auteur de tout bien, pour qu'il lui plaise nous pénétrer tous chaque jour d'avantage, de la nécessité de nous dépouiller, quand il s'agit de l'intérêt public, de toutes nos predilections personnelles; et de rallumer au fond de nos cœurs, cet amour de la patrie sans lequel il n'y a ni citoyens ni republique. Remercions-le d'avoir si heureusement inspiré d'abord, l'illustre Thomas Jefferson, quand George Mathews, fut commissionné Juge de la Cour Supérieure du Territoire d'Orléans; puis le Gouverneur et le Senat de l'Etat de la Louisiane, lors-qu'ils appelèrent ce juge intègre au siège de notre Cour Suprême. Demandons, à ce même Dieu tout-puissant, de nous donner une nouvelle marque de sa protection, en inspirant à notre verteux Gouverneur actuel et à notre honorable Sénat, un choix qui, tout en justifiant la confiance dont le peuple les a investis, nous empêche de sentir chaque jour plus vivement la perte que nous avons faite.

No. II.

CASE STATED.

ON the 14th of June, 1723, Boisbriant, the chief judge of the Council established to regulate and govern the affairs of the Compagnie des Indes, and the Commandant of all the French territory north of the Arkansaw river, granted in fee simple to Philip François Renaut, Director-general of the mines of Louisiana, several parcels of land within that jurisdiction, which grant was signed and countersigned by Des Ursins, one of the provincial Council, also an officer of the Compagnie des Indes, and secretary of the government of the commandant general Boisbriant, and is as follows:

"L'an 1723, le 14 Juin, accordé à M. Renaut en franc aleu, pour faire ses établissements sur les mines.

Une lieue et demie terrain, en face sur le petit Maramac, y dans la rivière de Maramac, y a l'endroit de la première branche, y ici conduit au cabanage, nommé Cabanage de Renaudière, sur six lieues de profondeur, la rivière faisant le milieu du rhumb de vent et la rivière au plumb jusqu'où le sieur Renaut a son fourneau et delà droit a l'endroit nommé la Grande mine.

Une lieue de face à Pimiteau, dans la rivière des Illinois, vis-à-vis à l'est et tenant au lac qui porte le nom du village, et de l'autre, aux côtés vis-à-vis le village à une demi-lieue au-dessus, sur cinq lieues de profondeur le rhumb de vent suivant la rivière des Illinois, en descendant d'un côté et en montant par celle de d'Arcsey, qui en fera le milieu dans le reste de la profondeur.

Deux lieues de terrain sur la mine appelée la mine de M. Lamothe;

la face regardant le nord-est; la prairie de ladite mine faisant le point milieu de ses deux lieues.

Une lieue de face sur le Mississipi à l'endroit appelé le Grand Marais, tenant d'un côté aux sauvages Illinois établis auprès du Fort de Chartres, sur denx lienes de profondeur; cet endroit étant l'emplacement icelui, a été accordé pour fair des vivres et en pouvoir fournir à toutes les habitations qu'il fera sur leurs mines. Le jour et an que dessus au Fort de Chartres."

TRANSLATION.

Year 1723, June the 14th, granted to Mr. Renault, in freehold (en franc aleu), in order to make his establishments upon the mines:A league and a half of ground in front upon the little Maramac, and on the river Maramac, at the place of the first fork, which leads to the cabins, called the Cabanage de Renaudière, with a depth of six leagues, the river making the middle of the point of compass, and the small stream being perpendicular, as far as the place where the Sieur Renault has his furnaces, and thence straight to the place called the Great Mine.

One league in front, at Pimiteau, on the river Illinois, facing the east, and adjoining to the lake bearing the name of the village, and on the other side, to the banks opposite the village, half a league above it, with a depth of five leagues; the point of compass following the Illinois river, down the same upon one side, and ascending by the river of Arcary, which forms the middle through the rest of the depth.

Two leagues of ground on the mine called the Mine of Mr. Lamothe; the front looking to the northeast; the prairie of the said mine making the middle point of the two leagues.

One league fronting on the Mississippi, at the place called the Great Marsh, adjoining on one side to the Illinois Indians, settled near Fort de Chartres; with a depth of two leagues; this place being the situation which has been granted to him for the raising of provisions, and to enable him to furnish them to all the settlements he shall make upon the mines.

The day and year above written, at Fort de Chartres.

BOISBRIANT.
DES URSINS.

The several objects called for in the concession, are susceptible of a clear and exact definition and identification.

The Merimac river still bears that name, and the cabins, furnaces, etc. are laid down upon a map made by the celebrated engineer Diron, commencing at New Orleans, in 1717, and completed by an accurate Chart of Illinois, in 1724.

The second tract granted is upon a lake or enlargement of the river Illinois known since the first Chart of Illinois, in 1687, as the lake Pimetoni, because the tribe of Indians living there, were known as the Pimitoniis or Peourrias.

In five French maps deposited in the archives of France, it is always designated as Pimitoni or Pimiteau, in softening the Indian into a more pleasant French word. The tribe of Indians are always designated as Pimitoniis or Peourrias, which latter word, with a little change, has now been applied to the lake and village, and bear the name of Peoria.

The position of the mine de Lamothe is designated in these maps, and is named after the person who discovered it. The centre of the small prairie and the extent of French leagues at that day, will give the exact boundaries of that grant.

The last portion granted calls to adjoin the "Sauvages Illinois," near Fort Chartres, and as the fort and line of the Indians are also designated upon an authentic carte made under the orders of the French government, these lines can all be identified.

Renaut had possession of all these lands, and sold and conveyed a part, with the sanction and concurrence of the French authorities, in 1740. In 1754, he left Illinois, on account of ill health and with intention to carry out more operatives, and was detained in France until his death, in 1755, leaving five minor heirs.

The locus in quo where these are situated was the theatre of wars civilised and savage, and of political changes down to the period of the Louisiana treaty, in 1803.

In 1807, the heirs of Renaut presented their title to the commissioners of the United States, and in 1810, a favorable decision was made by the commissioners, and in 1817 and 1828, bills were reported in Congress for its confirmation. The title was given by Boisbriant, Commandant of the province of Illinois, and specially commissioned to govern and regulate the affairs of the Compagnie des Indes.

There was also an official letter of the Commandant at New Orleans, recommending any grant that so valuable and respectable a citizen might desire. The grant was made as above stated. The heirs and assignees of Renaut submit the following questions to the Hon. Joseph M. White for his legal advice and opinion:

Have the heirs of P. F. Renaut a valid subsisting title to the lands in question?

Has it been affected by the laws of nations, treaties, or local laws since 1755?

Can an action of ejectment be maintaiued upon it in the United States, if Congress do not act upon the subject?

ARGUMENT AND OPINION; WITH A PRELIMINARY HISTORICAL

EXPOSITION.

The treaty of the Pyrenees, in the commencement of the reign of Louis XIV, terminated a sanguinary war between France and Spain. The two treaties of Munster and Westphalia had reconciled in a great measure the contests for empire, and pretensions to dominion among the Northern Powers of the European continent. These VOL. I.-91

events, with the termination of the political revolutions in England, consequent upon the decapitation of Charles I, and the restoration of Charles I, gave to Europe, for a few years, comparative repose. Armies were disbanded in the north and south, and the people of these countries devoted themselves to the pursuits of commerce and agriculture.

The troubles preceding the union of England, Ireland, and Scotland, with the contests produced by the Reformation, delayed the execution of any enlarged plans of colonisation after the discovery of America. The greatest progress was made by Spain and Great Britain in the latter part of the seventeenth, and the commencement of the eighteenth centuries. The pugnacious propensities of Louis XIV involved France in other foreign wars, prevented an impulse being given to colonisation in the transatlantic possessions of France until after the Peace of Ryswick, and after the more important negotiation of the Treaty of Utrecht.

Before this general pacification, a feeble effort was made by a royal grant, in the latter part of the reign and life of Louis XIV, to Sieur Antoine Crozat of the exclusive commerce and a portion of the mines of Louisiana. This royal concession recites that, in the year 1683"We gave orders for the discovery and exploration of the lands situated between New France and New Mexico, for establishing a colony and supporting a garrison there, which has kept and preserved the possession we had taken of the lands, coasts, and islands which are situated on the Gulf of Mexico, between Carolina on the east, and New Mexico on the west."

The Sieur Crozat, finding himself incompetent to execute the stipulations of his contract imposed by the concession, solicited the French government to allow him to surrender it, which was agreed to by an order in council of the 23d of August, 1717. The commercial privileges and mines were abandoned by him and retroceded to the crown. Louis XIV died September 1, 1715. The successor to the crown. Louis XV, was then only five years of age; the Duke d'Orleans was appointed Regent during the minority of the infant monarch. Contemporaneously with these events appeared in France the celebrated John Law, descended from the illustrious family of the Duke of Argyle, in Scotland, and one of the most remarkable men in all respects of the age in which he lived. A man of commanding person, fascinating manners, of great wit, and uncommon learning upon all subjects connected with political economy and finance-subjects but little understood at that day in Europe. Two wars of twenty-six years' duration, with the extravagance and folly of the brilliant and corrupting reign which had just terminated, left the country and government of France without the restraints of the ancient and powerful authority of a haughty and absolute monarch, abandoned to the cupidity and ambition of the legitimate and illegitimate princes who claimed to control public affairs during the minority of the young king. The selection of ministers, with the influence of the effeminate

nobility and courtiers after the time of Colbert, had inflicted greater injuries upon the country and its finances than the war itself.

The nation was burdened with debt, the people oppressed with taxes, forced loans resorted to, and advances made to the king out of his own funds by the gens d'affaires, at exorbitant interest. The Ministers knew nothing of exchange, credit, and banking. The finances were deranged by rash experiments of ignorant and presumptuous projectors, until the question was seriously discussed. whether the nation should be declared bankrupt, and all creditors, foreign and domestic, defrauded and sacrificed.

It was at this period Law appeared, after having written several works upon credit, banks, banking, and finances in Scotland, and after having examined in person the operations of the banks of England, Amsterdam, and Venice. He was a man of large private fortune, and his commanding genius recommended him to the Regent as a statesman upon whom he could rely in such a crisis. Law established his Bank of Circulation in 1716. He founded the "Compagnie d'Occident" in 1717. In 1718, his individual bank was converted into a "Banque Royale." In 1719, the débris of the "Compagnie des Indes Orientales," established by Colbert, was united with the "Compagnie d'Occident," and took the general name of the "Compagnie des Indes" (India Company.) The Banking Company and the India Company were both placed under the control in some measure of the government, and it was through the agency and by the exigency and necessities of the Regent and his ministers, that such excessive issues were made of the actions of both establishments, which caused the explosion for which Law himself was persecuted and denounced in France.

The "Compagnie d'Occident" was one of the creations of his genius, founded upon the magnificent conception of colonising the whole of that immense country, from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the Gulf of Mexico, from the Carolinas on the east, to the Pacific on the west, now covering the territory composing the Canadas and States of Michigan, Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas, and Louisiana, as it existed before the secret treaty of 1762 between France and Spain.

The "Compagnie d'Occident" were created by "Letters Patentes" in form of an edict, in August 1717. The privileges and concessions made to it, were enlarged by the royal order uniting the two companies.

This ordinance recites various causes for its creation, such as the desire to establish a commerce with the French colonies in Louisiana and Canada. It recites the surrender by Crozat of his privilege of exclusive commerce, and the expiration of a charter granted to a Fur Company in Canada in 1706, and is established upon the following basis:

The First Article creates the Company, and declares that the nobles of whatever rank or quality, might take an interest for such a sum as