BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF DISTINGUISHED MEN.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF PEYTON RANDOLPH.
Peyton Randolph was the eldest son of Sir John Randolph,
of Virginia, a barrister at law, and an eminent practitioner at the
bar of the General Court. Peyton was educated at the College
of William and Mary in Williamsburg, and thence went to England,
and studied law at the Temple. At his return he intermarried
with Elizabeth Harrison, sister of the afterwards Governor
Harrison, entered into practice in the General Court, was afterwards
appointed the king's Attorney General for the colony, and
became a representative in the House of Burgesses (then so
called) for the city of Williamsburg.
Governor Dinwiddie having, about this period, introduced the
exaction of a new fee on his signature of grants for lands, without
the sanction of any law, the House of Burgesses remonstrated
against it, and sent Peyton Randolph to England, as their
agent to oppose it before the king and council. The interest of
the governor, as usual, prevailed against that of the colony, and
his new exaction was confirmed by the king.
After Braddock's defeat on the Monongahela, in 1755, the incursions
of the Indians on our frontiers spread panic and dismay
through the whole country, insomuch that it was scarcely possible
to procure men, either as regulars or militia, to go against
them. To counteract this terror and to set good example, a number
of the wealthiest individuals of the colony, and the highest standing
in it, in public as well as in their private relations, associated
under obligations to furnish each of them two able-bodied men,
at their own expense, to form themselves into a regiment under
the denomination of the Virginia Blues, to join the colonial force
on the frontier, and place themselves under its commander,
George Washington, then a colonel. They appointed William
Byrd, a member of the council, colonel of the regiment, and
Peyton Randolph, I think, had also some command. But the
original associators had more the will than the power of becoming
effective soldiers. Born and bred in the lap of wealth, all the
habits of their lives were of ease, indolence and indulgence.
Such men were little fitted to sleep under tents, and often without
them, to be exposed to all the intemperances of the seasons, to
swim rivers, range the woods, climb mountains, wade morasses,
to skulk behind trees, and contend as sharp shooters with the
savages of the wilderness, who in all the scenes and exercises
would be in their natural element. Accordingly, the commander
was more embarrassed with their care, than reinforced by their
service. They had the good fortune to see no enemy, and to
return at the end of the campaign rewarded by the favor of the
public for this proof of their generous patriotism and good will.
When afterwards, in 1764, on the proposal of the Stamp Act,
the House of Burgesses determined to send an address against it
to the king, and memorials to the Houses of Lord and Commons,
Peyton Randolph, George Wythe, and (I think) Robert C. Nicholas,
were appointed to draw these papers. That to the king was
by Peyton Randolph, and the memorial to the Commons was by
George Wythe. It was on the ground of these papers that those
gentlemen opposed the famous resolutions of Mr. Henry in 1765,
to wit, that the principles of these resolutions had been asserted
and maintained in the address and memorials of the year before,
to which an answer was yet to be expected.
On the death of the speaker, Robinson, in 1766, Peyton Randolph
was elected speaker. He resigned his office of Attorney
General, in which he was succeeded by his brother Randolph,
father of the late Edmund Randolph, and retired from the bar.
He now devoted himself solely to his duties as a legislator, and
although sound in his principles, and going steadily with us in
opposition to the British usurpations, he, with the other older
members, yielded the lead to the younger, only tempering their
ardor, and so far moderating their pace as to prevent their going
too far in advance of the public sentiment.
On the establishment of a committee by the legislature, to
correspond with the other colonies, he was named their chairman,
and their first proposition to the other colonies was to appoint
similar committees, who might consider the expediency of
calling a general Congress of deputies in order to procure a harmony
of procedure among the whole. This produced the call
of the first Congress, to which he was chosen a delegate, by the
House of Burgesses, and of which he was appointed, by that
Congress, its president.
On the receipt of what was called Lord North's conciliatory
proposition, in 1775, Lord Dunmore called the General Assembly
and laid it before them. Peyton Randolph quitted the chair of
Congress, in which he was succeeded by Mr. Hancock, and repaired
to that of the House which had deputed him. Anxious
about the tone and spirit of the answer which should be given
(because being the first it might have effect on those of the
other colonies), and supposing that a younger pen would be more
likely to come up to the feelings of the body he had left, he requested
me to draw the answer, and steadily supported and carried
it through the House, with a few softenings only from the
more timid members.
After the adjournment of the House of Burgesses he returned
to Congress, and died there of an apoplexy, on the 22d of October
following, aged, as I should conjecture, about fifty years.
He was indeed a most excellent man; and none was ever
more beloved and respected by his friends. Somewhat cold and
coy towards strangers, but of the sweetest affability when ripened
into acquaintance. Of attic pleasantry in conversation, always
good humored and conciliatory. With a sound and logical head,
he was well read in the law; and his opinions when consulted,
were highly regarded, presenting always a learned and sound
view of the subject, but generally, too, a listlessness to go into its
thorough development; for being heavy and inert in body, he
was rather too indolent and careless for business, which occasioned
him to get a smaller proportion of it at the bar than his
abilities would otherwise have commanded. Indeed, after his
appointment as Attorney General, he did not seem to court, nor
scarcely to welcome business. In that office he considered himself
equally charged with the rights of the colony as with those
of the crown; and in criminal prosecutions exaggerating nothing,
he aimed at a candid and just state of the transaction, believing
it more a duty to save an innocent than to convict a
guilty man. Although not eloquent, his matter was so substantial
that no man commanded more attention, which, joined with
a sense of his great worth, gave him a weight in the House of
Burgesses which few ever attained. He was liberal in his expenses,
but correct also, so as not to be involved in pecuniary
embarrassments; and with a heart always open to the amiable
sensibilities of our nature, he did as many good acts as could
have been done with his fortune, without injuriously impairing
his means of continuing them. He left no issue, and gave his
fortune to his widow and nephew, the late Edmund Randolph.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF MERIWETHER LEWIS.[79]
Meriwether Lewis, late Governor of Louisiana, was born on
the 18th of August, 1774, near the town of Charlottesville, in
the county of Albemarle, in Virginia, of one of the distinguished
families of that State. John Lewis, one of his father's uncles,
was a member of the King's Council before the revolution; another
of them, Fielding Lewis, married a sister of General Washington.
His father, William Lewis, was the youngest of five
sons of Colonel Robert Lewis of Albemarle, the fourth of whom,
Charles, was one of the early patriots who stepped forward in the
commencement of the revolution, and commanded one of the
regiments first raised in Virginia, and placed on continental establishment.
Happily situated at home with a wife and young
family, and a fortune placing him at ease, he left all to aid in
the liberation of his country from foreign usurpations, then first
unmasking their ultimate end and aim. His good sense, integrity,
bravery, enterprise and remarkable bodily powers, marked
him an officer of great promise; but he unfortunately died early
in the revolution. Nicholas Lewis, the second of his father's
brothers, commanded a regiment of militia in the successful expedition
of 1776, against the Cherokee Indians, who, seduced
by the agents of the British government to take up the hatchet
against us, had committed great havoc on our southern frontier,
by murdering and scalping helpless women and children according
to their cruel and cowardly principles of warfare. The chastisement
they then received closed the history of their wars, prepared
them for receiving the elements of civilization, which,
zealously inculcated by the present government of the United
States, have rendered them an industrious, peaceable and happy
people. This member of the family of Lewises, whose bravery
was so usefully proved on this occasion, was endeared to all who
knew him by his inflexible probity, courteous disposition, benevolent
heart, and engaging modesty and manners. He was the
umpire of all the private differences of his county, selected always
by both parties. He was also the guardian of Meriwether
Lewis, of whom we are now to speak, and who had lost his
father at an early age. He continued some years under the
fostering care of a tender mother, of the respectable family of
Meriwethers of the same county, and was remarkable even in
his infancy for enterprise, boldness and discretion. When only
eight years of age, he habitually went out, in the dead of the
night, alone with his dogs, into the forest to hunt the raccoon and
opossum, which, seeking their food in the night, can then only
be taken. In this exercise no season or circumstance could obstruct
his purpose, plunging through the winter's snows and
frozen streams in pursuit of his object. At thirteen, he was put
to the Latin school, and continued at that until eighteen, when
he returned to his mother, and entered on the cares of his farm,
having, as well as a younger brother, been left by his father
with a competency for all the correct and comfortable purposes
of temperate life. His talent for observation, which had led
him to an accurate knowledge of the plants and animals of his
own county, would have distinguished him as a farmer; but at
the age of twenty, yielding to the ardor of youth, and a passion
for more dazzling pursuits, he engaged as a volunteer in the
body of militia which were called out by General Washington,
on occasion of the discontents produced by the excise taxes in
the western parts of the United States; and from that situation
he was removed to the regular service as a lieutenant in the line.
At twenty-three he was promoted to a captaincy; and always
attracting the first attention where punctuality and fidelity were
requisite, he was appointed paymaster to his regiment. About
this time a circumstance occurred which, leading to the transaction
which is the subject of this book, will justify a recurrence
to its original idea. While I resided in Paris, John Ledyard of
Connecticut arrived there, well known in the United States for
energy of body and mind. He had accompanied Captain Cook
in his voyage to the Pacific ocean, and distinguished himself on
that voyage by his intrepidity. Being of a roaming disposition,
he was now panting for some new enterprise. His immediate
object at Paris was to engage a mercantile company in the fur
trade of the western coast of America, in which, however, he
failed. I then proposed to him to go by land to Kamschatka,
cross in some of the Russian vessels to Nootka Sound, fall down
into the latitude of the Missouri, and penetrate to and through
that to the United States. He eagerly seized the idea, and only
asked to be assured of the permission of the Russian government.
I interested in obtaining that M. de Simoulin, M. P. of the
Empress at Paris, but more especially the Baron de Grimm, M.
P. of Saxe-Gotha, her more special agent and correspondent
there, in matters not immediately diplomatic. Her permission
was obtained, and an assurance of protection while the course
of the voyage should be through her territories. Ledyard set
out from Paris and arrived at St. Petersburg after the Empress
had left that place to pass the winter (I think) at Moscow. His
finances not permitting him to make unnecessary stay at St.
Petersburg, he left it with a passport from one of the ministers,
and at two hundred miles from Kamschatka, was obliged to take
up his winter quarters. He was preparing in the spring to resume
his journey, when he was arrested by an officer of the
Empress, who, by this time, had changed her mind, and forbidden
his proceeding. He was put into a close carriage and conveyed
day and night, without ever stopping, till they reached
Poland, where he was set down and left to himself. The fatigue
of this journey broke down his constitution, and when he
returned to Paris, his bodily strength was much impaired. His
mind, however, remained firm; and after this he undertook the
journey to Egypt. I received a letter from him, full of sanguine
hopes, dated at Cairo, the 15th of November, 1788, the day before
he was to set out for the head of the Nile, on which day; however,
he ended his career and life; and thus failed the first attempt
to explore the western part of our northern continent.
In 1792 I proposed to the A. P. S., that we should set on
foot a subscription to engage some competent person to explore
that region in the opposite direction, that is, by ascending
the Missouri, crossing the Stony mountains, and descending the
nearest river to the Pacific. Captain Lewis being then stationed
at Charlottesville on the recruiting service, warmly solicited me
to obtain for him the execution of that object. I told him it
was proposed that the person engaged should be attended by a
single companion only, to avoid exciting alarm among the Indians.
This did not deter him. But Mr. André Michaux, a
professed botanist, author of the "_Flora Boreali-Americana_,"
and of the "_Histoire des chenes d'Amerique_," offering his services,
they were accepted. He received his instructions, and
when he had reached Kentucky in the prosecution of his journey,
he was overtaken by an order from the minister of France
then at Philadelphia, to relinquish the expedition, and to pursue
elsewhere the Botanical inquiries on which he was employed by
that government; and thus failed the second attempt for exploring
that region.
In 1803, the act for establishing trading houses with the Indian
tribes being about to expire, some modifications of it were
recommended to Congress by a confidential message of January
18th, and an extension of its views to the Indians on the Missouri.
In order to prepare the way, the message proposed the
sending an exploring party to trace the Missouri to its source, to
cross the highlands and follow the best water communication
which offered itself from thence to the Pacific ocean. Congress
approved the proposition, and voted a sum of money for carrying
it into execution. Captain Lewis, who had then been near two
years with me as private secretary, immediately renewed his solicitations
to have the direction of the party. I had now had
opportunities of knowing him intimately. Of courage undaunted,
possessing a firmness and perseverance of purpose which nothing
but impossibilities could divert from its direction, careful as a
father of those committed to his charge, yet steady in the maintenance
of order and discipline, intimate with the Indian character,
customs and principles. Habituated to the hunting life,
guarded by exact observation of the vegetables and animals of
his own country, against losing time in the description of objects
already possessed, honest, disinterested, liberal, of sound understanding,
and a fidelity to truth so scrupulous that whatever he
should report would be as certain as if seen by ourselves, with
all these qualifications as if selected and implanted by nature in
one body, for this express purpose, I could have no hesitation in
confiding the enterprise to him. To fill up the measure desired,
he wanted nothing but a greater familiarity with the technical
language of the natural sciences, and readiness in the astronomical
observations necessary for the geography of his route.
To acquire these he repaired immediately to Philadelphia, and
placed himself under the tutorage of the distinguished professors
of that place, who, with a zeal and emulation, enkindled by an
ardent devotion to science, communicated to him freely the information
requisite for the purposes of the journey. While attending
to at Lancaster, the fabrication of the arms with which
he chose that his men should be provided, he had the benefit of
daily communication with Mr. Andrew Ellicott, whose experience
in astronomical observation and practice of it in the woods, enabled
him to apprize Captain Lewis of the wants and difficulties
he would encounter, and of the substitutes and resources offered
by a woodland and uninhabited country. Deeming it necessary
he should have some person with him of known competence to
the direction of the enterprise, and to whom he might confide
it, in the event of accident to himself, he proposed William
Clarke, brother of General George Rogers Clarke, who was approved,
and with that view received a commission of captain.
In April, 1803, a draught of his instructions was sent to Captain
Lewis, and on the 20th of June they were signed in the following
form:
"To Meriwether Lewis, Esquire, Captain of the 1st regiment
of infantry of the United States of America:
"Your situation as Secretary of the President of the United
States has made you acquainted with the objects of my confidential
message of January 18th, 1803, to the legislature; you
have seen the act they passed, which, though expressed in general
terms, was meant to sanction those objects, and you are appointed
to carry them into execution.
"Instruments for ascertaining by celestial observations, the
geography of the country through which you will pass, have
been already provided. Light articles for barter and presents
among the Indians, arms for your attendants, say for from ten
to twelve men, boats, tents and other travelling apparatus, with
ammunition, medicine, surgical instruments and provisions, you
will have prepared with such aids as the Secretary at War can
yield in his departments; and from him also you will receive authority
to engage among our troops, by voluntary agreement, the
number of attendants above mentioned, over whom you, as their
commanding officer, are invested with all the powers the laws
give in such a case.
"As your movements while within the limits of the United
States will be better directed by occasional communications,
adapted to circumstances as they arise, they will not be noticed
here. What follows will respect your proceedings after your
departure from the United States.
"Your mission has been communicated to the ministers here
from France, Spain and Great Britain, and through them to their
governments; and such assurances given them as to its objects,
as we trust will satisfy them. The country of Louisiana having
been ceded by Spain to France, the passport you have from
the minister of France, the representative of the present sovereign
of that country, will be a protection with all its subjects;
and that from the minister of England will entitle you to the
friendly aid of any traders of that allegiance with whom you
may happen to meet.
"The object of your mission is to explore the Missouri river,
and such principal streams of it, as, by its course and communication
with the waters of the Pacific ocean, whether the Columbia,
Oregon, Colorado, or any other river, may offer the most direct
and practicable water communication across the continent
for the purposes of commerce.
"Beginning at the mouth of the Missouri, you will take observations
of latitude and longitude at all remarkable points on the
river, and especially at the mouths of rivers, at rapids, at islands,
and other places and objects distinguished by such natural marks
and characters of a durable kind as that they may with certainty
be recognized hereafter. The courses of the river between these
points of observation may be supplied by the compass, the log-line
and by time, corrected by the observations themselves. The
variations of the compass too, in different places, should be
noticed.
"The interesting points of the portage between the heads of
the Missouri, and of the water offering the best communication
with the Pacific ocean, should also be fixed by observation, and
the course of that water to the ocean, in the same manner as
that of the Missouri.
"Your observations are to be taken with great pains and accuracy,
to be entered distinctly and intelligibly for others as well
as yourself, to comprehend all the elements necessary, with the
aid of the usual tables, to fix the latitude and longitude of the
places at which they were taken, and are to be rendered to the
war office, for the purpose of having the calculations made concurrently
by proper persons within the United States. Several
copies of these as well as of your other notes should be made at
leisure times, and put into the care of the most trust-worthy of
your attendants, to guard, by multiplying them, against the accidental
losses to which they will be exposed. A further guard
would be that one of these copies be on the paper of the birch,
as less liable to injury from damp than common paper.
"The commerce which may be carried on with the people inhabiting
the line you will pursue, renders a knowledge of those
people important. You will, therefore, endeavor to make yourself
acquainted, as far as a diligent pursuit of your journey shall
admit, with the names of the nations and their numbers; the
extent of their possessions; their relations with other tribes or
nations; their language, traditions, monuments; their ordinary
occupations in agriculture, fishing, hunting, war, arts, and the
implements for these; their food, clothing and domestic accommodations;
the diseases prevalent among them, and the remedies
they use; moral and physical circumstances which distinguish
them from the tribes we know; peculiarities in their laws, customs
and dispositions; and articles of commerce they may need
or furnish, and to what extent; and, considering the interest
which every nation has in extending and strengthening the authority
of reason and justice among the people around them, it
will be useful to acquire what knowledge you can of the state
of morality, religion, and information among them, as it may
better enable those who may endeavor to civilize and instruct
them, to adopt their measures to the existing notions and practices
of those on whom they are to operate.
"Other objects worthy of notice will be, the soil and face of
the country, its growth and vegetable productions, especially
those not of the United States, the animals of the country generally,
and especially those not known in the United States; the
remains and accounts of any which may be deemed rare or extinct;
the mineral productions of every kind, but particularly
metals, lime-stone, pit-coal and salt-petre; salines and mineral
waters, noting the temperature of the last, and such circumstances
as may indicate their character; volcanic appearances; climate,
as characterized by the thermometer, by the proportion of
rainy, cloudy, and clear days, by lightning, hail, snow, ice, by
the access and recess of frost, by the winds prevailing at different
seasons, the dates at which particular plants put forth or
lose their flower or leaf, times of appearance of particular birds,
reptiles or insects.
"Although your route will be along the channel of the Missouri,
yet you will endeavor to inform yourself, by inquiry, of the
character and extent of the country watered by its branches, and
especially on its southern side. The north river, or Rio Bravo,
which runs into the Gulf of Mexico, and the north river, or Rio
Colorado, which runs into the Gulf of California, are understood
to be the principal streams heading opposite to the waters of
the Missouri, and running southwardly. Whether the dividing
grounds between the Missouri and them are mountains or flat
lands, what are their distance from the Missouri, the character of
the intermediate country, and the people inhabiting it, are
worthy of particular inquiry. The northern waters of the Missouri
are less to be inquired after, because they have been ascertained
to a considerable degree, and are still in a course of ascertainment
by English traders and travellers. But if you can
learn anything certain of the most northern source of the Mississippi,
and of its position relatively to the lake of the woods,
it will be interesting to us. Some account, too, of the path of
the Canadian traders from the Mississippi, at the mouth of the
Ouisconsing to where it strikes the Missouri, and of the soil and
rivers in its course, is desirable.
"In all your intercourse with the natives, treat them in the most
friendly and conciliatory manner which their own conduct will
admit; allay all jealousies as to the object of your journey, satisfy
them of its innocence; make them acquainted with the position,
extent, character, peaceable and commercial dispositions of the
United States, of our wish to be neighborly, friendly and useful
to them, and of our dispositions to a commercial intercourse with
them; confer with them on the points most convenient as mutual
emporiums, and the articles of most desirable interchange
for them and us. If a few of their influential chiefs within practicable
distance, wish to visit us, arrange such a visit with them,
and furnish them with authority to call on our officers, on their
entering the United States, to have them conveyed to this place
at the public expense. If any of them should wish to have some
of their young people brought up with us, and taught such arts
as may be useful to them, we will receive, instruct, and take care
of them. Such a mission, whether of influential chiefs or of
young people, would give some security to your own party.
Carry with you some matter of the kine pox; inform those of
them with whom you may be, of its efficacy as a preservative
from the small pox; and instruct and encourage them in the use
of it. This may be especially done wherever you winter.
"As it is impossible for us to foresee in what manner you will
be received by those people, whether with hospitality or hostility,
so is it impossible to prescribe the exact degree of perseverance
with which you are to pursue your journey. We value
too much the lives of citizens to offer them to probable destruction.
Your numbers will be sufficient to secure you against the
unauthorized opposition of individuals or of small parties; but if
a superior force, authorized or not authorized by a nation, should
be arrayed against your further passage, and inflexibly determined,
to arrest it, you must decline its farther pursuit, and return. In
the loss of yourselves, we should lose also the information you
will have acquired. By returning safely with that, you may enable
us to renew the essay with better calculated means. To
your own discretion, therefore, must be left the degree of danger
you may risk, and the point at which you should decline, only
saying we wish you to err on the side of your safety, and to
bring us back your party safe, even if it be with less information.
"Should you reach the Pacific ocean, inform yourself of the circumstances
which may decide whether the furs of those parts
may not be collected as advantageously at the head of the Missouri
(convenient as is supposed to the waters of the Colorado
and Oregon or Columbia), as at Nootka Sound, or any other point
of that coast; and that trade be consequently conducted through
the Missouri and United States more beneficially than by the
circumnavigation now practised.
"As far up the Missouri as the white settlements extend, an intercourse
will probably be found to exist between them and the
Spanish posts of St. Louis opposite Cahokia, or St. Genevieve
opposite Kaskaskia. From still further up the river, the traders
may furnish a conveyance for letters. Beyond that, you may
perhaps be able to engage Indians to bring letters for the government
to Cahokia or Kaskaskia, on promising that they shall
there receive such special compensation as you shall have stipulated
with them. Avail yourself of these means to communicate
to us, at seasonable intervals, a copy of your journal, notes, and
observations, of every kind, putting into cypher whatever might
do injury if betrayed.
"On your arrival on that coast, endeavor to learn if there be any
post within your reach frequented by the sea vessels of any nation,
and to send two of your trusty people back by sea, in such
way as shall appear practicable, with a copy of your notes; and
should you be of opinion that the return of your party by the
way they went will be imminently dangerous, then ship the whole,
and return by sea, by the way either of Cape Horn or the Cape
of Good Hope, as you shall be able. As you will be without
money, clothes, or provisions, you must endeavor to use the
credit of the United States to obtain them, for which purpose
open letters of credit shall be furnished you, authorizing you to
draw on the executive of the United States, or any of its officers,
in any part of the world, on which draughts can be disposed of,
and to apply with our recommendations to the consuls, agents,
merchants, or citizens of any nation with which we have intercourse,
assuring them in our name, that any aids they may furnish
you, shall be honorably repaid, and on demand. Our consuls,
Thomas Hewes at Batavia in Java, William Buchanan in
the Isles of France and Bourbon, and John Elmslie at the Cape
of Good Hope, will be able to supply your necessities by draughts
on us.
"Should you find it safe to return by the way you go, after
sending two of your party round by sea, or with your whole
party, if no conveyance by sea can be found, do so; making
such observations on your return, as may serve to supply, correct,
or confirm those made on your outward journey.
"On re-entering the United States and reaching a place of safety,
discharge any of your attendants who may desire and deserve
it, procuring for them immediate payment of all arrears of pay
and clothing which may have incurred since their departure, and
assure them that they shall be recommended to the liberality of
the legislature for the grant of a soldier's portion of land each,
as proposed in my message to Congress; and repair yourself with
your papers to the seat of government.
"To provide in the accident of your death, against anarchy,
dispersion and the consequent danger to your party, and total
failure of the enterprise, you are hereby authorized, by any instrument
signed and written in your own hand, to name the person
among them who shall succeed to the command on your
decease, and by like instruments to change the nomination from
time to time as further experience of the characters accompanying
you shall point out superior fitness; and all the powers and
authorities given to yourself are, in the event of your death, transferred
to, and vested in the successor so named, with further
power to him, and his successors in like manner, to name each
his successor, who, on the death of his predecessor, shall be invested
with all the powers and authorities given to yourself.
"Given under my hand at the city of Washington, this 20th
day of June, 1803.
"THOMAS JEFFERSON, President of the U. States of America."
* * * * *
While these things were going on here, the country of Louisiana,
lately ceded by Spain to France, had been the subject of
negotiation between us and this last power; and had actually
been transferred to us by treaties executed at Paris on the 30th
of April. This information, received about the 1st day of July,
increased infinitely the interest we felt in the expedition, and
lessened the apprehensions of interruption from other powers.
Everything in this quarter being now prepared, Captain Lewis
left Washington on the 5th of July, 1803, and proceeded to
Pittsburg, where other articles had been ordered to be provided
for him. The men, too, were to be selected from the military
stations on the Ohio. Delays of preparation, difficulties of navigation
down the Ohio, and other untoward obstructions, retarded
his arrival at Cahokia until the season was so far advanced as to
render it prudent to suspend his entering the Missouri before the
ice should break up in the succeeding spring. From this time
his journal, now published, will give the history of his journey
to and from the Pacific ocean, until his return to St. Louis on
the 23d of September, 1806. Never did a similar event excite
more joy through the United States.
The humblest of its citizens had taken a lively interest in the
issue of this journey, and looked forward with impatience for
the information it would furnish. Their anxieties, too, for the
safety of the corps had been kept in a state of excitement by
lugubrious rumors, circulated from time to time on uncertain authorities,
and uncontradicted by letters or other direct information
from the time they had left the Mandan towns on their ascent
up the river in April of the preceding year, 1805, until their
actual return to St. Louis.
It was the middle of Feb. 1807, before Capt. Lewis with his
companion Clarke reached the city of Washington, where Congress
was then in session. That body granted to the two chiefs
and their followers, the donation of lands which they had been
encouraged to expect in reward of their toils and dangers. Capt.
Lewis was soon after appointed Governor of Louisiana, and Capt.
Clarke a General of its militia, and agent of the United States
for Indian affairs in that department.
A considerable time intervened before the Governor's arrival
at St. Louis. He found the territory distracted by feuds and
contentions among the officers of the government, and the people
themselves divided by these into factions and parties. He
determined at once to take no sides with either, but to use every
endeavor to conciliate and harmonize them. The even-handed
justice he administered to all soon established a respect for his
person and authority, and perseverance and time wore down
animosities, and reunited the citizens again into one family.
Governor Lewis had from early life been subject to hypochondriac
affections. It was a constitutional disposition in all the
nearer branches of the family of his name, and was more immediately
inherited by him from his father. They had not, however,
been so strong as to give uneasiness to his family. While
he lived with me in Washington, I observed at times sensible
depressions of mind, but knowing their constitutional source, I
estimated their course by what I had seen in the family. During
his western expedition, the constant exertion which that required
of all the faculties of body and mind, suspended these
distressing affections; but after his establishment at St. Louis in
sedentary occupations, they returned upon him with redoubled
vigor, and began seriously to alarm his friends. He was in a
paroxysm of one of these when his affairs rendered it necessary
for him to go to Washington. He proceeded to the Chickasaw
bluffs, where he arrived on the 15th of September, 1809, with a
view of continuing his journey thence by water. Mr. Neely,
agent of the United States with the Chickasaw Indians, arriving
there two days after, found him extremely indisposed, and betraying
at times some symptoms of a derangement of mind.
The rumors of a war with England, and apprehensions that he
might lose the papers he was bringing on, among which were
the vouchers of his public accounts, and the journals and papers
of his western expedition, induced him here to change his mind,
and to take his course by land through the Chickasaw country.
Although he appeared somewhat relieved, Mr. Neely kindly determined
to accompany and watch over him. Unfortunately, at
their encampment, after having passed the Tennessee one day's
journey, they lost two horses, which obliging Mr. Neely to halt
for their recovery, the Governor proceeded under a promise to
wait for him at the house of the first white inhabitant on his
road. He stopped at the house of a Mr. Grinder, who, not being
at home, his wife, alarmed at the symptoms of derangement she
discovered, gave him up the house, and retired to rest herself in
an out-house; the Governor's and Neely's servants lodging in
another. About 3 o'clock in the night he did the deed which
plunged his friends into affliction, and deprived his country of one
of her most valued citizens, whose valor and intelligence would
have been now employed in avenging the wrongs of his country,
and in emulating by land the splendid deeds which have
honored her arms on the ocean. It lost, too, to the nation the
benefit of receiving from his own hand the narrative now offered
them of his sufferings and successes in endeavoring to extend
for them the boundaries of science, and to present to their knowledge
that vast and fertile country which their sons are destined
to fill with arts, with science, with freedom and happiness.
To this melancholy close of the life of one whom posterity
will declare not to have lived in vain, I have only to add that
all the facts I have stated, are either known to myself, or communicated
by his family or others, for whose truth I have no
hesitation to make myself responsible; and I conclude with tendering
you the assurances of my respect and consideration.
FOOTNOTE:
[79] TO MR. PAUL ALLEN, PHILADELPHIA.
MONTICELLO, April 13, 1813.
SIR,--In compliance with the request conveyed in your letter
of May 25th, I have endeavored to obtain from the relations
and friends of the late Governor Lewis, information of such
incidents of his life as might be not unacceptable to those
who may read the narrative of his western discoveries.
The ordinary occurrences of a private life, and those
also while acting in a subordinate sphere in the army, in
a time of peace, are not deemed sufficiently interesting
to occupy the public attention; but a general account of
his parentage, with such smaller incidents as marked early
character, are briefly noted, and to these are added, as
being peculiarly within my own knowledge, whatever related
to the public mission, of which an account is not to be
published. The result of my inquiries and recollections
shall now be offered, to be enlarged or abridged as you
may think best, or otherwise to be used with the materials
you may have collected from other sources.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF GENERAL KOSCIUSKO.
1. _Circumstances relating to General Kosciusko previously
to his joining the American Army._ Kosciusko was born in
the Grand Duchy of Silliciania in the year 1752. His family
was noble, and his patrimony considerable; circumstances
which he justly appreciated, for as belonging to himself they
were never matters of boasting, and rarely subjects of notice,
and as the property of others only regarded as advantages
when accompanied by good sense and good morals.
The workings of his mind on the subject of civil liberty were
early and vigorous; before he was twenty the vassalage of his
serfs filled him with abhorrence, and the first act of his manhood
was to break their fetters.
In the domestic quarrel between the king and the dissidents
in 1761, he was too young to take a part, but the partition of
Poland in 1772 (of which this quarrel was one of the pretences),
engaged him in the defence of his country, and soon made him
sensible of the value of military education, which he afterwards
sought in the schools of Paris. It was there and while prosecuting
this object, that he first became acquainted with the name
of America, and the nature of the war in which the British colonies
were then engaged with the mother country. In the summer
of 1776 he embarked for this country, and in October of
that year was appointed by Congress a Colonel of Engineers.
2. _Services of the General during the war._ In the spring of
1777 he joined the northern army, and in July following the
writer of this notice left him on Lake Champlain engaged in
strengthening our works at Ticonderoga and Mount Independence.
The unfortunate character of the early part of this campaign
is sufficiently known. In the retreat of the American
army Kosciusko was distinguished for activity and courage, and
upon him devolved the choice of camps and posts and everything
connected with fortifications. The last frontier taken by
the army while commanded by Gen. Schuyler was on an island
in the Hudson near the mouth of the Mohawk river, and within
a few miles of Albany. Here Gates, who had superseded
Schuyler, found the army on the ---- day of August. Public
feeling and opinion were strikingly affected by the arrival of
this officer, who gave it a full and lasting impression by ordering
the army to advance upon the enemy. The state of things at
that moment are well and faithfully expressed by that distinguished
officer, Col. Udney Hay, in a letter to a friend. "Fortune,"
says he, "as if tired of persecuting us, had began to
change, and Burgoyne had suffered materially on both his flanks.
But these things were not of our doing; the main army, as it
was called, was hunted from post to pillar, and dared not to
measure its strength with the enemy; much was wanting to reinspire
it with confidence in itself, with that self-respect without
which an army is but a flock of sheep, a proof of which is
found in the fact, that we have thanked in general orders a detachment
double the force of that of the enemy, for having
dared to return their fire. From this miserable state of despondency
and terror, Gates' arrival raised us, as if by magic. We
began to hope and then to act. Our first step was to Stillwater,
and we are now on the heights called Bhemus', looking the
enemy boldly in the face. Kosciusko has selected this ground,
and has covered its weak point (its right) with redoubts from the
hill to the river." In front of this camp thus fortified two battles
were fought, which eventuated in the retreat of the enemy
and his surrender at Saratoga!
The value of Colonel Kosciusko's services during this campaign,
and that of 1778, will be found in the following extract
from a letter of General Gates written in the spring of 1780:
"My dear friend: After parting with you at Yorktown, I got
safely to my own fireside, and without inconvenience of any
kind, excepting sometimes cold toes and cold fingers. Of this
sort of punishment, however, I am, it seems, to have no more,
as I am destined by the Congress to command in the South. In
entering on this new and (as Lee says) most difficult theatre of
the war, my first thoughts have been turned to the selections of
an Engineer, an Adjutant-General and a Quarter-Master-General,
Kosciusko, Hay and yourself, if I can prevail upon you all,
are to fill these offices, and will fill them well. The
_excellent qualities_ of the Pole, which no one knows better
than yourself, are now acknowledged at head-quarters, and may
induce others to prevent his joining us. But his promise once
given, we are sure of him."
The ---- of Gates, for which the preceding extract had prepared
us, was given and accepted, and though no time was lost
by Kosciusko, his arrival was not early enough to enable him to
give his assistance to his old friend and General. But to Greene
(his successor) he rendered the most important services to the
last moment of the war, and which were such as drew from that
officer the most lively, ardent, repeated acknowledgments, which
induced Congress, in October, 1783, to bestow upon him the
brevet of Brigadier General, and to pass a vote declaratory _of their
high sense of his faithful and meritorious conduct_.
The war having ended, he now contemplated returning to
Poland, and was determined in this measure by a letter from
Prince Joseph Poniatowski, nephew of the king and generalissimo
of the army. It was, however, ten years after this period (1783)
before Kosciusko drew the sword on the frontiers of Cracovia.
3. _Conduct of Kosciusko in France._ When Bonaparte created
the Duchy of Warsaw and bestowed it on the King of Saxony,
great pains were taken to induce Kosciusko to lend himself to the
frontier and support of that policy. Having withstood both the
smiles and the frowns of the minister of police, a last attempt
was made through the General's countrywoman and friend, the
Princess Sassiche. The argument she used was founded on the
condition of Poland, which, she said, no change could make worse,
and that of the General which even a small change might make
better. "But on this head I have a _carte blanche_, Princess," answered
the General (taking her hand and leading her to her carriage),
"it is the first time in my life I have wished to shorten
your visit; but you shall not make me think less respectfully of
you than I now do."
When these attempts had failed, a manifesto in the name of
Kosciusko, dated at Warsaw and addressed to the Poles, was
fabricated and published at Paris. When he complained of this
abuse of his name, &c., the minister of Police advised him to go
to Fontainebleau.
ANECDOTES OF DOCTOR FRANKLIN.[80]
Our revolutionary process, as is well known, commenced by petitions,
memorials, remonstrances, &c., from the old Congress.
These were followed by a non-importation agreement, as a pacific
instrument of coercion. While that was before us, and
sundry exceptions, as of arms, ammunition, &c., were moved
from different quarters of the house, I was sitting by Dr. Franklin
and observed to him that I thought we should except books;
that we ought not to exclude science, even coming from an enemy.
He thought so too, and I proposed the exception, which
was agreed to. Soon after it occurred that medicine should be
excepted, and I suggested that also to the Doctor. "As to that,"
said he, "I will tell you a story. When I was in London, in
such a year, there was a weekly club of physicians, of which
Sir John Pringle was President, and I was invited by my friend
Dr. Fothergill to attend when convenient. Their rule was to
propose a thesis one week and discuss it the next. I happened
there when the question to be considered was whether physicians
had, on the whole, done most good or harm? The young members,
particularly, having discussed it very learnedly and eloquently
till the subject was exhausted, one of them observed to
Sir John Pringle, that although it was not usual for the President
to take part in a debate, yet they were desirous to know his
opinion on the question. He said they must first tell him whether,
under the appellation of physicians, they meant to include
_old women_, if they did he thought they had done more good
than harm, otherwise more harm than good."
The confederation of the States, while on the carpet before
the old Congress, was strenuously opposed by the smaller States,
under apprehensions that they would be swallowed up by the
larger ones. We were long engaged in the discussion; it produced
great heats, much ill humor, and intemperate declarations
from some members. Dr. Franklin at length brought the debate
to a close with one of his little apologues. He observed that
"at the time of the union of England and Scotland, the Duke
of Argyle was most violently opposed to that measure, and
among other things predicted that, as the whale had swallowed
Jonas, so Scotland would be swallowed by England. However,"
said the Doctor, "when Lord Bute came into the government,
he soon brought into its administration so many of his
countrymen, that it was found in event that Jonas swallowed the
whale." This little story produced a _general_ laugh, and restored
good humor, and the article of difficulty was passed.
When Dr. Franklin went to France, on his revolutionary
mission, his eminence as a philosopher, his venerable appearance,
and the cause on which he was sent, rendered him extremely
popular. For all ranks and conditions of men there, entered
warmly into the American interest. He was, therefore, feasted
and invited to all the court parties. At these he sometimes met
the old Duchess of Bourbon, who, being a chess player of about
his force, they very generally played together. Happening once
to put her king into prize, the Doctor took it. "Ah," says she,
"we do not take kings so." "We do in America," said the Doctor.
At one of these parties the emperor Joseph II. then at Paris,
incog., under the title of Count Falkenstein, was overlooking the
game in silence, while the company was engaged in animated
conversations on the American question. "How happens it M. le
Comte," said the Duchess, "that while we all feel so much interest
in the cause of the Americans, you say nothing for them?"
"I am a king by trade," said he.
When the Declaration of Independence was under the consideration
of Congress, there were two or three unlucky expressions
in it which gave offence to some members. The words
"Scotch and other foreign auxiliaries" excited the ire of a gentleman
or two of that country. Severe strictures on the conduct
of the British king, in negotiating our repeated repeals of the
law which permitted the importation of slaves, were disapproved
by some Southern gentlemen, whose reflections were not yet
matured to the full abhorrence of that traffic. Although the offensive
expressions were immediately yielded, these gentlemen
continued their depredations on other parts of the instrument. I
was sitting by Dr. Franklin, who perceived that I was not insensible
to these mutilations. "I have made it a rule," said he,
"whenever in my power, to avoid becoming the draughtsman of
papers to be reviewed by a public body. I took my lesson from
an incident which I will relate to you. When I was a journeyman
printer, one of my companions, an apprentice hatter, having
served out his time, was about to open shop for himself. His
first concern was to have a handsome sign-board, with a proper
inscription. He composed it in these words, 'John Thompson,
_Hatter_, _makes_ and _sells hats_ for ready money,' with a figure of
a hat subjoined; but he thought he would submit it to his friends
for their amendments. The first he showed it to thought the
word '_Hatter_' tautologous, because followed by the words
'makes hats,' which show he was a hatter. It was struck out.
The next observed that the word '_makes_' might as well be
omitted, because his customers would not care who made the
hats. If good and to their mind, they would buy, by whomsoever
made. He struck it out. A third said he thought the words
'_for ready money_' were useless, as it was not the custom of the
place to sell on credit. Every one who purchased expected to
pay. They were parted with, and the inscription now stood,
'John Thompson sells hats.' '_Sells hats_' says his next friend!
Why nobody will expect you to give them away, what then is
the use of that word? It was stricken out, and '_hats_' followed
it, the rather as there was one painted on the board. So the inscription
was reduced ultimately to 'John Thompson' with the
figure of a hat subjoined."
The Doctor told me at Paris the two following anecdotes of
the Abbé Raynal. He had a party to dine with him one day
at Passy, of whom one half were Americans, the other half
French, and among the last was the Abbé. During the dinner
he got on his favorite theory of the degeneracy of animals, and
even of man, in America, and urged it with his usual eloquence.
The Doctor at length noticing the accidental stature and position
of his guests, at table, "Come," says he, "M. l'Abbé, let us try
this question by the fact before us. We are here one half Americans,
and one half French, and it happens that the Americans
have placed themselves on one side of the table, and our French
friends are on the other. Let both parties rise, and we will see
on which side nature has degenerated." It happened that his
American guests were Carmichael, Harmer, Humphreys, and
others of the finest stature and form; while those of the other
side were remarkably diminutive, and the Abbé himself particularly,
was a mere shrimp. He parried the appeal, however,
by a complimentary admission of exceptions, among which the
Doctor himself was a conspicuous one.
The Doctor and Silas Deane were in conversation one day at
Passy, on the numerous errors in the Abbé's "_Histoire des deux
Indes_," when he happened to step in. After the usual salutations,
Silas Deane said to him, "The Doctor and myself, Abbé,
were just speaking of the errors of fact into which you have been
led in your history." "Oh, no, Sir," said the Abbé, "that is impossible.
I took the greatest care not to insert a single fact, for
which I had not the most unquestionable authority." "Why,"
says Deane, "there is the story of Polly Baker, and the eloquent
apology you have put into her mouth, when brought before a
court of Massachusetts to suffer punishment under a law which
you cite, for having had a bastard. I know there never was
such a law in Massachusetts." "Be assured," said the Abbé,
"you are mistaken, and that that is a true story. I do not immediately
recollect indeed the particular information on which I
quote it; but I am certain that I had for it unquestionable authority."
Doctor Franklin, who had been for some time shaking
with unrestrained laughter at the Abbé's confidence in his
authority for that tale, said, "I will tell you, Abbé, the origin
of that story. When I was a printer and editor of a newspaper,
we were sometimes slack of news, and, to amuse our customers,
I used to fill up our vacant columns with anecdotes and fables,
and fancies of my own, and this of Polly Baker is a story of my
making, on one of these occasions." The Abbé, without the
least disconcert, exclaimed with a laugh, "Oh, very well, Doctor,
I had rather relate your stories than other men's truths."
FOOTNOTE:
[80] TO ROBERT WALSH, ESQ.
MONTICELLO, December 4, 1818.
DEAR SIR,--Yours of November 8th has been some time
received; but it is in my power to give little satisfaction
as to its inquiries. Dr. Franklin had many political
enemies, as every character must which, with decision
enough to have opinions, has energy and talent to give them
effect on the feelings of the adversary opinion. These
enmities were chiefly in Pennsylvania and Massachusetts:
in the former they were merely of the proprietary party;
in the latter they did not commence till the revolution,
and then sprung chiefly from personal animosities, which
spreading by little and little, became at length of some
extent. Dr. Lee was his principal calumniator, a man of much
malignity, who, besides enlisting his whole family in the
same hostility, was enabled, as the agent of Massachusetts
with the British government, to infuse it into that State
with considerable effect. Mr. Izard, the Doctor's enemy
also, but from a pecuniary transaction, never countenanced
these charges against him. Mr. Jay, Silas Deane, Mr.
Laurens, his colleagues also, ever maintained towards him
unlimited confidence and respect. That he would have waived
the formal recognition of our Independence I never heard on
any authority worthy notice. As to the fisheries, England
was urgent to retain them exclusively, France neutral;
and I believe that had they been ultimately made a _sine
quâ non_, our commissioners (Mr. Adams excepted) would have
relinquished them rather than have broken off the treaty.
To Mr. Adams' perseverance alone on that point I have
always understood we were indebted for their reservation.
As to the charge of subservience to France, besides the
evidence of his friendly colleagues before named, two
years of my own service with him at Paris, daily visits,
and the most friendly and confidential conversations,
convince me it had not a shadow of foundation. He possessed
the confidence of that government in the highest degree,
insomuch that it may truly be said that they were more
under his influence than he under theirs. The fact is that
his temper was so amiable and conciliatory, his conduct
so rational, never urging impossibilities, or even things
unreasonably inconvenient to them, in short so moderate and
attentive to their difficulties as well as our own, that
what his enemies called subserviency, I saw was only that
reasonable disposition, which, sensible that advantages
are not all to be on one side, yielding what is just
and liberal, is the more certain of obtaining liberality
and justice. Mutual confidence produces of course mutual
influence, and this was all which subsisted between Dr.
Franklin and the government of France.
I state a few anecdotes of Dr. Franklin, within my own
knowledge, too much in detail for the scale of Delaplaine's
work, but which may find _a cadre_ in some of the more
particular views you contemplate. My health is in a
great measure restored, and our family joins with me in
affectionate recollections and assurances of respect.
THE PROCEEDINGS
OF THE
GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES
IN MAINTAINING THE PUBLIC RIGHT TO THE BEACH OF THE
MISSISSIPPI, ADJACENT TO NEW ORLEANS, AGAINST THE
INTRUSION OF EDWARD LIVINGSTON.
PREPARED FOR THE USE OF COUNSEL,
BY THOMAS JEFFERSON.
CONTENTS.[81]
Page
Title of the Jesuits, 5
Term 'face au fleuve,' 5
Confiscation, 5
Title of B. Gravier, 5
Establishment into a fauxbourg, 5
Gravier's sale, 6
Streets, 8
Beach or batture, 9
Purchase by Inventory, 9
Livingston's arrival, 11
Parisien, 11
De la Bigarre, 13
Decision of Court, 14
Alarm occasioned, 14
Servitude of maintaining road, 14
United States no party to the decision, 16
Livingston's Intrusion, 17
Appeal to government of U. States, 18
Livingston's works, 19
Deliberation of the Cabinet, 21
What law to decide, 21
Proclamation of O'Reilly, 21
French code, 22
Roman law, 23
Alluvion, 26
Edict of Louis XIV 33
Napoleon Code, 34
Portalis, 34
M. Moreau de Lislet, 36
Note.--M. Thierry, 38
Rural and Urban possessions, 39
Principal and accessory, 41
The Beach or Batture not Alluvion, 42
The bed, beach, bank of a river, 44
Missisipi, 49
Nile, 50
Property of the bed and bank, 52
Limitations of the rights of property, 54
Surety, 58
Levées and Police of Missisipi, 61
Suspension of Livingston's works,
and the authorities by which, 62
Nature of those works, 63
Remedies, to wit, Abatement of
Nuisance, 64
Forcible entry, recaption, 65
Roman law de vi bonorum raptorum, 66
Squatters, 68
Jurisdiction over public property,
in whom, 68
When it results to the courts, 68
Act of Congress, 1807, c. 91, 68
Remitter, 69
Recapitulation, 70
Opinions and Orders of the Government, 72
Proceedings under them, 72
Chancery injunction from the court, 73
Proceedings of the legislature of
Orleans, 76
Message to Congress, 76
Removal of the case before them, 77
Responsibility of a public functionary, 78
FOOTNOTE:
[81] The figures in this table refer to the pages of the original
edition of Mr. Jefferson's pamphlet, which in this edition
are marked with an asterisk, and placed in the margin.
PREFACE.
Edward Livingston, of the territory of Orleans, having taken possession
of the beach of the river Missisipi adjacent to the city of New-Orleans,
in defiance of the general right of the nation to the property and use
of the beaches and beds of their rivers, it became my duty, as charged
with the preservation of the public property, to remove the intrusion,
and to maintain the citizens of the United States in their right to a
common use of that beach. Instead of viewing this as a public act, and
having recourse to those proceedings which are regularly provided for
conflicting claims between the public and an individual, he chose to
consider it as a private trespass committed on his freehold, by myself
personally, and instituted against me, after my retirement from office,
an action of trespass, in the circuit court of the United States for
the district of Virginia.
Being requested by my Counsel to furnish them with a statement of the
facts of the case, as well as of my own ideas of the questions of right,
I proceeded to make such a statement, fully as to facts, but briefly
and generally as to the questions of right. In the progress of the
work, however, I found myself drawn insensibly into details, and finally
concluded to meet the questions generally which the case would present,
and to expose the weakness of the plaintiff's pretensions, in addition
to the strength of the public right. These questions were of course
to arise under the laws of the territory of Orleans, composed of the
Roman, the French, and Spanish codes, and written in those languages.
The books containing them are so rare in this country as scarcely to be
found in the best-furnished libraries. Having more time than my Counsel,
consistently with their duties to others, could bestow on researches so
much out of the ordinary line, I thought myself bound to facilitate their
labors, and furnish them with such materials as I could collect. I did
it by full extracts from the several authorities, and in the languages in
which they were originally written, that they might judge for themselves
whether I misinterpreted them. These materials and topics, expressed in
the technical style of the law, familiar to them, they were of course to
use or not to use, according to the dictates of their better judgment. If
used, it would be with the benefit of being delivered in a form better
suited to the public ear. I passed over the question of jurisdiction,
because that was one of ordinary occurrence, and its limitations well
ascertained. On this, in event, the case was dismissed; the court being
of opinion they could not decide a question of title to lands not within
their district. My wish had rather been for a full investigation of
the merits at the bar, that the public might learn, in that way, that
their servants had done nothing but what the laws had authorized and
required them to do. Precluded now from this mode of justification, I
adopt that of publishing what was meant originally for the private eye
of counsel. The apology for its general complexion, more formal than
popular, must be found as well in the character of the question, as in
the views with which its discussion had been prepared. The necessity,
indeed, of continuing the elaborate quotations, is strengthened in the
case of ordinary readers, who are supposed to have still less opportunity
of turning to the authorities from which these are taken.
The questions arising, being many and independent of each other, admitted
not a methodical and luminous arrangement. Proceeding, therefore, in a
course of narrative, I have met and discussed the points of law in the
order in which events presented them; thus securing, as we go along, the
ground we pass over, and leaving nothing adversary or doubtful behind.
Hence the mixture of fact and law which will be observed through the
whole.
Vouchers for the facts are regularly referred to. These are principally,
1. Affidavits taken and published on the part of the plaintiff, and of
the city of New-Orleans, very deeply interested in this question. 2.
Printed statements, by the counsel on each side, uncontradicted by the
other, of facts under their joint observation and knowledge. 3. Records.
4. Notarial acts, and 5. Letters and reports of public functionaries
filed in the office of the department of state.
_Feb. 25, 1812._