violate the amity of the two nations, and therefore thought proper to liberate them-though I think our military officers fully justified in detaining them till legally discharged. 1 am, respectfully, &c. THOMAS RODNEY. P. S. Justice Baker was also directed to require bail of Reuben, Nathan, and Samuel Kemper respectively, to keep the peace, especially towards the subjects of the king of Spain, and to do no injury to any one below the line of demarcation. T. R. Campte, in the District of Natchitoches, Sept. 14, 1805. PERSONALLY appeared before me, John Sibley, one of the magistrates for the county of Natchitoches, Mary Pulegie Grappe Fontineau, aged 46, who being duly cautioned and sworn, deposeth and saith, That she believes she was born at the ancient Caddo village, where was an establishment of French inhabitants and some soldiers, and that she perfectly recollects descending the river with her father; she was then about six years of age; and that her mother remained behind to collect some debts, and came down about six weeks after, and that she had always understood her family had lived there for a considerable number of years, and that there were a number of French families had lived there for many years. FONTINEAU. September 14, 1805, sworn before me, JOHN SIBLEY, J. P. I, John Horn, being duly sworn as interpreter, declare that the above declaration of Mary Pulegie Grappe Fontineau, is truly interpreted as above written. JOHN HORN. Natchitoches, Sept. 15, 1805. PERSONALLY appeared before me, John Sibley, one of the justices of the peace for the county of Natchitoches, Julian Beson, an inhabitant of Campte, in said county, aged 57, who, being duly sworn, deposeth and saith, That he well recollects being carried from Natchitoches by his father to the ancient Caddo village, commonly called by the course of the river about one hundred and seventy leagues above Natchitoches, on Red river, and that at that time there were there living several French families and some soldiers, the number of soldiers he does not remember, but only that it was a serjeant's command (which serjeant was then his father) and that his father, by order of the then French governour general of Louisiana, built a small fort at that place, erected a flag staff, on which the French flag occasionally used to be hoisted, the name of the fort was called fort St. Louis de Carloretto, and that, from the appearance of the place, and every thing he heard and understood about it, the establishment had been made for a considerable number of years before he went there, which is more than fifty years ago, and that he lived there fourteen or fifteen years, during all which time there were continued a detachment of French soldiers there, with a number of French families, who continued to cultivate corn, tobacco, and garden vegetables; and that he recollects two small pieces of cannon being there, and one of them bursting by firing, and he believes the other slipped into the river by an excavation of its bank, as it lay near the edge of the bank, and that he recollects their being, some mill stones there, but has no remembrance of seeing them in use. And at the same time he lived at the above mentioned place, some French families were settled at the Yattasse Point, so called, being a part of what is now called Bayou Pierre settlement, and that the same place has continued to be occupied by French families ever since, and which is now under the jurisdiction of the Spanish government in the province of Taxas: and that said Yattasse Point used to be a place of great deposit by Indian traders, before Louisiana was ceded to Spain; and further, that he has knowledge that some French hunters, while Louisiana belonged to France, planted several crops of corn more than 50 leagues above the ancient Caddo village, on Red river, at or near the mouth of Boggy river (or the Vassures as it is called) and that the settlement at the old Caddo village was abandoned about thirty-eight years ago, and that he believes the cause of their removal was having large families of children growing up, and after the cession of Louisiana to Spain the settlement did not appear to augment, and the inhabitants were desirous their families of children should have the benefits of a better society, but that the country is exceedingly pleasant and fertile, and is capable of becoming a rich and populous settlement, and farther the deponent saith not. JULIAN BESON. Sworn to before me at Natchitoches, Sept. 16, 1805. I, the subscriber, being duly sworn as an interpreter of the French language, do hereby certify that the above or foregoing deposition of Julian Beson is truly interpreted. JOHN HORN. Natchitoches, Sept. 16, 1805. PERSONALLY appeared before me, John Sibley, one of the justices of the peace in said county, Louis Lamalaty, of Campte, in said county, Esq. who being duly sworn, deposeth and saith, that he is now sixty-six years of age, and that he was born at the place now called Natchitoches: although he never was at the place where the ancient Caddo village was, he was in the constant habit of seeing the French inhabitants and the soldiers who were then living and stationed there, and has no more doubt of the fact than though he had seen it: he saw Mr. Grappe and his family when they returned from there. And further, that he has knowledge of the ancient French establishment at the Yattasse Point in the vicinity of Bayou Pierre, and that three French families lived there before Louisiana was ceded to Spain, and that Mr. Verge lived there for a number of years; and that said place was usually a place of deposit for the Indian traders, &c. And farther, that he has knowledge of Mr. Bourne, formerly commandant of Natchitoches, having had a trading house established on the southwest side of the Sabine river, and distant from the river about 6 leagues, and from Natchitoches about 50 leagues, and about north-west from it; which establishment was antecedent to the Spanish government's taking place in Louisiana and that the same place was occupied by sundry persons afterwards, as well before as after the change of government. And that he has been informed that the mill stones that were at the old French establishment at the Caddos, being brought down. And that, according to the best of his recollection, it is now about 38 years since the said settlement was abandoned; and further the deponent saith not. LOUIS LAMALATY. Sworn to, the 16th September, 1805, before me, JOHN SIBLEY, I, the subscriber, being duly sworn as the interpreter of the French language, do hereby certify that the foregoing declaration of Louis Lamalaty, Esq. is truly interpreted and translated. JOHN HORN. Natchitoches, Sept. 16, 1805. PERSONALLY appeared before me, John Sibley, one of the justices of the peace for the said county of Natchitoches, Mary Louisa Brevell, widow of Antoine Grillette, deceased, who being duly sworn, deposeth and saith, That after she married Mr. Grillette, she went with him to the ancient Caddo village, where she remained about eighteen months. At that time there were a few French inhabitants who were settled and lived there, and a French commandant who was Mr. Grappe, and, as near as she recollects, four soldiers; that the French inhabitants cultivated every thing that was common for the French inhabitants to cultivate in other parts of Louisiana, and that she does AMERICAN not recollect the exact number of years that has elapsed since she was there, but believes it was at least ten years before the government of Spain took place in Louisiana, and that she always understood, by her parents, she was there when a child, but she was too young to have remembrance of it. And further the deponent saith not. her MARY LOUISA BREVELL. mark. Sworn to before me, at Natchitoches, aforesaid, the day and year aforesaid. JOHN SIBLEY, Justice of the Peace. I, the subscriber, being duly sworn as interpreter of the French language, do hereby certify that the above deposition of Mary Louisa Brevell is truly interpreted. I. HORN. Natchitoches, Sept. 16, 1805. PERSONALLY appeared before me, John Sibley, one of the justices of the peace for the county of Natchitoches, John Baptiste Grappe, an inhabitant of Campte, in said county, and likewise one of the justices of the peace for the same, aged forty-two years, who being duly sworn, deposeth and saith, That thirty-five or thirty-six years ago, he went with his father from Natchitoches to the ancient Caddo village, where he remained about four months; at that time there were no families or soldiers living there, but the houses of the French families who had lived there but a few years before, together with the fort and the flag staff and the barracks, or houses occupied by the soldiers, were all standing entire, and that his father told him which. of the fields and houses his family had occupied for a number of years; and likewise he remembers to have seen in the fort the ambusiers and platform where the cannon were placed. And that he recollects his father used to call the distance from Natchitoches to said place by water about the same as from Natchitoches to New Orleans, (viz.) about one hundred and seventy leagues. And further, that he well recollects some French families, particularly a |