had delegated this power, as well as others, to themselves, the justices of the court proceeded to make immense grants of territory, reciting that they did so under “les pouvoirs donnes a Mons’rs Les Magistrats de la cour de Vincennes par le Snr.  Jean Todd, colonel et Grand Judge civil pour les Etats Unis”; Todd’s title having suffered a change and exaltation in their memories.  They granted one another about fifteen thousand square miles of land round the Wabash; each member of the court in turn absenting himself for the day on which his associates granted him his share.

This vast mass of virgin soil they sold to speculators at nominal prices, sometimes receiving a horse or a gun for a thousand acres.  The speculators of course knew that their titles were worthless, and made haste to dispose of different lots at very low prices to intending settlers.  These small buyers were those who ultimately suffered by the transaction, as they found they had paid for worthless claims.  The speculators reaped the richest harvest; and it is hard to decide whether to be amused or annoyed at the childish and transparent rascality of the French Creoles. [Footnote:  State Department MSS., Nos. 30 and 48.  Laws “Vincennes.”]

    Lawlessness in the Illinois.

In the Illinois country proper the troops, the American settlers, speculators, and civil officials, and the Creole inhabitants all quarrelled together indiscriminately.  The more lawless new-comers stole horses from the quieter Creoles; the worst among the French, the idle coureurs-des-bois, voyageurs, and trappers plundered and sometimes killed the peaceable citizens of either nationality.  The soldiers became little better than an unruly mob; some deserted, or else in company with other ruffians, both French and American, indulged in furious and sometimes murderous orgies, to the terror of the Creoles who had property.  The civil authorities, growing day by day weaker, were finally shorn of all power by the military.  This, however, was in nowise a quarrel between the French and the Americans.  As already explained, in Todd’s absence the position of deputy was sometimes filled by a Creole and sometimes by an American.  He had been particular to caution them in writing to keep up a good understanding with the officers and troops, adding, as a final warning:  “If this is not the case you will be unhappy.”  Unfortunately for one of the deputies, Richard Winston, he failed to keep up the good understanding, and, as Todd had laconically foretold, he in consequence speedily became very “unhappy.”  We have only his own account of the matter.  According to this, in April, 1782, he was taken out of his house “in despite of the civil authority, disregarding the laws and on the malitious alugation of Jno.  Williams and Michel Pevante.”  Thus a Frenchman and an American joined in the accusation, for some of the French supported the civil, others the military, authorities.  The soldiers had the upper hand, however, and Winston records that he was forthwith “confined by tyrannick military force.”  From that time the authority of the laws was at an end, and as the officers of the troops had but little control, every man did what pleased him best.