Note 91 — PART III. THE BATTURE AT NEW-ORLEANS.

The only copy of this Charter I have ever met with is in Joutel's Journal of La Salle's last voyage. An application was made by the government of the United States, through their minister at Paris, to the government of France, for permission to have the original of this charter sought for in their Archives, and an authentic copy obtained. The application was unsuccessful. We must resort, therefore, to this publication, made in 1714, two years after the date of the patent, under the rule of law which requires only the best evidence the nature of the case will admit. For although we may not appeal to books of history for documents of a nature merely private, yet we may for those of a public character, e. g. treaties, &c., and especially when those documents are not under our control, as when they are in foreign countries, or even in our own country, when they are not patent in their nature, nor demandable of common right.