view of the Mississippi River, Kaskaskia, and the old Fort Chartres."

LETTER OF REV. JAMES MAXWELL TO REV. THOMAS HASSETT.

The following is a translation of a Spanish letter kindly placed at our disposal by the Rt. Rev. John Moore, D.D., Bishop of Saint Augustine. The Spanish government, at this period, evidently gave all the clergy in Louisiana the option of retiring with the Spanish authorities or remaining to fare as they might among their parishioners. Everything given to the churches during Spanish rule seems to have been reclaimed: GOVERNOR OF THE BISHOPRIC:

I received your official notice of June 10 of last year, six months after its date, which was accompanied with the act provided, and a copy of the proclamation issued in regard to the delivery of this province to the French republic. In conformity with its contents, I have taken the necessary steps to go down to New Orleans with the least delay. To the present time I have been unable to effect this, and as my affairs at this moment are of such a nature that it will be impossible for me to follow the Spanish government in less than a year, I beg you to communicate this to my superiors, that they may inform me whether my services will be necessary on this continent at the end of the above time if not, I wish to return to Madrid, from which I came, and I have no doubt that I shall obtain from the goodness and justice of his Majesty the reward of my services, and a position corresponding to them.

I transmit to you herewith the inventory of the plate and vestments of this church, which you ask. The funds actually in the hands of the Major-domo of the Fabrica (Treasurer of the Board of Trustees) amount to only $83 in money of the country, lead or peltries.

God preserve you many years.

ST. GENEVIEVE, May 1, 1804.

JAMES MAXWELL.

N. B.-There are no plate or vestments in this church which have been provided by the Spanish government: for this reason I have judged it unnecessary to send the said inventory.

Addressed to

Dr. Thomas Hassett,

Canon, Vicar-General and Governor of
the Bishopric of Louisiana,
New Orleans.

STATUTES RELATING TO FLORIDA,

IN THE DIOCESAN SYNOD, HELD BY HIS MAJESTY'S COMMAND, BY THE RIGHT REV. DR. JOHN GARCIA DE PALACIOS, BISHOP OF CUBA, IN JUNE, 1684.

AFTER many instructions a Synod of the Diocese of Santiago de Cuba, then embracing Cuba, Jamaica, and Florida, was convened at Havana by Rt. Rev. Dr. John Garcia de Palacios. It met on Sunday, June 2, 1684, and Statutes were promulgated on Whitsunday, June 9th, and were formally signed on the following Sunday.

These Statutes have been adopted by subsequent Bishops of that diocese, as well as those of the diocese of St. Christopher of Havana, formed from it, and remain in force to this day. They were in force also in Florida till 1793, when the diocese of Louisiana and the Floridas was erected.

One title applied exclusively to Florida, and relates entirely to the Indian missions. It is now given as a curious part of the ecclesiastical law prevailing here.

TITLE FIFTH.

For the provinces of Florida and the newly converted

Indians.

CONSTITUTION I.

That the Constitutions of this Holy Synod be observed and fulfilled in the parishes of Florida.

The care of correcting the sins of the inhabitants of this island is no less a part of our pastoral charge than the obligation imposed on us of seeking it in the inhabitants and recently converted Indians of the provinces of Florida, inasmuch as they are commended to us by the Apostolic See and the piety of our Catholic King and Lord, and belong to this dio

cese: Wherefore, the Holy Synod approving, we command all beneficed parish priests, and priests in charge of Indian missions, and other faithful Catholics of said provinces, that each one, so far as concerns him, do observe and fulfil the constitutions of this holy Synod, as and according to what is expressed therein, under the pains and censures contained in them.

CONSTITUTION II.

That the Indians of the provinces of Florida must not play ball.

By the information which we have received from missionaries zealous for the service of God, and from Catholic persons anxious for the good of souls among the Indians of the Florida provinces, we have understood how superstitious and prejudicial to the spiritual and temporal well-being of the recently-converted Indians of Florida the diabolical game which they have played, and still play, with ball, is, in consequence of the abuses, superstitions, divinations, and abominations which result from it: Wherefore, this Holy Synod desiring to apply some remedy to obviate them, we command all priests in charge of missions in said provinces that they must, under no pretext, give consent to said Indians to play similar games; and we command other faithful Christians not to consent or aid them therein, under penalty of being chastised as co-operators and counsellors of superstition. And we beg and charge the Governors of said provinces, and other secular judges, not to give permission to the Indians to play said. games, charging their consciences therewith, that in this matter they will be bound and held to render an account to God our Lord of all the sins, superstitions, and abominations which shall result from said games, if, by their consent and neglect, they are not prevented. And we forbid the Indians to play said game of ball, under any pretext of festival or amusement, under pain of being chastised by us and our successors and visitors; and we require and warn them, now that God our Lord, by His infinite goodness and mercy, has brought

them to the bosom of the Church, to keep the Catholic faith in all purity, and offer worship to the true God Almighty, our Creator and Redeemer, and not to the devil, covertly and implicitly, as is done in superstitious games and amusements.

CONSTITUTION III.

That Indians, married men, of the missions in Florida, must not be kept in the city of St. Augustine or elsewhere, away from their wives.*

It is right that married persons cohabit in matrimony and live married life; and it is our pastoral office to oblige and compel them to do so; and as we are informed that many Spaniards, negroes, and mulattoes residing in St. Augustine, Florida, and other missions, with little fear of God and with grievous injury to their consciences, detain married Indian men in their houses, who have their wives in other places in said provinces, and who have gone to said city to work or dig, but who are detained when the work is done, and obliged to remain in their employers' houses, serving them: the Holy Synod approving, we exhort, admonish, and command all persons in said provinces, of whatever state, quality, or condition they may be, under penalty of greater excommunication and ten ducats of Castile, that they must, under no pretext whatever, detain said married Indian nen or oblige them, after the work or matter for which they went to the said city of St. Augustine, in Florida, or other places, to remain in their houses or require them to serve them, nor consent thereto, but let them go freely to live in married life with their wives; and we command priests in charge of missions that on their side, as persons on whom this same obligation is incumbent, as missionaries, that they shall use all necessary diligence for the enforcement of this Constitution. And we beseech and charge the Governors, judges, and justices of his Majesty, that as by reason of their office they have this same obligation, that they shall not consent or permit said Indians

* Ch. 1 and 2 de coniug læpros.

to be detained in said city and other parts, but shall, with all the rigor of law, compel seculars to leave them at liberty to go and live with their wives; and that they fulfil what Holy Church commands in this matter, and what his Majesty has enjoined in many and repeated orders.

CONSTITUTION IV.

The Parish Priest and Vicar of the city of St. Augustine, Florida, is to compel Indians married in other parts to go and live with their wives.*

Whereas, we are informed that in the city of St. Augustine, Florida, many Indians reside who have married elsewhere, and act as hunters, carpenters, and the like, and on this account do not live with their wives, nor give them the necessary support; and that they may fulfil their obligations as Christians, we command the beneficed parish priest of that city to compel, with all the rigors of the law, the said married Indians to go and live with their wives, and, if necessary therefor, to implore the aid of the royal authorities; and, on our part, we ask and entreat all his Majesty's royal justices to do this service to God our Lord, that these Indians may fulfil their obligations, and sins and other mischiefs resulting from their not living together as man and wife may be prevented.

CONSTITUTION V.

That persons having Indians on their estates, even as hired laborers, must permit them to go and hear Mass, and not to allow them to work on holidays.

The wretched Indians, for being so, are none the less Christians, and so ought to observe the holidays: and whereas, in the said city of St. Augustine, in Florida, and other places therein, those who have Indians on their farms do not allow them to go and hear Mass on holidays of obligation for them, but make them work on such days, we ordain

* Cap. Literas de recit. spoliat.