Page:History of Southeast Missouri 1912 Volume 1.djvu/208

 148 HISTORY OP SOUTHEAST MISSOURI <leaii. 'J'licre was also established in each one of these posts a court of common pleas and quarter sessions, and a provision was made for a recorder and a sheriff at each place. The following officers were appointed at the various posts: Colonel Samuel Hammond was appointed lieutenant governor or com- mandant of St. Louis; Major Seth Hunt, lieutenant governor or commandant of Ste. Genevieve; Colonel Return J. Meigs, lieu- tenant governor or commandant of St. Charles, and Colonel Thomas B. Scott, lieu- tenant governor or commandant of Cape Cirardeau. For New Madrid, Pierre An- toine La Forge acted as civil commandant. Such was the form of government arranged for the new territory. It was reasonable, the selections for the various offices were good, and it was to be expected that the people of the territory would be happy and content un- (Ici- the government. It has been pointed out thai there was little objection made by any of the people of the territory to the transfer ; some few complaints were made and there were some who wished that Spain might have retained the territory; on the whole, how- ever, the people were quiet and satisfied. This condition did not last very long. There were several principal sources of complaint. One of them was the provision in the act of congress concerning Sj)anish land grants. We have seen that the Spanish officials were lavish with their grants of land. A great many inhabitants of Upper Louisiana had asked for concessions which were granted, but a number of these were granted after the secret treaty which had transferred Louisi- ana to France. The act provided that all Spaiiish grants should be given full force and effect by the officers of the United States. except tho.se which had been made subse- (juent 1 the treaty between France and Spain. It was the opinion of the govern- ment of the United States that after the sign- ing of that agreement by which Louisiana passed from Spain to Prance, the Span- ish officials had no authority whatever to alienate for any purpose the lands of the territory. It was held that all grants at- tempted to be made between the transfer to France and the transfer to the United States were absolutely without any force whatever and that the settlers who held these grants had no title to their lands. It may be supposed that the men who had received these grants were vei-y mu(!h dis- satisfied with this action of the government of the United States. This dissatisfaction, however, was not confined to the holders of these grants by any means. There were many questions which arose concerning these la 11(1 titles, questions which could be settled 'inly after the lapse of considerable time. The transfer thus acted as a disturber of the land titles, and a great many of the titles in the territory had a cloud over them for a period of many years. When these facts were ap- preciated by the people of the territory and especially by the French settlers, there was very great di.ssatisfaction. A meeting was held in St. Louis to protest to the govern- ment and a petition or memorial was drawn up setting forth the alleged grievance suf- fered by the inhabitants. Another matter which created dissatisfac- tion among the settlers was the change in the method of jurisprudence. We have seen that the ordinary procedure in the courts of the Spanish commandants was entirely sum- mary in its character. There was little de- lay and there was little opportunity for ham- pering suits by technicalities. The decision was vested in the power of one man and he