USA > Louisiana > The history of Louisiana : from the earliest period, Volume II > Part 19
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The letter concluded by requesting a precise and speedy answer to the preceding inquiries, and an assurance that, if certain of the governor's support, the judge should forthwith punish, as the law directs, the contempt offered to his court: on the other hand, should the governor not think it practicable or proper
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to afford his aid, the court and its officers would no longer remain exposed to the contempt or insults of a man. whom they were un" ble to punish or resist.
The legislature met on the twelfth of January. Two days after, general Adair arrived in the city, from Tennessee, and reported he had left Burr at Nashville, on the twenty-second of December, with two flat boats, destined for New-Orleans. In the afternoon of the day of Adair's arrival, the hotel at which he had stopped was invested by one hundred and twenty men, under lieutenant colonel Kingsbury, accompanied by one of Wilkinson's aids Adair was dragged from the dining table, and conducted to head quarters, where he was put in confinement. They beat to arms through the streets, the battalion of the volunteers of Orleans, and a part of the regular troops, paraded through the city, and Workman, Kerr and Bradford were arrested and confined. Wilkinson ordered the latter to be released. and the two former were liberated on the following day, on a writ of habeas corpus, issued by the district judge of the United States. Adair was secreted until an oppor- tunity offered to ship him away.
Accounts arrived a few days after, that Burr was at Bayou Pierre, a little above the city of Natchez, with fourteen boats. He had been joined, at the mouth of Cumberland river, by a dozen boats, that had descended the Ohio ; there were from eighty to one hundred men with him. and he had about forty stand of arms.
Claiborne made an ineffectual attempt to induce the legislature to pass an act for the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus. The draft of a memorial to be presented to congress, by the territorial legislature, was introduced in its lower house; the object of it
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was to place the conduct of Wilkinson in its true light, before the national council. After an animated debate, which lasted during several days, the memo- rial was rejected by a majority of seven out of twenty- one members.
On the twenty-eighth, advices were received from Natchez, that on the fifteenth. Claiborne, colonel of the militia of the Mississippi territory, had marched at the head of a large detachment towards the part of the river at which Burr had stopped; that Burr had written to the secretary of the territory, who exercised the functions of governor, that he was ready to sur- render him .elf to the civil authority ; that the secre- tary had met him, and they had rode together to Natchez, where Burr gave bond for his appearance before the territorial court, at its next term. He, however, left the territory, and the governor issued a proclamation, offering a reward of two thousand dollars for his apprehension.
In the latter part of that month, Burling, who had been sent by Wilkinson to Mexico, returned. The viceroy had not been the dupe of Wilkinson's ruse, and gave a very cold reception to his messenger, who was strictly watched, and permitted to stay but a : short time in the country.
Lieutenant Swann, who had been sent to Jamaica, came back about the same time. Admiral Drake observed to Wilkinson, that from the style and man- ner in which the communication he had received was written, he was at a loss how to answer it; but he begged him to be assured that British ships of war would never be employed in any improper service, and that he should ever be ready most cheerfully to obey the orders of his sovereign. Sir Eyre Coote trusted and sincerely believed that the representation
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made to Wilkinson was totally groundless, as his letter contained the only intelligence received on the subject.
Workman resigned his office, finding that Clai- borne paid no attention to his communications.
Towards the middle of March, Burr was arrested near fort Stoddart, and plac d under a strong guard, by whom he was conveyed to Richmond, in Virginia, where he was admitted to bail.
Lieutenant Wilkinson, who had accompanied Pike up the Missouri, now reached New-Orleans. In his report, dated the sixth of April, he stated that the Osage Indians had been left in their village, about the fifteenth of August; after which, Pike's party traced the Osage river to its source, and reached the towns of the Pawnces, on the twenty-fifth of September. These Indians had lately been visited by a body of armed Spaniards, from Santa Fe. The flag of Spain was waving over their council room. Pike induced them to substitute that of the United States to it. Proceeding thence, westward, the party came to the Arkansas river, on the fifteenth of October. After a short halt, the lieutenant was detatched, with five men, down the stream, :o explore the country, and float down to the Misissippi. Pike and the rest of the party, sat out for the source of Red river.
The legislature adjourned towards the end of April, after having passed several very important acts. The county courts were abolished : a court was established in each parish, the judge of which was ex-officio judge of probates, and acted as clerk, sheriff and notary. It having been found, that annual sessions of the superior court, out of New-Orleans, were inconvenient, semi- annual ones were directed to be holden at Lafourche,
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THE THIRTEENTH.
1807]
Pointe Coupec, Alexandria, Opelousas and Attakapas. The number of members of the house of representa- tives was fixed at twenty-five: six of these were to represent the county of Orleans; the counties of Ger- man Coast, Acadie, Lafourche, Iberville, Pointe Coupee, Rapides, Opelousas and Attakapas, were to send two members each; and one was to come from each of those of Concordia, Washita and Natchitoches. The territory was divided into nineteen parishes.
Wilkinson sailed to Virginia, towards the middle of May, for the purpose of attending Burr's trial, in Richmond.
On the first of July, Pike reached Natchitoches. We have seen, that he had sent a small detachment from his party down the Arkansas river, in October. " From thence, he had travelled westwardly, and rambled throughout the rocky mountains, till the beginning of the new year, when he reached a branch of the Rio del Norte, which he mistook for one of those of Red river. He was overtaken by two Spanish officers and one hundred men, sent by don Joachim Allencaster, who commanded at Santa Fe. The officers, at the head of the Spanish party, were sent to escort Pike and his party to that city. from whence, he was informed, they would be conducted, by the most direct route to the navigable waters of Red river, which they would descend to Natchitoches. Although dubious of the sincerity of this invitation, and believing he was in a situation to defend himself, as long as his provisions lasted, or till an opportunity offered of escaping by night; yet, mindful of the pacific disposition of the government of the United States, and of his instructions in case he recounoitered a party of Spanish troops, he determined on complying with don Joachim's request.
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On his arrival at Santa Fe, he was informed that. don Nemesio de Salcedo, the captain general of the interior provinces. had given orders that he should be sent, with his men, to the city of Chihuahua, in the province of Biscay, the residence of the captain general, He, accordingly, left Santa Fe, on the second day after his arrival, and reached Chihuahua on the twentieth of April.
Here, he was compelled to open his trunk, in pre- sence of don Nemesio and an Irishman, in the service of Spain. All his official papers, his correspondence with Wilkinson, his diary, the notes he had taken on the geology, topography and climate of the country, and the Indian tribes he had visited, were seized and detained. He was supplied with money, guides and an escort, and set off for Natchitoches, three days after his arrival at Chihuahua.
In a letter, which Salcedo gave him for Wilkinson, he observed, that the latter could not be ignorant of the repeated representations made by the Spanish minister at Philadelphia, and by the marquis de Casa Calvo, while he was in Louisiana, warning the govern- ment of the United States, from extending its expedi- ttons into territories unequivocally belonging to the Catholic king. He added that, the papers, taken from Pike, afforded evident and incontestible proof of his being guilty of a direct violation of the territorial rights of the crown of Spain, which would have justified his . detention, and that of every individual accompanying him, as prisoners; but a desire to give the utmost latitude to the system of harmony and good under- standing, subsisting between the two governments, and a hope that such measures would be taken by the offi- cers of the United States, as would prevent any ill con-
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sequences, resulting from the moderation of those of Spain, had induced him to detain, in the archives of the captainship . general, all the papers Pike had presented, and permit him and his party to return. home.
Wilkinson-Archives .- Gazettes. -
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CHAPTER XIV.
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Court of inquiry on Wilkinson's conduct .- Clark's staic- ment .- Legislature .- Civil Code -Hostile appearan- ces .- Troops ordered to New-Orleans .- Wilkinson sent to command them .- Canal Carondelet .- James Madison .- Great migration from Cuba .- Camp at Terre aux Bœufs .-- Sickness among the troops .-- Their removal to the Mississippi territory .- Terrible mortality .- Clark's pamphlet .-- Wilkinson ordered to Washington City .- Hampton takes the command .- Legislature .- Claiborne's departure .--- Robertson .- The Spanish garrison driven from Baton Rouge .- Skipwith .- Proclamation of the President of the Uni- ted States .- Claiborne's return .- He takes possession of St. Francisville and Baton Rouge .- Parishes of Feliciana, East Baton Rouge, St. Helena and St. Tammany .- Insurrection among the negroes -Legis- laturc .- The inhabitants of the territory authorised to form a state constitution.
A motion being made on the twenty-fifth of Decem- ber, 1807, in the house of representatives of the Uni- ted States, that the president be requested to institute an inquiry into the conduct of Wilkinson, who was suspected of being a pensioner of Spain, he, on the second of January, made application for a court of inquiry, and one was accordingly ordered to assem- ble.
A short time after, Clark, the delegate of the terri- tory of Orleans, delivered to the house, under the sanction of his oath, a statement of several transac-
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tions, which had come to his knowledge, within the preceding twenty years, strongly implicating Wilkin- son's conduct, as a pensioner of Spain and an accom- plice of Burr.
The second territorial legislature began its second session, on the eighth of January. The professional gentlemen, who had been appointed in in 1805, to prepare a civil and criminal code, Moreau Lislet and Brown, reported "a digest of the civil laws now in force in the territory of Orleans, with alterations and amendments adapted to the present form of govern- ment." Although the Napoleon code was promul- gated in 1801, no copy of it had as yet reached New- Orleans: and the gentlemen availed themselves of the project of that work, the arrangement of which they adopted, and mutatis mutandis literally transcribed a considerable portion of it. Their conduct was certainly praiseworthy ; for, although the project is ne- cessarily much more imperfect than the code, it was far superior to any thing, that any two individuals could have produced, carly enough, to answer the expectations of those who employed them. Their labor would have been much more beneficial to the people, than it has proved, if the legislature to whom it was submitted, had given it their sanction as a system, intended to stand by itself, and be construed by its own context, by repealing all former laws on matters acted upon in this digest.
Anterior laws were repealed, so far only, as they were contrary to, or irreconcileable with any of the provisions of the new. This would have been the case, if it had not been expressed.
In practice, the work was used, as an incomplete digest of existing statutes, which still retained their empire; an'd their exceptions and modifications were
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held to affect several clauses, by which former princi- ples were absolutely stated. Thus, the people found a decov, in what was held out as a beacon.
The Fuero Viejo, Fuero Juezgo, Partidas, Recop- ilationes, Leves de las Indias, Autos Accordados and Royal schedules remained parts of the written law of the territory, when not repealed expressly or by a necessary implication.
Of these musty laws the copies were extremely rare; : a complete collection of them was in the hands of no one, and of very many of them, not a single copy ex- isted in the province.
To explain them, Spanish commentators were con- sulted and the corpus juris civilis and its own com- mentators were resorted to; and to eke out any defi- ciency, the lawyers who came from France or His- paniola read Pothier, d'guesseau, Dumoulin, &c.
Courts of justice were furnished with interpreters, of the French, Spanish and English languages; these translated the evidence and the charge of the court, when necessary, but not the arguments of the counsel. The case was often opened in the English language, and then the jurymen, who did not understand the counsel, were indulged with leave to withdraw from the box into the gallery. The defence, being in French, they were recalled and the indulgence shewn to them was enjoyed by their companions, who were strangers to that language. All went together into the jury room; each contending, the argument he had listen- ed to was conclusive, and they finally agreed on a verdict, in the best manner they could.
Among the most useful acts that were passed, at this session, was one for the establishment of a school in each parish.
'The court of inquiry on Wilkinson's conduct did not terminate its investigation, till the month of June, -
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1808]
its report was in favor of the general, and was ap- proved of by the president of the United States.
In the fall, the foreign relations of the union assum- ed an aspect, which produced a general impression, that a rupture with Great Britain was neither improb- able nor distant, and the executive received informa- tion, that the disposable force at Halifax, was held in. readiness to serve in the West Indies, or take possession of New-Orleans, (should the forces of the United States move northerly) and keep that city as an equivalent for what might be lost in Can- ada. :
Accordingly, on the second of November, the se- cretary of war directed Wilkinson to take measures, without delay, for assembling at New-Orleans and its vicinity, as large a portion of the regular troops, as circumstances would allow. The third, fifth and seventh regiments, with a battalion, composed of four companies of the sixth and the companies of light dragoons, light arrillery and riflemen, raised in the states south of New-Jersey, were destined to the ser- vice and the general was instructed to make arrange- ments for reaching New-Orleans in order to take the command of the forces in that department, as soon as possible, and to make such a disposition of them, as would most effectually enable him to defend the country against an invading foe. He was authorised, in case of necessity, to call on the executives of the territories of Orleans and Mississippi, for such parts of their militia, as might be wanted.
Ile embarked at Baltimore on the twenty-fourth of January, 1809, and touched at Annapolis, Norfolk and Charleston to accelerate the motions of the troops in those places, and sailed to Havana, on a special mission to the captain general of the island of Cuba.
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On the ninth of February, congress passed an act authorising the president of the United to cause the canal Carondelet to be extended to the Mississippi and deepened throughout, so as to admit of an early and safe passage to gun boats from the river to the lake, if on a survey he should be convinced, that this was practicable and would conduce to the defence of New Orleans, and an appropriation of twenty-five thousand dollars was made therefor.
On the fourth of March, James Madison succeeded Jefferson, in the presidency of the United States.
Wilkinson, on his return from Havana, stopped at Pensacola, and reached New-Orleans on the nineteeth of April.
'The force which he found in that city was a little less than two thousand men, and one third of it was on the sick list. He spent some time in in reconnoitring the country around, in search of a spot, from which the troops might readily be brought into action, in case of an attack, and in which they might, in the mean- while, enjoy as much health and comfort, as the climate would allow; his choice fell on an elevated piece of ground, on the left bank of the Mississippi, . about eight miles below the city, near the point at which the road leading to the settlements of Terre aux Bœufs leaves that which runs along the river.
Between the nineteenth of May and the eighteenth of July of this year, thirty-four vessels from the island of Cuba, with 5797 individuals, of whom 1828 were white, 1978 free blacks or colored persons and 1991 slaves. These people had sought a refuge, in that island, on the insurrection of the blacks in Hispani- ola.
A large detachment was sent to Terre aux Bœufs to make the necessary preparations and the rest of the
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THE FOURTEENTH.
1809]
troops 'gradually followed; on the thirteenth, seven hundred non-commissioned officers and privates had assembled.
They had hardly been three weeks encamped, when the most peremptory order from the department of war, of the twenty-fourth of October, was received by Wilkinson, directing him immediately to embark his whole force, leaving only sufficient garrisons of old troops at New-Orleans and fort St. Philip, and pro- ceed to the high grounds on the rear of Fort Adams and Natchez, and by an equal division of his men form an encampment at each place.
A difficulty in procuring boats, and other circum- stances, did not allow the troops to begin ascending the river, before the fifteenth of September; their pro- gress lasted forty-seven days; during which, out of nine hundred and thity-five men, who embarked, six hundred and thirty-eight were sick, and two hundred and forty died.
Although the report of the court of inquiry, in the preceding year, had been favorable to Wilkinson, the general impression, that he had received large sums of money from the Spanish government in Louisiana, to favor its views in detaching the western people from the atlantic states, was- not absolutely effaced. Clark had published a statement of different transac- tions, in which Wilkinson had been concerned, during the preceding years, and had annexed to it copies of a number of authentic documents, from which he concluded the proof was irresistible, that the general had been a pensioner of Spain and an accomplice of Burr, whom he had betrayed, when he found his plans could not succeed. Clark's publication excited suspicion in many and caused conviction in some. The disasters, attending the forces sent to the Missis-
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sippi, were attributed by Wilkinson's enemies to his misconduct and the clamor against him became so general, that it was thought proper to call him to the seat of government. Wade Hampton, who was sent to supercede him, assumed the command of the troops on the nineteen of December.
The total number of non-commissioned officers and privates, during the last ten months of this year, never exceeded nineteen hundred and fifty-three. Out of it. seven hundred and sixty-four died and one hun- · dred and sixty-six deseried. So that the total loss was nine hundred and thirty, almost one half of the whole. The greatest sickness was in the month of August, when five hundred and sixty-three men were on the sick list.
The third territorial legislature held its first session on the nisth of February, and adjourned late in March, without having passed any very important public act. By one of its resolutions, however, twenty thousand dollars were appropriated to the establishment of a collage.
Early in May, Claiborne having obtained leave of absence, left the territory on a visit to the eastern states-and the executive functions devolved on the secretary, Thomas B. Robertson.
In the summer, a number of citizens of the United States, who had removed to the neighborhood of Ba- you Sarah, joined by others from the Mississippi territory, took up arms, embodied themselves and marched to the fort of Baton Rouge. Delassus, who commanded it, having but a handful of men, was enable to prevent their taking it. 'The people of the district sent delegates to a convention, that met at St. Francisville, declared their independence and framed a constitution. Fulwar Skipwith was ap- pointed governor of the new state.
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1810] - THE FOURTEENTH. 297
By a census taken this year, by the marshal of the United States, under an act of congress, it appears that the population of the territory was as follows:
City and suburbs of N. Orleans, 17242)
21552
Precincts of New-Orleans,
7310
Plaquemines,
1549
St. Bernard,
- 1020
St. Charles,
- 3291
St. John Baptist,
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2990
St. James,
- 3955
Ascension,
2219
Assumption,
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2472
Lafourche, -
- 1995
Iberville,
1
- 2679
· Baton Rouge,
1463
Pointe Coupee,
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4539
Concordia,
2895
Ouachitta,
1077
Rapides,
2200
Catahoula,
1161
Avoyelles,
1209
Natchitoches,
2870
Opelousas,
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- 5048
Attakapas,
7369
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76556
On receiving information that the garrison of the fort at Baton Rouge had been driven out, the presi- dent of the United States issued a proclamation, on the 16th of October, setting forth, that the territory south of the 31st degree of northern latitude, east on the Mississippi, as far as Rio Perdido, of which pos- session had not yet been delivered to the United States, had ever been considered and claimed by them VOL. II. 38
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as part of the country they had acquired by the treaty of the 30th April, 1803, and their acquiescence in its temporary continuation under the authorities of Spain, was not the result of any distrust of their title, as had been particularly evinced by the general tenor of their laws, but was occasioned by their conciliatory views, a confidence in the justice of their cause, and the re- sult of candid discussion and amicable negotiations with a friendly power; that a satisfactory adjustment of existing differences, too long delayed, without the fault of the United States, had been, for some time, entirely suspended, by events over which they had no control; and a crisis was now arrived, subversive of the order of things under the authority of Spain, whereby a failure of on the part of the United States. to take the country into their possession, might lead to events ultimately contravening the views of both parties; while in the meantime the security and tran- quility of their adjoining territories were endangered, and new facilities given to the violation of their reve- nue and commercial laws, and of those for the prohi- bition of the importation of slaves: the failure might farther be considered as a dereliction of their title, and an insensibility to the importance of the stake.
It was urged, that the acts of congress, although con- templating a present possession by a foreign prince, had also had in view an eventual one by the United . States, and had accordingly been so framed, as in that case to extend their operations thereto.
The president concluded by announcing, that under these weighty and urgent considerations, he had deemed it right and requisite, that possession should be immediately taken of the said territory, in the name and behalf of the United States. The governor of theterritory of New-Orleans was accordingly directed,
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to carry the views of the United States into complete execution, and to exercise over that part of the terri- tory the authority and functions, legally appertaining to his office; the people were charged 10 pay due re- gard to him in his official character, to be obedient to the laws, to cherish harmony and demean themselves as peaceful citizens, under assurance of protection in the enjoyment of liberty, property and the religion they profess.
Claiborne, on his return from the United States, stopped at Natchez, where governor Holmes furnished him with a detachment of the militia of the Mississippi territory, which was joined by a volunteer troop of horse, from the neighborhood. They marched to St. Francisville, the first town below the line of demarca- tion, where, on the 7th of December, without any opposition, he hoisted the flag of the United States, in token of his having taken possession of the country, in their name and behalf, the inhabitants cheerfully sub- . mitting to his authority. He announced this event by a proclamation, and by subsequent ones established, in this new part of the territory of Orleans, the parishes of Feliciana, East Baton Rouge, St. Helena, St. Tam- many, Biloxi and Pascagoula.
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