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BULLETIN 
 
 OF THE 
 
 Illinois State 
 
 Historical Library 
 
 Volume 1. Number 1. 
 
 ILLINOIS IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 
 
 A Report on the Documents in Belleville, Illinois, Illustrating 
 the Early History of the State 
 
 BY 
 
 CLARENCE WALWORTH ALVORD, 
 University of Illinois. 
 
 SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS 
 
 SPRINGFIELD: 
 Illinois State Journal Co., State Printers. 
 
 1905. 
 
 ^CL /-^tyl 
 

64) 
 
 BOARD OF TRUSTEES 
 
 OF THE 
 
 ILLINOIS STATE HISTORICAL LIBRARY. 
 
 Edmund J. James, President. 
 
 M. H. Chamberlin, Vice President. 
 
 Geoege N. Black, Secretary. 
 
 Mrs. Jessie Palmer Webee, Librarian 
 
ILLINOIS IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY: 
 
 A REPORT ON THE 
 
 Documents in Belleville, 111., 
 
 lllustratiiKj tlie early histo)-y of the State, 
 
 BY 
 
 CLARENCE WALWORTH ALVORD, 
 
 University of Illinois. 
 
TO THE TRUSTEES 
 
 OF THE 
 
 ILLINOIS STATE HISTORICAL LIBRARY. 
 
 ILLINOIS IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY: A REPORT ON THE DOCU- 
 MENTS IN BELLEVILLE ILLUSTRATING THE EARLY 
 HISTORY OF THE STATE. 
 
 When the county of Randolph was separated from that of St. Clair 
 in 1795, the records of the former governments passed into the care 
 of different jurisdictions and have suffered diverse fates. Those of 
 legal interest to the new southern county, constituting the largest 
 part of the official papers of the eighteenth century, remained for a 
 time at Kaskaskia; and then were removed to Chester, where they 
 were neglected by the county officials and many thoughtlessly de- 
 stroyed, so that few documents of this period have reached a more 
 historically interested generation.^ Other records were left in the 
 court house at Cahokia, where they remained until the year 181-4, 
 when they were deposited in the court house at the new county seat, 
 Belleville.- The fate of the Cahokia documents has been more for- 
 tunate than that which befell the more important records at Kaskas- 
 kia; for probably the majority of the papers have been preserved, as 
 there are in existence records dating from every period of the history 
 of Illinois during the eighteenth century, with the exception of that 
 of the English occupation, 1765 to 1778. At the end of this report 
 will be found a catalog of these earjy documents in the various offices 
 of the court house at Belleville. 
 
 It seems best to preface this catalog with a brief history of the 
 institutions and the laws under which these documents originated, 
 and also to give some account of the men who have written them. 
 The proposed limits of the report will not include a study of political 
 events or an analysis of the documents themselves in order to dis- 
 cover their evidence on the political, legal, and social conditions of the 
 times. For this reason the documents have been little used, except 
 in two cases. Such a study must be made, but it will be several 
 months before it can be completed, and the desirability of an early 
 report to the trustees of the Historical Library has determined the 
 limits of this preliminary study. 
 
 1. Mason, Illinois in the Eighteenth Century, 49; Perrin, "The oldest Civil Record in tlie 
 West", in Transactions of the 111. State Hist. Soc, 1901, p. 61. 
 
 2. Histoiy of St. Clair County, 183. 
 
« 
 
 A Document of the French Regime. 
 
 There is only one document belonging to the French period; it is a 
 Mecord of the Registrations of Doyiations, kejjt by two successive 
 clerks of the court in the district of the Illinois during the years 1737 
 to 1769 inclusive. 1 
 
 In 1717, the territory of the Illinois was placed under the govern- 
 ment of the province of Louisiana and on Sept. 20, 1721. the Western 
 Comi^any divided the province into nine districts, one of which was that 
 of the Illinois.- This extended east and west of the Mississippi be- 
 tween the lines of the Ohio and the Illinois rivers. The district was 
 subordinated to the provincial government, and appeal from the de- 
 cision of the local court might be made to the superior council sitting 
 at New Orleans.^ The civil government of the district consisted of a 
 commandant, a commissaire, a judge, a jjrincipal scrivener of the ma- 
 rine, a king's attorney, a keejoer of the royal warehouse, a sealer of 
 weights and measures, a clerk of the court, Jniissiers, deputy clerks, 
 and notaries. Generally several offices were combined. For instance, 
 in this district the duties of the commissaire, the judge, and the 
 scrivener were always performed by one man; as were also the duties 
 of attorney and keeper of the warehouse; and a notary was clerk of 
 the court.* All civil officers were directly responsible to the intend- 
 ant."" The commandant, whose military duties were the more impor- 
 tant, was under the orders of the governor. Besides these officers of 
 the district, the commandant of each village may have had some civil 
 duties.^ 
 
 There is a need of a much more careful study of all the sources 
 than has yet been made, before the rather complicated machinery of 
 the French colonial government in the Mississippi valley can be un- 
 derstood. The limitations of this paper, however, require only an 
 explanation of the duties of the clerk of the court, when he registered 
 certain kinds of donations. To understand these it will be necessary 
 to study the legislation of Louis XIV and his successor upon the sub- 
 ject, since this was the law practiced in the French settlements on the 
 Mississippi. 
 
 Since the Middle Ages the French law has divided private legal 
 acts into two broad classes. In the first are included all agreements, 
 acts, and deeds, which individuals make voluntarily, such as contracts, 
 wills, donations, etc. These, therefore, are called acts of voluntary 
 jurisdiction. In the second are placed all those acts which require 
 the intervention of a court. The former class is under the jurisdic- 
 tion of the notaries, whose engrossed copies have complete validity 
 
 1. Registre des Iiisintiations des Donations aux Stege des /l/iiwis, see Catalog, No. 1; Perrin, 
 ■'Oldest Civil Record in the West", in Traitsactwis oithe 111. State Hist. Soc, 1901, p.64etseq. 
 
 2. French Hist. CoUeciiom of La., Ill, 49-59, 101-104; Collet, in Mag. of Western Hist., VIII. 
 268; Winsor, Narrative and Critical Hist., Y ., iZ. 
 
 .3. Pittman, Present State of the European Settlements,\2:VreTich, Hist. Collections of Lu., Ill, 
 101-104; Winsor. Narrative and Critical Hist.. V ., 43. 
 
 4. French. Hist. Collections, III, 49-59, 101-104; Pittman, Present State of the European Set- 
 tlements, 53; Edits, Ordonnances Royaux, etc., I., 581, art. 14, Registre des Insinuations des Dona- 
 tions. 
 
 5. The title of this officer varied ;but generally he signed himself, King's Councillor, Com- 
 mtssaire General oi the Marine, and Intendant. Gayarre Histor)' oj Louisiana, II, appendix. 
 
 6. Breese, Early History of Illinois, 216. 
 
y 
 
 without the need of an approval by a civil judge. ^ Provided all for- 
 malities are complied with, the notarial act is as effective as a judg- 
 ment of the American court.^ During the eighteenth century, others 
 besides the notaries might draw up wills under certain conditions. 
 This privilege was accorded the testator, the installed parish i^riest, 
 and military officers; but whoever may have written them, all acts of 
 this character were brought finally to the notaries, who were obliged 
 by law to make and keep minutes of them.^ 
 
 In order that they might exercise a needed control over the notarial 
 acts and to prevent their loss the French kings, beginning with 
 Francis I, (15B9), promulgated laws which made compulsory the 
 registration of certain classes of acts, among which were donations 
 and wills. ^ Edict followed edict until the law of deeds, wills, and 
 donations became so complex that a revision was necessary. Louis 
 XIV. in his old age undertook the task, which was completed by his 
 successor. During the first third of the eighteenth century these two 
 kings issued a series of general laws, which regulated the writing, 
 preservation, and registration of all acts drawn up by notaries. 
 
 The first of this series of ordinances was that of December, 1703, 
 which systematized the law of . registration and established a bureau 
 for that purpose at each of the royal courts. ^ The clerk, who was 
 charged with the duty of registration, acted as a recorder rather than 
 as the agent of the court to which he was attached. The number of 
 acts required to be registered was greatly increased ; but it is sufficient 
 for our purposes to note that donations and wills were still included. 
 Several explanations of this edict followed; but the two ordinances 
 issued in February of 1731 are of special interest, for they governed 
 the clerk's action in keeping this record of registi'ation in the Illinois. 
 The first of these has not been printed; the second was a codification 
 of the previous law of donations inter vii'os and abrogated all former 
 edicts, laws, and coufinnes onthe subject. Hereafter there were to be 
 only two forms for the gratiiitous disposal of proi3erty, namely, 
 donations inter vivos and testaments or codicils.^ 
 
 The donation inter vivos, before it became efl^ective, must be 
 accepted by the donee in person, or through attorney, or by notarial 
 act. All such donations, with the single exception of those made by 
 contract of marriage, were limited to property actually in the pos- 
 session of the donor. There was another exception made for the same 
 
 1. Larousse, Grande Diet, Universel, art. Noiaire. 
 
 2. Koy, Histoire du Notarial ati Canada, I, 262; Brooke, Treatise on the Practice of a Notary 
 ■ of England, 8. 
 
 3. Coutiime de Paris, art. 248; Isambert, etc., Recueil general, XXI, p. 292, arts. 25-37, pp. 
 386-402; ^f/Z^-, Ordonnances Ro\aiix, etc.. II, 296 (interprets the law in the colonies), I. ,372: 
 Viollet, Histoire du Droit, Civil Fraii^ais, 3d ed., 952-965. Great privileges were granted to 
 soldiers engaged in war. Wills drawn up by priests in the Mississippi settlements received 
 the vise of the commandant. 
 
 4. Larousse, Grande Diet. Universel, art. Insimiatiofi; La Grande Encyclopedic, art. 
 Insinuation; Viollet, Histoire dtt Droit Cizil Franfais, 965-911. 
 
 5. Isambert, etc.. Recueil general, XX, 438-44]; La Grande Encyclopedic, art. Insinuation, 
 As early as 1690, Louis XI\' had issued a declaration on the subject of donations. Isambert, 
 etc., Recueil general, XX, 113. 
 
 6. Isambert. etc., Recueil general, XXI, 343-354. The first ordinance regulated the 
 method of registration, the fees of the clerk, etc., as may be learned from the Illinois register, 
 in which reference to the law of February 17, 1731, was frequently made. The second was an 
 ordinance concerning donations, a partial translation of which is printed in Appendix II. 
 The present French law has made few changes, if any, in this ordinance. (Compare 
 Code Civil Fran(ais, Bk., III. Tit. 2). On June 25, 1735, an ordinance concerning testaments 
 -was issued. Isambert, etc., Recueil general, XXI, 386-402. 
 
10 
 
 contracts: donations to direct heirs contained in tliem needed no 
 registration. This was also true of donations of movables, when 
 there was actual delivery, and of small sums of money. All others 
 must be registered on penalty of nullity at the nearest royal court^ 
 from which there was direct appeal to the king. 
 
 For this purpose there was kept at each royal court a particular 
 register, which was numbered and paraphed on every page by the 
 first officer of the court.^ No vacant space between the deeds was left 
 for fear of unauthorized interpolations. At the end of each year this 
 register was inspected by the same officer and, if found in accordance 
 with the law, the judge approved it, closed the register with his sig- 
 nature, and gave it iiito the keeping of the clerk. In this register 
 there was copied the entire donation, if it were made by a separate 
 act ; or that jmrt of any act, which contained the donation, so that 
 reference to the notary's minute to learn the terms of the gift would 
 not be necessary. Upon demand the clerk was obliged to give access 
 to the book; and, if requested, to make a copy of the deed for a fixed 
 fee. 
 
 In the register containing the registration of these donations inter 
 vivos, the clerk in the district of the Illinois has also kept a record of 
 testaments and codicils. That these must be registered has been al- 
 ready stated: but I have been unable to find any law permitting or 
 ordering the registration of wills in the particular record reserved by 
 the Ordinance of 1731 for donations inter vivos.- Since wills, how- 
 ever are only a particular kind of donation, it is probable that the 
 clerk was following a universal custom. 
 
 Such was the French law regulating the registration of donations 
 and of wills or codicils, and the clerk in the district of the Illinois 
 observed this law with as much care as if he were attached to the 
 court of the provost of Paris, at least during the earlier years. The 
 leaves of the book were all numbered and paraphed by the judge of 
 the district; the formulae of the registration were carefully observed; 
 the deeds were written so that the pages were filled, even crowded. 
 In one instance the clerk — it was the later one who was less care- 
 ful— missed an eighth of a page and across this space he has drawn a 
 line and written, "passed by mistake." The acts registered may be 
 thus classified: 1. Simple acts of mutual donation of real and personal 
 property, both present and to be acquired, made by contract of mar- 
 riage, so that in case of the death of one, the survivor would have all 
 the property possessed by both. These donations were to be null 
 and void in case of the birth of a child. 2. Acts of donation by one 
 party to the other in the contract of marriage. 8. Acts of donation 
 by a third party to one or both of the contracting parties in a con- 
 tract of marriage. 4. Acts of mutual donation mortis causa.^ 5. 
 Simple acts of donation by one party to another. 6. Acts of donation 
 
 1. Isambert, etc., Recueil general. XXI, .345-349. A paraph was a Hoiirish of the pen 
 under the signature, the number of the page, or words inserted on the margin. It was used 
 to prevent falsification. 
 
 i. /bid.. XX., 4:38-441, XXI. 401, art. 79; Larouse Grande Diet Univ., art. Enregistmenis 
 La drandc Encyc. art.. Insinuation. 
 
 3. These were forbidden, but mav have been permitted to soldiers. Isambert, etc.^ 
 Recueil general, XXI, 393. art., 27. 
 
11 
 
 in return for which the donee promised some compensation. These 
 were generally made by aged persons in return for the promise of 
 support. 7. Solemn wills and testaments. 8. Codicils. 9. Formal 
 renunciation of the "community of property" by the wife.^ The prop- 
 erty, which is thus disposed of, included real estate, mortgages, notes 
 of all kinds, state bonds, money, household and personal property, 
 and slaves. 
 
 In the largest number of cases these acts were drawn up by a no- 
 tary, generally by the notary who, as clerk of the court, registered 
 them and received three livres for so doing. There are, however, a 
 number of contracts of marriage and of wills, which were written by 
 priests, or by the military commandant of one of the settlements, or 
 by an officer in the army, and some wills written by the testator. 
 
 Usually the party interested in the deed brought it to the bureau 
 of the court to have it registered, in which case the following formula 
 was used by the clerk: ''Today, the seventh day of April, 1752, 
 there has appeared at the bureau of this jurisdiction before the clerk 
 whose signature is below, Mr. Jean Baptiste Gouier called Cham- 
 pagne, inhabitant of St. Philippe, dwelling in the parish of Ste. Anne, 
 with a copy of his contract of marriage with Miss Marie Joseph 
 Lacroix, passed before the late Mr. Jerome Rousillet, notary, on the 
 date, February 11. 17;};i" Sometimes the clerk was commissioned to 
 make the registration, in which case he wrote after dating: "We, 
 Bertlor Barrios, clerk at the Illinois, by virtue of the commission of 
 Francois Lacroix to register, etc." The invariable formula at the 
 close is this: "And after having read the said contract of marriage 
 in our bureau, we have inscribed the said donation on the Record of 
 the Registrations of this court in accordance with the ordinance for 
 their preservation and validation, by reason of which, etc. Done in 
 our bureau the day and year above written." Then followed the sig- 
 nature of the clerk with a jDaraph. 
 
 The time intervening between the redaction of an act and its regis- 
 tration varied considerably. Generally only a few days were allowed 
 to pass before the parties appeared in the court to fulfill the require- 
 ments of the law. As a rule the bridegroom brought the contract of 
 marriage, but not always; and in the case of wills the executor, after 
 the death of the testator. At times, years elapsed before this final 
 act of registration, as in the case of a contract of marriage dated 
 February"l7, 1726, and registered August 2, 1711. In this case the 
 donation was made before the promulgation of the Ordinance of 1781, 
 but it will be remembered that this ordinance did not change the 
 existing law on the registration of donations. There were cases 
 when a doubt arose whether an act had been registered and the party 
 interested requested the clerk to search the record and, if necessary, 
 to fulfill the requirements of the law. Thus, on October 25, 1741, 
 Francois Lacroix requested the clerk to look up his contract of 
 
 1. Viollet, Histoire dii Droit, Chi/ Fran(ais,:id ed., 826-848. 
 
12 
 
 marriage, which had been drawn up Nov^ember 8, 1739, by M. Jerome, 
 deceased. Since it had not been registered, the clerk recorded the fact 
 and corrected the omission. 
 
 The first entry in the book was made on January 15, 1737, by Jean 
 Baptiste Bertlor Barrois.^ This was not the only book under his 
 charge: for the French law required the memoranda of all acts of the 
 court to be carefully and systematically kept. As royal notary, he 
 was obliged to make and preserve his minutes and copy his engross- 
 ments ;2 as clerk of the court, he had four distinct registers:^ as clerk 
 of the marine, he was obliged to keep records in seven registers ;* and 
 as clerk of registration, he must have had a book for the registration 
 of other acts than donations. It is doubtful whether the entries in 
 any one of them were numerous, since his registrations of donations 
 averaged only fpur a year. The entries are in various handwritings, 
 so that probably he had the assistance of several deputy clerks in the 
 bureau. 
 
 Barrois lived at Kaskaskia until December of 1751. He called him- 
 self clerk of the court and named this register the Record of the Reg- 
 istrations of Donations at tJie Court oftlie Illinois. Yet writers on 
 Illinois history have generally regarded Fort Chartres as the seat of 
 both civil and military government and, by inference, the place where 
 the court of justice always held its sessions.'^ In favor of this view is 
 Pittman's statement that the fort was the seat of government and that 
 the commissaire's house was situated there ;^ the burial of the judge, 
 Delaloire Flancour, in 174(5 at the same place; the statement of Bar- 
 rois that on October 25. 1711, he was requested to search the register of 
 the late M. Jerome of Fort Chartres, whom he called both notary and 
 clerk, for a donation in a contract of marriage, which Jerome had 
 been expected to register.'* Since this contract of marriage was drawn 
 up by Jerome on November 8. 1739. he must have been acting as notary 
 and clerk of the court at Fort Chartres two years after Barrois had be- 
 gun his register of donations in Kaskaskia. From these facts it may 
 be inferred that between January 15.1737 and November 9,1739, the 
 judge held sessions of the court at both places, unless Barrois was acting 
 as deputy of -Terome at Kaskaskia. It is not probable, however, that 
 Barrois was deputy clerk of registrations, since there was no provision 
 for such an officer in the ordinances. 
 
 But was 'the court at Fort Chartres continued after 1739? Pittman's 
 testimony is only of value for the later period of the French occupa- 
 tion, and it is certain that the judge sat at Fort Chartres after De- 
 cember, 1754: for during that month Barrois left Kaskaskia. where he 
 had continued to register cicts of donation, to take up his residence at 
 
 1. The names Jean Baptiste were obtained from a contract of marriage. drawn up by Barrois 
 in 1757, in which he appeared for the bride, his daughter Celeste. Maiiu.uript in the Missouri 
 Hist. Society's collection. In the register he called himself Bertlor Barrois. See also 
 American State Papers. Public Lands, II. 217. 
 
 2. Edits, Otdonnances Royaux, etc . I, 217. 
 
 3. At least such was the case in Montreal. Ibid., II, 386. 
 
 4. Tsambert. etc., Recucil general, XIX., 289. 
 
 .5. Mason, Illinois in the Eighteenth Century, (Old Fort Chartres), 23 et seq.; Moses, Illinois 
 Historical and Statistical, 1 , 98. 
 
 6. Pittman, The Present State of the European Settlements, i^. 
 
 7. De faire recherche dans les registres de feu M. Jerome rirant Greffler aux dites Illinois resi- 
 dent au fort de Chartres. From the Registre des Insinuations des Donations, Oct. 2.1,1741; see also 
 ■the Appendix III, Jerome Rousillet; Mason, Illinois in the Eighteenth Century, 32. 
 
13 
 
 Fort Chartres, as is proved by the record. Also from the few quota- 
 tions from the sessions of the court made by Judge Breese we know 
 the court was in session in 1756 at the same place.^ Therefore the 
 question concerns only the years 1739 to 1754. During this period 
 the fort was badly in need of repair and permanent abandonment of it 
 was contemplated.' So dangerous did the situation become in 1748 
 that the commandant temporarily withdrew his troops from it and 
 concentrated his forces at Kaskaskia.-^ The quotations of Judge 
 Breese from the record of the court prove it to have been in session 
 in, that settlement in 1749 and 1752.^ Furthermore, on Oct. 25, 1741, 
 the register of the clerk Jerome was in the hands of the clerk Barrois 
 at Kaskaskia, which would not have been the case had a successor to 
 Jerome been appointed at Fort Chartres.'' The natural inference from 
 these facts is that the civil government was moved from Fort Chartres 
 to Kaskaskia sometime after 1739 and before Oct. 25, 1741. Still the 
 evidence is not conclusive, for during the years 1737 to 1739 the judge 
 probably held court at both places, and it is possible that this con- 
 tinued to be the case.'' 
 
 The rebuilding of Fort Chartres was completed in the year 1754, 
 and during December of the same year Barrois began to date his reg- 
 istrations at Nouvelle Chartres, which he continued to do up to the 
 year 1757.'' The first registry of his successor, Labuxiere, dated 
 March 14, 1757, was an act drawn up by the notary Barrois on March 
 10, 1757. This is the last official act by him which is recorded in the 
 Megistre, so it is probable that he died between that date and March 
 14. If that was the case, it is strange that Labuxiere never used the 
 phrase, the late M. Barrois; but it is possible that he was as unfamil- 
 iar with the correct i)hraseology as he proved himself to be with other 
 particulars. 
 
 There is very little to be learned from the register about Bertlor 
 Barrois, since there is no act recorded in which he was personally in- 
 terested. From the contract of marriage of his daughter. Celeste 
 Therese, in the collection of the Missouri Historical Society, we learn 
 that he was at that time, Jan. 8, 1757, a widower, his wife's name 
 having been Magdalen Cardinal. The church register at Kaskaskia 
 contains the record of baptism of their son, Louis, in 1 732.^ In the 
 year 1756, Magdalen Barrois. widow of Louis Marin, registered her 
 contract of marriage. Possibly she was another daughter if her name 
 is any evidence. When the United States government sent commis- 
 sioners to these Mississippi settlements to examine the land titles^ 
 there were several heirs of Barrois living in the Illinois district. ^ 
 From the same source comes information of an earlier date which 
 
 1. Breese, £c7r/v History' of Illinois. 214-220. 
 
 2. Mason. Illiiwh in the Etghteenlh Century (Old Fort Chartres), 32. 
 
 3. Doc. re I. to the Col. Hist, of the State of N. Y.. X,143. 
 
 4. Breese. Early History of Illinois. 217 et seq. 
 
 5. Registre des Insinuations des Donations, October 25.1741 ; see above. 
 
 6. The only objection is that the registers of the clerk Jerome were sent to Kaskaskia. 
 There might have been some other reason for this than the one proposed in the text. 
 
 7. IVla^son, Illinois in the Eighteenth Century (Old Port Chartres), 31; Moses, Illinois Histor- 
 ical and Statistical. I. 114. 
 
 8. "Kaskaskia Church Records, "' in Transactions of the 111. State Hist. Soc, 1904, p. 399. 
 
 9. American Stale Papers, Public Lands, II, 138. 
 
14 
 
 jjroves the notary to have been an owner of land. A certain man 
 named John Rice Jones had, in 1818, a claim for land in Kaskaskia, 
 which he had obtained from the heirs of Catherine Place, said to be 
 daughter of Jean Baptiste Lebert (/// Barrois.^ The claim appeared 
 to the commissioners of doubtful validity, because there were evi- 
 dences of forgery. Upon investigation it wasfotmd that in an old rec- 
 ord book of land titles, made in the time of Judge Louis Auguste De- 
 laloire Flancour, there was a claim of Jean Bte. Bertlor Barrois for 
 thirty toises square at Kaskaskia, granted by M. d"Artuguiette to said 
 Barrois March 10, 1786: also two arpents of land granted by the same 
 commandant Feb. 10, 1786. The entry of these claims was made May 
 21, 1712. Neither of them was the land claimed by Jones, so the 
 commissioners made an unfavorable report, although the belief of the 
 inhabitants of Kaskaskia seems to have been that Bertlor Barrois 
 actually possessed land situated near that claimed by the petitioner. 
 
 Joseph Labuxiere.- the successor of Barrois, continued to keep the 
 register at Nouvelle Chartres until the end of the French Regime. 
 He is said to have come from Canada and to have married Catherine 
 Vifvarenne of St. Philippe.-^ Of his private life little else is known. 
 He was not so careful in conforming to the law as his predecessor, 
 although this may have been due to ignorance. Still a general relax- 
 ing of the stricter forms of government is to be noticed throughout 
 the settlement, a sign of which is the cessation of the annual inspec- 
 tion of the register by the judge after 1757. It was the period of the 
 Seven Years War and the officials in the Illinois must have felt them- 
 selves completely cut otf from the home government, the regular com- 
 munication with which had formerly held them so strictly to their 
 duties. 
 
 Although the treaty of Paris in 1763 had ceded this territory north 
 of the Ohio river, it was not until Oct. 10, 1765, that the English 
 took possession of Fort Chartres.^ Up to that time the French 
 officials continued to govern the district. During 1768 Labuxiere 
 registered several deeds. In the next year there was no entry made 
 until the autumn, when the change in the destinies of the Northwest 
 may be read in the words: ''arrests le present Journal le dix 8hre 
 1764, Lefehvrey^ Two days later, however, there was occasion to 
 open the book again to enter the last act of donation drawn up and 
 registered by French officials on Illinois soil. 
 
 Several years elaj)sed before the old register was again used. Then 
 it was to record acts drawn up on the western bank of the Mississippi 
 river in St. Louis. There were five entries made between Sej^tember 
 1, 1768, and June 6, 1769, by Labuxiere in that settlement. The 
 book was still called the Record of the Registrations of the Dona- 
 tions at the Court of the Illinois. Although this seems anomalous, 
 it is not difficult to explain. That part of the province of Louisiana, 
 
 1. Amer. State Papers, Fnblic Lands, II, 216. 
 
 2. Often spelled Labiissiere, or Labusciere. 
 
 3. Billon, Annals of St. Louis, 27. 
 
 1. Doc. rel. to the Col. Hi<:t. of X. Y., X, 1161. 
 
 5. ' 'The present journal is stopped, October 10, 1764. Lefebvre." Lefebvre was acting 
 judge at that time. Doc. rel. to the Col. Hist, of N. V., X, 1161. 
 
15 
 
 which was west of the Mississippi, was ceded to Spain November 13, 
 1762; but it was not until August 18, 1769, that the Spaniards took 
 official possession of it; and not until May 20, 1770, that their repre- 
 sentative arrived in St. Louis. ^ 
 
 Meanwhile, there was need of some form of government in St. 
 Louis, which had been founded by Laclede in 1764, just at the time 
 "vhen these various changes in sovereignty over the Mississippi 
 mlley were being made. As soon as the news of the cession of the 
 3astern Illinois to the English reached the French settlements, there 
 was an exodus of settlers to Laclede's new village across the river, so 
 that in a year St. Louis became a more populous settlement 
 than Kaskaskia had ever been.- Relatively only a few were 
 left on the Illinois side. The Commandant Villiers had gone to 
 New Orleans with most of his officers and men in June, 1764, and 
 evidently Valentine Bobe Desclauseaux, the last officially appointed 
 judge of the district, had followed his example; at least he dis- 
 appeared from these regions. To represent the French government 
 at Fort Chartres, until the English should take possession, there 
 remained St. Ange de Belle Rive, Commandant; Joseph Lefebvre, 
 Attorney General. Keeper of the Royal Warehouse, and acting Judge; 
 and Joseph Labuxiere, Clerk and Notary.^ After the deliverance of the 
 fort to the English, they went to St. Louis, where they continued to act 
 in their official capacity as representatives of France. The title of 
 their government was, ''The Court of the Illinois''; for the western 
 bank of the Mississijopi had always been a part of the district. On 
 April 3, 1767, Lefebvre died. Of the civil officials of the French gov- 
 ernment in the Illinois, there remained but one, the clerk and notary. 
 Up to May, 1770, Labuxiere performed the duties of judge, attorney, 
 keeper of the royal warehouse, clerk, and notary; and with St. Ange 
 represented the French government in the conveyance of the district 
 to the Spaniards.* 
 
 Under Spanish rule Labuxiere acted as notary until Dec. 23. 1780, 
 after which date Mr. Billon found no trace of him in St. Louis. He 
 says: "He died elsewhere, I think at new Madrid, and left three sons, 
 Joseph, Louis, and Francois."^ From the records of the court of 
 Cahokia, founded under the Virginia Act of 1778, the later history 
 of Labuxiere can be traced.^ By June 29, 1782, he had returned to 
 the eastern side of the Mississippi; for the County Lieutenant Rich- 
 ard Winston with the consent of the court of Kaskaskia appointed 
 
 1. Amer. State Papers. Public Lands, II., 240; King, N'e-ai Orleans, 107, et seq.; Ogg, The 
 Opening; of the Mississippi, .33.5 et seq. 
 
 2. Billon, Annals of St. Louis, passim. 
 
 3. Doc. re I . to the Col. Hist, of S'. Y., X, 1161. Mr. Billon must be mistaken in the office 
 held by Lefebvre. He calls him civil .judge, and says that later he was appointed keeper of 
 the royal warehouse. This is a reversal of the relative importance of the ottices. Probably he 
 was never officially appointed judge, so retained the title of the lower rank in all deeds, 
 •while performing the duties of the judicial office. This was the usual course. Billon, 
 Atinals at St. Louis, 30, 47. 
 
 4. Ifid.. 31, 47. 
 
 5. Ibid.. .30. There was a Joseph Labussiere in New Madrid in 1806, but he was only twen- 
 ty-one years old. Amer. State Papers, Public Lands, \l, 577. 
 
 6. Catalog, J^os. 2a, 3; Mason, Lists o/ £arly fllinois Citizens, Fergus Hist. Series, No. 31, 
 p. 68. 
 
16 
 
 him attorney for the court of Cahokia, On December of the same- 
 year he was empowered to act as notary; and on June 20, 1785, he 
 took the oath of office as clerk of the court, a position he held until 
 the establishment of a government by the United States over this ter- 
 ritory in 1790. He died on April 29, 1791 and left many heirs,, 
 as is a^jparent from their claims to lands before the United States' 
 commissioners.^ The presence of Labuxiere in Cahokia ex^jlains how 
 the Record of Beg isf rations happens to be now in Belleville. He 
 brought it across the river with him. Since Cahokia was not a seat 
 of government under the French regime, there never w^ere many offi- 
 cial records in the archives, and all the other records of Fort Chartres 
 were removed to Kaskaskia, when the English changed the seat of 
 government to that village in 1772.^ 
 
 There was still another official connected with the record whose 
 duties must be explained. According to the royal ordinance the reg- 
 ister must be numbered, paraphed, and once every year inspected and 
 closed by the principal officer of the court .^ This inspection and clos- 
 ing of the register in the district of the Illinois was performed in 
 January, only once later. From 1738 to January, 1746. this duty was 
 discharged by Louis Auguste Delaloire Flancour, Esquire (later Sieur 
 de Flancour), Principal Scrivener of the Marine, subdelegate of M. 
 de Salmon, (or whoever was intendant), Commissaire and Judge of 
 the Civil Court in the district of the Illinois.* 
 
 The first title is not exjilained in the general Ordinance of the 
 Marine by Louis XIV. in August 1681, or in the subsequent supple- 
 ments to the edict, so far as I can learn. ^ There were ecrivains in the 
 marine; but they were like our pursers and served on the ship, which 
 they could not leave until the voyage was comjjleted.^ This Illinois 
 official served on land and evidently was a subordinate of the coni- 
 missairc gene ml of the marine at New Orleans, and therefore must 
 have had supervision of the fishing and boating interests of the dis- 
 trict with power to judge in the first instance all disputes arising^ 
 therefrom.'* All officers of the civil government were connected in one 
 way or another with the marine. As subdelegate of the intendant he 
 was chief of the departments of justice, police, and finance.^ His 
 duties included a general oversight of all departments of civil govern- 
 ment; but his power was not well defined and must have brought him 
 into frequent conflict with the major-commandant. The next titles, 
 connnissaire and judge, i3robably represented one office, namely that 
 of judge of the civil and criminal court. The law of the French col- 
 onies was that of the provosty and viscounty of Paris or to give it the 
 better known name, the contiime de Pfiris.^ Capt. Pittman who vis- 
 ited the settlements on the Mississippi a few years after the end of 
 
 1. Missouri Reports, IV. 34.3; American State Pavers, Public Lands. I. and II, index. 
 
 2. Mason, Illinois in i/ie Eighteenth Ce >it it ry (Old Vort Chartres), 43. 
 
 3. Is-Ambert, etc.. Recueil genoal.Wl, 349, arts. 24 and 25. 
 
 4. F.criraiu iirincival dc la marine, subdelegue de M. de Salmon, commissaire et tenant Ic siege 
 civil de justice aux Illinois. Regisire des Insinuations des Donations. 
 
 a. Isambert.etc. Kecucil general. XIX, 282-366; Edits, OrdonnancesRoyaux, etc., 1, 360-364, 391- 
 394, 434 - 436. .532-533, .546- ^.'JO. 
 
 6. \H?i\nbf!:n.e(c.,Recucil general. XIX. 306. title, III. 
 
 7. Ibid., XI.X. 285; Rainbaud, Histoire de la Civilizatton Fran^aiseW, 244-246. 
 
 8. Ibid., II, 30-34; see numerous commissions of intendants in Edits, Ordonnances RoyauXr 
 etc.. III. 
 
 9. French, Hist. Collections of La., \\\, 49-59, art. 15. 
 
17 
 
 the French dominion has characterized this official with many offices, 
 as, "a mere cypher rather kept for form than for real use," and his 
 judgment has been accepted by more recent writers. ^ Remembering 
 the part played by the intendants in the government of France and 
 the continual quarrels of the governors and intendants in Quebec and 
 New C)rleans, one hesitates to accept this judgment of a passing 
 English soldier as final, unless substantiated by some convincing evi- 
 dence, which up to the present time has not beeii produced. 
 
 The judge after inspecting the register wrote in it the following 
 formula: "Today, the 28 of January, 1731, we {name and titles), 
 having found that the present register conforms io the King's decla- 
 ration of February 17, 1731. and having numbered and paraphed it, 
 do hold it closed from this day, and have left it in the possession of 
 Bertlor Barrois, as clerk of the jurisdiction of this court, in order 
 that he may be able to communicate its contents to all persons who 
 shall have an interest therein. This is all done in accordance with 
 the above mentioned declaration. At Kaskaskia, the day and year 
 above written, I have signed." 
 
 Flancour died in 174(1 and was buried at Fort Chartres.^ In 
 January of the next year the office of judge was vacant, and the 
 register was inspected and closed by Joseph Buchet, who was keeper 
 of the king's warehouse and acting as royal attorney and judge. ^ 
 The garde des magazins belonged to the departmeiit of the 
 marine; and his diity .was to maintain a sufficient supply of all 
 necessities for the equipment of the army, and for trade with, and 
 gifts to, the Indians.-' In 1748 Buchet was still performing the duties of 
 all the higher offices, but in the next year he signed himself 
 Scrivener. Subdelegate, Conimissaire, and Judge, thus announcing to 
 us his promotion. He held the position until January 12. 1757. at 
 least. -^ After that date the officials evidently became more lax in dis- 
 charging their duties, for the register was never again officially 
 inspected by the judge of the court, although the names of two men 
 are known who acted in that capacity, John Arnold Valentine Bobe 
 Desclauseaux. who signed a deed November 11, 1763, and Joseph 
 Lefebvre, who accompanied St. Ange to St. Louis.^ 
 
 The Peeiod of the Virginia Occupation. 
 
 Up to the present time, only a few local records have been known 
 of the period of the Virginia occupation, such as Clark's narratives 
 and letters; John Todd's Record-Book; St. Clair Pajjers; and the 
 
 1. Pittman. The Present State of the European Settlements. 45. 
 
 2. Mason, Illinois in the Eighteenth Centiin,', I Old Fort Chartres), 8.3; Church Records of Ste. 
 Anne. 
 
 3. A'ous, Joseph Bucket. Garde des ma^azins du Roi aux Illinois. Frocureur aux lieu vacans et 
 de la majeste au dit lieu garde la jurisdiction royal des Illinois, le siege vacans. Registere des 
 Insinuations des Donatinjis. January H5. 1747. 
 
 4. Isambert, etc.. Recucil general. XIX, 284, art. 14. See inventory of groods in tlie ware- 
 house in Billon, Annals of St. Louis, 47. 
 
 5. In 1756, I-iuchet was absent and the rejrister was inspected by Andre Chev;dier, who 
 signed himself "Garde des Magazins, Subtreasurer. Attorney, arid acting Judge in the 
 absence /if M. Buchet." 
 
 0. Billon, Annals ot S. Louis, 31; Doc. rel. to the Col. Hist, of N. V., X, 1161. 
 
 2 H 
 
18 
 
 American State Papers .^ Only two of these are both contemporary 
 and local. On account of this scarcity of sources the documents of 
 this period at Belleville are the most interesting and valuable of all 
 those in the archives of the court house and will illuminate an ob- 
 scure period of state history. Cahoki-a was not a centre of govern- 
 ment under the French and accident alone accounts for the i^resence 
 there of the record which has been described; but under the Virgin- 
 ia dominion a court and a coumiandant were established in the vil- 
 lage and the numerous documents of this government were finally car- 
 ried to Belleville, where they have been preserved.- There are a few 
 sheets of a record in tlie English language of a court which sat in 
 Cahokia between the time of CUark's conquest and the establishment 
 of a civil government by John Todd. The remaining documents are 
 written in French with an occasional copy of an English paper. 
 Among them is an almost complete record of the sessions of the Vir- 
 ginia court at'Gahokia from Nov. 26. 1779, to April 1. 1< 90; and 
 the register of the clerk of the same court. Besides these there are the 
 minutes of the sessions of the court of the "justice of the week" for 
 July 9, 1785, to Feb. 18, 1786; and about four hundred miscel- 
 laneous papers such as petitions to the court, briefs, warrants, etc.^ 
 
 If the documents of this period are the most valuable, the most in- 
 teresting of them is the record of the court, which held sessions im- 
 mediately after the conquest in the summer of 1778; because it sup- 
 plements the account of the civil government given in Clark's memoirs 
 where is found the only notice in his writings of the organiza- 
 tion established by him in the territory. He there says: "I inquired 
 particularly into the manner the people had been governed formerly, 
 and much to my satisfaction, (I found) that it had been generally as 
 severe as under the militia law. I was determined to make an advan- 
 tage of it, and took every step in my jDower to cause the people to feel 
 the blessings enjoyed by an American citizen which I soon discovered 
 enabled me to support, from their own choice, almost a supreme 
 authority over them. I caused a court of civil jurisdiction to be es- 
 tablished at Cahokia, elected by the people. Major Bowman, to the 
 surprise of the jjeople, held a poll for a magistracy, and was elected 
 and acted as judge of the court. (Manuscript here illegible.) After 
 this similar courts were established in the towns of Kaskaskia and 
 St. Vincent. There was an appeal to myself in certain cases and I 
 believe that no people ever had their business done more to their sat- 
 isfaction than they had through the means of these regulations for a 
 considerable time."'* 
 
 \. Clark's Sketch of his Camnaign in the fllinois. Ohio Valley Hist. Series, No. .3; Clnrk's 
 Mss., in the Library of the Wis. Hist. Soc; Clark's Memoir, in English's Conquest of the 
 North-west, 1, 457-565, and partially printed in Dillon, Indiana. 114-167, and ///. Hist. Collec- 
 tions, vol. 1, passim; Mason, John Todd's Record- Book, Fergus Hist. Series, No. 33; Smith, St. 
 Clair Papers, Public Lands, 2 vols. 
 
 2. See Catalog. Nos. 1, 2a. 2b, 3, 4, 5a, 6, 9. For two reasons I have discussed the docu- 
 ment of the F"rench period at relatively greater length than these. First it was possible to say 
 all that is essential to be said of the register at the present time. In the second place, the doc- 
 uments of the Virginia period being longer and more important require a more careful study 
 than I have been able to give them up to the present. I have therefore limited myself to using 
 only the most apparent information contained in them. • 
 
 3. Jugc de semaine . 
 
 4. English, Conquest of the Northwest. I., Appendix, 484. 
 
19 
 
 The new source is a record of this court at Cahokia which is writ- 
 ten on both sides of four loose sheets of paper.^ Their mutilated con- 
 dition and the fact that the j)ages are not consecutive are evidences 
 that they once formed part of a book in which the complete record 
 had been kept. It was written in English by two persons, one of 
 whom was evidently Captain Bowman and the other, Lieutenant Per- 
 rault. There are, in all, incomplete records of nine sessions of this 
 "Court of the Committee of Cahos." The dates are as follows: 
 Thursday, Dec. 81, 1778; Thursday, Jan. 7, 1779; Friday, Jan. 8; date 
 lost; date lost; Friday, April 12: date lost; Friday, April .80; Friday, 
 May 7. From one of the other documents we learn that the court 
 was in session as early as Nov. 2, 1778, for it issued an order for a 
 public sale on that date.'- The cases brought before the court were 
 both civil and criminal. There is no evidence of a trial by jury. 
 
 At seven of the sessions there were four judges; at one, five; at one 
 only two. In this last case the court adjourned for lack of a quorum. 
 The president of the court up to Jan. 7, and from the second session 
 held in April, was Captain Bowman. The absence of Bowman from 
 Cahokia from the middle of January to the firsi week in April is ex- 
 plained by his presence on the winter expedition made by Clark 
 against Vincennes. He had been recalled to Kaskaskia by Clark in 
 January to help repel a threatened attack on that place by the British 
 and did not return to Cahokia before the Vincennes expedition. From 
 his journal we learn that he was in Kaskaskia before Jan. 27. Clark 
 started for Vincennes, Feb. 5 and did not -begin his return journey 
 until the last of March, so that Bowman could not reach Cahokia in 
 time for the session of the court on April 2.^ During his absence 
 Lieutenant Perrault was president, and the record contains an account 
 of his taking the oath of office. The judges assisting the jDresident 
 were not always the same; but in all the sessions the names of seven 
 judges besides the two presidents are given. These are, Langlois. 
 Ca^Dtain Turanjeau, Grratiot, Captain Trottier, Granot, Girardin, and 
 Beaulieu. Evidently there was a bench of eight judges counting the 
 president of the court. The number of judges, the number required 
 for a quorum, and the weekly sessions remind us of the county court 
 of Virginia upon which this court was obviously modeled.* Since these 
 judges were elected by the people the first election on the soil of Illi- 
 nois was not held in May, 1779. by John Todd, as has been assumed 
 by former writers, but in the' autumn of 1778 under the authority of 
 George Rogers Clark."' 
 
 After the conquest of the northwest by Clark, the Assembly of 
 Virginia passed in October, 1778, an act to establish a civil and mili- 
 tary government in the territory which was christened the county of 
 
 1. Catalog, No. oa 
 
 2. Catalog:, No. 2b. 
 
 3. Ciaik's Sketch, in Ohio Valley Hist. Series. No. ."i, p. 76; Boivman's Journal, in same, 99; 
 Clark's Memoir, in Dillon, Indianc, 16t, also in English, Conquest of the North-west. I, 520. 
 
 4. Hening, Statutes at Large. V..489, art. 1. 
 
 5. Mason, Illinois in the Eighteenth Century. 5.5; Bovd, "The County of Illinois," in Ainer. 
 Hist. Reviexv. IV, 4, p. 628. 
 
20 
 
 Illinois.^ In the preamble it is stated that the government was to be 
 temporary in character since, "On account of the remoteness of the 
 region it was ditficult, if not impracticable, to govern it by the 
 present laws of the common wealth/' The governor was empowered 
 to appoint a county lieutenant or commander-in-chief, who was 
 authorized to appoint and commission deputy commandants, militia 
 officers and commissaries, who were to serve during his pleasur(!. 
 The citizens of the region were to be assembled to elect such civil 
 officers as they were accustomed to. These were to receive their 
 commissions from the county lieutenant and to be paid for their 
 services as had been customary. Provided other officials were needed, 
 they were to be apiDointed by the county lieutenant with the advice 
 of the council, and drafts might be made on the treasury of Virginia 
 to the amount of hve hundred pounds for their salaries. All officials, 
 both civil and military, were to take the oath of allegiance to Vir- 
 ginia and the oath of office according to the form of their own re- 
 ligion. In criminal prosecutions, if the defendants were found 
 guilty, the lieutenant might grant pardons, except in cases of murder 
 and treason. In these cases he could only suspend execution until 
 they had been reviewed by the government of Virginia. 
 
 On December 12. 1778, Patrick Henry, Governor of Virginia, com- 
 missioned John Todd as County Lieutenant of the county of Illinois. 
 The following passages of his letter to Todd pertain to the formation 
 of the civil government and to the powers granted it: "Altho Great 
 reliance is placed on your prudence in managing the people you are 
 to reside among, yet considering you as unacquainted in some Degree 
 with their Genius, usage and maners, as well as the Geography of 
 the Country, I recommend it to you to consult and advise with the 
 
 most inteligible and upright persons who may fall in j^our way." 
 
 ******* 
 
 "and I know of no better Gen'l Direction to Give than this that you 
 Consider yourself at the head of the Civill department and as Such 
 having the Comm'd of the militia untill ordered out by the civil 
 
 Authority, and to act in conjunction with them." 
 
 * * * ' * * * * 
 
 "You are on all Accatons to inculcate on the people the value of 
 liberty and the Difference between the State of free Citizens of the 
 Commonwealth and that Slavery to which Illinois was Destined. A 
 free and equal representation may be expected by them in a little 
 Time, together with all the improvm^^ in Jurisprudence and police 
 
 which the Other parts of the State enjoy." 
 
 * * * * ' * * * 
 
 'The Ditails of your Duty in the civil Department I need not give 
 you, its best Direction will be found in y"" innate love of Justice and 
 Zeal, to be intencively usefull to your fellow-men. A general Direc- 
 tion to act according to the best of y"" Judgment in cases where these 
 Instructions are Silent and the laws have not Otherwise Directed is 
 
 1. Hening, Statutes at Large, IX, 552-5155; printed also in Appendix IV. 
 
21 
 
 'given to you from the necessity of the case, for y"" Great Distance 
 from Governmnt will not ijermit yon to wait for Orders in many 
 Cases of Great Importance.*"^ 
 
 In May. 1779, Todd reached Kaskaskia. His first duty was to at- 
 tend to the appointment of militia officers. In most cases he con- 
 firmed the appointments made by Clark in Cahokia; for Commandant 
 Trottier and Captain Turanjeau of his list of officers bear the title of 
 captain in the record of Clark's court.- On the other hand Perrault, 
 who was lieutenant and justice under Clark, received no office under 
 the new government. 
 
 The act of the Virginia assembly required the election of offi- 
 cers, "for the preservation of peace and the administration of justice." 
 such as the inhabitants w^ere accustomed to."* Did Todd follow his 
 instructions in this particular? The inhabitants had experienced 
 within recent years both French and English judicial institutions, 
 either of which he might have followed and remained within both 
 spirit and letter of the act. The former had consisted of one jiidge 
 who tried both civil and criminal cases without the assistance of a 
 jiiry . The English court had been created by a proclamation of Colonel 
 Wilkins on November 21, 1768, which was issued in accordance with a 
 letter of instructions from General Gage.^ This court was composed of 
 seven judges and was held every month at Fort Chartres. At most 
 it had jurisdiction only over civil cases and very probably it was lim- 
 ited to actions for debt and the trials were held without jury.^ What 
 change, if any. was made in the character of the court by the "Quebec 
 Act"* of 1771. which subordinated the territory north of the Ohio river 
 to the government of Canada, I do not know: but as the British troops 
 were withdrawn from the Illinois in the spring of 1776. leaving a 
 Frenchman. Kocheblave, in charge, there was practically no time to 
 inaugurate a radical change.^ Under Philij)pe de Rocheblave what- 
 ever order had been introduced into the department of justice by the 
 English commandant disappeared. Certain English merchants com- 
 l^lained that he acted against them in the dual capacity of attorney 
 
 1. Cal. of Fa. State Papers. I., 312 et sei).; also in Mason, John Todd'' s Record- Book Fergus 
 
 Hist. Series. No. 33, pp. 1.59-164. 
 
 2. /biJ.,\^. 
 
 3. Hening, Statutes at Large. IV, .553; appendix \X. 
 
 4. I have been unable to rind either proclamation or letter, nor have I seen a reference as 
 to where they may be found. The accounts in the various histories quoted below show such a 
 striking similarity that they must have been derived from a common source. Tliis may of 
 course be the original documents. Brown. History of Illinois. 213; Davidson and Stuve, A Com- 
 plete History of Illinois, \^rt\ 'Slose^. Illinois Statistical and Historical.!. 140; Dunn. Indiana. 7S. 
 
 .5. yio'^ef^. Court of Enquiry at Fort Chartres. 292. In this account, which differs from the 
 generally accepted one, xMoses has drawn his information from the statement in a letter of 
 Ensign (jf.irge Butricke, who was stationed at Fort Chartres at this period. Speaking of 
 Colonel Wilkins he w ote : ' 'He has now granted commissions of the peace to several people, 
 both French and English; of these he has formed a court of judicature, who are allowed to 
 determine on all causes of Debt without a Jury. How this may answer with the laws of Great 
 Britain I will not pretend to say. He has appointed Mr. George Morgan president of this 
 court which has given great offence to all the French inhabitants in thexolonv, he being uni- 
 versally hated by all those people." Hist. Alagazi/ie. V 111, 262-270. 
 
 6. Houston, Constitutional Documents of Canada, 90: Coffin, The Pmiince of Quebec and the 
 Early American Revolution, Univ. Wis. Bulletin, I.. 276etseci.; Mason, Fhilipve de Rocheblave 
 and Kocheblave Papers, Fergus Hist. Series, No. 34, p. 237; "Clark and the Kaskaskia Campaign 
 Documents", in Amer. Hist. Review, VHI, 492. -~ 
 
22 
 
 and judge: and Rocheblave explained that persons accused of crime 
 demanded first English and then French law according as one or the 
 other was favorable to them. From these complaints it is evident 
 that Eocheblave was acting as sole judge in both civil and criminal 
 cases and that the English bench of seven judges no longer existed.^ 
 
 Although a reversion to the older French i^rocedure had appar- 
 ently taken place, still Todd might have urged the previous use of 
 the English court as a justification for ignoring the French model; 
 for the inherent dislike of Americans for the one-man rule would 
 have debarred that kind of a court, even if there had been anyone in 
 the county capable of performing the duties of judge. It is reason- 
 able to suppose that the English residents, such as Daniel Murray 
 and Richard Winston, must have thrown the weight of their influence 
 against the reinstatement of the French tribunal.- 
 
 Todd apparently gave little attention to either of these earlier 
 courts; for there were in existence judicial institutions with which he 
 was familiar, even if the inhabitants had not yet become accustomed 
 to them. These were the courts founded by Clark in the three 
 villages. As has been said, they were modeled after the county 
 court of Virginia; an institution which both Clark and Todd had 
 helped to introduce into Kentucky, just previous to starting on the 
 expedition to the Illinois.-^ The county government of Virginia 
 consisted of the county lieutenant, the court, and the minor 
 officials. The court, which had both civil and criminal jurisdiction, 
 was composed of the justices of the peace, and held monthly ses- 
 sions.* The most important differences between the institution as it 
 was founded in Illinois and its prototype were the election of the 
 justices by popular vote and the existence of three courts in one 
 county. The first of these differences was established by the 
 Virginia assembly, and the second was due to the distances between 
 the villages. Eleven years later Governor St. Clair was obliged to 
 adoj)t a similar expedient for the same reason.^ But in both cases 
 the judicial institutions thus created were town rather than county 
 courts. 
 
 Nine justices of the peace were elected in Kaskaskia, and seven in 
 each of the villages of Cahokia and Vincennes.^ In Cahokia, at least, 
 elections were regularly held until 1789. During the first few years 
 the formality of taking the oath of office took place on June 19.'^ The 
 observance of this date, which was so religiously adhered to, leads me 
 to believe that it was the anniversary of the inauguration of the first 
 popular government in Illinois by John Todd. Interesting as would 
 be the determination of the date of this event in the history of the 
 
 1 Mason, Philippe de Rocheblave and Rocheblave Papers, Fergus Hist. Series, No. 34, pp.;57, 
 202. 
 
 2. Ibid., 289. Rocheblave called both of them Engrlishmen. 
 
 3. Roosevelt, The Winning of the [Vest, 1.320-322; (lurk's Memoir, in Dillon, Indiana, 
 lin-H9. Todd's presence in the campaign has been questioned. English, Conquest of the 
 iVorlhweU, I, 253. But see Mason, Illinois in the Eigh'eenth Century, 51. 
 
 4. Statutes at Large, \' „ 45; Howard. Local Constitutional History of the U. S., 88-97; Chan- 
 ning, Toivn and County Government, J. H. U. Studies, II, 43- 
 
 5. Smith, St. Clair papers, II, 172. 
 
 6. Juge de Paix, 
 
 7. Record of the court at Cahokia. 
 
state, the evidence is not sufficient to give more than a probable 
 result. It is known that Todd appointed the militia officers in 
 Cahokia on May 14, 1779, and about the same time must have 
 announced the election of the civil offices. i Law and common usage 
 would have required that some time elapse after the proclamation 
 before proceeding to the election, so that, with preparations and 
 delays, it might well have been June 19 before the new government 
 was installed. The "cherif " was for a few years also elected by popu- 
 lar vote; but later he was named by the court, as were the clerk and 
 bailiff (Imissier) from the beginning.^ 
 
 The court held a session regularly every month. Usually one day 
 was sufficient for the transaction of all legal business: but occasion- 
 ally there were adjournments to the next day and also extraordinary 
 meetings during the month. . For the interim the court appointed one 
 of its members Juge de semahie, whose duties were similar to the 
 Virginia justice of the peace. Without a careful study of the record, 
 it will be impossible to pass judgment upon the law in use; but there 
 is no reasonable doubt but that in most cases the French law was fol- 
 lowed, although at times the English procedure and probably the law 
 were used. There are several instances of trial by jury, the first oc- 
 curring in 1780.3 In this first case the eight jurors were illiterate 
 Frenchmen and made their marks. In the registration of deeds the 
 same formulae were employed as in the register of the French court 
 described above.* 
 
 The government thus established was soon left to its own guidance 
 without interference on the part of Virginia. John Todd had decided 
 as early as Aug. 17, 1779, to ask to be relieved of his office, and he re- 
 mained in Illinois only until the end of the year. On Dec. 23, he 
 wrote Grovernor Jefferson from the "Falls of the Ohio," evidently hav- 
 ing left his post. Jefferson desired him to reconsider his decision; 
 but there is no evidence that he ever returned or that a successor was 
 officially appointed. The other officials of the county continued to 
 regard him as the head of the government until October, 1780, as is 
 proved by their letters to him.'^ After that date communication be- 
 tween the east and Illinois was only intermittent. The legal condi- 
 
 1. Mason, Joh7i Todd's Record- Book, Fergus Hist. Series, No. 33, p. 164. 
 
 2. 19 Juin 17 SO Pres. Capt. 1 rattier 
 
 Ch. Gratiot 
 Michel Beaiilieu 
 Antoiiie Girardin 
 Pierre Alartiii 
 La coiir assemble Bpte. Saucier 
 
 Joseph Lepage, J. Bpte. La Croix, Clement Langlois, Ch. Duchesne. Fr Coiiree, Philippe Jer- 
 vais. Antoine Armaiit comme ayaiit ete name par line assemble public dimanche dernier IS du 
 curant dans la maison de M. Fr. Trottier Cap. Commandant la milice des Caliokios pour prendre 
 lieurs place comme en qualite dejuge de paix, etc. 
 
 Les suivant juges mentiones en r autre part par la derniere election faite out prie le serment de 
 fidelite aiix Eiats ainsi que celui dejuge de Paix etc. selon leurs liste a I 'exception de Joseph Lepage 
 absant. 
 
 La cour a ordonne que Fr. Saucier soit ajtyiointe dark de la cour. 
 (There followed the oaths of dark and bailiff. ) 
 
 Jean Bte. Hubert la Cioix a remi a le cour la commission de Cherif. — From the record of the 
 court at Cahokia. 
 
 3. If juries were not used during the English period, as appears to have been the case, this 
 was the first recorded jury trial in the territory of the present state of Illinois. 
 
 4. Here is an example from the clerk's register: Se requerant la dite Marie Aubuchon in- 
 sinuation du dit testament lecture faite de celui en notre greffe nous I 'avons insuiue et enregistre sur 
 la re.gistre des insinuation de la siege suivant I 'ordonnance pour servir et valoir ce que de raison dont 
 act le dit jour et an. 
 
 5. Mason, John-Todd Papers, Fergus Hist. Series, No. 33, pp. 1. 57, 189. 206, 2n, 227, 229. 
 
24 
 
 tion of the government of the country became anomalous, for the 
 Virginia Act of 1778 establishing the comity was to remain in force 
 only for twelve months and thereafter until the end of the next session 
 and no longer. In May. 1780, the act was continued by the assembly 
 for a similar period, and was not renewed.^ ''The statutory organiza- 
 tion of Illinois expired, therefore in 1781, and from that time until 
 the passage of the ordinance of 1787, there was no government resting 
 upon positive provisions of law in the territory northwest of the Ohio 
 river. - 
 
 The reason for this cessation of Virginia's interest is to be found 
 in her negotiations with the United States' government in regard to 
 the cession of this territory to the latter. A bill to that effect was 
 passed by the Assembly as early as Jan. 2, 1781, but the business 
 dragged through several sessions of the United States congress, and 
 it was not until March 1, 1784, that the official cession was com- 
 pleted."^ 
 
 This transfer of sovereignty made no immediate change in the form 
 of government or in the political condition in Illinois.^ The isolation 
 of the county was only occasionally broken. In 1783, there were in 
 the county Virginia commissioners, who reported that the greatest 
 confusion prevailed for lack of proper government."' The French also 
 made several attempts to arouse either Virginia or the United States 
 to take some action in their behalf. In the register of the clerk of 
 the court of Cahokia there is an account of an assembly of the inhab- 
 itants called by the commandant April 3, 1781, at which Pierre Pro- 
 vost of Kaskaskia was appointed to represent them in Virginia, and, 
 if necessary, at the congress of the United States. Later in 1788, M. 
 Carboneaux was sent to Virginia on a similar mission. He reported 
 that the magistrates through neglect of their duty had lost all con- 
 trol, that murderers were unpunished, and tlrat certain persons were 
 establishing themselves as lords of the soil.^ The same representa- 
 tive afterwards carried his complaint to congress and on Feb. 21, 1785, 
 that body determined to send commissioners to Kaskaskia; but there 
 is no evidence that any further action was taken.'' In the summer of 
 1786, the inhabitants of Kaskaskia again petitioned congress for a 
 government. The reply was that it had, "under consideration the 
 plan of temporary government for the said district and its adoption 
 will be no longer protracted than the importance of the subject and a 
 due regard to their interest may require.'"^ The next year Gren. Har- 
 mer visited the district and stopped some of the abuses such as land 
 grabbing.^ The government promised by congress was not established 
 in Illinois until the spring of 1790. 
 
 1. Hening, Statutes at Large, IX, .5.i"), X, 308; Appendix, TV. 
 
 2. Boyd, "TheCounty of Illinois," in .4 >«^r. Hist. Her.. IV. No. 4,62.'>. 
 
 3. Jotinial of Congress, VIII, 199. 203, 2.53, IX, 47-51; Hening. Statutes at Large, XI, 571- 
 .575. 
 
 4. Journals of Congress, IX, 47-51. _ 
 
 5. Draper Collection, Clark Mss., LX, Illinois Papers, No. 3, 52. This is a copy of a docu- 
 ment in the office of the Auditor of Pulilic Accounts of \'irt;inia. 
 
 6. /l>it/. No. 3. 1-4. This is only an extract from the original document; Roosevelt, The 
 Winning ot the West, II, 185. 
 
 7. Journals of Congress, X, 45; Boyd, Catinty of Illinois, in Amer. Htst. Rev., IV. 634, note 2. 
 
 8. Journals of Congress, I V , ti88. 
 
 9. Smith, St. Clair Papers, II, 32; Amer. State Papers, Public Lands, I, 10. 
 
25 
 
 Left to themselves it is not strange that the needs of society re- 
 quired of the institutions, created under the Virginia Act, other and 
 more complex duties than had been originally intended; and in the 
 difficulties of the people struggling with the problem of self govern- 
 ment, is found sufficient cause for extending the limits of power 
 belonging to court and commandant. These limits had been, at best, 
 very indeiinite, as a reading of the original act and the instructions 
 of Patrick Henry show. In each of the villages, Kaskaskia, Cahokia, 
 and Vincennes, was a commandant and a court with other officials. 
 Over these was the county lieutenant. On his departure, Todd 
 apparently appointed Richard Winston as his deputy. That he re- 
 garded Winston as next in command is proved by his letter in which 
 he delegated to him the chief command during a temporary ab- 
 sence.^ Demunbrunt, in his memorial to the governor of Virginia, in 
 December, 1791, stated that "when Col. Winston was appointed to 
 the command of the county of Illinois,'' the "said colonel" commis- 
 sioned him as commandant of Kaskaskia.- The title of colonel was 
 that Ijorne by the county lieutenant. Additional evidence is found in 
 the register of the clerk of the court, where there is a letter from 
 Winston in which he signed himself. County Lieutenant.^ This 
 letter was dated June 29, 1782. When he ceased to act as head of 
 the government does not appear from any of the records. 
 
 On the authority of Governor St. Clair's statement that after Todd's 
 departure, "a person by the name of De Numbrun was substituted,'" 
 it has been generally believed that Demunbrunt acted at some time 
 in the capacity of county lieutenant; but he clearly stated in his 
 memorial to the Governor of Virginia that he had been appointed 
 commandant of Kaskaskia by Winston.* In Todd's Eecord-Book 
 there are two entries made and signed by Demunbrunt as Lieutenant 
 Commander, which certainly is not a title corresponding to county 
 lieutenant, but was more likely borne by the commandant of the 
 village.'' After the end of Winston's rule, probably there was no 
 general government for the whole county, but each village controlled 
 its own destiny. There is a hint that such was the case in the fact, 
 that in 1788 the judges of the court at Cahokia assumed the name of 
 magistrates, and the title of commandant of Cahokia does not appear 
 in the record after that date. Francois Trottier, who had been ap- 
 pointed commandant by Todd, in the spring of this year petitioned 
 the court to relieve him of his office temporarily, as he was obliged to 
 leave Cahokia. Later in the record he was always called M. Francois 
 Trottier, a signiticant fact.^ 
 
 1. Mason. John Todd's Record- Book, Fergus Hist. Series Xo. 3.3, p. 172. 
 
 2. '"a/, of Va. State Papers, V, 407. 
 
 3. Folio 19. 
 
 4. Amer State Papers, Public Lands, 1, 19: Bovd. County of Illinois, Amet. Hist. Rev., IV, 
 6.31: Qal.of Va., State Papers. V . 407; Smith, St. Clair Papers. II. 169. Since writing the 
 above I have found in the collection of tlie Chicagro Hist. Society a document, dated 1784, 
 signed Timothe Demunbrunt, Major Commandant. 
 
 5. Mason, 7o/;« Todd's Record-Book, Fergus Hist. Series, No. .33, p. IS.i. Under the French 
 the maior commandant \\as in charge of the district, while there were other commandants in 
 ■each of the villages, perhaps called lieutenant commandants. 
 
 6. Record of the court at Cahokia. The title of magistrates was, however, given to the 
 "Virginia justices, \ue\e. Local Institutions of Virginia, J. H. U. Studies,, III, 89. 
 
26 
 
 By a careful study of the record of the court it will be possible to 
 till out our knowledge of the history of the period from 1779 to 1790, 
 which up to the present time, owing to the scarcity of sources, has 
 been very fragmentary. A superficial examination of the sessions 
 shows that the court exercised many sovereign powers, some of which 
 belonged legally to it. while others may have been assumed from 
 necessity or from the desire for gain. Instances of such administra- 
 tive acts are numerous. The court summoned assemblies of the 
 jpeople: issued proclamations and passed resolutions, all the judges 
 signing the record on such occasions; fixed its own fees, which were 
 not excessive, since the schedule followed closely that of the French 
 court. Such acts probably did not exceed the limits of jDOwer accorded 
 any Virginia county court, or the authority specially granted to that 
 at Cahokia. Todd had been instructed by Governor Henry to consult 
 with the most intelligent of the inhabitants, and he had probably per- 
 mitted the courts to decide all local questions. This power they con- 
 tinued to exercise after his departure. ^ The principal abuse of power, 
 charged against these courts of Illinois, was that they granted titles 
 to land. This they unquestionably did, and were i3robably guilty of 
 many frauds. The judges at Vincennes pleaded ignorance as an 
 excuse for their action. They said that after the departure of Todd 
 the commandant assumed that he had the same rights as were exer- 
 cised by the French .commandants and granted this privilege to the 
 court.- The French commandant with the counsel of the civil judge 
 did possess the power of granting land to the settlers, as is shown by 
 the numerous claims based upon such grants in the volumes devoted 
 to the iDublic lands in the American State Papers. Their authority 
 for so doing was delegated to them by the governor and intendant of 
 the province of Louisiana.^ 
 
 That Todd had the same right was denied by Governor St. Clair. 
 But Todd's own proclamation and his subsequent action prove that 
 he believed that the discretionary jjower given him included also this 
 authority. In the proclamation of June 15, 1779, he prohibited all 
 persons from making new settlements upon the bottom lands, except 
 in the manner practiced by the French. The proclamation was made, 
 because he feared an inrush of speculators; so he refused to allow 
 settlements except in the long narrow strips of the French grants, 
 which stretched from the river to the bluffs.* Later Todd gave land 
 to the settlers at the new post, which was erected at the junction of 
 the Mississippi and Ohio rivers, and asked the assembly of Virginia 
 to settle the price saying nothing about the confirmation of titles.^ 
 
 If Todd believed himself empowered to dispose of land titles in 
 this manner, there is nothing strange in the fact that Winston, who 
 was his delegate and successor, should have acted as if he had the 
 same authority. But after 1782 there is no evidence that Winston or 
 anyone else held the office of county lieutenant.^ What authority, 
 
 1. Mason, John Todd's Record-Book. Fergus Hist. Series, No. 33. pp. 154-164. 
 
 2. Roosevelt, The Wiimingof the West, II, 19,1; Amer. State Papers, Public Lands, I, X0,\9,. 
 
 3. /did.. I..10,\6; Edits, Ordo/inances Poyaux. etc., 1, 572-574. ."igo. 
 
 4. A mer. State Papers, Pub/ic Lands, I, 18; Mason, John Todd's Record-Book, Fergus Hist. 
 Seties, No. 34, p. 171; Roosevelt. The Winning' of the West, II, 171. 
 
 5. Cal. of Va. State Papers., 1,3.58. 
 
 6. See page 21, note 4. 
 
27 
 
 except that of the courts and possibly of the local commandant, re- 
 mained in the county to regnlate the occupation of the land? And 
 there was need that authority be exercised, for the conditions were 
 rapidly changing. Americans were crowding into the territory; lOB 
 settled in Vincennes and a larger number in Illinois before 1787.1 
 They even forced themselves into the government, the names Philip 
 Engel and Thomas Brady appearing on the list of judges at Cahokia 
 in 1785. On account of these conditions and since the United States 
 delayed, the courts assumed the authority, which circumstances 
 forced upoii them. After the first grants, there was no hesitation 
 and many frauds were practiced. That the magistrates believed, as 
 those of Vincennes declared, that they were acting within their au- 
 thority seems reasonable. But certainly the delegation of power from 
 Todd to the courts had been stretched beyond the utmost limits. 
 
 With the two exceptions, Brady and Engel, the court was, and re- 
 mained from beginning to end. French in its personnel. There was 
 no law against re-election and generally one or two magistrates of the 
 preceding year were re-elected ; but no name appears for many suc- 
 cessive years except that of Philip Engel, who remained judge from 
 1785 to 1790. The first clerk was Francois Saucier, who was succeed- 
 ed in 1785 by Joseph Labuxiere, of whom mention has already been 
 made. For some reason he failed to be re-appointed in 1788; but the 
 successful candidate, Pierre Billet, served only a few months, when 
 Labuxiere was recalled to the office which he retained until the com 
 ing of Governor St. Clair. 
 
 1. Roosevelt. The Winning of the West, III, 235, note 1. 
 
28 
 
 DOCUMENTS OF ILLINOIS UNDER THE DOMINION OF 
 THE UNITED STATES, 1788-1818. 
 
 The next group of doc-uments falls in the period between the organ- 
 ization of the northwest by Governor St. Clair and the establishment 
 of Illinois as a state in 1818. Since there are numerous other sources 
 for the history of this period, the Belleville documents do not contain 
 much of general interest. For this reason and because the report is 
 already long, I have limited myself to indicating the course of events 
 without further discussion. For a list of the documents reference 
 may be made to the catalog. 
 
 The government of the Northwest Territory was organized 1788; 
 but it was not until March 5, 1790, that St. Clair reached the Illinois 
 and put an end to the French court. This held its last session April 
 1,1790 and adjourned to May 3, a date it w^as not destined to keep: 
 because St. Clair, on April 27, 1790, established St. Clair County, 
 which included the southwest part of the present state between the 
 Illinois and Ohio rivers.' Since the French villages were so far apart, 
 the Governor dividt^i the county into three districts, "'though not 
 strictly warranted by law", and the "judges of the peace" were so dis- 
 tributed that the courts could be held in each, while the judges of 
 probate, the prothonotary of common ple.iS; and the clerk were in- 
 structed to appoint deputies to act in two of the districts.- Later, in 
 1795, Randolph county with Kaskaskia as county seat was separated 
 from St. Clair, Cahokia being the chief palace of the latter. 
 
 One of the most serious difficulties confronting the new government 
 was the question of land titles. The whole subject of land grants 
 under the French, English, and Virginia dominions was investigated, 
 but it was not until the first of the nineteenth century that it was 
 finally adjusted.'^ 
 
 In the year 1800. the Northwest Territory was divided into Ohio 
 and the territory of Indiana which included Illinois. Finally in ]809 
 this was again divided, Illinois territory including the district west of 
 the line reaching from the Wabash, "due north to the territorial line 
 between the L^nited States and Canada."" 
 
 1. (Jreene. The Government ct lUinois.W; Moses, Illinois Historical and Statistical \., 196; 
 Smith, St. Clair Pajters. II, 16'). 
 
 2. ibid., II, 172. 
 
 3. Amer. State Papers, Public Lands, I, and II ; U. S. Statutes at Large, II, 337. 
 
29 
 
 The relative paucity of documents of these years is very surprising, 
 and I have found no adeqiiate explanation. With the exception of 
 the records of deeds and of wills, with a record of the court of com- 
 mon pleas for a few months during the years 1795 and 179B, there has 
 been preserved almost nothing of interest before the year 1808. After 
 that date the documents are numerous and all offices show comxDlete 
 records from the time Illinois was admitted as a state in 1818. 
 
 Catalog of the Oldest Documents in the Court House 
 
 AT Belleville. 
 
 In this catalog 1 have described the documents as they were pre- 
 vious to my visit to Belleville. Since that time, the documents in 
 the office of the circuit clerk have been bound in a uniform black 
 cloth binding with leather corners and back. What has been done 
 with the loose and unclassified papers in the county treasurer's office 
 (No. 12 of the catalog), I do not know. A recommendation was made 
 to the supervisors that these be arranged in order and deposited in a 
 safer place. Some explanation of the cause of such combinations of 
 documents in the same binding, as in the case of No. 5, is needed. 
 These documents were in the greatest confusion, when I first saw 
 them. Without a premonition that my arrangement was to be 
 regarded as final, I assorted them and placed, for their better preser- 
 vation, the loose sheets and the smaller documents with others of 
 similar size. The binder has perpetuated these accidental unions. 
 For the same reason the Extrait des E('gisfr(^de hi Juvisdictioii des 
 Cahos has been dignified with some parchment covers, which were 
 without contents until I placed this clerk's register within them, 
 because it fitted. 
 
 OFFICE OF THE CIRCUIT CLERK. 
 
 I 1. Reciistre des InsUiuatiorw des Donations aux Siege des [lllnois, January I,*), 
 1737 — .Tune 26, 1769. 
 Bound in parchment: size, 13^,, by SJ.j inches: pages, 146; blank pag-es, 1; 
 last page missing; water-mark, shield with tieiir-de-li% surrounded with 
 scroll; 122 registries; language. French; on first cover Insinuations is 
 spelt Insinittions. biat it is corrected on the back cover. 
 
 2. a. Record of the court at Cahokia, November 26, 1779— April 1, 1790. 
 
 Unbound; made up of six record books sewed together: size varies, 
 but it is aboiit 12,V^ ty 8 inches: pages. 348: blank pages, 48: several 
 pages missing; various water-marks; no name to document; language, 
 French, 
 b. Record of public sales, November 2, 1778— June 22. 1782. 
 
 Unbound; pages, .'iO: blank pages, 10; water-mark, duriiam; no name 
 given to document; language, French. 
 
 3. Extrait des Registre de lit Jurisdiction des Cahos. December 12, 1778 — October 
 
 28, 1788. 
 Originally bound in flexible paper cover, it was placed by me in the 
 parchment covers in which it is now bound: size, 1.5 by 9y-j inches: 
 pages, .58; blank pages, 4: pages numbered Folio .5, etc.: language. 
 French, but there are a few English deeds and letters: it is the register 
 of the clerk of the court acting as recorder. 
 
30 
 
 4. Registre cle^ audiences par{?) Le juge de Seinaine comence Le 9 juillet 1785 et 
 reforine Le 14 fevrier 11186 a la Coiir tenue le d' Jour. 
 Unbound: size. 11 ^j by 8% inches: pages, 20: blank pages. 4; water-mark, 
 star and D C within oval: language. French. 
 .5. a. Record of court at Cahokia. December 31, 1778 — May 7. 1779. 
 
 Loo.se sheets: size. 13 ^, by 8 inches: pages. 8: watermark, lion rampant 
 holding a bunch of arrows and a standard, within a circle: language, 
 Engli.sh: no name to document. 
 
 b. Minutes of General Court of lUinols Territory, St. Clair County, April 
 
 Term, 1811. 
 Unbound; pages, 38: language, English. 
 
 c. Minutes of the same, September term. 1813. 
 Unbound: pages, .'')4: langiiage. English. 
 
 6. Settlement of the estate of M. and Mad. Charleville, 1781. 
 
 Unbound: size. 13 '.j by 8 inches: pages, .58: no name to document: lan- 
 guage. French; at the end, there is a letter in English to the court, 
 dated July 9th, 1789. 
 
 7. Record A. of the Court of Common Pleas of St. Clair Couuty, Octobers. 1795- 
 
 April, 1796. 
 
 Bound in flexible paper cover; pages 90; blank pages 1; records of 43 ses- 
 sions: water mark, a crown with C R below: language English. 
 
 There are complete records of the circuit court since 1808. 
 
 OFFICE OF THE COITXTY CLEKK. 
 
 8. Record A. of the County Clerk. 
 
 This record has been misplaced, so that 1 was unable to see it. It covers 
 the period previous to 1817. and is a record of administrative proceed- 
 ings. 
 
 OFFICE OF COUNTY TKEASUKEH. 
 
 9. About 370 unclassified legal papers belonging to the court of Cahokia, 
 
 1778-1790, in two tin filing cases. 
 They are generally in'French and are written on all kinds of paper, some 
 of them mere scraps. They are requests for writs of various charac- 
 ters, statements of claims by petitioners, sheriff's warrants, etc. There 
 are among them some papers of a later date. 
 
 OFFICE OF PKOBATE CI.ERK. 
 
 10. Entries of Letters of Administration and Testamentar^^ etc.. issued by 
 
 the Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas in Vacation as by the Law of 
 the Territory. March 10, 1794-March 18. 1831. 
 Ten years ago. the book was bound in vellum, but has since been re- 
 bound in stiff board covers and marked Wills. Page l.')3. 
 
 OFFICE OF THE HECOKDEK. 
 
 11. Record A. St. Clair Co.. April 36, 1790-September 7, 1796. 
 
 On fly leaf is written, ""By his excellency Arthur St. Clair Esquire Gov- 
 ernor and Commander in Chief of the Territory of the U. S. North 
 West of the River Ohio." Bound in stiff board covers; size quarto; 
 pages 303: blank pages, .several; contents, private deeds of all kinds; 
 language French and English. There is ahso a copy of this record in a 
 very clear hand-writing. 
 
 12. Record B. March 14, 1800— March 33. 1813. 
 
 Bound in heavy board covers: size folio; pages 663: blank pages, several; 
 contents, deeds of all kinds; language English. 
 
 13. A record of Land Claims under Virginia and U. S. grants, November .5, 1798. 
 Bound inflexible covers; pages 93; blank pages 46; the book was written 
 
 by John Haj^ and the language is English. 
 
'SI 
 
 RECOMMENDATION. 
 
 There are so many more important documents of the French period 
 to be edited, that it does not seem wise to expend money on the im- 
 mediate publication of the Rcgistre des Insinuation des Donations. 
 No doubt a more intensive study of the contents would yield some- 
 thing fruitful for our knowledge of the law, social conditions, and 
 genealogy of the French in the Mississipi^i settlements. Yet the re- 
 sults would be more of local than general interests. For much of the 
 analysis of the institutional conditions existing in the French colonies 
 which is contained in this report, I would have chosen some other 
 source than the Rcgistre, had such been available; for it contains hints 
 rather than explanations of the machinery of government. Possibly 
 later a short study of the internal evidence with a few typical docu- 
 ments might be made with profit. 
 
 When we come to the documents of the Virginia period the rec- 
 ommendation must be the opposite. All of these documents are im- 
 jjortant and give new and valuable information on the history of the 
 conquest of Illinois and the government of the succeeding period. Up 
 to the present time little has been known a]:)Out the courts established 
 by Clark or in regard to tiie government founded by Todd. As soon 
 as possible this material should be published. I recommend that a 
 volume containing the record of Clark's court, selections from the 
 clerk's register, and a full record of the court established under the 
 Virginia act be issued. It will be unnecessary to publish all the 
 clerk's register as many of the documents are inventories, promissory 
 notes, and letters of local interest, typical examples of which would 
 be sufficient for such a volume. 
 
 There is no document of the later period that is worth publication 
 at this time, with the possible exception of Record A. of the Record- 
 er's office. An interesting selection from these deeds might be made. 
 Although my report is confined to the documents of the Belleville court 
 house, still 1 feel that the time and opportunity are propitious for a 
 suggestion on the future policy to be pursued in the publication of 
 the historical sources of the state. Up to the present, most of the 
 American state governments and historical societies have contented 
 themselves with a haphazard publication of documents. The longer 
 this policy is continued, the more difficult will become an exhaustive 
 and systematic publication of the historical sources of the states and 
 more complicated the work of the student. It is time the American 
 states should follow a plan for the complete publication of historical 
 material, as the Eairopean states have been doing for the past century. 
 The best methods for such a work have already been evolved by the 
 Germans in the Monumenta Germaniae Historica and the historians 
 of other European states have followed their lead, so that today these 
 students are carrying to completion the work of publication along 
 definite lines, which were carefully mapped out years ago. 
 
 Some such plan for the exhaustive publication of the material for 
 the history of Illinois can now be made, so that the work of future 
 editors of documents and narratives may be directed by a general 
 
82 
 
 scheme. The general outlines of such a plan will not be difficult to 
 formulate and should be determined b}' a commission of historians of 
 the state. They might decide on a purely chronological plan or bet- 
 ter still on an arrangement of documents and narratives with refer- 
 ence to their character and chronology. However, before much can 
 be done, there must be made a careful examination of the archives of 
 the State and a bibliography of the historical material already pub- 
 lished. 
 
 For the survey of archives, arrangements have already been made, 
 I believe, by the Trustees of the State Historical Library and by the 
 Historical Manuscript Commission of the American Historical Asso- 
 ciation. 
 
33 
 
 APPENDIX I. 
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHY. 
 
 '•Affairs at Fort Chartres. 1768-1771", in Hhtorinil Magnziuc. VIII, 8. 
 
 A)ncrlcan State Papers, Public Lands, I and II, Washington. 1832. 
 
 Hillon, F. L., Annals of St. Louis. St. Louis. 1886. 
 
 Boyd, C. E., "The County of Illinois". iuAmcriran Historical Rcvicir. IV. No. 4. 
 
 Breese, S., The Early History of Illinois. Chieag-o, 1884. 
 
 Brooke, R.. A Treatise o)i tlie Prartice of a Xotary of England. London, 1876. 
 
 Brown. H., History of Illinois. New York. 1844. 
 
 Calendar of Vir(j\nia State Papers and Other Manuscripts. l(io'J-17Sl. I and V, 
 187.5 ff. 
 
 Channing. E.. Toton and County Goiiernmcnt in the English Colonies of North 
 America, J. H. U. Studies, II. No. X. 
 
 Cluirch Records of Stc. Anne. Manuscript copy in Chicago Historical Library. 
 
 "Clark and the Kaskaskia Campaign, Documents." in American Historical Re- 
 view. VIII, 491-506. 
 
 Clark's Sketch of his Campaign in the Illinois, in Ohio Valley Historical Series, 
 No. 3. Cincinnati, 1869. 
 
 Co&n. X.. ^rtie Province of Quebec and the Early Americdin Revolution. Univer- 
 sity of Wisconsin Bulletin. I. Madison. 1896. 
 
 Collet. O. W.. "Review of Hinsdales Old Northwest. " in Mcigazine of West- 
 ern History. VIII, 1888. 
 
 Davidson. A., and Stuvt'. B., A Complete History of Illinois. Springfield. 1874. 
 
 Dillon. J.. History of Indiana. Indianapolis. 18.59. 
 
 Dociiments in the Court house at Belleville. 
 
 Documents relating to the Colonial History of the State of New York. vols. VII, 
 VIII. X. Albany, 1856 ff. 
 
 Draper Collection. Clark Manuscripts, in the library of the Wisconsin Histor- 
 ical Society. 
 
 Edits, ordnnnanccs royaur. declarations et arrete du cnnseil d'etat du Roi, con- 
 cernant Canada, etc., 3 vols.. Quebec, 1854-1856. 
 
 English. W. H., Conquest of the Country Xorthwest of the River Ohio and Life of 
 George Rogers Clark. 2 vols., Indianapolis. 1896. 
 
 Eschmann. C. J., •"Kaskaskia Chiirch Records." in Transa(jtions of the Illinois 
 State Historical Society. 1904. 
 
 French. B. F., Historical Collections of Louisiana. 5 vols.. Philadelphia. 1850 ff. 
 
 Gayarr6. C. E. A., History of Louisiana. 4 vols.. 3d ed.. New Orleans. 1885. 
 
 Greene. E. B.. The Government of Illinois. New York. 1904. 
 
 Hening. W. W.. Statutesat Large, (of Mrginia.) vols. I-V, IX, X. Richmond. 1821. 
 
 History of St. Clair Cou)dy. III. Philadelphia. 1881. 
 
 Houston. W.. Documents Ilhtstrativc of tite Canailian Constitution. Toronto. 1891. 
 
 Howard. E. E.. Local Crmstitutional Hist(n-y of T'nited States. Baltimore. 1889. 
 
 Illinois Historiccd Collections. Vol. I.. Springfield. 1903. 
 
 Ingle. E.. Local Institutions of Viniinia. Johns Hopkins University Studies, III. 
 Nos. II and III. 
 
 'Intercepted Letters and Journal of George Rogers Clark. 177S. 1779," in 
 Atncrican Historical Review. I. 90-96. 
 
 Lsambert. Decrusy. Taillandier, Recueil general cZes ancleinies lois francaises. 
 Vols. XIX. XXI. Paris. 1829. 
 
 Journals of Congress. Vols. IV-XI. Philadelphia. 1800 ff. 
 
 King, (xraee. Xeu: Orlciins: The Phifc and the People. New Yoi'k. 1899. 
 
 La Gra)ide Eni-ycloindic. 
 
 Larou.sse. Grande Dictionaire Universel. 
 
 —3 H 
 
H4 
 
 ]SIargr\^ P.. Dccouverte-s et ctdhlisscmcutx dcs fraurids (htnx L'Aincr'Kiue xepten- 
 
 trkmnlc. l(n4-l'/o4. (5 vols., Paris. 1887. 
 Mason. E. (i.. lUitiois in the Eighteenth Cetititrji: Old Fmi Chartrcs inid Johi 
 
 2'ofW.s- Record -Booh. Chicago. 1881. 
 Mason. E. (t.. .loliu Todd. .Mm Todd'.'< Record-Book, :tiid .fohn-Todd Papers 
 
 Fergus Historic<d Seriex. No. :i:j. Chicago. 1890. 
 Mason. E. (}., List.^ of Earhi lllin<d.s Citizens. Fcrtjus Historiad Scries. No. 31 
 
 Chicago. 1890. 
 Mason. E. G.. PJiilippc dc Roclichhtve and Rochehhivc PajKn-s. Fcrfjus Historlcd 
 
 Series. No. .34. Chicago, 1890. 
 Mis.^oiiri Reports. Vol. IV., St. Loiiis. 1870. 
 
 Moses. J., Illinois Historicid and Sttdistical. 2 vols., Chicago, 1890. 
 Ogg. F. A.. The Opening of the Mississippi. New York, 1904. 
 Perrin. J. N., "The Oldest Civil Record in the West." in Trdnsactions of th« 
 
 Illinois State Historical Society. 1901. 
 Pittman. v.. Ttie Present State of tJie Enropam Settlements on the Mississippi 
 
 London. 1770. 
 Reynolds. J.. The Pi/oneer Histonj of Illinois. Pelleville, 1852. 
 Roosevelt. T.. The Winning of the West. 4 vols., New York. 1896. 
 Roy, J. E., Histoirc dii Noturitd an Caiuida. 4 vols., Levis. 1899. 
 Smith, ^\. IL. St. Clair Papers. 2 vols., Cincinnati. 1882. 
 Tripier and Monnier, Les Codes Francais, Code Civd. Paris. 1900. 
 Violett. P.. Histoire du Droit Civil Francais, .3d ed., Paris, 190.5. 
 Wallace. J.. The Historg of Illinois and Louisiana loaJer French Rule. Cincin 
 
 nati. 1893. 
 Winsor. J.. Narrative and Criticid History of America. Vols. IV-VL Boston 
 1886. 
 
 APPENDIX II. 
 
 ()Kl)I.\.\NfK OF FKHI!r.\HY. 1731, CoXCKKNIX(i DoNATIOXS. 
 
 Isambert, Decrusy, Taillandier. Recneil general des nnciennes lois fran- 
 ca ise. XXL. 343-3.56. 
 
 Akt. 1. All acts of donations inter vivos shall he passed before notaries, aa( 
 there shall be made miniates of them, on penalty of nullity. 
 
 2. Donations inter vivos shall be made in the ordinary form of contract 
 and of acts passed before notaries, and all other formalities, which have beei 
 required up to the present, in the ditt'erent laws, customs and usages of th( 
 land under our dominion, shall be observed. 
 
 3. All donations mortis cau.'<a, with the exception of those which are mad( 
 by contract of marriage, shall not be effective, hereafter, unless they shall b( 
 made in the same form as wills and testaments, all other laws and customs t< 
 the contrary notwithstanding: so that in future there shall be only tw( 
 forms of dispensing of property gratuitouslj\ one of which shall be that o 
 donations inter vivos^ and the other, that of wills and testaments. 
 
 * * * * ^ -K * 
 
 5. Donations iider vivos, likewise those which are made to the Church o: 
 for piovis pvirposes. can be binding on the donor and be effective, only fron 
 the day they shall be accepted by the donee or his attorney, general o 
 special. In the latter case the power of attorney shall be attached to the 
 minute of the donation. And in case the donation should have been acceptec 
 bj' a person who shall have declared himself the agent of the donee, the saic 
 donation shall take effect only fi-om the day of the express i-atification. whicl 
 ratification the said donee shall have made by act passed l)efore a notary. th< 
 minute of which act shall be preserved. We forbid all notaries and tidJcUion. 
 to accept donations in favor of absent donees on penalty of nullity of said act 
 
 * * * * * "^ « * 
 
 15. No donation inter vivos can incliide other property than that whicl 
 shall belong to the donor at the time of the donation. 
 
 « * * « * * .r 
 
8o 
 
 17. Nevertheless, we wish that donations, made by the inarriaj^e contract, 
 in favor of die husband and wife or of their descendants, even when made by 
 collateral relatives or by strang-ers. be excepted from the provision of article 
 15, and that the said donations, made by contract of marriag-e may include 
 both present property and that to be acquired in the fiiture, all or in part; in 
 which case, it shall be at tlie choice of the donee, either to take the property. 
 siTch as it is at the time of the death of the donor, and to pay all debts and 
 charg-es. even those which shall have been made subsequent to the donation, 
 or to receive only the property which existed at the time when the donaticm 
 was made, and to pay only the debts and charg-es existent at that time. 
 
 19. Donations made in contracts of marriag-e in direct line shall not be 
 subject to the formality of reg-istration. 
 
 23. In all cases, where registration is required on penalty of nullity, dona- 
 tions of real property or of that which, withovit being real, is taxed according 
 to the law, customs or lasages of the land, and do not follow the person of the 
 donor, shall be registered, on penalty of nullity, at the bureau of the baili- 
 wick, or of the royal seneschal's court, or of other royal court with direct 
 appeal to our court, of the district in which is situated the domicile of the 
 donor, and also of the district in which the property is taxed; and in regard 
 to personal propertj', likewise immovables which are not taxed and follow the 
 person of the donor, the registration shall be made only at the bureau of the 
 bailiwick, or of tlie roj^al seneschal's court, or of other royal court with 
 direct appeal to our court, of the district in which is situated the domicile of 
 the donor. We forbid all registration in other jurisdictions or in coitrts of 
 seigniors, even in those of peers; and in case the donor's domicile is situated 
 in such a jurisdiction, the registration shall be made at the bureau of the 
 court which has the cognizance of royal cases in the district where the 
 donaicile is and where the property is situated, all on penalty of niillity. 
 
 34. In the future, there shall be in each bailiwick or royal seneschal's 
 court a particular register, which shall be numbered and paraphed on each 
 leaf by the first officer of the court, and closed at the end of each year by the 
 said officer: in which register there shall be written the entire act of dona- 
 tion, if it is made bj- a separate act, if not. the part of the act \\ hich shall 
 contain the donation, its charges and conditions without omitting- any of it. 
 so that the engrossment or the effective copj' of said act will be represented 
 without need of consulting the minute. 
 
 2.5. The guai'dian of the said register shall be required to give access to it 
 at any time withoiat a command from the court, and to deliver to parties, 
 upon demand, an extract signed by himself, for which he shall receive a 
 reasonable remuneration in accordance with our regulations of the 17th of the 
 present month. 
 
 26. When the registration shall have been made within the period pre- 
 scribed by the ordinances, even after the decease of the dont)r or donee, the 
 donation shall be effective from the day of its date for all persons. It may 
 be, nevertheless, registered after the decease of the donee, provided the 
 donor is still alive: but it shall be eft'ective in that case only from the day of 
 registration. 
 
 APPENDIX III. 
 
 RovAi, Fkf.xc'it Notahies in the Wkstehx Settee.ments. 
 
 Although the following list of P'rench notaries in the western lands of 
 America is far from complete, owing to the lack of available sources, it has 
 seemed best to publish it. if for no other rea.son tlian to call the attention of 
 local historians to the material to be found in the acts of this class of officials. ■ 
 A complete list cannot be made until the notarial acts in New' Orleans have 
 
36 
 
 been examined. Mr. Beer of the Howard Memorial Library writes me that 
 "about sixty boxes of unexamined notarial deeds of dates mostl}'^ prior to 
 1800" are in the archives of the Louisiana Historical Society. And "in the 
 city archives in the City Hall, there are at least two volumes of early date." 
 
 Jean Eajitiste Hertlor Uarrois.l 
 
 at Ivaskaskia. Januarj^ 15, 1737. to December, 1754. 
 
 at Noiivelle Chartres, December, 1754, to March 10. 1757. 
 Joseph Labuxiere.2 
 
 at Nouvelle Chartres. March 14. 1757. to October 13. 1764. 
 
 at St. Louis. 1765. to May 20. 1770. 
 Leonai"d Hilleron.3 
 
 aui- lUhiois, February 14. 1733, and October 25, 1736. 
 Jerome Rousillet,! 
 
 at Fort Chartres. February 14. 1733. and November 8, 1739. 
 Place, 5 
 
 aux lUinois. November 17. 1731. 
 Phillibert and Baumer.6 
 
 at Vincennes, the latter until 1761. 
 Bouvier.V 
 
 at Vincennes. Aug^ust 2. 1763. 
 Francois Louis Cardin.8 
 
 at Michillimackinac. April 6, 1754. 
 Robert Navarre. 9 
 
 at Detroit, May 15. 1741. to 1759. 
 Jean Baptiste Campeau.lO 
 
 at Detroit. May 15, 1758, until the end of the French regime. 
 Dviplessis,ll 
 
 at New Orleans. May 31. 1740. 
 Henry. 12 
 
 at New Orleans, May 21. 1740. 
 Chantalou.13 
 
 at New Orleans. August 1, 1745). 
 
 1. Re gist re dcs Insinuations des Donations aux Siege des Illinois. 
 
 2. Ibid.: Billon. Annals of St. Louis, passim. 
 
 3. Kegistre des Insinuations des Donations: R03', Histoire du Notariat, I., 371. M. Roy states 
 that he was appointed by the Lieutenant (Jeneral of Montreal and was still in Kaskaskia in 
 1759; but I have found no record of his presence there after 1736, the year before Barrels began 
 to act as notary. 
 
 i. Regisire des Insinuations des Donations. October 25, 1741. I know nothing more about 
 him than is contained in these acts. Rightly or wrongly I have identified a M. Jerome with a 
 Jerome Rousillet, both notaries of Fort Chartres. If the identification is correct, he died be- 
 tween Novembers, 1739, and October 25, 1741, on which date the clerk wrote of the late M. 
 Jerome. 
 
 .T. Registie des Insinuations dcs Donations. 
 
 6. Baumer succeeded Phillibert. Uunn, French Settlements on the Wabash, 2&\ Dunn, Indi- 
 ana, 80,99,101. 
 
 7. He was acting as notary. Registie des Insinuations des Donations. 
 
 8. Roy, Histoire du Notariat. 1, 371. 
 
 9. Ibid. . 1 . 370. 
 
 10. Ibid.. I, 371. 
 
 11. Ibid., I, .377. 
 
 12. Ibid., I, .377. 
 
 13. Registre des Insinuations des Donations, October 20, 1760. 
 
37 
 APPENDIX IV. 
 
 Act Ci;KATiN(i the County of It.t.inois. 
 
 Hening-, Sfatidrs: at Lttrtjc of, (Virginia,) IX., 553-.555. 
 
 Ay Act for csUtblWdng the county of Uinoin, and for tliv more effectual protcc- 
 twn and defence thereof. 
 
 WiiKUEAs by a successful expedition carried on by the Virginia militia, on 
 the western side of the Ohio river, several of the British posts within the ter- 
 ritory of this commonwealth, in the country, adjacent to the river Mississippi, 
 have been reduced, and the inhabitants have acknowledged themselves citi- 
 zens thereof, and taken the oath of fidelity to the same, and the good faith 
 and safetjr of the commonwealth require that the said citizens should be sup- 
 ported and protected by speedy and effectual reinforcements, which will be 
 the best means of preventing the inroads and depredations of the Indians 
 upon the inhabitants to the westward of the Allegheny mountains; and 
 whereas, from their remote situation, it may at this time be difficult, if not 
 impracticable, to govern them by the present laws of this commonwealth, 
 until ijroper information, by intercourse with their fellow citizens, on the 
 east side of the Ohio, shall have familiarized them to the same, and it is 
 therefore expedient that some temporary form of government, adapted to 
 their circumstances should in the meantime be established: 
 
 Be it cJKictcd })[i the Oetierat Assonhlji. That all the citizens of this common- 
 wealth who are already settled, or shall hereafter settle, on the western side 
 of the Ohio aforesaid, shall be included in a distinct county, which shall be 
 called Ilinois coiinty: and that the governour of this commonwealth, with 
 the advice of the council, may appoint a county lieutenant or commandant in 
 chief in that county, during- pleasure, who shall appoint and commission so 
 many deputy commandants, militia officers, and commissaries, as he shall 
 think proper in the different districts, during pleasure, all of whom, before 
 tliey enter into office, shall take the oath of fidelity to this commonwealth 
 and' the oath of office, according to their own religion, which the inhabitants 
 shall fully, and to all intents and purposes enjoy, together with all their civil 
 rights and property. And all civil officers to which the said inhabitants have 
 been accustomed, necessary for the preservation of peace and the adminis- 
 tration of justice, shall be chosen by a majority of the citizens in their re- 
 spective districts, to be convened for that purpose by the county lieutenant 
 or commandant, or his deputy, and shall be commissioned by the said county 
 lieutenant or commandant in chief, and be paid for their services in the same 
 manner as such expenses have been heretofore borne, levied, and paid" in tliat 
 coiinty; which said civil officers, after taking the oaths as before prescribed, 
 shall exercise their several jurisdictions, and conduct themselves agreeable to 
 the laws which the present settlers are now accustomed to. And on any 
 criminal prosecution, where the offender shall be adjudged guilty, it shall 
 and mny be lawful for the county lieutenant or commandant in chief to par- 
 don his or her offense, except in cases of murder and treason; and in such 
 cases, he may respite execution from time to time, vmtil the sense of the gov- 
 ernour in the first instance, and of the general assembly in the case of 
 treason, is obtained. But where any officers, directed to be appointed by this 
 act. are such as the inhabitants have been uniised to, it shall and may be 
 lawful for the governour. with tlie advice of the coiincil. to draw a warrant 
 or warrants on the treasury of this commonwealth for the payment of the 
 salaries of such officers, so as the sum or sums drawn for do not exceed the 
 sum of five hundred pounds, anything herein to the contrary notwithstanding. 
 And for the protection and defence of the said county and its inhabitants. 
 Be it enacted. That it shall and may be lawful for the governour. with the ad- 
 vice of the council, forthwith to order, raise, and levy, either by voluntary 
 enlistments, or detachments from the militia, five hundred men, with proper 
 
H8 
 
 officers, to inarch immediately into the said county of Ilinois. to g-arrison 
 such forts or stations alreadj^ taken, or ^vhich it may be proper to take there 
 or elsewhere, for protecting the said county, and for keeping up our commun- 
 ication with them, and also with the Spanish settlements, as he. with the ad- 
 vice aforesaid, shall direct. And the said governour, with the advice of the 
 council, shall from time to time, iintil farther provision shall be made for the 
 same by the general assembly, continue to relieve the said volunteers, or 
 militia, by other enlistments or detachments, as herein before directed, and 
 to issue warrants on the treasurer of this commonwealth for all charges and 
 expenses accruing thereon, which the said treasurer is hereby required to pay 
 accordinglJ^ / 
 
 ^{)id he it fdrtlier ciKictcd. That it shall and may be lawful for the governoiu", 
 with the advice of the council, to take such measures as they shall judg"e 
 most expedient or the necessity of the case reqiiires, for supplying the said 
 inhabitants as well as our friendly Indians in those parts, with goods and 
 other necessaries, either by opening a communication and trade with New 
 Orleans, or otherwise, and to appoint proper persons for managing and con- 
 ducting the same on behalf of this commonwealth. 
 
 Provided. That any of the said inhabitants may likewise carry on such trade, 
 on their own accounts, notwithstanding. 
 
 This act shall continue and be in force, from and after the passing of the 
 same, for and during the term of twelve months, and from thence to the end 
 of the next session of assembly, and no longer. 
 
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