STANFORD LIBRAR Sir, LETTER BOOKS OF W. C. C. CLAIBORNE 1804-1806 To Mayor Bore New Orleans March 1st 1804 Through the representations of the Municipality, I am made acquainted with the complaints of the people against the fees allowed to the officers of the Court of Common pleas in this City, and the jurisdiction of Said Court in certain cases. The inconveniences remonstrated against, I had previous to the receipt of your Letter, in part remedied, by increasing the powers of a single Magistrate, and giving him cognizance of all demands under one hundred dollars. With respect to the fees of the Officers, the subject shall be enquired into, and such decree made, as shall appear to me best suited to the General interest of my fellow Citizens. Accept assurances of my great respect and high consideration. The Honble. (Signed) Wm. C. C. Claiborne The Mayor of the City of New Orleans Trading House License William C. C. Claiborne Governor of the Mississippi Territory, exercising the powers of Governor General and Intendant of the Province of Louisiana To all whom these presents shall come! Know ye, that Bartholomew Shaumberg has permission to establish a Trading House, at each of the posts of Natchitoches and Ouchitaches, for the purposes of carrying on trade with such of the neighboring Indians as may choose to visit those posts. This License is to continue in force, during the pleasure of the Governor for the time being, or until Congress shall make provision for regulating trade and intercourse with the Indian Tribes West of the Mississippi River. Given under my hand and the seal of the administration at the City of New Orleans, the 1st day of March 1804, and in the 28th year of the Independence of the United States of America. You will perceive by the enclosed Statement that a certain Joseph Perry, a Seaman, complains of being imprisoned by his Captain without just cause-you will be pleased in your judicial capacity to enquire into the circumstances of this case, and take such measures as justice may demand! I am Respectfully your obdt. St. Beverly Chew Esqr. Justice of the Court of Common Pleas Sir, Dr. Watkins' Report. In conformity to your Letter of the 9th Instant whereby I was directed to proceed with all convenient dispatch to the different parishes or districts above the City &c, for the purpose of making suitable appointments of Commandants for the same, I have the Honour of making to you the following report!2 In the Parish of St. Charles or the District of the first German Coast, which begins about seven leagues above Town, I found that the former Commandant Mr. St. Amand had already received his Commission, and instructions directly from your Excellency, and was actually engaged in the different functions of his office. He had no hesitation in taking the oath of allegiance to the United States, or that of his office, and having communicated to him the substance of your Excellency's instructions, and received assurances on his part of the good disposition of the inhabitants of his district, towards the Government of the United States, I proceeded without delay to the Parish of St. John the Baptist, or the District of the second German coast. Here I presented to Mr. Manuel Andry the former commandant your letter re-appointing him to the same Office. He expressed great satisfaction in this proof of the confidence reposed in him by your Excellency, rejoiced at the annexation of these Countries to the Dominion of the United States, and begged me to assure you that he entered with pleasure into the necessary obligations of his Office, and that nothing on his part should be wanting to promote the happiness and prosperity of the Country, by a cheerful Co-operation in all the measures 'Claiborne's confidential agent. 2 An intelligent, interesting report of opinion and political and economic conditions in the districts. which the wisdom of its rulers might think proper to adopt. At the termination of this District, begins the Acadian Coast and the Parish of St. James of which Mr. Cantrell was, and has by reappointment been continued Commandant. He has Exercised the duties of this office for 28 years, to the general satisfaction of all the inhabitants. He is a wealthy and very respectable Planter, a Man of good sense and great uprightness of conduct, possessing popular manners, and the Universal esteem and confidence of his district. He does not however speak english, and requested me to offer this as an apology for his not having answered your Letter of the 14th Ultimo. This however he proposes shortly to do, and begs you in the mean time to be assured of his best exertions in the support of the American Government, and in the discharge of the duties of his civil administration. The next Parish in ascending the river is that of La fourche de Chatimachur. This District was formerly governed by Mr. Croquer, an officer attached to the Spanish Service, who in consequence of this circumstance was obliged though very reluctantly, to decline accepting a re-appointment. In choosing his successor as well as in the other appointments, I had occasion to make, I kept constantly in view the instructions of your Excellency. After having made myself personally acquainted with many of the principal characters of the Parish, and consulted a great number of the inhabitants, I commissioned in the place of Mr. Croquer, Mr. Joseph L'Andry, a wealthy farmer and the person who had always acted as Commandant Per interim during the absence of Mr. Croquer. This Gentleman altho born in Acadia, has resided many years in Louisiana, speaks the English and French Languages, professes strong attachment to the Government of the United States, and possesses the unlimited confidence and affections of all the inhabitants of the District in which he lives. He begged me to assure you of his zeal, and best exertions in discharging the duties of his office, and of his desire to prepare his fellow Citizens for the reception of the inestimable blessings they were entitled to expect, from the wise and just operations of the American Government in this Country. The District of Valenzulla dans la fourche is composed of all that Country situated upon each side of the Fork from its going out of the Mississippi to its entrance into the Gulph. It is in length upwards of fifty leagues, forty five of which are inhabited. The former Commandant of this District Mr. Villaneuva anxious to remain in office, and uniting from the best information I could collect, an attachment to the American Government to the esteem and confidence of the inhabitants, was agreeably to your instructions re-appointed. It is proper that I should here stop in my narrative to communicate to you, a piece of information as coming from Mr. Villaneuva highly important to the Political as well as the Social and Moral interests of the Government and inhabitants of the Country. Some few weeks ago, during the absence of Mr. Villaneuva, there passed up the Fork from Sea, a Vessel having on Board twelve Negroes said to have been Brigands from the Island of St. Domingo. These Negroes in their passage up, were frequently on shore, and in the French Language made use of many insulting and menacing expressions to the inhabitants. Among other things they Spoke of eating human flesh, and in general, demonstrated great Savageness of Character, boasting of what they had been and done in the horrors of St. Domingo. It would appear that this Vessel was either Commanded by, or the Slaves on Board under the immediate directions of, one, Mercier a lame Man, who keeps a Billiard Table at Mr. Languedocks upon the Levee in this Town. The Vessel with the whole of the Slaves on Board passed from the Fork into the |