ndred livres in
money.

The petitioners prayed that a president of judicature be sent to them,
with executive powers to a certain extent, and that subordinate civil
officers be appointed, to reside in each village or station, with power to
hear and decide all causes upon obligations not exceeding three hundred
dollars, higher amounts to be determined by a court to be held at
Kaskaskia and to be composed of the president and a majority of the
magistrates. It was desired that the grant in which the Kaskaskia
settlements lay should be considered as one district. It contained five
villages, of which Kaskaskia and Cahokia were the largest. The grant
extended to the headwaters of the Illinois River on the north. The land
had been granted to the settlers by the Indians, and the Indians, having
given their consent by solemn treaties, had never denied the sale. The
tract referred to was probably the two purchases of the Illinois Company.
Maps give but one of these and, in fact, the other was said to be so
described as to comprise _a line only_. Naturally, this fact was not known
at the time of purchase.

It was frankly acknowledged that Illinois had no man fitted for the office
of president. It was hoped that Virginia would furnish one, and would send
with him a company of regulars to act under his direction and enforce laws
and authority. The president should be empowered to grant land in small
tracts to immigrants. The privilege of trading in Spanish waters,
especially on the Missouri, was much desired. It was said that Carbonneaux
"appears to have been instructed as to the ground of his message by the
better disposed part of the inhabitants of the country whose complaints he
represents."(82)

At the time of Carbonneaux's petition, there was no legal way by which
newcomers to Illinois could acquire public land. Virginia had prepared to
open a land-office, soon after the conquest of the Illinois country, but
she seems to have heeded the recommendation of Congress that no
unappropriated land be sold during the war.(83) Some grants had been made
by Todd, Demunbrunt, the Indians, and others with less show of right, but
they were made without governmental authority. The Indians had presented a
tract of land to Clark, but the view consistently held was that
individuals could not receive Indian land merely upon their own
initiative.(84) One of the grants made at Vincennes, which seems to have
been a typical one, was signed by Le G