owed on record, that he
had adopted measures to send them out of the territory, openly
declaring his determination to usurp the functions of the
judiciary, by making himself the only judge of the guilt of the
persons he suspected, and asserting in the same manner, and as
yet without contradiction, that his measures were taken, after
several consultations with the governor.

"He proceeded to state, that writs of habeas corpus had been
issued from the court of the county of New-Orleans: on one of
them, Ogden had been brought up and discharged, but he had
been, however, again arrested, by order of the general,
together with an officer of the court, who had aided
professionally in procuring his release. The general had, in
his return to a subsequent writ, issued on his behalf, referred
the court to a return made by him to a former writ of the
superior court, and in the further return which he had been
ordered to make, he had declared that neither of the prisoners
was in his power, possession, or custody; but he had not
averred what was requisite, in order to exempt him from the
penalty of a contempt of court, that these persons were not in
his power, possession, or custody, at the time when the writs
were served, and, in consequence of the deficiency, the court
had been moved for an attachment.

"The judge remarked, that although a common case would not
require the step he was taking, yet, he deemed it his duty,
before any decisive measure was pursued against a man, who had
all the regular force, and in pursuance of the governor's
public orders, a great part of that of the territory, at his
disposal, to ask whether the executive had the ability to
enforce the decrees of the court of the county, and if he had,
whether he would deem it expedient to do it, in the present
instance, or whether the allegation by which he supported these
violent measures was well founded?

"Not only the conduct and power of Wilkinson, said the judge,
but various other circumstances, peculiar to our present
situation, the alarm excited in the public mind, the
description and character of a large part of the population of
the country, might render it dangerous, in the highest degree,
to adopt the measure usual in ordinary cases, of calling to the
aid of