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By this act, Congress did no more than transfer to the President the powers vested in the national government by virtue of the treaty of cession, taking it for granted, of course, that the laws which existed at the time should remain in force until altered or repealed. Here note the difference between this and the special provision which was made for maintaining the laws of Virginia and Maryland within the District of Columbia.

On the 25th of February, 1804, another act was passed extending to Louisiana the United States law for registering ships, and entitling the inhabitants to the ownership of American vessels. This shews that Congress did not consider that the laws of the United States superseded those which were before established, either from the moment of the cession or from the time of possession taken.

On the 26th of March following, Congress, by another act, divided Louisiana into two territories, and legislating for one of them, (the territory of Orleans) extended to it several more statutes of the United States. The legislative power was given to the governor with the aid of a council, and they were authorised to alter, modify, or repeal the laws which might be then in force. An analogous power was conferred on the governor and judges of the northern section, which retained the name of Louisiana. No other material change was made in the existing laws of either district, but the introduction of the writ of habeas corpus, trial by jury in all criminal cases, and bail for offences not capital, and

trial by jury in civil cases at the option of either party. It was also provided that no cruel punishments should be inflicted. In every thing else, the territorial laws remained as they were before, without any special provision to that effect.

The same course was pursued with respect to Florida. By an act of Congress of the 3d of March, 1819, a discretionary power was given to the governor, in the same manner as had been done at first with respect to Louisiana, and certain specified laws of the United States were directed to be carried into execution within that territory. Not a word was said of the then existing system of laws, either to confirm or to repeal it.

This act, however, (except so much thereof as merely authorised the President to receive possession of the Floridas) was only to be in force until the end of the session of Congress of 1819-20, and as those Territories were only delivered up to the United States on the 10th and 17th of July, 1821, that part which provided for their temporary government could not be legally carried into execution at that period. How matters were then managed, it is not my business to inquire; but it is certain that if the laws of Spain did not then by the force of the law of nations, and the common law of these U. States continue in vigour, there must have been a long period of complete anarchy or of unauthorised despotism; for it was not until the 3d of March, 1823, near twenty months after possession of the country was delivered, that Congress passed an act for the establishment of a

territorial government within those Districts, which was entitled a "Supplement" to the one before recited, a part of which continued in force, but which was lapsed as to every thing which related to the government of the country. By this act the legislative power was vested in a governor and council; but the ancient laws were neither repealed, nor expressly maintained. This subject was passed entirely sub silentio.

These variations in the laws of Congress for the government of the different territories which have been successively acquired by the United States, can only be accounted for by the supposed absence of a principle applying to the subject matter, or the little attention that has been paid to it by statesmen as well as lawyers. I shall be happy if I have succeeded in proving to you that there is a fixed rule, not only consistent with the sound principles of natural justice, and of common sense, but recognised at the same time by the law of nations, and by the common law.

Suppose a murder had been committed in Florida within those twenty months of absence of all regular legislation; if the ancient laws of the territory had not remained in force until new ones were substituted in their stead, how could justice have been done against the criminal, and the tranquillity of the country preserved? Some persons, perhaps, will speak of Courts martial, and military government; but it is not to be thus governed, that subjects are transferred with territory from one

civilised nation to another; rather than have recourse to such means, it is better to establish almost any principle that will continue to the inhabitants of the ceded country the enjoyment of a regular system of laws, and not leave them even for the shortest period at the mercy of an arbitrary ruler. But the law has provided one at once wise and salutary; 1 hope I have not attempted in vain to demonstrate it.

On this principle, therefore, Louisiana and the Floridas were, at and after the times of their respective cessions, and possession thereof taken by the United States, under the dominion of the laws of Spain. Since those periods, this state of things has experienced considerable change. Out of old Louisiana, two great and important States have already arisen, one of which has resumed the ancient name of the Spanish province, and the other is now the State of Missouri. She was admitted into the Union on the 10th of August, 1821. During the first ten years of its territorial existence, that country was nominally subject to the Spanish law; but as there were few or no lawyers among them who understood that system of jurisprudence, the common law gradually and almost insensibly superseded it, and at last, by an act of the territorial Legislature, passed on the 19th of January, 1816, it was proclaimed and established, and since has continued to be the law of the land. Louisiana pursued a different course.

That country was principally inhabited by people of French origin, and among them were several lawyers of great eminence, attached, as is natural, to the system of laws which had been the object of their early studies, and as naturally averse to one which they did not understand. Among the American jurists who directed their steps to that newly acquired dominion were also men of distinguished talents, among whom I need only name Mr. EDWARD LIVINGSTON, whose genius and learning have acquired so much fame to himself and to his country. He perceived with a keen glance what advantage could be taken of the existing state of things; he and his American colleagues were devoid of prejudice, and found the same liberal disposition in the French members of the bar of New Orleans. This harmony produced a system of jurisprudence combining the excellencies of the common and the civil law. This is not the place to explain its details; I shall only say, that all the practitioners that I have conversed with, common lawyers as well as civilians, who have exercised the legal profession within that State, concur in extolling it as the best that they have ever known. I have not heard on this subject one dissenting voice. The Americans from the old States who reside in that country, are also universally satisfied with it.

The Louisianians reject the common law as a system; they have even guarded by a special clause in their constitution against its introduction among