expenses of the government may be comput- ed at about six hundred and fifty thousand dollars ; so that a deficiency arose of about five hundred and twenty four thousand dollars. This was in part supplied by an annu- al remittance of four hundred thousand dollars from La vera Cruz. The remainder was balanced by certificates, which became current in market, and which were usually purchased at a discount of twenty five or thirty per cen- tum ; and it is said on good authority, that some of the
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officers in the department of finance became the holders of them to a large amount. The public debt still due is estimated at about four hundred and fifty thousand dol- lars. Provision was made several years before the ces- sion for the redemption of these certificates; but the · funds appropriated for the purpose were ultimately appli- ed to other and different objects.
These are some of the outlines of the Spanish govern- ment in Louisiana ; only the prominent features of it have been attempted, and even those we have suggested are ve- ry-imperfect. " To form an adequate conception of its structure, its parts, and mutual relations, and to delineate all the forms and maxims established for the administra- tion of the laws, would require more labor than is consist- ent with the nature of this work, or with the ability of the author.
We must not too severely condemn the provincial sys- tems of the Spaniards, because they differ from our own, and because they appear to us defective and incongruous. We must remember, that all good governments are prac- tical, not merely theoretic ; and that we can only form a correct opinion of their fitness or inutility from the effects they produce. Our present government, both in practice and theory, is the best for us; but it does not from thence follow, that the same kind of government is calculated to .promote the happiness of other nations. The difference among them is not less than that among the individuals of society ; each labors under disadvantages peculiar to it- self. No two of them correspond in their pursuits and wants ; they vary still more in their educations, habits, manners, and dispositions ; nor are they alike exposed to the same physical evils. Some are prone to war, to licen- tiousness, and to a contempt of all moral and legal re- straints; who estimate no glory equal to that of con- quest, and no riches equal in value to those obtained by plunder and rapine. These require governments essen-
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tially different from those, whose local situations protect them from foreign danger, and whose educations, tempers, habits, and pursuits, naturally incline them to seek repose in peace, and to yield obedience to equitable and necessa- `ry laws.
In fine, it is a fundamental truth in politics, though sel- dom regarded, that nations ought to exist under such go-, vernments, whatever be their forms, as are calculated to confer the greatest sum of general happiness on the peo- ple. If the views of statesmen and legislators were guid- ed by this truth, we should witness almost as many forms - of government as there are nations on the globe, and preg- nant with all the various principles between the two ex- tremes of liberty and despotism. The best and wisest governments are enumerated among the evils of our con- dition. 'These are endured, and even cherished and sup- ported on the principle, that they serve to exempt man- kind from those of greater magnitude.
- Most of the celebrated writers on government were de- ceived by their own plausible theories, and this deception has multiplied the political errors of mankind. They la- bored more to define and illustrate abstract principles than . to discover and suggest practical truths ; mure to frame general theories, applicable only to superior orders of in- telligences, than to apply specific remedies to the particu- lar evils incident to different societies. 'They considered mankind what they wished them to be, not what nature made them. Hence a wonderful mass of political error exists, and actual experiment only is capable of erasing it from the minds of men.
The United States framed a government for themselves in a time of profound peace. No jealous power existed, either within or without capable of obstructing their views, or of disturbing their deliberations. They were at liber- ty to pursue the dictates of their own wisdom, and to e- rect their political fabric on such foundations as appeared
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the most likely to render it permanent, and to afford the greatest sum of general happiness and prosperity to the nation. If the result of their joint wisdom and labors be a monarchy, as Dr. Priestley maintains, the experience of twenty years has not persuaded us to reject it. '
The ancients had no adequate conception of represen- tative governments. If they had their legislative and ex- ecutive tribunals, both relative and hereditary, under the denomination of senates, tribunes, archons, ephori, cosmi, and the like ; yet the duration of their offices, the fluctua- tion and undefined nature of their authority, and the want of co-ordinate branches to review, modify, and even to arrest the hasty and intemperate measures of each other, served only to nourish the seeds of perpetual discord, and - to render public liberty insecure. The separation and distribution of governmental powers, as practised in mo- dern times, were unknown to them. A cursory view of their history will convince us, that they were destitute of stability, virtue, and political knowledge, the most essen- tial requisites in all representative governments, without which they cannot be framed or supported.
The Greeks and Romans were the most enlightened people of antiquity ; yet during the many ages of their existence they never aimed at the establishment of regular governments. They exhibited a strange versatility of cha- racter. In times of public danger they rallied round their sages and heroes ; they invested them with supreme au- thority ; they implicitly yielded to their counsels; and perhaps they were never so happy and prosperous as when they submitted to the sovereign dictates of their rulers. The transitions from war to peace produced a change in their conduct. They became impatient of legal restraint ; they were not disposed to yield a permanent obedience to the laws ; they murmured at whatever obstructed the in- dulgence of their licentious passions ; and they even incar- cerated, banished, or immolated their best patriots and .
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statesmen ; so that the exercise of any description of pow- er among them was always precarious, and often danger- ous.
On a variety of occasions, particularly in time of peace, those ancient people were divided into parties and factions by their restless and ambitious demagogues. The wild and extravagant excesses exhibited by all classes, the mur- ders, proscriptions, and other violences, to which they were led by the most brutal passions, were in some mea- sure intenerated by their perfection in the arts, and by the blaze of their victories and triumphs. The fact appears to be, that they were totally destitute of political virtue and knowledge ; and that governments of a strong texture, unshackled by representation, were the best calculated to promote their happiness.
The same remark will apply with equal force to many - modern nations. Those in the north of Europe are inca- pable of any other than monarchic governments ; and hap- py it is for them, if they find the extensive power of their monarchs tempered by mercy, and directed by wisdom. . Even France, one of the most enlightened nations on the globe, struggled to establish a government on the broad basis of civil liberty, and failed in the experiment. The people of that country waded in blood to the throne ; they were never able to find the object of their wishes ; and, as if fatigued with the pursuit, they resolved to repose themselves under a military despotism. How much more . enviabe is their present condition than it was at any pe- riod of their disastrous revolution ! Perhaps the Spanish provinces on our borders are still chained by the sentence of nature to the same melancholy grade, where they will probably repose, till some terrible convulsion elevates them amid seas of blood to the fruition of a more prosperous destiny. All this shews, that some nations derive the greatest sum of general happiness from the arbitrary dic-
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and prosperity under the wisdom and energies of deriva- tive authority.
Let us not, then, pass judgment on the Spanish colonial systems, unless we found it on the situation and character of the people. Among these are Spaniards, Creoles, Ab- originals, a vast variety of mixed breeds, forming no less than seven distinct casts, and strangers from all parts of the world, from civilized as well as barbarous nations. Most of those who compose this crude and heterogeneous assemblage, are extemely ignorant, and capable only of a blind obedience. Yet they are -apparently the happiest people on earth. The taxes and contributions levied on them are not exorbitant ; very little labor supplies their { wants ; and most of them are unacquainted with those luxuries and expenses, which modern times have render- ed fashionable. Their moral principles also are extreme- ly debauched, and their intercourse with each other is marked by the most corrupt profligacy of manners. Those who believe these people capable of self-government are much deceived. They have a very inadequate conception of human nature as it is displayed in the Spanish colonies.
These observations are by no means applicable to the Louisianians. The French always preserved their inte- grity, their decency, and moral principles; though they lost most of their industry, and nearly all their knowledge. Hence the theory and administration of their government were in most respects as perfect as their situation and cir- cumstances would allow. At any rate, they were satisfi- ed with their allotment, and never sighed for a political change. This maxim cannot be too often repeated, that nothing experimentally wrong in politics, is true ; and that every thing practically injurious, is politically false.
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