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 presence 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 government of the United States, from extending its expedittons 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 understanding, subsisting between the two governments, and a hope that such measures would be taken by the officers of the United States, as would prevent any ill con

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.

VOL. II.

Wilkinson-Archives.-Gazettes.

37

CHAPTER XIV.

Court of inquiry on Wilkinson's conduct.-Clark's statement. Legislature.-Civil Code.-Hostile appearances-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 United 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.-Legislature. The inhabitants of the territory authorised to form a state constitution.

A motion being made on the twenty-fifth of December, 1807, in the house of representatives of the United 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 assemble.

A short time after, Clark, the delegate of the territory of Orleans, delivered to the house, under the sanction of his oath, a statement of several transac

tions, which had come to his knowledge, within the preceding twenty years, strongly implicating Wilkinson's conduct, as a pensioner of Spain and an accomplice of Burr.

The second territorial legislature began its second session, on the eighth of January. The professional gentlemen, who had been arpointed 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 government." Although, the Napoleon code was promulgated in 1804, no copy of it had as yet reached NewOrleans: 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 necessarily much more imperfect than the code, it was far superior to any thing, that any two individuals could have produced, early 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; and their exceptions and modifications were

held to affect several clauses, by which former principles were absolutely stated. Thus, the people found a decoy, in what was held out as a beacon.

The Fuero Viejo, Fuero Juezgo, Partidas, Recopilationes, Leyes 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 existed in the province.

To explain them, Spanish commentators were consulted and the corpus juris civilis and its own commentators were resorted to; and to eke out any deficiency, the lawyers who came from France or Hispaniola read Pothier, d'Aguesseau, 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 listened 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,