The War in the Northwest 231 



In 1782 the whole Illinois region lapsed into 

 anarchy and confusion. It was perhaps worst at 

 Vincennes, where the departure of the troops had 

 left the French free to do as they wished. Ac- 

 customed for generations to a master, they could do 

 nothing with their new-found liberty beyond making 

 it a curse to themselves and their neighbors. They 

 had been provided with their own civil government 

 in the shape of their elective court, but the judges 

 had literally no idea of their proper functions as a 

 governing body to administer justice. At first they 

 did nothing whatever beyond meet and adjourn. 

 Finally it occurred to them that perhaps their official 

 position could be turned to their own advantage. 

 Their townsmen were much too poor to be plun- 

 dered ; but there were vast tracts of fertile wild land 

 on every side, to which, as far as they knew, there 

 was no title, and which speculators assured them 

 would ultimately be of great value. Vaguely re- 

 membering Todd's opinion, that he had power to 

 interfere under certain conditions with the settle- 

 ment of the lands, and concluding that he had dele- 

 gated 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, col- 

 onel 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 



